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An Approach for Supporting Problem Structuring in Water Resources Management and Planning

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Abstract

The watershed committees in Brazil often face difficulties to find out consensus solution for problems in water resources management and planning, due to multiple participants with different backgrounds, differences of opinion, conflict of interests and differences in perceiving and interpretation of problem and solution. This situation results in conflicts and consequently put activities of committees at risk. The Problem Structuring Methods – PSMs are techniques to structure problems and analyze similar type of problems. PSMs offer a way of representing the situation to provide clarity to participants in understanding the problem and lead to converging on potential agreeable actions for at least partial resolutions. This paper presents a group decision approach for supporting water resources management and planning, based on the use of the PSM Strategic Options Development and Analysis – SODA, which performs the cognitive mapping of individuals. The approach promotes a common understanding about a complex situation under investigation, assisting the group in identification of a course of actions for solving the problem. The approach is intended to support Brazilian watershed committees and it was applied to the committee of the Paraíba River watershed in northeastern Brazil. Using this approach, the committee identified inadequate watershed management as a major issue that must be undertaken in order to achieve mitigation of watershed degradation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the committee of the Paraíba River watershed for its collaboration in applying the proposed model and the suggestions made by anonymous reviewers, which have contributed to make this a better final version. The Brazilian Research Council – CNPq, funded this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DeSiDeS (Development of Systems for Supporting Sustainable Decisions), UFCG (Federal Univiversity of Campina Grande), R. Aprígio Veloso, n.° 882, Bloco CB (REENGE), Bairro Universitário, Campina Grande, Paraíba, 58.429-900, Brazil

    Vanessa B. Schramm & Fernando Schramm

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  1. Vanessa B. Schramm
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  2. Fernando Schramm
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Correspondence to Vanessa B. Schramm.

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Schramm, V.B., Schramm, F. An Approach for Supporting Problem Structuring in Water Resources Management and Planning. Water Resour Manage 32, 2955–2968 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-1966-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-1966-9

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