The NeWater Management and Transition Framework — state and development process —

Abstract

This paper presents the first completed version of the Management and Transition Framework developed in the NeWater1 project. The framework is an interdisciplinary conceptual framework supporting the analysis of water systems and management regimes to improve the scientific understanding of system properties and to give practical guidance for the implementation of transition processes towards more adaptive systems. The framework integrates a range of concepts to develop a more coherent understanding of the complexity of water management regimes. Specific emphasis is given to adaptive capacity and learning processes. The framework has been developed in a participatory process involving a wide range of researchers from different disciplines. The framework development process made thus an important contribution to the process of integration within the project. The current version of the MTF is a combination of graphical representation and narratives and divided into three components for the usage in research or practical implementation. The framework will be tested and refined in an interactive process between case study implementation, comparative analyses and generic concept development