Stakeholder engagement in water governance as social learning: lessons from practice

The OECD Principles on Water Governance set out various requirements for stakeholder engagement. Coupled with conceptualizations of social learning, this article asks how we define and enact stakeholder engagement and explores the actual practice of engagement of stakeholders in three fields of water governance. The results suggest that a key consideration is the purpose of the stakeholder engagement, requiring consideration of its ethics, process, roles and expected outcomes. While facilitators cannot be held accountable if stakeholder engagement ‘fails’ in terms of social learning, they are responsible for ensuring that the enabling conditions for social learning are met

Participatory and collaborative modelling key to sustainable and inclusive development: strengthening stakeholder ownership for informed and participatory water resources management

Safe access to water is essential for sustainable development. Building resilience towards disaster risks and ensuring water availability by balancing the many competing uses and users of water, while maintaining healthy and diverse ecosystems, are critical elements to ultimately deliver water security. In this Ph.D. thesis, participatory and collaborative modelling is presented as a means towards sustainable development,as it supports informed decision-making and inclusive development. How to develop and use computer-based simulation models is analysed following a participatory or collaborative modelling approach for managing water resources, so their use can be enhanced, and the ownership of the development strengthened. Four methods are presented to engage stakeholders in the development and use of computer-based simulation models. These approaches are tested in nine study cases, from which this thesis focuses on five of them. The covered themes and countries include river basin planning in Indonesia, water quality management in Turkey and Indonesia, adaptive planning in Bangladesh, and flood risk management in Tanzania. Results of the research show that the use of participatory and collaborative modelling makes the modelling process more efficient. Together, modellers and stakeholders share learning, build consensus, have a sense of ownership of the models, tools and solutions developed and trust in the decision-making process

Collaborative modelling or participatory modelling? A framework for water resources management

Decision Support Systems, and, more recently, participatory and collaborative modelling have emerged as a response to increased focus on stakeholder participation in modelling activities for certain fields like water resources management. Researchers and practitioners frequently use ‘buzzwords’ such as ‘participatory modelling’ and ‘collaborative modelling’. In some cases, both terms are used interchangeably, largely due to unclear distinction between them in literature. This article draws the line between participatory and collaborative modelling by using levels of participation and cooperation as conditioning dimensions. Based on this methodology, a new generic framework is presented. This framework can help identify determinant features of both modelling approaches currently used in water resources management. It permits analysis of these approaches in terms of context, specific use, information handling, stakeholder involvement, modelling team and means. The article concludes with an application of the framework to a collaborative modelling approach carried out for a groundwater study in the Netherlands

Crowdsourcing and interactive modelling for urban flood management

Participatory modelling has become a growing concept in environmental modelling, as it allows stakeholders to be involved in various stages of model development. The majority of studies, however, have focused on the participation during model use for scenario analysis and strategy evaluation after the model has been developed. Large-scale community mapping efforts create new opportunities to establish, detail and improve flood models at the development stage by working together with local stakeholders. In this article, we propose a novel participatory modelling and mapping approach. It builds on the community mapping projects across the most vulnerable wards in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which uses OpenStreetMap as a data platform. The approach consists of community mapping, an automated flood inundation model development and facilitation of stakeholder involvement. The participation of stakeholders in data collection helped achieving a more accurate flood model. The participatory modelling approach made participants aware of the skills necessary to develop an urban flood model with OpenStreetMap, necessary for creating a resilient society. The level of improvement obtained through the applied participatory modelling and mapping approach demonstrates its value in hydrodynamic model development and its potential for application in data scarce areas prone to urban floods.Water Resource

Designing Natural Assurance Schemes with Integrated Decision Support and Adaptive Planning

International audienceDefining and managing integrated urban, river basin and climate adaptation plans towards sustainable development, good ecological status as well as reduced water-related risk is challenging. Uncertainties regarding the future of cities and river basins require these plans to be adaptive. NBS are increasingly put forward as relevant measures to cope with climate related risks and challenges. However, the greening of climate adaptation planning with NBS in a context of risk, requires a well-structured decision-making process that enables the integration of NBS into national, regional and catchment planning processes and financing structures. To facilitate this integration, it is important to connect NBS with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) frameworks, amongst others. Decision-making, however, is not a one-off action. To ensure the implementability of NBS, it is necessary to take key decisions in different steps of the planning, design and management phases. The use of tools and methods in these different steps can help informed decision-making, and as a result the formulation of evidence-based, reliable and well accepted solutions