Abstract
Water resource governance, much like the systems it endeavors to manage, must be resilient and adaptive. Effective, resilient and adaptive water resource governance requires continuing stakeholder engagement to address the complex nature of human and natural systems. Engagement is an adaptive and iterative process of education and empowerment, building relationships and trust, and facilitating collaboration. Collaborative modeling is a methodology that integrates diverse stakeholder perspectives, fosters discussions, and creates space for problem identification and consensus-based strategies and solutions to current water resource challenges. We define collaborative modeling broadly, such that it includes a wide range of systems thinking exercises, as well as dynamic models. By focusing on the relationships and interconnections in the system, collaborative modeling facilitates clarification of mental models and the communication of science. We will describe our work in two interstate basins and how it has evolved over time as these basins strive to develop collaborative governance, and find solutions for their water resource challenges.
Highlights
Water resource governance, much like the systems it endeavors to manage must be adaptive and resilient
We began our work in the Palouse in 2008 with a collaborative model building process that resulted in a web based simulation model for education and outreach [53]; it has progressed with the development of systems thinking exercises at the annual water summit
Washington and Idaho resulting in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rule for phosphorous and dissolved oxygen on the Spokane River [62], metals contamination from mining, polychlorobiphenyl (PCB) contamination, and multiple jurisdictions involved in management
Summary
Much like the systems it endeavors to manage must be adaptive and resilient. The foundations for adaptive and resilient management are rooted in the social, legal and scientific recognition that it is crucial to integrate the values and worldviews of diverse stakeholders into decision processes for resource management that utilizes best available science [3,4,5]. Building models in collaborative social processes that include hydrologic experts and local stakeholders enables transparency and salience, and helps bridge the gap between science and water resource management [12,31,37,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49]. We will describe our work in these basins and how it has evolved over time as stakeholders strive to develop collaborative governance for adaptive and resilient water resource management
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
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 call