RCN-SEES A Global Water Diplomacy Network: Synthesis of Science, Policy, and Politics for a Sustainable Water Future

该奖项由NSF的科学、工程和教育促进可持续发展(SEES)活动资助，旨在应对创造一个可持续世界的挑战。由于自然、社会和政治力量的复杂相互作用，全球范围内围绕水的冲突在地方、国家、地区和国际范围内持续增加。虽然对水系统进行理论化的努力很多，但可用于在实践中探索和实施这些理论的工具和技术往往导致了一门“聪明但不明智”的科学。重要的是将科学学习与现实世界水问题复杂的背景现实相结合，以找到将社会和政治方面纳入其中的解决办法。这些解决水问题的方法弥合了理论和实践之间的鸿沟。这个研究协调网络将创建一种“水外交”方法，以解决复杂的水问题，其中自然、社会和政治因素跨越多个边界，以无限、不确定和非线性的方式相互作用。这种方法植根于复杂性理论和谈判的新兴思想，寻求将科学客观性与背景现实相结合，创造可操作的水知识。水外交方法认为，通过利用网络理论的最新发展，了解自然、社会和政治系统中各个组成部分之间的相互作用，可以更有效地管理水资源。本区域水资源网将用三个挑战水资源管理传统智慧的命题来审查《水外交框架》的充分性：(A)水不是一种固定资源；(B)水网络是开放和持续变化的；(C)不确定性、可变性、非线性和反馈不是外生的。在这三个主张的基础上，该区域资源中心将探索和展示合作而不是竞争的决策方法在处理和解决水冲突方面的效用和有效性。社区建设活动将侧重于两个相互关联的目标：(I)吸引来自不同专业领域的学者和专业人员在各种实地环境中审查三项主张；(Ii)在数据管理和社交网络方面开发利用技术的机会，以产生、完善和与全球社区分享成果和最佳做法。水外交研究协调网络的一个主要特点是创建了一个活跃的论坛，学者和实践者在此进行互动，以确定问题和制定解决战略。30多个RCN伙伴承诺以一种新的方式处理水管理问题，其中许多伙伴以前从未合作过。该区域水资源网络将通过区域水资源网络合作伙伴与水资源理论家、实践者和决策者的在线社区之间的动态互动，创造一个有利于创造力和跨学科协同的环境。这样的环境将促进在研究、应用和传播从该区域网络产生的数据和发现方面的创新和卓越。社区建设活动将有助于通过有重点的参与和共享学习使科学发现可付诸实施。这个RCN将培养一支新的水资源专业人员队伍，他们不仅是具有深厚学科基础的学者，而且还是具有跨学科专业知识和谈判技能的问题解决者。RCN的性别、种族和职业阶段的多样性将确保增强下一代水外交专业人员的多样性。参与的国家和国际参与者的范围将确保具有不同背景和观点的人参与创造和分享可行的知识。这种知识共享对于在全球化世界中管理跨界水问题至关重要。

This award is funded under NSF's Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) activities, which aim to address the challenges of creating a sustainable world.Conflicts over water continue to increase around the globe at local, national, regional and international scales arising from complex interactions of natural, societal, and political forces. While efforts to theorize about water systems have been many, the tools and techniques available to pursue and implement these theories in practice have often led to science that is 'smart but not wise'. It is important to integrate scientific learning with the complex contextual reality of real world water problems to find solutions where societal and political aspects are incorporated. Such solutions to water problems bridge the divide between theory and practice. This Research Coordination Network will create a "Water Diplomacy" approach to address complex water problems where natural, societal, and political elements cross multiple boundaries and interact in unbounded, uncertain and nonlinear ways. This approach, rooted in emerging ideas of complexity theory and negotiation, seeks to synthesize scientific objectivity with contextual reality and create actionable water knowledge. The Water Diplomacy approach posits that water resources could be more effectively managed by understanding the interaction among individual components within the natural, societal and political systems using recent developments in network theory. This RCN will examine the adequacy of the Water Diplomacy Framework with three propositions that challenge the conventional wisdom about water management: (a) water is not a fixed resource; (b) water networks are open and continuously changing; and (c) uncertainty, variability, nonlinearity, and feedback are not exogenous. Building on these three propositions, this RCN will explore and demonstrate the utility and effectiveness of cooperative rather than competitive approaches to decision-making to address and resolve water conflicts. The community building activities will focus on two interrelated goals: (i) engage scholars and professionals from different domains of expertise to examine three propositions in a range of field-based settings; and (ii) develop technology-enhanced opportunities in data management and social networking to produce, refine, and share results and best practices with the global community.A key distinguishing feature of the Water Diplomacy Research Coordination Network is the creation of a dynamic forum where scholars and practitioners interact to define problems and develop solution strategies. More than thirty RCN partners, many of whom have not worked together before, have committed to approach water management questions in a new way. This RCN will create an environment conducive to creativity and cross-disciplinary synergy through dynamic interactions between RCN partners and an online community of water theorists, practitioners, and decision makers. Such an environment will facilitate innovation and excellence in research, applications, and dissemination of data and findings generated from this RCN. Community building activities will help make scientific findings actionable through focused participation and shared learning. This RCN will prepare a new cadre of water professionals who are not only scholars with strong disciplinary grounding but also problem-solvers with interdisciplinary expertise and negotiation skills. The gender, ethnic, and career-stage diversity of the RCN will ensure enhanced diversity of the next generation of water diplomacy professionals. The range of national and international participants involved will ensure that people with different backgrounds and viewpoints are engaged in creating and sharing actionable knowledge. Such sharing of knowledge is critical to managing boundary crossing water problems in a globalized world.