Abstract
Water management is facing major challenges due to increasing uncertainties caused by climate and global change and by fast changing socio-economic boundary conditions. More attention has to be devoted to understanding and managing the transition from current management regimes to more adaptive regimes that take into account environmental, technological, economic, institutional and cultural characteristics of river basins. This implies a paradigm shift in water management from a prediction and control to a management as learning approach. The change towards adaptive management could be defined as “learning to manage by managing to learn”. Such change aims at increasing the adaptive capacity of river basins at different scales. The paper identifies major challenges for research and practice how to understand a transition in water management regimes. A conceptual framework is introduced how to characterize water management regimes and the dynamics of transition processes. The European project NeWater project is presented as one approach where new scientific methods and practical tools are developed for the participatory assessment and implementation of adaptive water management.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bandura A (1977) Social Learning Theory. Ehglewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, N-J
Berkes FL, Colding J, Folke C (eds.), (2002) Navigating Social-Ecological Systems: Building Resilience for Complexity and Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA
Bormann BT, Cunningham PG, Brookes MH, Manning VW, Collopy MW (1994) Adaptive ecosystem management in the Pacific Northwest. USDA For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-341. 22 pages
Bouwen B, Taillieu T (2004) Multi-party collaboration as social learning for interdependence: Developing relational knowing for sustainable natural resource management. J Community Appl Soc Psychol 14:137–153
Checkland P (1999) Soft Systems Methodology: A 30-year retrospective. Wiley and Sons, Chichester
Craps M (ed) (2003) Social Learning in River Basin Management. Report of workpackage 2 of the HarmoniCOP project (www.harmonicop.info)
Dyson M, Bergkamp G, Scanlon J (eds) Flow. The Essentials of Environmental Flows. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xiv
Folke C, Carpenter S, Elmqvist T, Gunderson L, Holling CS, Walker B (2002) Resilience and sustainable development: Building adaptive capacity in a world of transformations. Ambio 31:437–440
Folke C, Hahn T, Olsson P, Norberg J (2005) Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Annu Rev Environ Resour 30:8.1–8.33
Framing Committee of the GWSP (2004) The Global Water System Project: Science Framework and Implementation Activities. Earth System Science Partnership. (Draft: February 6, 2004). http://www.gwsp.org
Galaz VR (2005) Does the EC Water Framework Directive build Resilience? Harnessing Socio-Ecological Complexity in European Water Management. Policy Paper I by “The Resilience and Freshwater Initiative”, Swedish Water House, Stockholm
Geels FW (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Research Policy 31:1257–1274
Gleick PH (2003) Global freshwater resources: Soft-Path solutions for the 21st century. Science 302:524–528
Gunderson L (1999) Resilience, flexibility and adaptive management – antidotes for spurious certitude? Conservation Ecology 3(1):7. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss1/art7
Hartvigsen G, Kinzig A, Peterson G (1998) Use and analysis of complex adaptive systems in ecosystem science: Overview of special section. Ecosystems 1:427–430
Holling CS (ed) (1978) Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. John Wiley and Sons, New York
Huberman BA (ed) (1988) The Ecology of Computation. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Huitema D, Becker G (2005) Governance, institutions and participation: a comparative assessment of current conditions in selected countries in the Rhine, Amu Darya and Orange river basins. NEWATER report series, No 7, www.newater.info
Kiker CF, Milon JW, Hodges AW (2001) Adaptive learning for science-based policy: the Everglades restoration. Ecological Economics 37:403–416
Lee KN (1999) Appraising adaptive management. Conservation Ecology 3:3–16
Levin SA (1998) Ecosystems and the biosphere as complex adaptive systems. Ecosystems 1:431–436
Moberg F, Galaz V (2005) Resilience: Going from Conventional to Adaptive Freshwater Management for Human and Ecosystem Compatibility. Swedish Water House Policy Brief Nr. 3, SIWI
Pahl-Wostl C (1995) The dynamic nature of ecosystems: Chaos and order entwined. Wiley and Sons, Chichester
Pahl-Wostl C (2002) Towards sustainability in the water sector: The importance of human actors and processes of social learning. Aquatic Sciences 64:394–411
Pahl-Wostl C, Hare M (2004) Processes of social learning in iuntegrated resources management. Journal of Applied and Community Psychology 14:193–206
Pahl-Wostl C (in press) The implications of complexity for integrated resources management. Environmental Modeling and Software, in press
Pahl-Wostl C (2006) The importance of social learning in restoring the multifunctionality of rivers and floodplains. Ecology and Society 11(1):10. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vo111/iss1/art10/
Pahl-Wostl C, Downing T, Kabat P, Magnuszewski P, Meigh J, Schlueter M, Sendzimir J, Werners S (2004) Transition to Adaptive Water Management; The NeWater project. NeWater Report Series, No. 1, www.newater.info
Richter BD, Mathews R, Harrison DL, Wigington R (2003) Ecologically sustainable water management: managing river flows for ecological integrity. Ecological Applications 13:206–224
Rotmans J, Kemp R, van Asselt M (2001) More evolution than revolution: Transition management in public policy. Foresight 03:15–31
Senge P (1990) The fifth discipline. Doubleday, New York
Walker B, Carpenter S, Anderies J, Abel N, Cummings G, Janssen M, Lebel L, Norberg J, Peterson GD, Pritchard R (2002) Resilience management in social-ecological systems: a working hypothesis for a participatory approach. Conservation Ecology 6(1):14 (online), http://www.consecol.org/vol6/iss1/art14/main.html
Walters C (1986) Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources. Macmillan, New York
Tillman DE, Larsen T, Pahl-Wostl C, Gujer W (2005) Simulation for strategy development in water supply systems. Hydroinformatics 7/1
Timmerman JG, Langaas S (eds.) (2003) The role and use of environmental information in European transboundary river basin management. IWA Publishing, UK
Vörösmarty C, Lettenmaier D, Lévqêue C, Meybeck M, Pahl-Wostl C (2004) Humans transforming the global water system. EOS 85:513–516
Walker B, Carpenter S, Anderies J, Abel N, Cummings G, Janssen M, Lebel L, Norberg J, Peterson GD, Pritchard R (2002) Resilience Management in Social-ecological Systems: A Working Hypothesis for a Participatory Approach. Conservation Ecology 6(1):14 (online), http://www.consecol.org/vol6/iss1/art14/main.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pahl-Wostl, C. Transitions towards adaptive management of water facing climate and global change. Water Resour Manage 21, 49–62 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-9040-4
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-9040-4