Interdisciplinary assessment of complex regional water systems and their future evolution: how socioeconomic drivers can matter more than climate

Reynard, Emmanuel; Bonriposi, Mariano; Graefe, Olivier; Homewood, Christine; Huss, Matthias; Kauzlaric, Martina Catharina; Liniger, Hanspeter; Rey, Emmanuel; Rist, Stephan; Schädler, Bruno; Schneider, Flurina; Weingartner, Rolf (2014). Interdisciplinary assessment of complex regional water systems and their future evolution: how socioeconomic drivers can matter more than climate. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 1(4), pp. 413-426. Wiley 10.1002/wat2.1032

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Modeling of future water systems at the regional scale is a difficult task due to the complexity of current structures (multiple competing water uses, multiple actors, formal and informal rules) both temporally and spatially. Representing this complexity in the modeling process is a challenge that can be addressed by an interdisciplinary and holistic approach. The assessment of the water system of the Crans-Montana-Sierre area (Switzerland) and its evolution until 2050 were tackled by combining glaciological, hydrogeological, and hydrological measurements and modeling with the evaluation of water use through documentary, statistical and interview-based analyses. Four visions of future regional development were co-produced with a group of stakeholders and were then used as a basis for estimating future water demand. The comparison of the available water resource and the water demand at monthly time scale allowed us to conclude that for the four scenarios socioeconomic factors will impact on the future water systems more than climatic factors. An analysis of the sustainability of the current and future water systems based on four visions of regional development allowed us to identify those scenarios that will be more sustainable and that should be adopted by the decision-makers. The results were then presented to the stakeholders through five key messages. The challenges of communicating the results in such a way with stakeholders are discussed at the end of the article.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability > Unit Critical Sustainability Studies (CSS)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Hydrology
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Geographies of Sustainability > Unit Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management (LS-SLM)
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) > MobiLab
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
10 Strategic Research Centers > Centre for Development and Environment (CDE)

UniBE Contributor:

Kauzlaric, Martina Catharina, Liniger, Hans Peter, Rey, Emmanuel, Rist, Stephan, Schädler, Bruno, Schneider, Flurina, Weingartner, Rolf

Subjects:

900 History > 910 Geography & travel
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics

ISSN:

2049-1948

Publisher:

Wiley

Projects:

[444] Approaching water stress in the Alps

Language:

English

Submitter:

Monika Wälti-Stampfli

Date Deposited:

07 Oct 2014 16:45

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:25

Publisher DOI:

10.1002/wat2.1032

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.58522

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/58522

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