Systems perspectives on water security: An applied review and conceptual framework

Abstract

This article proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the resilience of water security at the scale of a river basin, thereby contributing to the ongoing scholarship on water security. Based on literature review, we apply systems thinking and resilience theories to encapsulate water security in a river basin as a system whose behaviour depends on the interaction of the component parts and the environment within which it occurs. The proposed framework has been built on the tenet that the resilience of any system such as that for water security depends on the interactions (the relationships) of the components of the particular system. We have thus argued that there is a relationship between resilience and the configurations of the system of water security. By exploring the Orange-Senqu River Basin, we suggest that configurations of the system of water security that includes the interaction of actors within the river basin, the structure of institutions (including institutional regimes), governance mechanisms, the capacity of actors and so forth generate the changes in the behaviour of the system. This behaviour might enable the system of water security to move into a different regime. Depending on the nature of the regime, the system can be considered to be resilient or nonresilient to disturbances. Any attempt to better understand this system requires us to uncover the configurations of this system and how its parts interact with each other, and this is, therefore, the pathway to unlocking the potential of achieving water security at the scale of a river basin.