Adaptive Management and Water Security in a Global Context: Definitions, Concepts, and Examples

The document analyzes the transition from conventional water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) toward adaptive management and water security. It emphasizes the necessity of monitoring and measurement to guide decision-making and highlights the importance of equity and social learning in creating participatory and adaptive water governance systems.

• Conventional water governance, characterized by centralized decision-making and a focus on increasing supply, has occasionally resulted in inequitable outcomes and ecological degradation.
• Adaptive management incorporates uncertainty into decision-making and depends on active knowledge exchange between policy-makers and scientists, as well as public participation.
• The concept of water security was developed to provide a clear goal for water management, which was previously lacking in other governance modes.
• Equity must be a primary objective for any water management strategy.
• Quantifying change is essential but presents challenges due to high long-term costs and inherent difficulty.
• Social learning is a fundamental component of adaptive management and is an area requiring further research.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Adaptive Management and Water Security in a Global Context: Definitions, Concepts, and Examples. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/adaptive-management-and-water-security-in-a-global-context-definitions-concepts-and-examples/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Adaptive Management and Water Security in a Global Context: Definitions, Concepts, and Examples. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/adaptive-management-and-water-security-in-a-global-context-definitions-concepts-and-examples/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Adaptive Management and Water Security in a Global Context: Definitions, Concepts, and Examples |date=13 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/adaptive-management-and-water-security-in-a-global-context-definitions-concepts-and-examples/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025adaptive, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Adaptive Management and Water Security in a Global Context: Definitions, Concepts, and Examples}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/adaptive-management-and-water-security-in-a-global-context-definitions-concepts-and-examples/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }