Supporting decision making under uncertainty: Development of a participatory integrated model for water management in the middle Guadiana river basin

HESS Opinions "Integration of groundwater and surface water research: an interdisciplinary problem?"

“…Research will quite often need to have an applied component to justify the efforts and they can hardly ignore existing problems and the demands of practical management. Stakeholder involvement, participatory modeling approaches and communication strategies are thus also an essential part (see Carmona et al, 2013 for a comprehensive discussion). Any researcher who wants to become involved in integrated water research on the regional scale should thus become acquainted with the idea (and challenges) of working together with social scientists and a wider non-scientific public.…”

Modelling uncertainty in social–natural interactions

“…Bayesian networks (BNs) are considered one of the most powerful tools for representing complex systems of causal interactions between variables that are subject to uncertainty (Borsuk et al, 2004;Jensen and Nielsen, 2007;Pourret et al, 2008;Korb and Nicholson, 2011;Carmona et al, 2013;Kelly et al, 2013;Landuyt et al, 2013;Nash et al, 2013). Their graphical structure allows stakeholders to understand the relationships easily.…”

Qualifying irrigation system sustainability by means of stakeholder perceptions and concerns: lessons from the Segarra‐Garrigues Canal, Spain

“…Management of water resources is a particularly challenging and difficult task in which the complexities inherent in functioning hydrological cycles and biological systems are combined with the multiple perspectives, needs, values and concerns associated with the use of water for human─related purposes (Clark, 2007;Allan, 2012;Lang et al, 2012). For management problems that pertain specifically to the field of natural resources, the current trend is to develop integrated policies that are sustainable in the long-term and that take into account all of the factors and actors related to and involved in the resource use (Pahl-Wostl et al, 2008;Carmona et al, 2013). If the 20th century was the era of administrative management and hydraulic paradigms, then the 21st century may be the era of collaborative management (Koontz and Thomas, 2006;Sachs et al, 2010;Jacobs and Buijs, 2011).…”