Land management practices such as conservation tillage and optimum irrigation are routinely used to reduce non-point source pollution and improve water quality. The calibrated and validated SWAT-IRRIG model is the first modified SWAT version that reproduces well the irrigation return flows (IRF) when the irrigation source is outside of the watershed. The application of this SWAT version in intensive irrigated systems permits to better evaluate the best management practices (BMPs) in such systems.

Since the late 1970s, transitions in socioeconomic status and new governmental policies have led to drastic changes in agricultural land use types and farm management practices across rural China, such as an increase in the area of land cultivated for cash–crops (e.g. vegetables and orchards) and intensive fertilization and irrigation of this land. How this more intensive management and land use for the more profitable cash crops affects soil nutrients is of great concern for carbon, soil and water quality management.

Increasing competition over the world's forest resources will likely aggravate conflict, though conflict should not be seen as bad per se. As the challenge is to develop institutions and practices capable of handling conflict constructively, various collaborative approaches involving disputing actors are evolving worldwide. In Sweden, most such approaches pertain to protected areas and few involve commercial forestry.