TY - JOUR
T1 - Dialogic science-policy networks for water security governance in the arid Americas
AU - Lutz-Ley, América N.
AU - Scott, Christopher A.
AU - Wilder, Margaret
AU - Varady, Robert G.
AU - Ocampo-Melgar, Anahi
AU - Lara-Valencia, Francisco
AU - Zuniga-Teran, Adriana A.
AU - Buechler, Stephanie
AU - Díaz-Caravantes, Rolando
AU - Ribeiro Neto, Alfredo
AU - Pineda-Pablos, Nicolás
AU - Martín, Facundo
N1 - Funding Information:
This network is not supported by IAI, AQUASEC or IWSN. Instead, major impetus for the Colorado Delta network came initially from the “RCN: The Colorado River Delta Research Coordination Network” NSF grant (2005–2012) awarded to K. Flessa at the University of Arizona. 3
Funding Information:
Rural water. – This example describes interactions that are inclusive, promoting involvement and interaction of multiple stakeholders at the basin scale, while still looking for ways to influence actual decision-making and empower disadvantaged groups at the local level. The wicked water problems taken on by science-policy networks, in this case, were drought and climate-change impacts on water and land resources among farmers and ranchers. A U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Coupled Natural Systems (CNH) grant received by the University of Arizona to conduct binational, multi-disciplinary research on riparian communities (in collaboration with researchers from ColSon and Universidad de Sonora, UniSon) facilitated the initiation of science-policy dialogues. This project took place in the San Pedro river basin in Arizona and in the San Miguel river basin, which is part of the larger SRB. Several grassroots organizations such as the Upper San Pedro Partnership, a consortium of local, state and federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working toward sustainable surface and groundwater management of the San Pedro National Riparian Conservation Area, engaged in dialogues about the future of water security and livelihoods development. Researchers and postgraduate students in the binational team came from multiple social- and natural-science disciplines and learned from each other how to broaden their scope of study to approach issues related to riparian communities.
Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the support provided by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research , Collaborative Research Networks Program (grant no. CRN3056 , which is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation [NSF] grant GEO-1128040 and NSF grant DEB-101049 ). The work that resulted in this essay was also partly supported by the International Water Security Network, a project funded by Lloyd's Register Foundation, a charitable foundation helping protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Addressing wicked problems challenging water security requires participation from multiple stakeholders, often with conflicting visions, complicating the attainment of water-security goals and heightening the need for integrative and effective science-policy interfaces. Sustained multi-stakeholder dialogues within science-policy networks can improve adaptive governance and water system resilience. This paper describes what we define as “dialogic science-policy networks,” or interactions – both in structural and procedural terms – between scientists and policy-makers that are: 1) interdisciplinary, 2) international (here, inter-American), 3) cross-sectoral, 4) open, 5) continual and iterative in the long-term, and 6) flexible. By fostering these types of interactions, dialogic networks achieve what we call the 4-I criteria for effective science-policy dialogues: inclusivity, involvement, interaction, and influence. Here we present several water-security research and action projects where some of these attributes may be present. Among these, a more comprehensive form of a dialogic network was intentionally created via AQUASEC, a virtual center and network initially fostered by a series of grants from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Subsequently, AQUASEC has significantly expanded to other regions through direct linkages and additional program support for the International Water Security Network, supported by Lloyd's Register Foundation and other sources. This paper highlights major scientific and policy achievements of a notable suite of science-policy networks, shared practices, methods, and knowledge integrating science and policy, as well as the main barriers overcome in network development. An important gap that remains for future research is the assessment and evaluation of dialogic science-policy networks' long-term outcomes.
AB - Addressing wicked problems challenging water security requires participation from multiple stakeholders, often with conflicting visions, complicating the attainment of water-security goals and heightening the need for integrative and effective science-policy interfaces. Sustained multi-stakeholder dialogues within science-policy networks can improve adaptive governance and water system resilience. This paper describes what we define as “dialogic science-policy networks,” or interactions – both in structural and procedural terms – between scientists and policy-makers that are: 1) interdisciplinary, 2) international (here, inter-American), 3) cross-sectoral, 4) open, 5) continual and iterative in the long-term, and 6) flexible. By fostering these types of interactions, dialogic networks achieve what we call the 4-I criteria for effective science-policy dialogues: inclusivity, involvement, interaction, and influence. Here we present several water-security research and action projects where some of these attributes may be present. Among these, a more comprehensive form of a dialogic network was intentionally created via AQUASEC, a virtual center and network initially fostered by a series of grants from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Subsequently, AQUASEC has significantly expanded to other regions through direct linkages and additional program support for the International Water Security Network, supported by Lloyd's Register Foundation and other sources. This paper highlights major scientific and policy achievements of a notable suite of science-policy networks, shared practices, methods, and knowledge integrating science and policy, as well as the main barriers overcome in network development. An important gap that remains for future research is the assessment and evaluation of dialogic science-policy networks' long-term outcomes.
KW - Arid americas
KW - Dialogic science-policy networks
KW - Science-policy dialogues
KW - Water security
KW - Wicked water problems
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100568
DO - 10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100568
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091216055
JO - Environmental Development
JF - Environmental Development
SN - 2211-4645
M1 - 100568
ER -