Train-the-trainer Workshop Cairo

The NeWater project and the Nile Basin Initiative together organized a workshop about adaptive management for people involved in the management of the Nile river basin. A very diverse African group of participants, from Egypt to Rwanda and Burundi, took part in the workshop, together with NeWater people from Belgium, Netherlands and Uzbekistan.

Thanks to the preparations of Fons Jaspers, the fluent Arabic of Koen Roest and the many helpful staff members of the training centre of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (including visa and passport helpers, drivers, sheet-turners, engineers and furniture carriers) the training went very well. It was an interesting occasion with the necessary enthusiasm and critical questions, turning it into a learning event for both trainers and participants.

We used the Podocarpus National Park simulation as a tool to learn about dealing with multiple actors and diverging frames, which led to lively negotiations and discussion about the feasibility of such an appraoch in a number of African cases.

Publication "Identification of major sources of uncertainty in current IWRM practice"

The following paper, which is the result of joint work in the NeWater project, has been published in Water Resources Management:

Identification of major sources of uncertainty in current IWRM practice. Illustrated for the Rhine basin.

P. van der Keur, H.J. Henriksen, J-C. Refsgaard, M. Brugnach, C. Pahl-Wostl, A. Dewulf and H. Buiteveld

Here's the abstract:

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) can be viewed as a complex process in which the effect of adopted water management measures must be monitored and adjusted in an iterative way as new information and technology gradually become available under changing and uncertain external impacts, such as climate change. This paper identifies and characterises uncertainty as it occurs in the different stages of the IWRM process with respect to sources, nature and type of uncertainty. The present study develops a common terminology that honour the most important aspects from natural and social sciences and its application to the entire IWRM process. The proposed framework is useful by acknowledging a broad range of uncertainties regarding data, models, multiple frames and context.,Relating this framework to the different steps of the IWRM cycle is helpful to determine the strategies to better handle and manage uncertainties. Finally, this general framework is illustrated for a case study in the transboundary Rhine river basin.

The paper can be downloaded here or from the journal's website http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-008-9248-6

Transitions Conference Wageningen

In October Wageningen University organises the scientific conference "'Transitions towards sustainable agriculture, food chains and peri-urban areas". The conference will take place from 26 till 29 October.

The program committee is chaired by my colleague Prof. Dr. Ir. Katrien Termeer, head of our Public Administration and Policy Group.

From the conference folder (download as pdf):
"The structural changes in the scarcity of products, energy, space and nature lead to fundamental changes in the views on the role of agriculture in urban areas. This implies longterm societal change. In such transitions stakeholders such as consumers, citizens, policy makers and farmers change their views on their own role and contribution to the problems and the solutions. ... Such transitions challenge scientists to make the changes in policy, institutions and behaviour visible, understandable and - if possible - also applicable in developing creative ideas for system innovations in products, production processes and collaborations."

The deadline for submission of extended abstracts for Contributed Papers and Posters is 29 February 2008. An extended 3-page abstract will be anonymously refereed. Authors will be informed about the disposition of their submissions by 1 June 2008.

Programme Committee
Katrien Termeer (Wageningen University, Netherlands, chair)
John Grin (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Arie Rip (University of Twente, Netherlands)
Cornelia Butler Flora (Iowa State University, USA)
Terry Marsden (Cardiff University, United Kingdom)
Jill L. Findeis (PennState University, USA)
Frank Nevens (ILVO, Merelbeke, Belgium)
Konrad Hagedorn (Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany)

CAIWA 2007

The International Conference on Adaptive and Integrated Water Management took place in Basel (Switzerland) now about a month ago. It was an intensive week, with a lot of presentations, panels, discussions and interesting informal talks about such things as scaling, adaptation, uncertainty and knowledge frames. There was a good representation of the NeWater crowd but also quite some external people, including well-known international scholars such as Oran Young, Elinor Ostrom and Helen Ingram.

For those interested the conference papers (including three papers I worked on) are available at
http://www.newater.uos.de/caiwa/papers.htm

Water-related research in the social sciences

My research generally deals with the organizational and governance aspects of negotiation, conflict and collaboration between multiple public and private actors in the context of natural resources management. Specific research topics focus on the processes of sensemaking, issue framing, dealing with differences, social learning and innovation, from an approach that emphasizes the role of meaning, interaction and language.

At the occasion of the "Water Café" of the Social Sciences Group at Wageningen University, I've prepared an overview of water-related research in which I'm involved. Topics

- Social learning in river basin management planning (www.harmonicop.info). In this project a concept for social learning and collaborative governance has been developed, rooted in the interpretive strands of the social sciences emphasizing the context dependence of knowledge. The role of frames and boundary management in processes of learning at different levels and time scales are investigated.

- Issue framing in multi-actor contexts. E.g. analysis of multi-actor meetings between a university engineering center and indigenous irrigation organization in Ecuador, about the use of a hydraulic simulation model for managing water flow in the irrigation system. The analysis focuses on the different frames about the issue that are voiced at the negotiation table during the joint exploration and construction of a potential common problem domain. This results in the identification of interaction patterns for dealing with differences in issue framing (accommodating, incorporating, disconnecting, polarizing, exploring and reframing).

- New methods for adaptive water management under uncertainty (www.newater.info). Water managers need to solve a range of interrelated water dilemmas, in a context where human actions and values play a central role. The growing uncertainties of global climate change and the long term implications of management actions make the problems even more difficult. Research within this research includes development of a broadened conceptualization of uncertainties in water management, including ambiguity as a different kind of uncertainty, apart from ontological and epistemic uncertainty. It also includes a case study of water management (HDSR, Kromme Rijn-gebied) about the differentiation of issues and stakes in the interactive decision-making process for a water area plan.

- Scaling and governance (IPOP Science Plan “Scaling and governance”). This research approaches the politics of scale from a sensemaking perspective. The framing of a problem as a local, regional or global problem is the result of an active process of sensemaking. When the European commission defined (transboundary) river basins as the scale for organizing water management they cut across existing administrative boundaries, resulting in many European countries in the activation of new relations and the deactivation of others. This research addresses the mutually influencing relations between a constellation of actors, their interdependencies and the framing of issues at a certain scale.

As part of the Scaling and Governance program a Ph.D. position has been opened at our Public Administration and Policy Group. More information can found at this website.