Abstract
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is now a global paradigm. While conceptions of IWRM principles vary between contexts, it primarily aims to ensure more coordinated management between different aspects of water issues such as water quality, land management and habitat protection. However, one increasingly significant cross-cutting management issue is climate change adaptation which presents multiple problems for IWRM approaches. This paper therefore seeks to gauge the extent to which IWRM principles can, and indeed are, enhancing the adaptive capacity of water management through reducing vulnerability and increasing the resilience of social-ecological systems. A review of research into vulnerability and resilience to date suggests that IWRM has significant potential for supporting some of the key determinants of adaptive capacity. However, despite IWRM being promoted as an attractive approach, our assessment argues that IWRM, as currently practiced, cannot readily enhance flexibility and adaptability, which is required for climate change adaptation. Normative recommendations for future policy are then provided.
Highlights
Water resources systems (WRS) are in complex interaction with both social and ecological sub-systems, which make decision making difficult
Despite Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) being promoted as an attractive approach, our assessment argues that IWRM, as currently practiced, cannot readily enhance flexibility and adaptability, which is required for climate change adaptation
Several reasons may explain why IWRM is seen by many scholars and practitioners as the most appropriate overall strategy for managing water resources [2]: 1) it is comprehensive and holistic approach that takes into account all types resources and sectors; 2) IWRM makes the links between the livelihood of the catchment and resource perspective; 3) it incorporates the elements of good governance [3]
Summary
Water resources systems (WRS) are in complex interaction with both social and ecological sub-systems, which make decision making difficult. This paper aims to contribute to this growing body of work by examining how IWRM, as the current paradigm in water resources management, contributes to increasing the “adaptive capacity” of WRS to climate change. As we move up the analytical “ladder” by expanding the conceptual range in order to encompass more and more in explanatory terms, “concept stretching” can occur meaning “gains in extensional coverage tend to be matched by losses in connotative precision” (ibid.: 1035) It remains critical, when discussing the influence of widely applied (and seemingly familiar) concepts such as IWRM to define their main features as precisely as possible. This situation presents something of a problem as the current literature tends to —rather uncritically—define IWRM using multiple interpretations, i.e. The paper concludes with lessons learned for policymakers and practitioners
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