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Supporting decisions in water management by exploring information and capacity gaps: experiences from an IWRM study in the Western Bug River Basin, Ukraine

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Abstract

Key problems of Integrated Water Resources Management refer to interactions between various levels, scales and existing coordination gaps, such as inadequate governance structures and insufficient knowledge and capacities. In this study we describe a management framework that aligns model-based systems analysis with capacity assessments suggesting a concept for improving cross-scale interactions and thus for overcoming both, water-related pressures and coordination gaps. In the study we (i) identify the missing link between technical development approaches and capacity development, (ii) outline interrelations between environmental pressures on aquatic systems and capacity and information gaps in a transparent way, and (iii) introduce a practice-relevant method to combine model-based system planning with capacity assessments for deriving management options that support water management actors in reducing pressures and gaps. The results of the integrated analysis are made explicit by introducing a matrix approach that is inspired by an existing framework to systematically differentiate water quality-related pressures (cf. Blumensaat et al. 2013). The approach confronts pressures and gaps and so jointly addresses technical issues, institutional challenges, organizational development, information needs, and human resources development. The concept supports a transparent decision making process by identifying knowledge and capacities required for the implementation of corresponding technical intervention options and vice versa. The application of the method in the International Water Research Alliance Saxony model region ‘Ukraine’ is illustrated to demonstrate the added value as a boundary object between scales that is supporting actors in streamlining model-based planning and capacity development.

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Notes

  1. We define management options as a combination of ‘technical intervention options’/rehabilitation measures, such as the implementation of innovative treatment technology at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) with capacity development measures, for example the establishment of training courses for operating personnel.

  2. Asymmetry of information is a general problem in environmental policy making (Krutilla and Krause 2011).

  3. Young (2002) and Moss (2003) describe these interactions as problem of fit, vertical and horizontal interplay.

  4. Social learning is according to Reed et al. (2010) defined as (i) a change in understanding in the individuals, (ii) goes beyond individual learning and is within wider social units and (iii) change occurs through interactions between actors within a social network (meetings, media, Web 2.0).

  5. This reflects the aforementioned multi-level approach. Yet, we turn it upside down for the sake of clarification and define it as sub-scales.

  6. The first level of Ukraine’s administrative division is called oblast (state).

  7. http://krogerc.info/ua/tarifs/bycapital/sink.html (in Ukrainian; accessed 29/10/2014).

  8. This is completely in accordance with the Ukrainian action plan for water management until 2020.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funding from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the project “IWAS—International Water Research Alliance Saxony” (Grant 02WM1027 and 02WM1028).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Marco Leidel

  2. Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Nina Hagemann

  3. Institute of Urban Water Management, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Jörg Seegert & Frank Blumensaat

  4. DREBERIS GmbH– Strategy Consultants of Dresden, Heinrich-Zille-Str. 2, 01219, Dresden, Germany

    Corinna Weigelt

  5. Environmental Protection of International River Basins Project, Rognidynska Street 3, Kiev, 01019, Ukraine

    Natalia Zakorchevna

  6. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Institute of Environmental Engineering and Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Überlandstrasse 133, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Frank Blumensaat

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  1. Marco Leidel
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  2. Nina Hagemann
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Correspondence to Marco Leidel.

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Leidel, M., Hagemann, N., Seegert, J. et al. Supporting decisions in water management by exploring information and capacity gaps: experiences from an IWRM study in the Western Bug River Basin, Ukraine. Environ Earth Sci 72, 4771–4786 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3863-8

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