The new Peruvian Water Law (2009) inaugurated a transition phase in the country's water governance model, in theory changing the power relations among the actors involved in the decision-making process. Formerly excluded actors were invited to participate and bring their particular views into multistakeholder spaces. While this diversity of actors, informed by different types of knowledge, has been highlighted as an attribute of more adaptive systems, it does not necessarily lead to a real change in the constellation of power. The case of Arequipa illustrates this shift towards a new water governance system, with the creation of a river basin council based on a prior (and exceptional) example of informal multi-stakeholder water management. Yet the growing participation of a large mining company in financing water-related infrastructure, and its alliances with other actors, might challenge the potential of the new participatory body to represent equally the interests and views of all its members, and therefore to question the existing norms to bring about transformative change. (1)
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<p>The concept of disaster risk is multidisciplinary by nature. Responding to disasters and increasingly preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk has become the backbone of various disciplines. Yet, moving from various disciplinary perspectives to integrated approaches remains a fundamental challenge. This talk reflects on the experience of a group of early-career researchers, including physical scientists, engineers and social scientists from different organisations and countries, who came together to lead&#160;the refinement, operationalisation and testing of a risk-informed decision support environment (DSE) for Tomorrow&#8217;s Cities. Drawing on the notion of &#8220;boundary objects&#8221; and reflexive elicitation, members of the group explored enabling and hindering factors to interdisciplinary research across four case studies that unfolded between July-December 2021, namely: operationalisation process&#160;of the DSE; development of a testbed as a demonstration case for the implementation of the DSE;&#160;consolidation&#160;of frequently asked questions about the DSE; and elaboration of a multi-media communication tool for outreach to various audiences. The study argues that enablers of interdisciplinarity can be synthesised across a range of factors, including exogenous, governing, learning and attitudinal, and that diversity of boundary objects as convening spaces for disciplinary interaction can&#160;propel&#160;integration. It is further suggested that a similar rationale can be applied when moving towards co-producing knowledge with non-academic actors in a transdisciplinary manner. Strengthening the interdisciplinary capacities of early career researchers across disciplines and geographies is a fundamental step and promising pathway towards transformation.</p>
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