The Landscape Approach is often focused on land use and land rights. But what about water? Balancing competing land use demands requires water to be taken into account. The value of land is highly dependent on the availability of water. Land cover and land management determine the flow of water, and therefore determine where, when and to whom water is available. Land tenure is decisive for investments, but water is decisive for its use. The issue of water rights has been widely covered in academic literature, but in practice the interlinkages, challenges and opportunities of water rights are often missed. During our session we will use examples from Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Bangladesh to open a lively discussion on the role and importance of water to the effective operationalisation of a landscape approach.