From Premise to Practice: a Critical Assessment of Integrated Water Resources Management and Adaptive Management Approaches in the Water Sector

Medema, Wietske; McIntosh, Brian S.; Jeffrey, Paul

doi:10.5751/es-02611-130229

Cited by 265 publications

(204 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Barriers include the ambiguity of definitions (Odendaal, 2002;Varis et al, 2006) and the lack of prescription for effective implementation (Medema et al, 2008). For example, integrated water resources management is not universally defined, and therefore lacks a common understanding among water policy actors, managers, and decision makers.…”

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar to the concept of sustainability, IWRM involves a continuous process of balancing objectives and making trade-offs in an informed manner rather than an end state to be achieved (Medema et al, 2008). The IWRM approach is promoted as a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable tool for managing water resources and for coping with conflicting demands.…”

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…IWRM's origins can be traced back to the first UNESCO International Conference on Water in 1977 and the early works of Carl Walters (Walters and Hilborn, 1978). Coined as a tool for an "integrationist agenda" (Medema et al, 2008), IWRM promotes the integrated and coordinated management of water and land as a way of balancing resource protection while meeting social and ecological needs and promoting economic development (Odendaal, 2002).…”

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach, known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), stresses the importance of integrated 2 Command and control policy refers to environmental policy that relies on regulation as opposed to financially-based or other incentives. and participatory management practices, instead of command and control, and considers multiple viewpoints on how water should be managed (Medema, McIntosh, and Jeffrey, 2008). IWRM considers the interconnectedness of water resources (quality and quantity, surface water and groundwater), the interactions between land and water, and the interrelationships with cultural, environmental, social and economic uses of water.…”

Section: List Of Tablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IWRM represents a management framework that was developed to deal with water complexity and improve natural resource management outcomes (Medema, McIntosh, & Jeffrey, 2008). IWRM's origins can be traced back to the first UNESCO International Conference on Water in 1977 and the early works of Carl Walters (Walters and Hilborn, 1978).…”

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wicked Water Problems: Can Network Governance Deliver? Integrated Water Management Case Studies from New Zealand and Oregon, USA

Dingfelder¹

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Integrated water management is a wicked public policy problem with no clear path to resolution. This dissertation is an in-depth qualitative comparative analysis of two collaborative governance processes created to tackle complex water problems in New Zealand and Oregon, U.S.A. Both cases convened a wide range of state and non-state actors in efforts to find common ground, build consensus for change, and develop innovative water policy solutions.The goal of this comparative case study analysis is to gain a better understanding of collaborative network governance frameworks as applied to integrated water management and primary factors for success. The proposition posits that collaborative networks involving public, private, and non-profit actors are better equipped than government-driven efforts to develop desired outcomes. To test this proposition, the research questions probe the role of state and non-state policy actors, conditions for collaboration, strength of actor ties, development of trust and social capital, barriers to success, and the role of climate change as a policy driver in these two case studies.The comparative case study analysis yields fascinating insights that add to the network governance literature. In the New Zealand case, a collaborative-led process called the Land and Water Forum (LAWF) showed that this ongoing network offers benefits to creating consensus on complex water issues. LAWF succeeded in moving policy conversations forward where previous government-led efforts had failed. Within the LAWF collaborative network, non-state actors formed strong ties; however, relationships with state actors exhibited weaker ties.ii With Oregon's integrated water policy, a collaborative network approach created a more conducive environment for meaningful dialogue among vested interests, and built some levels of interdependency and trust, thus generating a wider array of policy options than through previous legislative and bureaucratic efforts. However, long-standing political, legal, and institutional challenges continue to constrain effective integrated water management and the delivery of integrated outcomes in Oregon. The Oregon case did not exhibit strong leadership within the collaborative to broker challenging policy issues. Also, it faced implementation challenges as one state agency was given responsibility for stewarding integrated water management but lacked authority for implementation or coordination with other state agencies. Overcoming fragmented natural resource governance arrangements remains a daunting challenge.This research revealed three key findings: 1. in both cases, collaborative network governance worked well for framing and designing new integrated water policies, but encountered implementation challenges; 2. managing the complexities around the intersection of top-down, vertical command and control governance with horizontal collaborative approaches remains an ongoing challenge to New Public Governance; and 3. the two cases represent examples of the use of formal an...

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Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: List Of Tablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Wicked Water Problems: Can Network Governance Deliver? Integrated Water Management Case Studies from New Zealand and Oregon, USA

Dingfelder¹

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iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to study socio‐hydro‐ecological systems

et al. 2015

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Urbanization, climate, and ecosystem change represent major challenges for managing water resources. Although water systems are complex, a need exists for a generalized representation of these systems to identify important components and linkages to guide scientific inquiry and aid water management. We developed an integrated Structure-Actor-Water framework (iSAW) to facilitate the understanding of and transitions to sustainable water systems. Our goal was to produce an interdisciplinary framework for water resources research that could address management challenges across scales (e.g., plot to region) and domains (e.g., water supply and quality, transitioning, and urban landscapes). The framework was designed to be generalizable across all human-environment systems, yet with sufficient detail and flexibility to be customized to specific cases. iSAW includes three major components: structure (natural, built, and social), actors (individual and organizational), and water (quality and quantity). Key linkages among these components include: (1) ecological/hydrologic processes, (2) ecosystem/geomorphic feedbacks, (3) planning, design, and policy, (4) perceptions, information, and experience, (5) resource access and risk, and (6) operational water use and management. We illustrate the flexibility and utility of the iSAW framework by applying it to two research and management problems: understanding urban water supply and demand in a changing climate and expanding use of green storm water infrastructure in a semi-arid environment. The applications demonstrate that a generalized conceptual model can identify important components and linkages in complex and diverse water systems and facilitate communication about those systems among researchers from diverse disciplines.

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Time scale interactions and the coevolution of humans and water

2015

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We present a coevolutionary view of hydrologic systems, revolving around feedbacks between environmental and social processes operating across different time scales. This brings to the fore an emphasis on emergent phenomena in changing water systems, such as the levee effect, adaptation to change, system lock‐in, and system collapse due to resource depletion. Changing human values play a key role in the emergence of these phenomena and should therefore be considered as internal to the system. Guidance is provided for the framing and modeling of these phenomena to test alternative hypotheses about how they arose. A plurality of coevolutionary models, from stylized to comprehensive system‐of‐system models, may assist strategic water management for long time scales through facilitating stakeholder participation, exploring the possibility space of alternative futures, and helping to synthesize the observed dynamics in a wide range of case studies. Future research opportunities lie in exploring emergent phenomena arising from time scale interactions through historical, comparative, and process studies of human‐water feedbacks.

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From Premise to Practice: a Critical Assessment of Integrated Water Resources Management and Adaptive Management Approaches in the Water Sector

Cited by 265 publications

References 33 publications

Wicked Water Problems: Can Network Governance Deliver? Integrated Water Management Case Studies from New Zealand and Oregon, USA

Wicked Water Problems: Can Network Governance Deliver? Integrated Water Management Case Studies from New Zealand and Oregon, USA

iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to study socio‐hydro‐ecological systems

Time scale interactions and the coevolution of humans and water

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