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For the collaborative planning process to succeed it is important that everyone's partial
views and understanding of the system contribute to the overall conceptual model of the
system. There are currently no formalized approaches to ensure this is done properly as an
initial stage. Physical scientists and modelers have often overlooked or failed to
acknowledge that an effective facilitation of such stakeholder process can be challenging
and falls within the domain of the human sciences practitioner. Drawing from applied
anthropology, we propose a method that helps structure stakeholder participation for
shaping a collective, agreed-upon conceptual model.
The Participatory Rapid Assessment (PRA, Chambers, 1994) process provides an environment
wherein facilitators can pose questions or raise issues and allow stakeholders to appropriate
and discuss them, expressing themselves in ways they feel more comfortable with. The
efficacy of PRA can benefit from the use of tools (maps, diagrams, timelines) that help to focus
discussions in which participants can contribute their information, perspectives and
understanding of the reality. For example, participatory mapping, where participants can
publicly draw upon their understanding of land use and water use practices, as well as the
spatial linkages of water allocation in a basin, will be very visual and address potential
misunderstandings in a display of social interactions. Diagrams can be of uttermost
importance to learn about feedbacks across fields of study (water availability, crop production,
economy) in the basin, social relationships, and vulnerabilities. The use of timelines will help
understand how changes have been taking place in different areas across the watershed. The
use of these tools will help develop a common conceptual model of the physical and social-
economic system of the basin in an open and collaborative way. All participants will learn and
benefit from this method, as long as it is properly facilitated.
If the decision-making process is to be truly coupled - including physical and human
considerations - it has to look into the impacts on populations; both on economic activities
and shifts in vulnerabilities. A holistic decision support system approach should seek to
provide insights on different forcings in the basin, including the effects of globalization
(social, economic, and environmental impacts), local manifestations of climate change
impacts, and their joint effects, what O'Brien and Leichenko (2000) termed
double exposure
.
To address such issues, linkages techniques such as Venn diagrams may show which
external drivers may be at play in the basin and how they impact the basin system.
Diagrams can show how communities see themselves integrated within the global world,
their relationship with outside influences, as well as provide insights on how to become less
vulnerable to external drivers.
A collectively agreed-upon conceptual model of the physical and human system of the basin
will help stakeholders and decision-makers understand what are the main issues and
challenges, at the basin scale and for each stakeholder. The process of putting in common
everyone's understanding of the system (i.e. conceptual model) may enlighten some cause-
effect relationships, as well as make evident which ones are not well understood, making
evident where the uncertainties and the unknowns are in the system. These steps are essential
to formulate the questions that need an answer to move forward any decision-making
processes. What do we know now and what do we need to know in order to make informed
decisions? Once the key questions that need to be answered have been formulated, then
considerations on what type of modeling tools and decision-support systems can be pursued.
If stakeholders and decision-makers are involved in the process of developing a collective
conceptual model (or shared understanding) of how the system works and what are the
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