Abstract
Irrigation and environmental sustainability in irrigated catchments have, to date, been managed as two competing enterprises under separate and divergent control. There is an increasing quest and support for a “harmonised” business approach to sustainable use of land and water resources to achieve enduring business partnerships in the water management. The “system harmonisation” approach seeks to identify business opportunities for irrigators to become an integral part of an expanding environmental services industry and in so doing support a truly sustainable and diversified irrigation business environment The system harmonisation framework involves an all‐encompassing approach that combines research and business principles to achieve productive and environmental improvements at the catchment level. The framework involves five feasibility steps including three research components and a business analysis component leading to the formation of regional irrigation business partnerships (RIBPs). The system harmonisation process establishes the base physical, economic and social position of the region, identifies the key biophysical, economic, social, environmental or institutional pressure points in the system and the system constraints. Changes in these key pressure points need to be assessed and acted upon, in a comprehensive and systematic way, to enhance the multifunctional productivity of irrigation systems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.