Collaborative Modelling for Informed Decision Making and Inclusive Water Development

Basco‐Carrera, Laura; Beek, Eelco van; Jonoski, Andréja; Benítez-Ávila, Camilo; Guntoro, FX Pj

doi:10.1007/s11269-017-1647-0

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…We conclude that science has the potential to reduce the intractability of a water conflict, and contribute to its transformation, but only if science is carried out in an open and participatory manner (Voinov & Gaddis, 2008;Armitage et al, 2015;Basco-Carrera et al, 2017;Norström et al, 2020), and by collaboratively bringing about research questions that address the interests of all relevant actors. There is an urgent need to design water resources models in a more open way to allow the participation of stakeholders and legitimize the data used in them (Islam & Susskind, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Madrigal¹,

Cauwenbergh²,

Zaag³

2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Global trends suggest that cities around the world are increasingly depleting available water resources. A common strategy is to opt for supply augmentation infrastructure. However, this response can be a financial and social burden for many cities, because they entail developing expensive infrastructure and can trigger social conflicts. Science is often expected to play a key role in informing policymakers and social actors to clarify controversies surrounding policy responses to water scarcity. However, managing conflicts is a socio-political process, and the use of models may have the effect of de-politicizing such processes; conveying the idea that optimal solutions can be objectively identified despite the many perspectives and interests at play. This raises the question whether science can depoliticize water conflicts, or whether instead conflicts politicize science-policy processes? We use the Zapotillo dam and water transfer project in Mexico to analyze the roles of science-policy processes in water conflicts. The Zapotillo project aims at augmenting urban water supply to Guadalajara and León, two large cities in Western Mexico, but a social and legal conflict has stalled the project until today. To analyze the conflict and how stakeholders make sense of it, we interviewed the most relevant actors and studied negotiations between different interest groups through participant observation. To examine the role of science-policy processes in the conflict, we mobilized concepts of epistemic uncertainty and ambiguity and analyzed the design and use of water resources models produced by key actors aiming to resolve the conflict. While the use of models is a proven method to construct future scenarios and test different strategies, the parameterization of scenarios and their results depend on the knowledge and/or interests of actors who own the model. We found that in the Zapotillo case, scenarios reflected the interests and strategies of actors on one side of the conflict, resulting in increased distrust by the opposing actors. We conclude that the dilemma of achieving urban water security through investing in either large infrastructure (supply augmentation) or alternative strategies (demand-side management), cannot be resolved if some key interested parties have not been involved in the scientific processes framing the problem and solution space.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Madrigal¹,

Cauwenbergh²,

Zaag³

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is an urgent need to design water resources models in a more open way to allow for the participation of stakeholders and legitimize the data used in them (Islam and Susskind, 2018) as well as the values hidden in them; this can support the necessary task of reviewing alternatives to large infrastructures (Gupta and van der Zaag, 2008). Additionally, fostering stakeholder participation could collaboratively bring about socially relevant research questions that open the decision space (Voinov and Gaddis, 2008;Zimmerer, 2008;Budds, 2009;Lejano and Ingram, 2009;Brugnach et al, 2011;Blöschl et al, 2013;Armitage et al, 2015;Basco-Carrera et al, 2017;Van Cauwenbergh et al, 2018;van der Molen, 2018;Norström et al, 2020). Brugnach et al (2011) support this as one of the main strategies to handle ambiguity, albeit with the drawback of necessary high social skills to bring people together, which, in a context of conflict, is difficult to achieve.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unraveling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on large hydraulic infrastructure

Madrigal

Cauwenbergh

Zaag

2020

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The development of large infrastructure to address the water challenges of cities around the world can be a financial and social burden for many cities because of the hidden costs these works entail and social conflicts they often trigger. When conflicts erupt, science is often expected to play a key role in informing policymakers and social actors to clarify controversies surrounding policy responses to water scarcity. However, managing conflicts is a sociopolitical process, and often quantitative models are used as an attempt to depoliticize such processes, conveying the idea that optimal solutions can be objectively identified despite the many perspectives and interests at play. This raises the question as to whether science depoliticizes water conflicts or whether instead conflicts politicize science–policy processes. We use the Zapotillo dam and water transfer project in Mexico to analyze the role of science–policy processes in water conflicts. The Zapotillo project aims at augmenting urban water supply to Guadalajara and León, two large cities in western Mexico, but a social and legal conflict has stalled the project until today. To analyze the conflict and how stakeholders make sense of it, we interviewed the most relevant actors and studied the negotiations between different interest groups through participant observation. To examine the role of science–policy processes in the conflict, we mobilized concepts of epistemic uncertainty and ambiguity and analyzed the design and use of water resources models produced by key actors aiming to resolve the conflict. While the use of models is a proven method to construct future scenarios and test different strategies, the parameterization of scenarios and their results are influenced by the knowledge and/or interests of actors behind the model. We found that in the Zapotillo case, scenarios reflected the interests and strategies of actors on one side of the conflict, resulting in increased distrust of the opposing actors. We conclude that the dilemma of achieving urban water security through investing in either large infrastructure (supply augmentation) or alternative strategies (demand-side management) cannot be resolved if some key interested parties have not been involved in the scientific processes framing the problem and solution space.

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“…A number of stakeholder participatory methods for water resources planning in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and Southeast Asia have been described and evaluated by Megdal et al, [22]; Kallis et al, [23]; Robles-Morua et al, [17]; and Basco-Carrera [24], respectively. These range from approaches where stakeholders are actively engaged in model development and use (model development and mediated modeling), to approaches where stakeholders provide input and reaction, to model analyses conducted primarily by scientists (such as scenario testing and model output analysis).…”

Section: Literature Review: Stakeholder Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Best practices for stakeholder engagement are well-known, especially in the context of water resources management and planning, and have been summarized by a number of authors [16,24,48]. We emphasize a few of these here as they relate, in general, to participatory research and, in particular, to our project.…”

Section: Stakeholder Engagement: Lessons Learned Regarding Best Practmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Process for Stakeholder Identification and Engagement in Addressing Wicked Water Resources Problems

Hargrove

Heyman

2020

Land

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Various sectors of stakeholders (urban, agricultural, policymakers, etc.) are frequently engaged in participatory research projects aimed at improving water resources’ sustainability. However, a process for comprehensive and integrative identification, classification, and engagement of all types of water stakeholders for a region or river basin, especially in a transboundary context, is missing for water resources research projects. Our objective was to develop a systematic approach to identifying and classifying water stakeholders, and engage them in a discussion of water futures, as a foundation for a participatory modeling research project to address the wicked water resource problems of the Middle Rio Grande basin on the U.S./Mexico border. This part of the Rio Grande basin can be characterized as having limited and dwindling supplies of water, increasing demands for water from multiple sectors, and a segmented governance system spanning two U.S. states and two countries. These challenges are being exacerbated by climate change; a transitioning agriculture to more water demanding, high value crops; urbanization; and growing demand for environmental services. Moving forward, a core question for this region is how can water be managed so that the three competing sectors—agricultural, urban, and environmental—can realize a sustainable future in this challenged water system? We identified the major water-using sectors who represent competing demands as including agricultural, municipal, self-supplied industrial users, environmental, and a sector we labeled “social justice”, comprised of individuals who lack access to potable water, or who represent groups who advocate for access to water. We included stakeholders from both the U.S. and Mexico, which is seldom done, who share transboundary water resources in the region. We hosted a series of stakeholder dialogues and obtained results that identified and described their vision for the future of water; challenges to be overcome; and important research questions that could be addressed using participatory modeling approaches. Four broad themes common to multiple sectors emerged: (1) quantity, drought, and scarcity; (2) quality/salinization; (3) urbanization; and (4) conservation and sustainability. Each sector expressed distinctive views regarding the future of water. Agricultural stakeholders, in particular, had strong feelings of ownership of water rights as part of land ownership and a concomitant sense of threat to those water rights emanating from dwindling supplies and competing demands. The contribution of this work is a methodology for identifying, classifying, and engaging all types of stakeholders in the context of a research project, enabling us to compare and contrast views of different types of stakeholders. Heretofore, this has been accomplished in “bits and pieces”, but never comprehensively and holistically.

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Collaborative Modelling for Informed Decision Making and Inclusive Water Development

Cited by 27 publications

References 31 publications

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Unravelling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on a large hydraulic infrastructure project

Unraveling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on large hydraulic infrastructure

A Comprehensive Process for Stakeholder Identification and Engagement in Addressing Wicked Water Resources Problems

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