ACADEMIC CURRICULUM
ON ADAPTIVE RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT
www.newatereducation.nl
Online Modules for Instructors of Water/Environmental/Resource Management
(Flyer downloadable)
Aim and Audience
A curriculum in adaptive river basin management will soon be available for teaching at universities at the Master’s and PhD levels. The teaching materials will be published as downloadable modules on the internet for interested instructors of Environmental and Resources Management, Hydrology, Public Policy, and other fields that may include studies in water resources management.
The broader learning goals of this curriculum are to teach students about:
- Water issues in the context of global change
- Adaptive management concepts
- Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): what it is and how it is practiced
- The role of adaptive management in IWRM
- Making the transition to adaptive river basin management
Although all teaching materials are available in English only, the curriculum is geared as much as possible to an international audience, with examples drawn from cases in variety of regions including developing countries. It is however acknowledged that teaching approaches vary among countries and regions, and that instructors may have to adapt the curriculum based on their own requirements and preferences.
The Curriculum
The curriculum was developed as part of the Training and Education activities in the NeWater Project (New Approaches to Uncertainty in Water Management) funded by the European Commission. The NeWater project has, among other goals, an explicit aim to provide an effective outreach mechanism for scientific results, methodologies and tools to various levels of stakeholders in the water sector, including education at the university level, policy, and water management practitioners.
The curriculum has been implemented by the Institute of Environmental Systems Research, University of Osnabrück (www.usf.uos.de), Alterra (http://www.alterra.wur.nl/UK/) / Wageningen University (http://www.wageningenuniversiteit.nl/UK/) and the Global Water System Project (www.gwsp.org)
The curriculum is available at www.newatereducation.nl.
- lectures with accompanying script and reference to examples from relevant case studies
- discussion questions
- exercises or projects (primarily group projects)
- supporting literature (background reading)
- relevant links to electronic databases, atlases, glossaries, etc.
Examples from NeWater case studies including the Rhine, Guadiana, Tisza, Nile, Orange and Amu Darya river basins will help illustrate approaches and areas of application.
The modules are drawn primarfrom the teaching materials prepared for the NeWater summer schools.
Module 1: Global change and Water Resources
Global Change and Water Resources
Climate Change and Variability
Climate Extremes: Droughts and Floods
Availability, Use and Scarcity of Water Resources
Water, Climate and Development
Module 2: Introduction to Adaptive Management and IWRM
Basic concepts of Adaptive Management and Integrated Water Resources Management
Resilience and adaptive capacity
Water policy mechanisms
Uncertainty (analysis) and its role in water management
Module 3: Adaptive Management Tools and Methods
Vulnerability assessment
Governance regimes
Participatory processes
Group model building
Performance indicators
Information gathering and monitoring systems
Integrating economics in Adaptive Management
Role of transitions management
Module 4: Managing Transitions to Adaptive Management (under development)
Socio-economic barriers to change
Institutional barriers to change
Learning processes in facilitating change
Managing change for effective river basin management
Role of European Water Framework Directive
The modules developed will be tested on academics with some experience in teaching adaptive management, as well as students of related fields.
For more information: Caroline van Bers (cvbers[at]usf.uos.de)
| Name | Size | Published | |
|---|---|---|---|
 Launch_online_water_curriculum_2008.pdf | 167 kb | Mr. Stefan Riffert | 2009-03-23 14:34:55 |