Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 3.1 Components of CPWF's ToC
1
Improvements in water management and water productivity come
from both social and technical innovation.
2
Innovation systems in basins and sub-basins are complex adaptive
systems.
3
Grassroots innovation processes in complex adaptive systems are
driven by “learning selection.”
4
Components 2 and 3 provide a framework for problem analysis to
devise research strategies .
5
The CPWF carries out its research to develop strategies and inter-
ventions, through strengthening networks.
Source: Douthwaite (2011)
Cornerstone 1: Understanding systemic change
In its second phase, the CPWF conducted R4D on particular Basin
Development Challenges (BDCs) in each of six river basins. The use of BDCs
allowed the CPWF to focus on specific problem sets in the context of broader
complex adaptive systems found in basins. (See Chapter 4 for discussion of
BDCs and how they were prioritized and selected.) In each basin, the CPWF
conducted research on BDCs through sets of interlinked projects with the aim
of developing systemic understanding and triggering “tipping points” that
would lead to innovation and change.
Emergence is an inherent property of complex adaptive systems (Axelrod
and Cohen, 2000). Emergence results from the interactions between agents
(people in our case), strategies (what to do in which circumstances), and
artefacts (material resources that respond to the action of agents). Emergence
is not a property of any single agent, nor can it be predicted easily or deduced
from the behavior of individual agents. There are many examples of emergence
from many different types of complex adaptive systems. For example, the
constantly changing shape of a flock of birds in flight or the construction and
maintenance of a termite mound occurs because individual birds or termites
have a few simple genetically coded rules that they follow.
In complex adaptive systems in human communities, emergence is driven by
learning selection (Douthwaite, 2002). People experiment by trying novel
ways to do things. If they succeed, they may decide to continue with the
novelty, adapt it, or abandon it. While they experiment, they interact with
others, who may influence what they decide to do with the novelty. This is the
process of learning selection.
Learning selection applies to institutional as well as technical innovations.
In responding to problems of collective water and food management, insti-
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