Disentangling the Complexity of Groundwater Dependent Social-ecological Systems

Barreteau, Olivier; Caballero, Yvan; Hamilton, Serena H.; Jakeman, Anthony; Rinaudo, Jean‐Daniel

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23576-9_3

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…These include studies on using interactions between groundwater user behaviours, social norms, and physical groundwater dynamics to establish rules for more sustainable groundwater management (Hammani et al 2009), socio-historical studies on the social and political contexts that lead to successful implementation of managed aquifer recharge projects (Richard-Ferroudji et al 2018), evaluations of the effect and timing of initiatives to promote groundwater recharge (Patel et al 2020), and on general design principles for self-sustaining irrigation institutions (Ostrom 1993). Thus, we are far from the first to recognize the potential for social-ecological concepts to be applied to groundwater topics (Barreteau et al 2016) and to the groundwater sustainability discourse (Bouchet et al 2019). However, amid this rich and diverse set of studies, we perceive a lack of foundational literature that integrates emerging trends in groundwater research though a common conceptual foundation.…”

Section: Groundwater-connected Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other works calling for social-ecological approaches to groundwater elaborate more extensively on management implications. See Bouchet et al (2019) for a discussion on strategic adaptive groundwater management, and Barreteau et al (2016) for a description of an integrated groundwater management landscape (IGM-scape) to inform management across water, land, and energy sectors.…”

Section: Implications For Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Groundwater connections and sustainability in social-ecological systems

Huggins¹,

Gleeson²,

Castilla-Rho³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Groundwater is embedded in social and ecological systems but the complexity of these interactions is not well represented in conventional approaches to study and promote groundwater sustainability. We argue an important shift is necessary in groundwater sustainability thinking: towards prioritizing the functions of groundwater, and the services that make it a critical resource, and away from focussing on the resource in isolation. We articulate a new perspective for groundwater sustainability based around the concept of groundwater-connected systems—any system with dynamic relationships with groundwater, which can include ecological, social, and Earth systems. We draw from the emerging field of sustainability science and consider groundwater-connected systems to be specific forms of both social-ecological systems and complex adaptive systems. We argue this interdisciplinary systems-based perspective is necessary to connect existing research domains and paradigms, and provides additional concepts and tools from the established literatures of social-ecological systems and complex adaptive systems to improve how we study and manage groundwater-connected systems for resilience and sustainability. We provide a theoretical foundation for this perspective and discuss its practical implications which span data collection initiatives, scientific investigations, governance, and management approaches. Amidst calls for innovation in the groundwater field, we argue that embracing the groundwater-connected system perspective can underpin a methodologically pluralistic, interdisciplinary, community-wide, and bold new wave of groundwater research to better understand and promote groundwater sustainability in the complex systems groundwater is embedded within.

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Section: Groundwater-connected Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater connections and sustainability in social-ecological systems

Huggins¹,

Gleeson²,

Castilla-Rho³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Other works calling for social‐ecological approaches to groundwater elaborate more extensively on management implications. See Bouchet et al (2019) for a discussion on strategic adaptive groundwater management, and Barreteau et al (2016) for a description of an integrated groundwater management landscape across water, land, and energy sectors.…”

Section: Wide Applicability To Groundwater Science and Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater Connections and Sustainability in Social‐Ecological Systems

et al. 2023

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Groundwater resources are connected with social, economic, ecological, and Earth systems. We introduce the framing of groundwater-connected systems to better represent the nature and complexity of these connections in data collection, scientific investigations, governance and management approaches, and groundwater education. Groundwater-connected systems are social, economic, ecological, and Earth systems that interact with groundwater, such as irrigated agriculture, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and cultural relationships to groundwater expressions such as springs and rivers. Groundwater-connected systems form social-ecological systems with complex behaviors such as feedbacks, nonlinear processes, multiple stable system states, and path dependency. These complex behaviors are only visible through this integrated system framing and are not endogenous properties of physical groundwater systems. The framing is syncretic as it aims to provide a common conceptual foundation for the growing disciplines of socio-hydrogeology, eco-hydrogeology, groundwater governance, and hydro-social groundwater analysis. The framing also facilitates greater alignment between the groundwater sustainability discourse and emerging sustainability concepts and principles. Aligning with these concepts and principles presents groundwater sustainability as more than a physical state to be reached; and argues that place-based and multifaceted goals, values, justice, knowledge systems, governance, and management must continually be integrated to maintain groundwater's social, ecological, and Earth system functions. The groundwater-connected systems framing can underpin a broad, methodologically pluralistic, and community-driven new wave of data collection and analysis, research, governance, management, and education. These developments, together, can invigorate efforts to foster sustainable groundwater futures in the complex systems groundwater is embedded within.

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“…Groundwater provides a range of ecosystem services valuable to humans, including the provision of freshwater and food. Human communities also influence groundwater quality and availability through land use, pollution and extraction (Barreteau et al, 2016). However, it has often been observed that change in a human component of the system (e.g., groundwater extraction) does not necessarily lead to a change of similar magnitude in a physical component of the system (e.g., saltwater intrusion) because, in a complex SES, interactions between human communities, groundwater resources and GDE generate nonlinear relationships and feedbacks (Bouchet et al, 2019;Comte et al, 2015;Paniconi et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on groundwater systems is often focused on hydrogeological and hydrodynamic processes (Barreteau et al, 2016). Conceptual and numerical models are widely used to represent groundwater flow and its interaction with surrounding environments (Betancur et al, 2012;Yang et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Causal Loop Diagrams to Conceptualize Groundwater as a Social-Ecological System

Bouchet

Thoms

Parsons

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Groundwater systems are social-ecological systems (SES) in which human communities, groundwater dependent ecosystems and groundwater resources are linked, and therefore, cannot be studied in isolation. Complex adaptive systems are characterised by non-linear relationships and feedbacks between the system variables. Modeling feedbacks between social and ecological variables of groundwater systems requires a shift from traditional hydrogeological studies to more holistic approaches that simulate groundwater as a SES. A framework was developed to study and manage groundwater as a social-ecological system. Operationalizing the framework to develop empirical models that consider the social and ecological aspects of groundwater dynamics requires translating the framework components into measurable model inputs that capture the key relationships between social and ecological components. Causal loop diagrams (CLD) are an ideal tool for translating between a conceptual framework and an operational, empirical model. Causal loop diagrams can reveal system complexity associated with the interaction of social, ecological and hydrological components, and identify key inputs that need to be considered to model groundwater as a SES. This paper applies CLD to conceptualize the feedbacks between the social, ecological and hydrological components of a groundwater system. The concept is applied to the groundwater system in the island of Nauru, and shows that two balancing feedbacks help maintain the system in a precarious state of usability while several reinforcing feedbacks in the social subsystem apply constant pressure to the system. The CLD reveals that the social subsystem is large and complex, even though the island population is small (approximately 10,000 people). It also demonstrates that the social system is by far the larger disruptor and has the greater potential to alter system states.

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Disentangling the Complexity of Groundwater Dependent Social-ecological Systems

Cited by 6 publications

References 71 publications

Groundwater connections and sustainability in social-ecological systems

Groundwater connections and sustainability in social-ecological systems

Groundwater Connections and Sustainability in Social‐Ecological Systems

Using Causal Loop Diagrams to Conceptualize Groundwater as a Social-Ecological System

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