Zeitoun, M;
Lankford, B;
Kruege, T;
Forsyth, T;
Carter, R;
Hoekstra, AY;
Taylor, R;
... Matthews, N; + view all
(2016)
Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges.
Global Environmental Change
, 39
pp. 143-154.
10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010.
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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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Reductionist and integrative research approaches to complex water security policy challenges |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.04.010 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-derivative 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and non-commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated. Further details about CC BY licenses are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/. Access may be initially restricted by the publisher. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Social Sciences, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Environmental Sciences & Ecology, Water security, Environmental complexity, Uncertainty, Water conflicts, Eco-sociological challenges, CLIMATE-CHANGE, GLOBAL WATER, RIVER-BASINS, RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, ARID AMERICA, RURAL SOUTH, INFRASTRUCTURE, ADAPTATION, SCIENCE, JUSTICE |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1538665 |
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