PN25 Final Report. Companion modeling for resilient water management: Stakeholders’ perceptions of water dynamics and collective learning at the catchment scale

Abstract

The project specific objectives were threefold: (i) Methodological development by offering tools and a methodology for their use to enhance the capacity of expression of stakeholders’ perceptions, to facilitate their collective assessment of water management problems, and to improve coordination among water users through the identification and assessment of scenarios of change leading to agreed-upon action plans, (ii) Capacity building by training a group of scientists and development officers engaged in the actionresearch process on this methodology and its tools to test and adapt them to their needs at key sites, (iii) Participatory construction of concrete propositions to increase water productivity. The project was implemented in the deltaic (Vietnam), medium and upper (Thailand) regions of the Mekong basin and at three contrasted sites in West central and Eastern Bhutan to analyze concrete water and land management issues at the catchment level, and stakeholders’ interactions specific to these water-related problems at each site. The participatory analyses and modelling and simulation processes led to collective assessments of possible changes to increase water productivity and scenarios of (technological and/or organizational) adaptation identified by local stakeholders to reach the desired situation. At each site, these scenarios were simulated by using different types of multi-agent based modelling and simulation tools such as role-playing games associated to computer agent-based models in order to facilitate communication among diverse stakeholders, the exchange of perceptions and knowledge, and when feasible the negotiation of concrete action plans.

Citation

The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 143 pp.

PN25 Final Report. Companion modeling for resilient water management: Stakeholders’ perceptions of water dynamics and collective learning at the catchment scale

Published 1 January 2010