Adaptive Water Governance: Integrating the Human Dimensions into Water Resource Governance

Abstract

AbstractThe command‐and‐control paradigm of water resource management that dominated 20th century water policy has resulted in vulnerabilities due to its inadequate consideration of the human dimensions as well as its failure to prioritize the need for learning and adapting to change and uncertainties. In response to these shortfalls, recent years have seen the emergence of alternative water policy frameworks, notably integrated water resource management (IWRM) and adaptive management. However, while IWRM broadens the planning goals and scope of water resource governance through integration and coordination across scales and sectors, it does not adequately emphasize learning to deal with uncertainty. On the other hand, adaptive management emphasizes the need to prioritize learning to deal with uncertainty in resource management through monitoring and experimentation, but places less emphasis on the human dimensions required for its successful implementation. This paper discusses adaptive water governance – collaborative, flexible, and learning‐based institutions that connect state and non‐state actors across multiple levels for ecosystem‐based management of land and water resources – as a promising institutional mechanism for integrating the human dimensions into water resource governance while building the capacity of water resource systems to learn and adapt to change. The paper highlights four attributes of adaptive water governance: (1) reintegrating humans into nature; (2) integrating diverse sources and types of knowledge; (3) promoting adaptive and integrative management goals; and (4) using polycentric institutions and analytic deliberation processes. Through these mechanisms, adaptive governance can contribute to sustainability, good governance, conflict management, and social‐ecological resilience in water resource systems.