Water and land are key components to environmental and economic sustainability, and both their quality and availability serve as predictors for long-term socioeconomic development. Current water and land use patterns indicate that existing resource management strategies do not successfully capture the complex drivers that accelerate resource use; critical knowledge gaps exist between these management strategies and the behaviors of end-users. In other words, the strategies in place to conserve water and land resources have largely not proved effective at the regional scale. This dissertation identifies the areas where management strategies have missed their objectives, and converts these findings into practical steps for future management plans. In addition to the findings of each individual chapter, I summarize the redefinition of management strategies into four key components. (1) Management strategies must perform within a comprehensive framework or unaccounted for areas will be exploited. (2) Incentives promote actions away from unaccounted for areas, where restrictions push behaviors toward these areas. (3) Adequate values must be assigned to water and land resources in order to promote economically meaningful incentives. (4) Strategies must be designed around the objectives of maintaining the livelihoods of end-users.
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