Socio-economic consequences of policy change towards sustainable water management

Figure 1. Simplified conceptual model of the decision-making process

Introduction

The interactions between humans and the water environment are complex. Therefore more sophisticated and integrated methods are required to address the problem of water management. It has been argued that for integrated water management economic, environmental, as well as, social aspects are crucial in the decision-making process.

Despite the importance of integrated approaches little consideration has been given to socio-economic aspects in decision-making, and complete socio-economic analyses rarely exist in water management. A further problem is that stakeholder involvement by itself is often seen as achieving integration of socio-economic aspects (see grey arrows in figure 1). However, little attention focuses on how a new policy impacts upon socio-economic aspects such as house-prices, employment and wellbeing (see thick arrows in figure 1).

This study focuses on the relationship between policy change and socio-economic consequences. Aspects such as how the decision-making process develops and how power relationships influence policy making are also taken into consideration. A further aim is to look at the concept of social resilience i.e. how communities adapt to, or even benefit from, change without loosing their core functions.

As part of the CatSci Marie Curie Early Stage Training programme in the CSC, this study is one of eight projects seeking to support integrated catchment management. The different projects will all use the River Don Catchment (see figure 2) as a pilot catchment with the aim of integrating the research resulting in a more holistic view of water catchments.

Figure 2. Map of the River Don Catchment

Approach

To address the aims of the study a model approach using system analysis is being applied. As illustrated below, the model runs different policy scenarios moving towards sustainable water management. The impacts of these scenarios are being tested using socio-economic indicators and are then evaluated in terms of socio-economic consequences.

The results from the research will highlight the importance of integration of socio-economic impacts in water management, using the outputs from the pilot study as an example. Further, it will seek to inform how to include socio-economic impacts in decisions, resulting in more effective policy making.

Figure 3. Conceptual model of the scenario modelling approach