LIST OF PANELS

Uncertainty and complexity are dimensions of public policy that environmental policy scholars and practitioners have grappled with for decades. Yet, climate change has introduced theoretical and practical uncertainties that present profound challenges for water policy and governance research. Among the governance challenges policy-makers and researchers face is the need to: design and adapt policies given high levels and different kinds of uncertainty; more effectively manage the water quantity and quality interface and related challenges/conflicts; braid Indigenous ecological and governance values into management approaches; better engage new and different policy actors, enhancing democratization in water governance; broaden research to ensure that emerging scientific, interdisciplinary, and traditional knowledge informs policy research; and improve connectedness across complex scalar and temporal dimensions.

This panel presents research that grapples with the implications of a climate-impacted world for water governance and policy at various scales. The session will focus on several related research questions: How is climate change forcing new frontiers in environment and water governance research? How can policy research embrace uncertainty and complexity in theory and methods, in ways that are useful to policy-makers? How can policy models and experimentation better reflect dynamism yet recognize institutional realities, actor and power asymmetries, and embedded knowledge and values? Why is focusing on policy interfaces such as climate-water so challenging, theoretically and methodologically? What can we learn from complex policy cases and comparisons?

In-person session

This panel will only accept onsite presentations.

This panel features papers which embrace complexity, uncertainty and innovation in climate-water governance and policy processes, theoretical approaches and methodologies. Papers that focus on new theories, knowledge, and engagement of new policy stakeholders to address these challenges are welcome. Research that examines policy processes within and across existing jurisdictions, transboundary and basin policy architectures are welcome, given that existing policies, agreements, and institutions across borders face adaptation and innovation challenges and policy researchers need to embrace and incorporate uncertainty in theory and methods. Research focused on alternative governance models, Indigenous stewardship and governance perspectives, water-climate challenges/conflicts; multi-level governance, connectivity and networks, policy learning, policy transformation, integration of social-ecological systems and policy research; adaptive water governance; resilience principles; water data governance and democratization; knowledge co-production; polycentricity; water security and water rights; and the role of experimentation and collaboration are welcome. Papers using a diverse range of methodologies are welcome.