Abstract
We bring together two decades of research on cross-scale spatial and temporal connectivity of water in the Anthropocene to understand the implications for institutional fit and water governance, with a focus on river basin organizations and watershed-based bodies. There is strong evidence showing how hydrological cycles are tightly coupled across larger spatial scales than they were in the past, which implies a possible expansion of the boundaries typically considered in the study and governance of water. Temporally, frequent time lags between action and consequence and the potential for increasing concurrence of extreme events pose risks for decision-makers trying to make accurate and appropriate decisions. Both cross-scale spatial and temporal connectivity create new challenges to key principles regarding participation, deliberation and collaboration in water governance. We argue for a shift from emphasizing how governance can ‘fit’ a closed, biophysical boundary towards a stronger consideration of institutional ‘fitness’ through flexibility, responsiveness and anticipatory capacity to better support water resilience and sustainability.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the following support for making this work possible. M.-L.M., O.B., L.W.-E. and J.R. are funded by FORMAS 2022-02089. M.-L.M., O.B. and L.W.-E. are also funded by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. M.-L.M is also funded by FORMAS 2023-01601. O.B. is also funded by FORMAS Dnr: 2020-01551 and The Kamprad Family Foundation 20200092. L.W.-E. is also funded by Formas 2019-01220, 2022-02089, 2023-0310 and 2023-00321, IKEA Foundation, and Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, Horizon Europe (101081661), and the European Research Council (ERC; ERC-2016-ADG-743080). J.E. is funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR-2019-00508). F.J. is funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development FORMAS grants 2022-02148 and 2022-01570. S.J.L. is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT200100381 and the Swedish Research Council FORMAS grant 2020-00371. M.M.G. is funded by the Swedish Research Council, Vetenskaprådet grant 2018-05792. R.M. is funded by Biodiversa+, the European Biodiversity Partnership co-funded by the European Commission (GA N°101052342) and the funding organization FORMAS. We also benefited from the insights of colleagues who provided feedback on presentations of the ideas synthesized in the manuscript.
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All authors contributed to the original conception of the paper and its framing. M.-L.M. led the design, analysis, writing and revisions, and L.W.-E., O.B., J.E., F.J., K.J., C.F., P.K., S.J.L., M.M.G., R.M., N.M., A.P. and J.R. all contributed to the analysis, writing and revisions. A.P. led the design of the figure illustration.
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Moore, ML., Wang-Erlandsson, L., Bodin, Ö. et al. Moving from fit to fitness for governing water in the Anthropocene. Nat Water 2, 511–520 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00257-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00257-y
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