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Project properties |
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| Title | Ecosystem-based adaptation planning and management for water and agriculture |
| Group | Water Systems and Global Change |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | R Vignola
M del Pozo L Ho Huu |
| Examiner(s) | R. Vignola |
| Contact info | Maria del Pozo (maria.delpozogarcia@wurl.nl) MIL
Wouter Smolenaars (wouter.smolenaars@wur.nl) MCL, MES and MUE |
| Begin date | 2024/01/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | Theme
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is part of the growing efforts to harness nature’ services to reduce impacts of climate change on water and food production across the globe. EbA solutions focus on the role of ecosystem services in reducing the vulnerability of society to climate change, in a multi-sectoral and multiscale approach†(Vignola et al., 2009). As noticed by a growing number of planning efforts worldwide, planning and managing EBA solutions for water (e.g. integrated water management, adaptive water management) and agriculture (e.g. agroecology, climate-smart agriculture) requires integrated approaches and the engagement of a variety of stakeholders often from multiple scales and across sectors (Vignola et al., 2009; Vignola et al., 2015; Boelee et al., 2017). In addition to their possible adaptation benefits, EbA planning and management processes have been found also to possess the potential to transform not only water and food production management but also societal adaptation planning practices (e.g. Palomo et al., 2021 Projects This research topic will contribute to understanding how EbA planning processes engage with the role of ecosystem services to reduce societal vulnerability. It will develop or assess the use of a variety of tools such as participatory scenarios, climate change impacts and ecosystem services assessment, negotiation analysis, decisions under uncertainties, etc.). It will also analyze cases using a variety of approaches (e.g. adaptation pathways, community-based adaptation, scenario-based planning, ecosystem services assessment, adaptive planning, etc.) used in EbA planning. Broad research questions include: To what extent can EbA planning and management approaches open opportunities to innovate adaptation planning? What are barriers to, and opportunities offered by the adoption of EbA solutions to transform adaptation planning (e.g. by incentivizing integrated approaches, monitoring, etc.) and management in the water and agricultural sectors? How are different types of uncertainties in the social and biophysical dimensions tackled in those planning processes?  This topic takes a socio-technical perspective to assess EbA planning and management. Based on sound technical understanding of the biophysical characteristics of ecosystem services, it uses social science theories to analyze EbA planning and management practices and transitioning to integrated approaches to water and agriculture. A variety of methodological approaches (e.g. case studies, qualitative comparative analysis, mixed methods, etc.) can be used to analyze adaptation planning cases focusing on water and agriculture problems through in-depth field work and/or systematic reviews using growing online databases. If you are interested in working in South and Southeast Asian region, more information of on-going projects can be found at: https://nbs4asia.com/projects/ |
| Used skills | Interview and survey skills
Interactional skills |
| Requirements | |