**7. Conclusions**

In any project of this kind, it is vital to respond adaptively to stakeholder issues and barriers to implementation. This chapter highlights key elements of an "action research" project to underpin Scottish Government science policy for sustainable management of water resources in Scotland. The paradigm of Payment for Ecosystem Services underpinned the approach taken and the aspiration was to see a pilot PES scheme developed and assessed within the original 5-year time. However, the combined challenges of demonstrating the technical benefits, adaptive response

<sup>2</sup> https://www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/research/srp2016-21/RESAS\_srp143\_aD1\_ ReportOnRelevantAdaptiveManagementApproachesForScotland\_v0.8Final.pdf

*The Challenges of Managing Water for Wetland Ecology, Flood Mitigation and Agriculture… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98727*

to stakeholder concerns and lack of governance structures for water resources management at a catchment scale have slowed the process. The lessons learnt include:

