TY - JOUR
T1 - Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges
AU - Zeitoun, Mark
AU - Lankford, Bruce
AU - Krueger, Tobias
AU - Forsyth, Tim
AU - Carter, Richard
AU - Hoekstra, Arjen Y.
AU - Taylor, Richard
AU - Varis, Olli
AU - Cleaver, Frances
AU - Boelens, Rutgerd
AU - Swatuk, Larry
AU - Tickner, David
AU - Scott, Christopher A.
AU - Mirumachi, Naho
AU - Matthews, Nathanial
N1 - Early title: Reductive and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges
PY - 2016/7
Y1 - 2016/7
N2 - This article reviews and contrasts two approaches that water security researchers employ to advance understanding of the complexity of water-society policy challenges. A prevailing reductionist approach seeks to represent uncertainty through calculable risk, links national GDP tightly to hydro-climatological causes, and underplays diversity and politics in society. When adopted uncritically, this approach limits policy-makers to interventions that may reproduce inequalities, and that are too rigid to deal with future changes in society and climate. A second, more integrative, approach is found to address a range of uncertainties, explicitly recognise diversity in society and the environment, incorporate water resources that are less-easily controlled, and consider adaptive approaches to move beyond conventional supply-side prescriptions. The resultant policy recommendations are diverse, inclusive, and more likely to reach the marginalised in society, though they often encounter policy-uptake obstacles. The article concludes by defining a route towards more effective water security research and policy, which stresses analysis that matches the state of knowledge possessed, an expanded research agenda, and explicitly addresses inequities.
AB - This article reviews and contrasts two approaches that water security researchers employ to advance understanding of the complexity of water-society policy challenges. A prevailing reductionist approach seeks to represent uncertainty through calculable risk, links national GDP tightly to hydro-climatological causes, and underplays diversity and politics in society. When adopted uncritically, this approach limits policy-makers to interventions that may reproduce inequalities, and that are too rigid to deal with future changes in society and climate. A second, more integrative, approach is found to address a range of uncertainties, explicitly recognise diversity in society and the environment, incorporate water resources that are less-easily controlled, and consider adaptive approaches to move beyond conventional supply-side prescriptions. The resultant policy recommendations are diverse, inclusive, and more likely to reach the marginalised in society, though they often encounter policy-uptake obstacles. The article concludes by defining a route towards more effective water security research and policy, which stresses analysis that matches the state of knowledge possessed, an expanded research agenda, and explicitly addresses inequities.
KW - water security
KW - environmental complexity
KW - uncertainty
KW - water conflicts
KW - eco-sociological challenges
U2 - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010
DO - 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010
M3 - Article
VL - 39
SP - 143
EP - 154
JO - Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions
JF - Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions
SN - 0959-3780
ER -