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Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Resources Management, Policy and Governance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2018) | Viewed by 72929

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gül Özerol

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Guest Editor

CSTM - Department of Governance and Technology for Sustainability, Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences University of Twente, The Netherlands
Interests: Policy Studies; Natural Resource Governance; Water Governance; Water Cooperation; Water Diplomacy; Water and Climate Resilience; Water-Energy-Food Nexus; Public Participation

Dr. Marcela Brugnach

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Guest Editor

Department of Water Engineering and Management, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Interests: Governance and policy making; Adaptive and integrated natural resources management; Uncertainty; Ambiguity; Participation and collaboration; Water diplomacy; Knowledge co-production; Collective decision making; Sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water governance and management are becoming increasingly complex processes. It is presently widely recognized that we live in an era of governance failures rather than one with a lack of technologies. Amid the pressures of climate change, population growth, industrialization and urbanization, one of the major challenges faced today by global communities is the sustainable and equitable access to water resources. This goes hand in hand with a growing awareness of the role of contexts in shaping water governance, i.e. the circumstances of localities with respect to their political, technological, ecological and economic conditions. This calls for integrated, inclusive and context-sensitive approaches in handling water problems.

Ways of understanding water problems and solutions are not unique. The complex web of actors in water governance includes users, managers, engineers, bureaucrats, activists, journalists, scientists, consultants, businesses, etc. These actors often do not agree on what they define as a problem, nor on the nature of its solution or the knowledge needed to solve it. Furthermore, the types of knowledge used, and how the knowledge is produced and communicated also varies and is contested between different scientific disciplines and across different societal actors.

In water governance studies, it is becoming increasingly common to involve non-academic stakeholders, such as water users, managers, policy-makers, activists and journalists. Their involvement can contribute to defining, understanding and solving the governance problems, and also to develop and test innovative governance modes. This involvement can take diverse forms and be named differently in different contexts, such as co-production and co-creation. The concept of “transdisciplinary water research” encompasses these forms, which bring together the academic and non-academic actors for creation, communication and use of water-related knowledge.

In this Special Issue, we invite submissions that reflect on the mutual interaction between water governance and transdisciplinary water research, including knowledge co-production and co-creation. We are particularly interested in contributions addressing the following questions:

1.      In transdisciplinary research, what is knowledge and how is it produced? How is it shaped through the participation of academic and non-academic actors? What is the role of tacit knowledge in these processes?
2.      Who, must be involved in processes of knowledge co-production and how? How are the goals of co-production set? How is knowledge validated? How do we know if co-production is or is not working? Which are the successful examples of co-production?
3.      What is the role of different water governance structures and systems in shaping the way that water research is undertaken? How are power differentials among actors taken into account when producing knowledge?
4.      How does transdisciplinary research shape the emergence of new concepts, such as the water–energy–food nexus and water diplomacy?
5.      How and to what extent are societal values, such as democracy, justice and gender, embedded in transdisciplinary water research? How and to what extent does transdisciplinary water research incorporate the role of political, technological, ecological and economic contextual factors in water governance?

Dr. Gül Özerol
Dr. Marcela Brugnach
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

water governance
transdisciplinary water research
transdisciplinarity
knowledge creation
knowledge co-production
contextual factors

Published Papers (9 papers)

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6 pages, 210 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Knowledge Co-Production and Transdisciplinarity: Opening Pandora’s Box

by Marcela Brugnach and Gül Özerol

Water 2019, 11(10), 1997; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11101997 - 25 Sep 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3299

Abstract

This Special Issue aims to reflect on knowledge co-production and transdisciplinarity, exploring the mutual interaction between water governance and water research. We do so with contributions that bring examples from diverse parts of the world: Bolivia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Namibia, the Netherlands, Palestine, and South Africa. Key insights brought by these contributions include the importance of engaging the actors from early stages of transdisciplinary research, and the need for an in-depth understanding of the diverse needs, competences, and power of actors and the water governance system in which knowledge co-production takes place. Further, several future research directions are identified, such as the examination of knowledge backgrounds according to the individual and collective thought styles of different actors. Together, the eight papers included in this Special Issue constitute a significant step toward a better understanding of knowledge co-production and transdisciplinarity, with a common thread for being reflective and clear about their complexity, and the political implications and risks they pose for inclusive, plural and just water research and governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

16 pages, 235 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Discovering the Political Implications of Coproduction in Water Governance

by Robert Lepenies, Frank Hüesker, Silke Beck and Marcela Brugnach

Water 2018, 10(10), 1475; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101475 - 19 Oct 2018

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5440

Abstract

This paper asks what lessons can be learned from experiences with coproduction in water governance. For this, we review a comprehensive corpus of articles in the field of water governance that relies on the term. We find that there are radically different understandings of what coproduction means in different branches of the water governance literature. Through this review, we demonstrate how and why coproduction needs to be analyzed for its political implications. Despite being timely and pressing, these questions are not addressed in a sufficient way by the scholarly debate on coproduction. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we first distinguish different historical traditions of coproduction and then explore their political implications along three questions: The “why?”, the “who?”, and the “how?”. We show that these questions find different answers not just between but also within different traditions of using the term. After describing and contrasting these variants, we conclude by summarizing the main lessons from our review and by identifying questions which call for future research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

18 pages, 914 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Transdisciplinary Research and Development Cooperation: Insights from the First Phase of the Palestinian-Dutch Academic Cooperation Programme on Water

by Gül Özerol, Juliane Schillinger and Maher Abu-Madi

Water 2018, 10(10), 1449; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101449 - 15 Oct 2018

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4460

Abstract

Transdisciplinary research offers a promising approach to development cooperation programs by integrating knowledge from academic and non-academic stakeholders, and from natural and social sciences. In the context of development research on water, there is little evidence on how stakeholder involvement takes place in the three stages of transdisciplinary research (problem definition, knowledge production, and knowledge application). This paper aims to create empirical evidence and insights on this question based on the Palestinian-Dutch Academic Cooperation Programme on Water (PADUCO). Six research projects, which have been implemented within the first phase of PADUCO, were examined using the data collected through a survey and document reviews. The results show that research problems were defined according to societal needs and contextual factors. Research teams were multidisciplinary and included non-academic members, whereas the institutional involvement of non-academic stakeholders was limited and unbalanced between the governmental and non-governmental actors. Although the application of the knowledge produced was mainly focused on academia, opportunities for broad dissemination were utilized, albeit to a limited extent. Finally, there was a lack of monitoring and evaluation of impacts, which is explained by the budget and time limitations of such small-scale projects and can be mitigated by programme-level measures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

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17 pages, 5445 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transdisciplinary Learning Communities to Involve Vulnerable Social Groups in Solving Complex Water-Related Problems in Bolivia

by Afnan Agramont, Marc Craps, Melina Balderrama and Marijke Huysmans

Water 2019, 11(2), 385; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020385 - 22 Feb 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5281

Abstract

Bolivia has influenced the international water arenas as a pioneer of the Human Water Rights Declaration before the United Nations General Council. However, despite a positive but rather ideological evolution, the country is still facing several water challenges in practice. Water governance is extremely complex due to intricate social structures, important spatial and temporal differences in the availability of water resources, ecological fragility, and weak institutions. A Transdisciplinary Learning Community approach has been adopted by the Universidad Católica Boliviana to take into account the complexity of the water problems caused by social, hydrological, and ecological system imbalances. In this approach, researchers and non-academic actors work closely together to integrate different ways of conceiving, using, valuing, and deciding on water issues. The approach aims at co-creating resilient solutions by recovering and restoring not only the ecological system, but also the social system in which all actors are aware of their role and responsibility. We explain the challenges and concerns raised by this approach in a case study of the Katari River Basin (KRB), which is impacted by a high degree of contamination that is mainly caused while crossing El Alto city, leading to dramatic consequences for the Lake Titicaca ecosystem and its surrounding communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

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23 pages, 6698 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Problemshed or Watershed? Participatory Modeling towards IWRM in North Ghana

by William’s Daré, Jean-Philippe Venot, Christophe Le Page and Aaron Aduna

Water 2018, 10(6), 721; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10060721 - 02 Jun 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5739

Abstract

This paper is a reflexive analysis of a three-year participatory water research project conducted in the Upper East Region (UER) of Ghana, whose explicit objective was to initiate a multi-level dialogue to support the national Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policy framework. The transdisciplinary team adopted the Companion Modeling approach (ComMod), using role-playing games and a computerized agent-based model to support the identification of a problemshed centered on issues of river bank cultivation, erosion, and flooding, and initiate a multi-level dialogue on ways that this problemshed could be tackled. On the basis of this experience, we identify three key criteria for transdisciplinary research to support innovative water governance: (1) the iterative adaptation of tools and facilitation techniques based on feedback from participants; (2) a common understanding of the objectives pursued and the approach used among researchers, who need to explicit their posture, and crucially; (3) the co-identification of a problemshed that diverse stakeholders are interested in tackling. Finally, we argue that the context in which research is funded and conducted in the development sector constitutes a challenge for researchers to be “participants like any other” in the projects they coordinate, which constitutes a barrier to true transdisciplinarity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

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18 pages, 253 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Shifting the Framework of Canadian Water Governance through Indigenous Research Methods: Acknowledging the Past with an Eye on the Future

by Rachel Arsenault, Sibyl Diver, Deborah McGregor, Aaron Witham and Carrie Bourassa

Water 2018, 10(1), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10010049 - 10 Jan 2018

Cited by 65 | Viewed by 22060

Abstract

First Nations communities in Canada are disproportionately affected by poor water quality. As one example, many communities have been living under boil water advisories for decades, but government interventions to date have had limited impact. This paper examines the importance of using Indigenous research methodologies to address current water issues affecting First Nations. The work is part of larger project applying decolonizing methodologies to Indigenous water governance. Because Indigenous epistemologies are a central component of Indigenous research methods, our analysis begins with presenting a theoretical framework for understanding Indigenous water relations. We then consider three cases of innovative Indigenous research initiatives that demonstrate how water research and policy initiatives can adopt a more Indigenous-centered approach in practice. Cases include (1) an Indigenous Community-Based Health Research Lab that follows a two-eyed seeing philosophy (Saskatchewan); (2) water policy research that uses collective knowledge sharing frameworks to facilitate respectful, non-extractive conversations among Elders and traditional knowledge holders (Ontario); and (3) a long-term community-based research initiative on decolonizing water that is practicing reciprocal learning methodologies (British Columbia, Alberta). By establishing new water governance frameworks informed by Indigenous research methods, the authors hope to promote innovative, adaptable solutions, rooted in Indigenous epistemologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

16 pages, 397 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Story of Water in Windhoek: A Narrative Approach to Interpreting a Transdisciplinary Process

by Dianne Scott, Kornelia N. Iipinge, John K. E. Mfune, Davison Muchadenyika, Olavi V. Makuti and Gina Ziervogel

Water 2018, 10(10), 1366; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101366 - 30 Sep 2018

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 9812

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present a story about the 2015 to early 2017 Windhoek drought in the context of climate change while using the narrative approach. The story that is presented here is derived from the engagement of participants in a transdisciplinary, co-productive workshop, the Windhoek Learning Lab 1 (March 2017), as part of the FRACTAL Research Programme. The results show that the story starts with the ‘complication’ where the drought had reached crisis levels where the water demand increasingly exceeded the supply in the face of the drought. The City of Windhoek (CoW) was unable to address the problem, particularly the recharging of the Windhoek aquifer due to lack of funding. Phase 2 then shows four reactions to the drought: water conservation by water demand management; a Water Saving campaign; the Windhoek Managed Aquifer Recharge Scheme; and, the setting up of the Cabinet Technical Committee of Supply Security. The resolution of the story, Phase 4, is when the national government instructs NamWater to provide the funds for CoW to complete the recharging of the aquifer, which supplied water to the city at the last minute at the end of 2016. The final situation of the story is that ongoing collaborative work by CoW with FRACTAL on the city’s burning issues is planned to integrate climate change into future decision making for the longer term. The main actors in the story are the Ministry of Agriculture and NamWater as hero and villain, and CoW a hero, with the victims of the story, the residents of informal settlements. The main learnings from this story are that the lack of decentralization of power and resources serve to exacerbate water crises at the local level and hamper climate adaptation, despite a proactive and innovative local municipality. The paper also shows that the narrative approach provides the thread of the story to simplify a very complex set of arrangements and contradictions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

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22 pages, 1582 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Knowing Me, Knowing You—Capturing Different Knowledge Systems for River Landscape Planning and Governance

by Jennifer Henze, Barbara Schröter and Christian Albert

Water 2018, 10(7), 934; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10070934 - 13 Jul 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4898

Abstract

Navigating the evolution of river landscapes towards more sustainable pathways requires transdisciplinary research including diverse stakeholders. A thorough understanding of stakeholder interests, including potential conflicts and options for convergence, is critical for the design and implementation of such transdisciplinary research. So far, only a few studies have conducted in-depth stakeholder analyses. The aim of this paper is to elucidate and characterize the interests of the relevant actors in a case study for sustainable river landscape development in Germany. The research questions concern the (i) commonalities and differences as manifested in the structures of thought and action of the actors, and the (ii) potential points of conflict or convergence of interests, as relevant for further transdisciplinary research. Our methods include participating in observations in three meetings of the actors, and conducting twelve individual interviews, as well as a focus group discussion. Our results identify major conflicts between the actors’ perspectives regarding navigation interests and the demands for nature conservation. Potential issues for convergence are ecological river restoration and enhancing recreation opportunities. The findings shed light on the diversity of the stakeholder perspectives around river landscape development. We recommend that future projects capture this diversity through a triangulation approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

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21 pages, 2957 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Informal Settlements and Flooding: Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses in Local Governance for Water Management

by David Samuel Williams, María Máñez Costa, Louis Celliers and Catherine Sutherland

Water 2018, 10(7), 871; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10070871 - 29 Jun 2018

Cited by 44 | Viewed by 10194

Abstract

Urbanization and climate change are compounding the vulnerability of flooding for the urban poor, particularly in the Global South. However, local governance can be a greater determinant of flood risk than the hazard itself. Identifying strengths and weaknesses in local governance for water management is therefore crucial. This paper presents a governance assessment for Quarry Road West informal settlement, Durban, South Africa, in relation to flood risk by applying the Capital Approach Framework. Through developing a deeper understanding of the current governance system, the embeddedness of several social values can also be gauged. This is important particularly for integrative and transdisciplinary management of flood risk, enacted in the case of Quarry Road West informal settlement through the Palmiet Rehabilitation Project, a multi sector partnership at the climate change and water governance interface. Findings from this study indicate that, currently, climate change adaptation remains a challenge for decision-makers and policy-planners. A more effective integration of the residents of Quarry Road West informal settlement into local governance for water management is urgently needed. This is particularly important in the context of informal settlements that are marginalized and often lacking governance mechanisms to affect change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transdisciplinarity and Knowledge Co-production: Reflections from Water Governance)

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