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

This research paper examines the evolution and application of adaptive management and water security in water governance, contrasting them with conventional centralized decision-making and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

• Conventional water governance, characterized by centralized decision-making and a focus on increasing supply, has occasionally resulted in inequitable outcomes and ecological degradation.
• Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) integrates infrastructural, ecological, and social systems through sustainability principles, but it lacks a clear goal and struggles to address complex issues regarding an uncertain future.
• 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 later to provide the clear goal that water management previously lacked.
• Both water security and adaptive management necessitate the monitoring and measurement of outcomes to guide decision-making and track progress toward goals.
• The paper identifies three critical priorities for water governance: equity must be a primary goal, quantifying change is essential despite being costly and difficult, and social learning is a key component of adaptive management that requires 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} }