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25. Companion Modeling and Water Dynamics

Full Title:

Companion Modeling for Resilient Water Management: Stakeholder's Perceptions of Water Dynamics and Collective Learning at the Catchment Scale

The target basins of this project are located in the Mekong river basin across the topo-sequence (northern Thailand, northeast Thailand, Mekong delta in Vietnam). An additional site is located in Bhutan. In these basins, diverse stakeholders with differing perceptions of water dynamics adopt various strategies to cope with the problems. There is a need, therefore, to understand the factors influencing different stakeholder perceptions, how these perceptions are formed, and how they might be modified to allow greater coordination and equitability of water use at the system level, thus leading to increased water productivity.

Platforms of communication are a means of ensuring that marginalized groups are not left out. Agent-based modeling (ABM) provides a way of linking the biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics of a system. Moreover, by using ABM in a participatory way to examine scenarios of resource sharing, it may be possible to elicit stakeholders’ knowledge and perceptions of water dynamics, stimulate dialogue, and promote better coordination.

The specific objectives concern the methodology, capacity building, and the proposal for local and concrete adaptations that increase water productivity.

To offer tools and a methodology for their use that enhance the capacity of expression of the different stakeholders’ perceptions, facilitate the collective assessment of the problems at stake, and attempt to improve coordination among users by collective identification and assessment of scenarios of change.
To train a group of scientists and extensionists engaged in the research-action process on the methodology and tools. These scientists belong to universities, governmental agencies and NGOs. They will test and adapt the method and a network of users will be created and linked to an international network.
To propose an analysis at the catchment level depicting practical water and land management issues and stakeholder interactions that are specific to the respective problem contexts.

This participatory analysis will lead to a collective assessment of potential changes to increase water productivity and potential scenarios of adaptation (technological and organizational) to these changes. After a synthesis of available knowledge, participatory workshops will be organized at each site every year leading to propositions of changes, followed by a period of monitoring and modeling. In the third year of the project, the results will be assessed with the stakeholders and tools assembled to be disseminated. The main target groups of beneficiaries of this project are the following:

Stakeholders in the four proposed pilot catchments. The proposed methodology and tools will be used locally to improve coordination among stakeholders engaged in conflicting/ complementary uses of limited water resources.
Local community organizations and NGOs, schools, and development as well as research-oriented government agencies will participate in the process and their staff will be trained on the use of the proposed methodology. Then, they will be able to scale up and adapt the method at other sites.
Researchers at local universities and government agencies that will develop the method and thus become nodes in the international research community on participatory water resources management.