Science-Policy Dialogues for Water Security: Addressing Vulnerability and Adaptation to Global Change in the Arid Americas

Scott, Christopher A.; Varady, Robert G.; Meza, Francisco; Montaña, Elma; Raga, Graciela B.; Luckman, Brian H.; Martius, Christopher

doi:10.1080/00139157.2012.673454

Cited by 29 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This is a precautionary philosophy, consistent with the international water-law community's approach to uncertainty with respect to the nature and extent of poorly explored aquifers (Hawkins, 2015;UN ILC, 2008: Art 12), in keeping with the environmental philosophy critique of humankind seeking control over nature (Read, 2015), and compatible with the response to dynamism created by non-equilibrium hydroclimatic and rapidly changing social conditions (see e.g. Lankford and Beale, 2007;Leach et al, 2010;Scott et al, 2012).…”

Section: Seeking Water Security Via Complexity -The Integrative Approachmentioning

confidence: 85%

Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges

Zeitoun

Lankford

Krueger

et al. 2016

Global Environmental Change

Self Cite

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

(2016) Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges. Global Environmental Change, 39 . pp. 143-154. ISSN 0959-3780 DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016 Reuse of this item is permitted through licensing under the Creative Commons: AbstractThis article reviews and contrasts two approaches that water security researchers employ to advance understanding of the complexity of water-society policy challenges. A prevailing reductionist approach seeks to represent uncertainty through calculable risk, links national GDP tightly to hydro-climatological causes, and underplays diversity and politics in society. When adopted uncritically, this approach limits policy-makers to interventions that may reproduce inequalities, and that are too rigid to deal with future changes in society and climate. A second, more integrative, approach is found to address a range of uncertainties, explicitly recognise diversity in society and the environment, incorporate water resources that are less-easily controlled, and consider adaptive approaches to move beyond conventional supply-side prescriptions. The resultant policy recommendations are diverse, inclusive, and more likely to reach the marginalised in society, though they often encounter policy-uptake obstacles. The article concludes by defining a route towards more effective water security research and policy, which stresses analysis that matches the state of knowledge possessed, an expanded research agenda, and explicitly addresses inequities.Complex Water Security

show abstract

Section: Seeking Water Security Via Complexity -The Integrative Approachmentioning

confidence: 85%

Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges

Zeitoun

Lankford

Krueger

et al. 2016

Global Environmental Change

Self Cite

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Often, the success of adaptive management is contingent on public participation and active knowledge exchange between scientists and policy-makers. Citing successful efforts in the arid Americas, Scott et al [15,16] and Ocampo-Melgar et al [17] advocate for science-policy dialogues, structured approaches toward adaptive management that involve knowledgesharing, flexible planning, and capacity building. Time-intensive but effective approaches include the co-production of science and policy through interventions by organizations that span research and practice [18,19].…”

Section: Science-policy Dialoguesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concept of "water security"-likely first used by the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the organization primarily responsible for defining, promoting, and helping to implement IWRM-framed water security as an overarching goal from the household to the global level, in which "every person has access to enough safe water at affordable cost to lead a clean, healthy and productive life while ensuring that the natural environment is protected and enhanced" [24:12]. Since then, the term has undergone numerous refinements and redefinitions [e.g., 15,25]. At its core, though, the notion of water security is intended to shift emphasis from a process (adaptive management) to a goal-that goal being secure access to good-quality water for populations and natural environments.…”

Section: Water Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive management and water security in a global context: definitions, concepts, and examples

Varady¹,

Zúñiga-Terán²,

Garfin

et al. 2016

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conventional water governance that centralizes decision-making and focuses on increasing supply has sometimes led to ecological degradation and inequitable outcomes. As a corrective, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) incorporates sustainability principles that integrate social, ecological, and infrastructural systems. However, this governance mode still does not address complex issues for an uncertain future, and fails to offer a clear goal. Adaptive management, another approach, relies on public participation and active knowledge exchange between scientists and policymakers; it also incorporates uncertainty into decision-making. The concept of water security emerged subsequently to address the lack of a clear goal for water management. In this paper, we set into context the terms "adaptive management" and "water security" and review their evolution and their critiques. Both concepts require measurement and monitoring of outcomes in order to determine progress towards established goals so as to guide decision-making. We discuss the challenges and different ways of measuring water security and provide a representative list of potential indicators. The essay provides some examples of adaptive-management studies across the world and discusses adaptive management as it relates to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Our concluding remarks reflect on present challenges, practical limitations, and promising ideas for a future type of water governance that is participatory, equitable, and adaptive.

show abstract

“…Social learning processes may seem outside the remit of scientists, especially when science-policy linkages are viewed as linear. However, social learning processes can help one link policy makers, scientists, and other key actors (members of the public, non-governmental organizations, aboriginal groups) through their emphasis on communication, deliberation, and group interaction (e.g., meetings, workshops, study tours, and visits) (Scott et al 2012). This can help stakeholders to deal with significant uncertainty and complexity, and if social learning processes are well designed (see Bos et al 2013), they can help surface the relationships of power that must be accounted for if meaningful actions are to be taken (Armitage et al 2009).…”

Section: Learning To Learn Through Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science–policy processes for transboundary water governance

Armitage

Loë

Morris

et al. 2015

Ambio

117

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this policy perspective, we outline several conditions to support effective science-policy interaction, with a particular emphasis on improving water governance in transboundary basins. Key conditions include (1) recognizing that science is a crucial but bounded input into water resource decision-making processes; (2) establishing conditions for collaboration and shared commitment among actors; (3) understanding that social or group-learning processes linked to science-policy interaction are enhanced through greater collaboration; (4) accepting that the collaborative production of knowledge about hydrological issues and associated socioeconomic change and institutional responses is essential to build legitimate decision-making processes; and (5) engaging boundary organizations and informal networks of scientists, policy makers, and civil society. We elaborate on these conditions with a diverse set of international examples drawn from a synthesis of our collective experiences in assessing the opportunities and constraints (including the role of power relations) related to governance for water in transboundary settings.

show abstract

Science-Policy Dialogues for Water Security: Addressing Vulnerability and Adaptation to Global Change in the Arid Americas

Abstract: Central Andes region locator map and Maipo River Basin.Central Andes region locator map; Elqui, Maipo, and Mendoza River Basins.

Cited by 29 publications

References 17 publications

Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges

Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges

Adaptive management and water security in a global context: definitions, concepts, and examples

Science–policy processes for transboundary water governance

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About