THE ROLE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN

ADAPTIVE AND INTEGRATED WATER

GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Dr. Kathrin Knüppe

Institute of Environmental Systems Research (University of Osnabrück, Germany)

International Workshop and Special Issue on Governance of Ecosystem Services:

Challenges for Sustainable Development

Frankfurt A.M. , 10-11.03.2014

CONTENT

• Brief introduction

• ‘WaterNeeds’ project

– Conceptual foundation

– Research design

• Case study insights

• Conclusion and outlook

2

FROM WHERE DO WE START?

Biophysical

structure or

process

Ecosystem

“River basins and

related systems”

Ecosystem

services

Benefits for

human well-being:

Economic

Social

Ecological

Governance and

management system

3

DISTINCTION BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Management

…refers to activities; e.g. analyzing, monitoring, developing and implementing of measures, to maintain natural resources in a state

that is within desirable boundaries (Pahl-Wostl 2009).

Governance

…takes into account the political, social, economic and administrative systems including different actors and networks that help formulate

and implement water policies at different levels of society. (UNDP 2000, Pahl-Wostl 2009).

→ Governance sets the rules under which management operates.

4

WEB OF SCIENCE ANALYZES

Search terms 2000 2005 2008 2010 2013

Technology AND Water 2,600 7,900 8,900 11,300 13,100

Governance AND Water 8 52 132 218 348

“Ecosystem services” AND Water 20 50 111 255 458

“Ecosystem services” AND Governance 0 1 13 45 110

“Ecosystem services” AND Water And

Governance

0 1 3 18 17

Number of peer reviewed publications on selected themes

→ Major research potential for ecosystem services and governance

5

‘WATERNEEDS’ PROJECT

‘How to overcome the trade-offs between human and environmental water needs in times of global change: the role of ecosystem services (ES) & environmental hazards (EH)’

Research background and motivation

• Water crises and alarming trends

• Focus on technological or institutional panaceas rather than embracing complexity and context dependence

• Impacts of ES on adaptive capacity and resilience of social-ecological-systems are often undervalued or neglected

• Favoring provisioning over regulating, supporting or cultural ecosystem services (= trade-offs)

• Complex systems require interdisciplinary approaches

This project received funding from

6

→ Identify requirements for a transition towards sustainable

water governance and management

→ Analyze barriers supporting and sustaining change and higher

levels of learning

→ Explore integration and interactions of governance modes

(hierarchies, markets and networks) [PhD]

RESEARCH

OBJECTIVES

7

Critical knowledge gap:

Linkages between characteristics of governance systems, recognition of ES

and sustainable management of water

-> How to tackle these research challenges?

‘WATERNEEDS’ PROJECT

CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION

RIVERS/WATER BODIES FROM….

…a social-ecological-system

perspective

…an ecosystem services perspective

…an adaptive governance and

management perspective

ww

w.b

ate

s.e

du

ww

w.u

sato

da

y.co

m

ww

w.c

ast

les.

org

ww

w.b

log

.al.

com

8

SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL-SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

• Strongly interacting system of people and nature:

– Feedbacks between social and ecological components

– Specification of structures and processes

– Dynamics and cross-scale interactions

9

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PERSPECTIVE(e.g. de Groot 1987, Mooney & Ehrlich 1997, Daily 1997, Costanza 2000, MA 2005, Brauman et al. 2007)

• Origins in biology and botanic science, and ecological-economics (social science) and is based on system science

− dynamic concept (-> nature of social-ecological systems)

• Calls for the joint development of system understanding (multi-discipline scientists, stakeholders, locals etc.)

• Provides a basis for development of a common systemic language:

− identification of ES provided by the ecosystem

− identification and assessment of threats to these ES

− valuation of ES (trade-offs)

− development of a program of measures to mitigate threats or restore ES

• Facilitates the joint implementation of different water and environmental related policies

Trade-offs often arise from management choices made by humans, which can

change the magnitude and mixture of services provided by ecosystems

-> requires adaptive governance and management approaches!10

ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE(e.g. Holling 1978, Walters 1986, Pahl-Wostl 1995, Lee 1999, Gunderson &Holling 2001, Folke et al. 2005)

Old paradigm (traditional)

• Command and control

• Technical end-of-pipe

solutions

• Narrowly defined problems

dealt with in isolation

• Technological and

institutional panaceas

• No participation

New paradigm (innovative)

• Participatory management

and collaborative decision

making

• Multi-level management

• Cross-sectoral integration

• Decentralized approaches

• Free access to information

• Mainstream ES into policies

SHIFT11

Step 1

Identify (research)

boundaries

Characteristics

WGMSPerformance

Context

Step 2

Develop (analytical)

indicators+

Step 3

Explore water

management processes

(over time)

+

Action Situations

+

Actors

Institutions Activities

Outcome

Ecological System

Societal System

Technical Infrastructure

generate

impact

influence

Change/transformation

Policy /learning processes

RESEARCH DESIGN

12

Rhine, North-Rhine Westphalia (GER) Rhine, Gelderland (NL) Tisza, Great Hungarian Plain (HU)

Guadiana, Castilla La Mancha(E) Sandveld, Western Cape (SA) Murrumbidgee, New South Wales (AUS)

1 2 3

4 6

7

8

Yangtze, Hubei (China)

Yellow, Inner Mongolia (China)

12

3

4

5

6

7

8

5

STEP 1: CASE STUDIES

13

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ACROSS CASE STUDIESEuropean Environmental Agency (EEA, 2010); this classification is based on the earlier work of Costanza et al. (1997), De Groot et al. (2002), MA (2005), and

Daily et al. (2008).

Provisioning

• Household water supply

• Cropping (irrigation)

• Livestock water supply

• Fishing

• Transportation (shipping)

• Power plants (energy)

Regulation & Maintenance

• Waste treatment

• Moderation of extreme

events (floods, droughts)

• Erosion prevention

• Regulation of water flow

• Habitat services (flora and

fauna diversity)

Cultural & Social

• Recreation and tourism

• Information and

knowledge

• Aesthetic beauty and

heritage

• Religious and spiritual

Rhine, shipping

Sandveld, intensive irrigation

Murrumbidgee, flood regulation Tisza, nature observation

Yellow, Mongol herdersUpper Guadiana, Ramsar wetland

14

STEP 2: ANALYTICAL INDICATORS

WGMS Performance

Context

Ecological system

• Water availability/

precipitation

• Chemical status

• Ecological status

• Climate change

Societal system

• Societal development (HDI)

• GDP per capita

• Social equity (GINI index)

• Efficiency of formal

institutions (CPI)

WGMS

• Institutions (e.g. legal frameworks)

• Actors networks (e.g. cross-sectoral cooperation)

• Multi-level structures (e.g. vertical integration)

• Governance modes(hierarchies, markets, networks)

Performance

• Consideration of ES and

trade-offs (e.g. implementation of policies

and measures)

• Societal impacts of floods

and droughts (e.g. economic damage, societal

damage/ casualties)

• Response to climate

change (e.g. adaptation plans)

15

STEP 3: ANALYTICAL APPROACH

Management and Transition Framework (Pahl-Wostl et al. 2008, 2010; Knüppe & Pahl-Wostl 2012)

• Innovative conceptual and methodological framework:– water management and multi-level governance

structures

– dynamics between and within ecological and societal systems

– integration of ES and EH to characterize the interface between societal and ecological systems

– comparative analysis of different cases:

• derive water management schemes

• portability of results/outcomes to cases with similar conditions

16

CASE STUDIES

UPPER GUADIANA, CASTILLA LA MANCHA

• 16 000 km²

• Intensive agriculture

• Illegal groundwater abstraction

• Wetland dehydration

SPREE, BRANDENBURG

• 10 100 km²

• Coal mining, agriculture, tourism, forestry, fishery

• Decrease of water quality and quantity

SANDVELD, WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE

• 4 590 km²

• Potato farming, rooibos tea cultivation

• Increase of GW abstraction and fertilizer

• >50% of natural habitat is transformed

Sandveld, SA

Guadiana, E

Spree, GER

17

SOME CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

� Institutions (e.g. regulatory frameworks) necessary but

not sufficient

→ES are mentioned solely implicit

� Adaptive capacity (e.g. climate change adaptation)

strongly related to multi-level and cross-sectoral

cooperation

� Economic development leads to fulfilling needs of

humans but to a much lesser extent of the environment

� Trade-offs between ES have been noticed, yet poorly

considered

18

SOME CASE STUDY INSIGHTS CON.

� Actors at lower levels are hardly involved in

management processes at higher levels

→Goals, knowledge and experience are not circulated or

considered

→‚Disconnect‘ between different levels of management

� Adaptive and integrated approaches require

fundamental shifts in WGMS in terms of skills,

knowledge capacity, and organization

19

CONCLUDING REMARKS

• ES is an integrated concept:– active incorporation of individual perspectives/preferences

– helpful in communicating the benefits of ecosystem conservation to diverse stakeholders

– extension of biodiversity conservation beyond protected areas

• Adaptive WGMS supports an ‘ES thinking’:– takes into account changes, surprises and uncertainties

– learning by doing approach -> iterative process

– decentralized decision making (at the local level)• the closer management is to the ecosystem, the greater the

responsibility, ownership, accountability, participation, and use of local knowledge

20

OUTLOOK

• Identification of major challenges for (water) governance and ES research– What are major knowledge gaps and potential ‘hot

topics’/research needs?

– What is the current state of research and who is currently involved (countries, disciplines etc.)?

• Bridging the Science-Policy Gap– How to put (water) governance and ES research to

use?

– How to influence the real world policy processes?

– Who will play a key role in achieving this?

21

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND INTEREST

www.waterneeds.uni-osnabrueck.de

Kathrin.Knueppe@uos.de

“ We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when

we created them.”

Albert Einstein

22