The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Stakeholders Engagement and Social Learning in Adaptive and Integrated Water Resources Management

Global freshwater management is facing unprecedented challenges due to climate change, population growth, and economic development. As water-related challenges have become increasingly complex, water management systems have evolved to incorporate social and environmental dimensions, resulting in the emergence of integrated water resources management (IWRM) and adaptive water governance paradigms. However, the challenges associated with IWRM include vagueness in operationalization, inadequate treatment of uncertainties, ineffective stakeholder engagement, and poor understanding of learning processes for adaptation to multiple changes. To address these challenges, this study proposes the use of the concept of adaptive governance to understand the role of social learning and stakeholders multi-level engagement in developing resilient water management systems. A bibliometric analysis is conducted to trace the intellectual development in the field, identify trends in water management regimes, highlight gaps in the IWRM approach, and explore the role of social learning in resource management systems. Integrating the different concepts and approaches from this analysis, a conceptual framework is developed to analyze the interlinkages among the social, ecological, and technological domains of water systems, focusing specifically on stakeholder engagement at different scales and the identification of the stages and types of social learning. The framework is then used to conduct a comparative assessment of water systems at the national level in two countries that have adopted IWRM: Australia and Uzbekistan. The comparison is based on the country reports that track global progress on the implementation of IWRM. The study's findings contribute to the current literature on adaptive water governance in the context of globalization and climate change and emphasize the importance of social learning in improving adaptive capacity and system resilience. The study provides an analytical framework for policymakers and water managers to analyze and improve the cooperation between various levels of water management authorities and among sectors involved in decision-making.