Erik Mostert

Social Learning and Water Resources Management

Natural resources management in general, and water resources management in particular, are currently undergoing a major paradigm shift. Management practices have largely been developed and implemented by experts using technical means based on designing systems that can be predicted and controlled. In recent years, stakeholder involvement has gained increasing importance. Collaborative governance is considered to be more appropriate for integrated and adaptive management regimes needed to cope with the complexity of social-ecological systems. The paper presents a concept for social learning and collaborative governance developed in the European project HarmoniCOP (Harmonizing COllaborative Planning). The concept is rooted in the more interpretive strands of the social sciences emphasizing the context dependence of knowledge. The role of frames and boundary management in processes of learning at different levels and time scales is investigated. The foundation of social learning as investigated in the HarmoniCOP project is multiparty collaboration processes that are perceived to be the nuclei of learning processes. Such processes take place in networks or “communities of practice” and are influenced by the governance structure in which they are embedded. Requirements for social learning include institutional settings that guarantee some degree of stability and certainty without being rigid and inflexible. Our analyses, which are based on conceptual considerations and empirical insights, suggest that the development of such institutional settings involves continued processes of social learning. In these processes, stakeholders at different scales are connected in flexible networks that allow them to develop the capacity and trust they need to collaborate in a wide range of formal and informal relationships ranging from formal legal structures and contracts to informal, voluntary agreements.

Adaptive Water Governance: Assessing the Institutional Prescriptions of Adaptive (Co-)Management from a Governance Perspective and Defining a Research Agenda

Method and circuitry for decreasing the recovery time of an MOS differential voltage comparator after an input voltage overdrive. At the beginning of a comparison cycle a reverse voltage is momentarily applied between the gates and sources of the input pair of source-coupled MOS transistors of sufficient magnitude to form a charge accumulation layer in the channel region of each of the transistors. Operating the differential voltage comparator in such manner substantially decreases the time required for the transistors to recover from an imbalance in their electrical characteristics caused by the input voltage overdrive.

Social Learning in European River-Basin Management: Barriers and Fostering Mechanisms from 10 River Basins

A curl correcting unit in which plural curl correcting sections are sequentially arranged in a sheet transporting direction enhances curl correction in a direction to lower edge portions of a sheet. The curl correcting unit which performs curl correction on a sheet on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus, has a first curl correcting device for applying pressure to the sheet and performing curl correction in a direction to raise the edge portions of the sheet, and a second curl correcting device for applying pressure to the sheet and performing curl correction in a direction to lower the edge portions of the sheet, the second curl correcting device being positioned downstream of a sheet transporting path with respect to the first curl correcting device, the pressure of the second curl correcting device being applied to the sheet at all times during at least transportation of the sheet.

The Growing Importance of Social Learning in Water Resources Management and Sustainability Science

An air extraction valve and grill assembly for mounting in an opening in the bodywork of the passenger compartment of a vehicle body, and for enabling the extraction of stale air from the passenger compartment, is molded from the rigid thermoplastic material and defines two air extraction apertures. Each aperture is controllably closed off by a valve flap. Each valve flap is molded from rigid thermoplastics material, or produced from other similar rigid material. Onto each valve flap are over-molded two strips of thermoplastic material. One of these strips forms a hinge for supporting the valve flap in the aperture and biassing it into a position where the other over-molded strip acts as a seal with the rigid body of the assembly.

Assessing Management Regimes in Transboundary River Basins: Do They Support Adaptive Management?

River basin management is faced with complex problems that are characterized by uncertainty and change. In transboundary river basins, historical, legal, and cultural differences add to the complexity. The literature on adaptive management gives several suggestions for handling this complexity. It recognizes the importance of management regimes as enabling or limiting adaptive management, but there is no comprehensive overview of regime features that support adaptive management. This paper presents such an overview, focused on transboundary river basin management. It inventories the features that have been claimed to be central to effective transboundary river basin management and refines them using adaptive management literature. It then collates these features into a framework describing actor networks, policy processes, information management, and legal and financial aspects. Subsequently, this framework is applied to the Orange and Rhine basins. The paper concludes that the framework provides a consistent and comprehensive perspective on transboundary river basin management regimes, and can be used for assessing their capacity to support adaptive management.

The European Water Framework Directive and water management research

Abstract The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the most important EU directive in the water field over the past decades. The WFD requires “good water status” for all European waters by 2015, to be achieved through a system of participatory river basin management planning and supported by several assessments and extensive monitoring. A lot of research is required to implement the WFD. This research should be inter- or multidisciplinary, participatory and pragmatic.

Social learning: the key to integrated water resources management?

This article discusses social learning as a means to implement integrated water resources management (IWRM). Implementing IWRM requires cooperation between policy sectors, countries, government bodies, the civic sector and scientific disciplines. The social learning approach suggests several ingredients for such cooperation. First, water managers and the other stakeholders need to realize their dependence on each other. Second, they need to start interacting, share their problem perceptions and develop different potential solutions. This requires the development of mutual trust, recognition of diversity and critical self-reflection. Finally, the stakeholders need to make joint decisions and arrangements for implementation. Often, an external facilitator can be helpful. The social learning approach to IWRM has several implications for the IWRM ToolBox of the GWP. Social learning is not a magic solution for all problems, but there is sufficient evidence that it can work.

Conflict and co‐operation in international freshwater management: A global review

Abstract In the past decades much has been written about international freshwater management. Many writers have predicted that the wars in the 21st century will be over water. More recently, the idea that water can act as a catalyst for peace has gained currency. This article reviews developments in international freshwater management, based on 35 case studies. Many international agreements have been concluded and many river basin commissions have been established, despite conflicts of interests. The most common and most effective strategy to reach agreement has been the desire to develop or maintain good relations. Moreover, the cases show that international freshwater management should involve local governments, NGOs and individual water users if it is to be effective. The article concludes that the old water management paradigm ‐ national water resources development ‐ is gradually being replaced by a new paradigm: integrated river basin management across all levels, national, international and subnational.

A Framework for Conflict Resolution

Abstract This article presents a comprehensive model on conflict resolution that can be used for both solving actual water management conflicts and for guiding further research. The model is based on a literature study and integrates the several approaches found to help overcome the limitations of the individual approaches. The model consists of four parts. First, three possible sources of conflicts are inventoried and their interrelations are discussed. Second, the “basic mechanisms” for addressing the individual sources of conflict are presented. The third part consists of a short overview of the different conflict resolution methods and procedures that can be applied to make these mechanisms operational in practice. The fourth part of the model is a discussion of the contextual factors influencing conflicts and conflict resolution, with special emphasis on cultural factors. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for the conflict resolution practice and for research.

Application of the Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) method to the Caspian Sea conflict

This study proposes a promising allocation mechanism of the Caspian Sea natural resources, which are presently shared among five countries. To date, these nations have been unable to reach an allocation agreement. We apply a methodology to propose the most appropriate solution under different risk attitudes of the states. This research is different from other studies regarding the Caspian Sea negotiations in that it employs risk-based fuzzy multi attribute decision making methods for simulating the risk attitudes or optimism/pessimism degrees of the decision makers. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) approach, which considers the optimism/pessimism degree quantitatively, is used to take into account the effects of different risk attitudes of the negotiators on the final outcome. We demonstrate how one could obtain a range of alternatives under different multi attribute and risk attitudes. The induced OWA (IOWA) method is also used to determine the relative power of these states bordering the Caspian Sea by considering several attributes, including different risk attitudes of agents. Results indicate that taking into account the risk attitude (prone, neutral, averse) of the states can affect the overall ranking of the proposed solutions. The findings from this study may facilitate negotiation regarding the most preferred allocation mechanism for the Caspian Sea.