System of Systems Engineering Methodologies for Responsible Environmental Management

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The overall objective of the proposed research is to devise innovative systems engineering methodologies for enhancing decision making within the paradigm of a System of Systems (SoS) to meaningfully address tough SoS problems involving water, energy and the environment within a changing climate regime, in order to design solutions that are robust, sustainable and fair. This flexible SoS approach would be integrative and thereby go across interconnected systems such as water, energy and the atmosphere; adaptive and therefore be designed to appropriately respond to unexpected emergent behavior like unprecedented flooding and drought; and participatory to ensure that the value systems of stakeholders, including nature and future generations, are equitably considered. A range of major advances will be made within the structure of the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) such as the role of third party intervention for solving tough disputes like agreeing upon mutually acceptable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions within and among nations; ways for settling what appears to be a never-ending dispute, like the ongoing electrical development and transmission conflict that the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is still having with Quebec after many decades of frustrating negotiations; and taking into account the hierarchical structure of conflicts, such as those existing over energy and water among the federal, provincial and local governments, for the purpose of achieving sustainable resolutions. In order to lead interconnected conflicts to cooperative win/win resolutions, responsible governance policies and management practices will be designed and thoroughly tested. Complex real world conflicts of high interest to Canadians, like the dispute arising over the proposed shipping via pipeline of unrefined bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to the USA and Asia which will result in the loss of $60 billion per year in added value to Canada, will be examined in detail to ascertain what is best for Canada. By thinking and acting strategically, Canadians will be in an advantageous position to sustainably, fairly and responsibly prosper from their immense water, energy and other natural resources.