Adam French

Balancing growing water demand with dwindling supply is a pressing challenge. In response, a transition to the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) paradigm is being proposed. IWRM aims to balance social, economic, and environmental values over water through stakeholder participation and efficient resource use supported by management instruments, institutional innovations, and enabling conditions. This research is designed to support the adaptive processes and social learning crucial for IWRM through the production of policy-relevant and stakeholder-informed insights.

The research consists of two principal components:

1. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on transitions to IWRM practices at the watershed scale, with a focus on the Global South, and
2. Empirical research into the IWRM transition and the linked formation of watershed councils in important river basins in western Peru.

The meta-analytical component will yield insights into specific conditions of successful and failed transitions toward IWRM at the global scale. The empirical component will produce detailed histories of institutional and organizational development and actor participation as well as stakeholder perceptions that will guide process-tracing and exploratory network analysis. This will support the development of a framework for assessing key enabling conditions and barriers for IWRM with particular relevance for the Global South. 

Last edited: 14 December 2016