The goal of collaborative modelling is to support negotiations for policy or decision support. As noted previously, decision making processes concerning water resources invariably involve complex problems encompassing disputes among the stakeholders engaged. As a result, some degree of negotiation will be necessary to resolve these conflicts and achieve cooperation. The information provided should directly address the issues of concern and provide feedback on those impacts of importance to stakeholders. To ensure that the different stakeholders can all interpret modelling results, different visualization and communication interfaces may be required. Similarly, different negotiation processes may need to be employed. Collaborative modelling is well-suited to interest-based negotiations, where agreement is first reached about the facts (and uncertainties) prior to negotiations over any competing stakeholder interests.
water resources management invariably involves conflicting stakeholder interests. Our collaborative modelling approaches aim to incorporate accepted, factual information generated by the developed models to support interest-based negotiations between stakeholders.
During the Dutch Delta Programme Rivers, central government, provincial, municipal and water board representatives cooperated together in formulating an adaptive, long-term flood risk management strategy for riverine areas. Social organisations and the business community also had opportunities to provide input. Stakeholders were brought together to design and assess a large variety of dike reinforcement and spatial measures, the latter which prioritised giving back ‘room to the river ’. Many of these spatial measures involved land use changes, decisions about which were inherently political. A collaborative modelling approach was proposed that combined structured stakeholder participation in various discussion and negotiation forums, supported by a simple, fast modelling tool: the Planning Kit (in Dutch: Blokkendoos). The Planning Kit provided stakeholders with a quick and effective means to visually analyse and assess flood protection and other impacts for the many spatial measures to be considered during negotiations over the preferred strategy.
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