Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges

Zeitoun, Mark, Lankford, Bruce, Krueger, Tobias, Forsyth, Tim, Carter, Richard, Hoekstra, Arjen Y., Taylor, Richard, Varis, Olli, Cleaver, Frances, Boelens, Rutgerd, Swatuk, Larry, Tickner, David, Scott, Christopher A., Mirumachi, Naho and Matthews, Nathanial (2016) Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges. Global Environmental Change, 39. 143–154. ISSN 0959-3780

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Early title: Reductive and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges
Uncontrolled Keywords:	water security,environmental complexity, uncertainty,water conflicts,eco-sociological challenges
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Climate Change Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	18 May 2016 14:00
Last Modified:	27 Jan 2024 02:46
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58873
DOI:	10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010

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