Abstract
Climate change exacerbates water scarcity and associated conflicts over water resources. To address said conflicts and achieve sustainable use of water resources in agriculture, further development of socio-ecological adaptations are required. In this study, we evaluate the ability of MAHIZ, a serious board game, to analyze socio-hydrological dynamics related to irrigated agriculture. Gameplay involves the player’s decision-making with associated impacts on water resources and crop productivity in diverse climate and policy scenarios. We evaluated MAHIZ as (1) an innovative science communication and sustainability education approach, and (2) a data collection method to inform socio-hydrological theory and models. Analysis of 35 recorded game sessions demonstrated that MAHIZ is an effective education tool about the tragedy of commons in agrohydrology and was able to identify important decision-making processes and associations between critical social parameters (e.g., communication, trust, competence) and the evolution of collective action. MAHIZ has an open game design, so the approach can be adapted for both scientific insight and outreach.
Highlights
Agriculture is the largest global water user and significantly impacts the hydrological cycle, including the intensification of drought and flood events [1]
We identified four main heuristics used by participants in MAHIZ: 1. Imitation: a player copies a strategy of another player due to misunderstanding of the system dynamics or to the low efficiency of their previous strategy; 2
Research shows the need to expand the diversity in decision-making processes and the theoretical basis for modeling in complex agrohydrological systems
Summary
Agriculture is the largest global water user and significantly impacts the hydrological cycle, including the intensification of drought and flood events [1]. To reduce negative social and environmental impacts, social adaptations are needed [3]. Agrohydrology as a discipline has historically focused on interactions between hydrological, biological, and agronomic processes [4], but effective sustainable adaptation requires a full understanding of the drivers behind the stakeholders’ decisions and impacts [5]. Socio-hydrology approaches consist of coupled human-water models where stakeholders are modeled as homogeneous actors [7] or using proxy variables like environmental degradation [8] and community sensitivity [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
