Participatory Evaluation of Water Management Options for Climate Change Adaptation in River Basins

Abstract

Climate and other human-induced changes will increase water scarcity in world areas such as in the Mediterranean. Adaptation principles need to be urgently incorporated into water management and stakeholder engagement needs to be strengthened at all steps of the management cycle. This study aimed to analyse and compare stakeholder-preferred water management options (WMOs) to face climate change related challenges and to foster adaptation in four Mediterranean river basins. The challenges and WMOs of the four river basins identified by stakeholders were analysed examining to what extent the WMOs tackled the identified challenges. The impact of the WMOs resulting from a participatory modelling method was included in a comparative analysis of the stakeholders’ WMOs preferences. The results indicate the participatory approach that was applied allowed local priorities and real-world challenges to be defined with adequate detail as well as the definition of tailored responses. The participatory impact analysis provided an integrated view of the river basin as an interrelated system. The participatory evaluation of the WMOs was able to consider a wide range of elements and was able reflect the combined preferences of the stakeholders. Moreover, it allowed groups of basin actors with highly diverse profiles and concerns to further promote sets of these WMOs as input into decision making processes.

A Review of Stakeholder Engagement in Integrated River Basin Management

“…There was also a participatory evaluation carried out to compare the stakeholderpreferred management of river basins [81]. Reynaud et al (2015) [82] applied the participatory approach to outline the development priorities in the Mékrou Transboundary River Basin, which involved Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger in West Africa.…”

How Central Water Management Impacts Local Livelihoods: An Ethnographic Case Study of Mining Water Extraction in Tarapacá, Chile

“…Different modeling frameworks have acknowledged that such sharp distinctions between local and expert knowledge must be treated with care. Instead, interdisciplinary approaches have been suggested that allow for dialogue between different knowledge systems in diverse fields such as climate change adaptation [57] or water allocation [58]. Various methodologies have been developed that seek to incorporate and encourage the participation of local actors and stakeholders in the shaping of a more "holistic" and "democratic" knowledge base in and for modeling [59].…”

“…Various methodologies have been developed that seek to incorporate and encourage the participation of local actors and stakeholders in the shaping of a more "holistic" and "democratic" knowledge base in and for modeling [59]. Such participatory modeling has been implemented in a number of cases [57,[60][61][62].…”