Supporting decisions in water management by exploring information and capacity gaps: experiences from an IWRM study in the Western Bug River Basin, Ukraine

Key problems of Integrated Water Resources Management refer to interactions between various levels, scales and existing coordination gaps, such as inadequate governance structures and insufficient knowledge and capacities. In this study we describe a management framework that aligns model-based systems analysis with capacity assessments suggesting a concept for improving cross-scale interactions and thus for overcoming both, water-related pressures and coordination gaps. In the study we (i) identify the missing link between technical development approaches and capacity development, (ii) outline interrelations between environmental pressures on aquatic systems and capacity and information gaps in a transparent way, and (iii) introduce a practice-relevant method to combine model-based system planning with capacity assessments for deriving management options that support water management actors in reducing pressures and gaps. The results of the integrated analysis are made explicit by introducing a matrix approach that is inspired by an existing framework to systematically differentiate water quality-related pressures (cf. Blumensaat et al. 2013). The approach confronts pressures and gaps and so jointly addresses technical issues, institutional challenges, organizational development, information needs, and human resources development. The concept supports a transparent decision making process by identifying knowledge and capacities required for the implementation of corresponding technical intervention options and vice versa. The application of the method in the International Water Research Alliance Saxony model region ‘Ukraine’ is illustrated to demonstrate the added value as a boundary object between scales that is supporting actors in streamlining model-based planning and capacity development.