The research activities of the WRM core are organised along its three research lines, namely:
The first research theme (much more than the other themes) overlaps with research activities of other core groups of the Institute and therefore its scope is fairly modest.
The main rationale for keeping this research theme is the acknowledgement that a sound understanding of the hydrological cycle and the biophysical processes remains a firm basis for water resources management, and that some staff members of the WRM core actively pursue research activities pertaining to this theme.
This research theme focuses on a comprehensive understanding of the physical processes in relation to the hydrological system.
Two research topics are addressed:
Understanding hydrological processes:
How can we enhance our understanding of bio-physical processes in relation to the hydrological system; in particular with reference to (a) tidal and salt fluxes in estuaries, and (b) the effects of improved rainfed agriculture on water availability downstream.
New techniques and information sources:
How can new techniques and information sources, including remote sensing techniques and regional atmospheric models, be used:
(a) to enhance our understanding of hydrological processes occurring at smaller spatial scales; and
(b) for the near real time monitoring and forecasting of water stocks and flows?
An important research project under this research line is the programme on "Smallholder system innovations in integrated watershed management" which is funded by WOTRO, Sida, DGIS, IWMI and UNESCO-IHE, and implemented jointly with four additional partners: IWMI (South Africa), Sokoine University (Tanzania), University of Natal (South Africa) and Stockholm University.
Key issue is how rainfed agriculture can be improved by rainwater harvesting, supplementary irrigation and fertilization and what the implication of such strategies is on the water resources system at watershed and basin level.
The following PhD students have graduated on topics belonging to this research line:
The following PhD students are currently conducting research on topics belonging to this research line:
This research theme focuses on a comprehensive understanding of the institutional dimensions of water management.
The study of institutions includes the study of laws, policies and organisations, and to some extent of economics, as well as the sociological study of claim–making institutions and negotiation practices not formally recognised but historically linked to water management.
Within this theme institutions with different spatial spans are studied, from local water point committees and rules through transboundary river basin committees and rules to international institutions.
A key question is: how are such institutions “nested" and how do they link various spatial scales to achieve what has been called “multiple level governance”.
Institutional analysis will draw on the current theoretical developments within the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change of the International Human Dimensions Programme.
The conceptual framework proposed by the Human Dimensions Programme will be critically assessed on its usefulness in the water sector, namely:
The institutional dimensions theme addresses the following three research topics and sets of research questions:
Rights and responsibilities: International and national water law is continuously evolving and new processes build on and affect existing processes. It is important to follow the processes as they evolve to ensure that lessons learnt from contextual experiences are understood and analysed and inform the other research activities of the WRM core.
The emphasis in contemporary water, land and development policy domains on entitlement and rights (water rights, land titles, rights based approaches) demands close examination of allocation principles and procedures.
The water sector is particularly instructive as it amplifies the complexities of legal pluralism alongside informal claims to natural resources and productive and reproductive demands.
This research topic thus takes into consideration
Research questions: Based on a database of national and international laws and policies, can a comparative analysis form a basis for developing a unifying analytical framework? How do we map existing rights and responsibilities to water at local, national, transboundary, regional to global levels? How have these rights and responsibilities evolved over time, and are they compatible with the concept of good governance? Can a rights framework improve water and food security? What about access to water for productive uses and for environmental purposes? What is the role for non-state actors in terms of participating in policy and judicial processes in re-allocating such rights? How can national sovereignty be reconciled with basin-wide management?
Policies and Instruments: Key to any social process is the need to understand the incentives and disincentives in society and the ways society reacts to these. Existing instruments in managing water resources include subsidies and taxes, environmental impact assessments, standards, monitoring, enforcement and fines, water trading, technology standards and technology transfer. It is important to understand the conditions under which these instruments are successful.
Research question: Can we develop a universal theory about when specific instruments are likely to work in which specific contexts?
Organisations: In managing water resources, a key question is: at what level should the resources be governed? The level playing field argument would call for governance at the highest level to ensure harmonisation of policy approaches.
The subsidiarity argument calls for governance at the lowest appropriate level (decentralisation). The lack of money argument is often used to justify a transfer of power over water services to the private sector and/or user communities.
These are conflicting pull and push forces that are often curiously intertwined in national and international policy leading to struggles for power between lower and higher governments on the one hand, and user communities and the private sector on the other.
Furthermore, the assumed benefits of decentralisation and private sector involvement often do not materialise.
Research questions: What are the specific ways in which public sector reform is being conducted? When is and when is not decentralisation effective? What are appropriate institutional frameworks for incorporating stakeholders? To what extent can the public sector respond to concerns from civil society given the new constitutional dispensation? Who is accountable for policy failure? How is legitimacy achieved in the new stakeholder processes? How do decision-making processes unfold in different contexts and different spatial scales? How are decisions taken in formal water institutions such as catchment councils and river basin commissions?
The following PhD students are currently conducting research on topics belonging to this research line:
This research theme explicitly aims to unite the knowledge from the bio-physical aspects of the hydrological system with the institutional aspects of water management.
Since there is considerable confusion and overlap in terminologies used by different disciplines, a starting point of the integrative process is to develop a common vocabulary and integrative methodology for undertaking joint research.
The purpose is to clarify the content and relationship of three closely interrelated concepts – sustainable development as a possible end goal, good governance as a process for reaching such an end goal, and integrated water resources management as the substantive component of this process.
In particular, we will focus on the following five sets of research questions:
Theory development: Although disciplines tend to compartmentalise our understanding of problems, in real life physical processes and social processes are mutually constitutive and there is a symbiotic relationship between these. Understanding this symbiotic nature is critical for a truly integrated analysis of the problem.
Research questions: How can a common vocabulary and conceptual clarification be promoted in order to promote inter-disciplinary research on water resources management? Are social and physical processes involved in water management mutually constitutive? Can this insight inform a universal theory on and tools for integrated water resource management? What does this imply for the governance of small and large hydraulic infrastructural works? And for the creation of hydraulic property, claims and rights? Do size and scale matter?
Understanding the links between climate change and water: The global problem of climate change is having serious impacts on the earth’s hydrological system by changing precipitation patterns.
Research questions: What are the specific interactions between climate change and water both in terms of physical processes, as well as in terms of social patterns and coping mechanisms? How can these be studied, and how can vulnerability be reduced and resilience enhanced in order to minimise the negative impacts of these interactions, while optimising the few positive outcomes? Can the resilience of rainfed agriculture against climate shocks be increased through the improved use of green and blue water? What are the implications downstream?
Methodological approaches: Given the interconnected nature of water with almost all sectors of society as well as all other environmental processes, there is a call to develop multi-criteria analysis, optimalisation models, integrated models and participatory integrated models.
Research questions: How can we improve the techniques of modelling water allocation? Do large-scale water optimalisation models for river basins work? Can multi-criteria analysis be used to reconcile different and noncommensurable objectives/criteria? Can integrated models deal with water problems? Can large-scale hydraulic infrastructures like large reservoirs be governed in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner?
Alternative approaches to dispute resolution: Dispute resolution is not only a skill which helps one address real-life problems, it is a tool to help students and researchers alike to understand the politics of a problem and the potential ways and means to address such a problem.
Dispute resolution embraces a number of different theoretical approaches, from cognitive schools which promote “joint vision development”, through cooperative approaches such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation, to adversarial approaches such as arbitration and litigation.
Research questions: How do we undertake a comprehensive comparative analysis of different dispute resolution techniques used in water-related issues? How can such techniques be improved and developed into educational tools with the help of supportive games? Which tools can assist in cementing trust between riparian communities, from the local through to basin scales?
Operationalising IWRM: The multidisciplinary theories, models instruments and techniques have to be applied in practice, and should give answers to practical and real-life problems.
Research questions: What are the costs and benefits of water demand management within an IWRM framework? How can a common methodology and operational rules of reservoirs regarding environmental flows be developed? Can hydro-solidarity be achieved through reciprocating upstream-downstream water interdependencies with compensation mechanisms and new definitions of water entitlements? Can benefit sharing be made to work?
The following PhD students have graduated on topics belonging to this research line:
The following PhD students are currently conducting research on topics belonging to this research line: