The outcomes of a series of tests of the ARDI (Actors, Resources, Dynamics, and Interactions) method in complex cases or conflict-ridden situations is presented. ARDI is part of a companion modeling approach that makes it possible to engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the design and development of land and water management plans. It is based on participatory workshops that set out to collaboratively imagine a future open, dynamic management system, capable of adaptation and anticipation, by gathering the various stakeholders in a partnership to examine conservation of the natural resources and promoting a sustainable development. Its originality lies in the co-construction of a "conceptual model" of the functioning of the territory, according to an overarching, negotiated development question. The approach is based on the collective articulation of the key elements of a context or territory by stakeholders such as managers, representatives, socio-professional technicians, nongovernmental organizations, experts, and scientists, and local policy makers. This sharing of representations is done by means of a series of collective workshops during which Actors, Resources, Dynamics, and Interactions constituting the profile of the territory are identified and clarified. This work of co-construction is conducted within a precise methodological framework that we present in a step-by-step format. The method is grounded in concrete experience gleened from tests conducted by the authors over the past five years. Finally, the requirement for specific skills as well as pitfalls to avoid when applying the method are discussed.

ABSTRACT. We aimed to contribute to the field of natural resource management (NRM) by introducing an alternative systemic context-based framework for planning, research, and decision making, which we expressed practically in the development of a decisionmaking "tool" or method. This holistic framework was developed in the process of studying a specific catchment area, i.e., the Sand River Catchment, but we have proposed that it can be generalized to studying the complexities of other catchment areas. Using the lens of systemic resilience to think about dynamic and complex environments differently, we have reflected on the development of a systemic framework for understanding water and livelihood security under transformation in postapartheid South Africa. The unique aspect of this framework is that allows researchers and policy makers to reframe catchments as being recognizable as complex socialecological systems, and by doing so, the possibility is opened to understand resiliency in the face of rapid transformation and crisis. Ultimately, this holistic approach can be used to understand the translation of policy into practice. We have emphasized our reflections on the development and use of the framework and the challenges and successes faced by collaborators in the process of adopting such an orientation. Because these are likely to characterize policy and decision-making processes in NRM in general, we have suggested that such a systemic framing can assist researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to adopt systems and resilience analyses in the process of planning and implementation.

ABSTRACT. Equitable redistribution of resources is an emergent phenomenon in democratizing countries, and attempts are often characterized by decentralized decision making within a framework of multistakeholder negotiations. South Africa offers a unique opportunity to explore the manifestations of these relationships, particularly through Integrated Water Resources Management and its National Water Act of 1998. The Integrated Water Resources Management framework provides for collaborative strategic planning, shared visioning, consideration to water resource protection, attention to the regulation of use, operational planning, and implementation of management plans. Water users, with different stakes and views of how the resource should be managed, are expected to arrive at a single strategic plan for a specific hydrological region. Clearly this complex planning situation creates a need for tools that assist in producing a measure of convergence in thinking and enough of a shared rationale to allow stakeholder participation to produce an integrated management outcome. Several such tools are available in the overall catchment management strategy, but these would benefit from clearer understanding of the positions from which different stakeholders are operating and a way of knowing whether these positions are aligning. In this paper challenges posed by differences in meaning and understanding amongst stakeholders are examined against the need to engage stakeholders in water resources management. We deliberate on the prospects of employing mental model methodologies within the context of the strategic management framework for water management described.