Showing papers by "Claudia Pahl-Wostl published in 2016"

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals from a Water Perspective

Abstract: Efforts to meet human water needs only at local scales may cause negative environmental externality and stress on the water system at regional and global scales. Hence, assessing SDG targets requires a broad and in-depth knowledge of the global to local dynamics of water availability and use. Further, Interconnection and trade-offs between different SDG targets may lead to sub-optimal or even adverse outcome if the set of actions are not properly pre-designed considering such interlinkages. Thus scientific research and evidence have a role to play in facilitating the implementation of SDGs through assessments and policy engagement from global to local scales. The paper addresses some of these challenges related to implementation and monitoring the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals from a water perspective, based on the key findings of a conference organised in 2015 with the focus on three essential aspects of SDGs- indicators, interlinkages and implementation. The paper discusses that indicators should not be too simple but ultimately deliver sustainability measures. The paper finds that remote sensing and earth observation technologies can play a key role in supporting the monitoring of water targets. It also recognises that implementing SDGs is a societal process of development, and there is need to link how SDGs relate to public benefits and communicate this to the broader public.

A Comparative Analysis of Water Governance, Water Management, and Environmental Performance in River Basins

Abstract: River ecosystems are facing a diversity of threats in many parts of the world. To restore and preserve riverine environments, human societies have established water governance and management responses. However, the means by which a satisfactory environmental state can be achieved in light of different regional contexts is still poorly understood. This article explores whether or not good environmental performance can be achieved through water governance and management in combination with further context factors. To this end, we applied fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to examine data on water governance, water management, and environmental performance from a recent international study together with context data on per capita income, corruption, hydro-climate, and use pressure from other datasets. Results demonstrate that the combination of polycentric governance, high per capita income, and low levels of corruption is sufficient for achieving good water management practice. However, a good environmental state in river basins seems to primarily depend upon the overall level of pressure from human use rather than the quality of water management. This demonstrates that water governance and management should be seen as part of a broader societal transformation towards sustainability that focusses on a reduction of pressures in river basins instead of mitigating their impacts.

Water security: a popular but contested concept

Abstract: The academic and political interest in the concept of water security has increased considerably over the past decade as reflected in numerous publications (Bakker, 2012), research and funding initiatives, and conferences. This growing interest may reflect the explosive rise in concern of scientific and policy communities about the state of freshwater resources and the urgent need for sustainable water and land management in an era of rapid change and persistent water and food challenges including access issues. Economic development, population increase, climate change, and other global to local drivers alter water resource availability and use, resulting in increased risk of extreme low and high flows, variously altered flow regimes, and water demands surpassing renewable supply. These have also affected the ability of waterdependent ecosystems to provide ecosystem services. Satisfying human demands is often achieved in the short term at the expense of the environment (Palmer et al., 2008; Vörösmarty et al., 2010) with harmful implications in the long run for socioecological systems as a whole. Many, but not all, water problems can be attributed to governance failures rather than the condition of the resource base itself. Governance failures occur at local through to global level, are manifold and affect both developing and industrialized countries albeit in different ways. They are also affected by drivers that operate simultaneously at multiple levels of governance (Gupta et al., 2013). In many developing countries, poor governance, including a lack of efficiency and effectiveness of existing resourceconstrained governance structures compounded by allegations of corruption and the absence of civil society, poses problems for any kind of development (PahlWostl et al., 2012; PahlWostl and Knieper, 2014). The developing countries face challenges of resource shortages regardless of economic, institutional or infrastructural characteristics. Some are even seen as failed states. Most of these countries have not met basic human needs, nor have they been able to meet health and educational requirements for their own societies. In contrast, many industrialized countries suffer from overregulation by rigid bureaucracies, sectoral fragmentation, unsustainable consumption patterns and a prevailing dominance of economic over environmental considerations. Some are increasingly facing the challenge of social inequality and live beyond their own environmental means – through importing resources from other parts of the world. Virtual water trade data shows how water moves from water stressed countries to countries with abundant water supplies (Orlowsky et al., 2014). To improve policy and scholarly capacity in dealing with such problems, demands are made for changes in both science and policy to overcome evident gaps that include more interdisciplinary and comparative studies, for an improved understanding of factors that shape water governance and cause governance failures, for the bridging of levels from

Handbook on Water Security

Abstract: Water security has received increasing attention in the scientific and policy community in recent years. This Handbook covers the wide range of perspectives required to understand water security as a concept guiding water governance and management at different levels and in different regions. It reflects on past, present and future challenges to water security and strategies on how to overcome them. An invaluable resource for scientific scholars, it will also appeal policymakers and practitioners interested in a deeper understanding of this important concept.

Sustainable Groundwater Management: A Comparative Study of Local Policy Changes and Ecosystem Services in South Africa and Germany

Abstract: Groundwater-dependent ecosystem services provide benefits to human well-being and play a key role in regulating ecosystem processes and functions. Improving groundwater management is of fundamental importance to reduce ecological trade-offs and to avoid long-term negative consequences for societies. In this context, local groundwater policies as well as multi-level governance processes play a key role. This article provides an improved understanding of how local policies change in response to social–ecological drivers and how these changes contribute to the sustainable provision of groundwater-dependent ecosystem services. Within this context, we analyze recent changes in local groundwater policies in the Sandveld region (South Africa) and the Spreewald region (Germany) from a multi-level governance perspective. In both cases a combination of drivers – in particular ecological degradation experienced at the local level and socio-political transformation – led to changes of local groundwater policies. A positive impact of these changes is expected, but not yet visible. The studied policies consider the complexity of groundwater functions and the different users depending on them. However, they do not explicitly mention ecosystem services and ignore important ecological processes and functions. Therefore, we conclude that groundwater management could become more sustainable by taking ecosystem services and stakeholder interests more explicitly into account in local policy processes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment