Water Governance in the Face of Global Change

Claudia Pahl-Wostl is a Professor of Resources Management and Director of the Institute for Environmental Systems Research (USF) in Osnabrück, Germany. This interdisciplinary institute is associated with the department of mathematics and computer science and works to promote research and teaching in systems science at the interface between the natural and socio-economic sciences.

Before moving to the USF, Prof. Pahl-Wostl worked for more than ten years in the field of mathematical modeling, integrated assessment and human ecology at the Swiss Federal Institute for Science and Technology in Zürich and the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG). She is Co-Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee of the GWSP (Global Water System Project - a joint project of the ESSP - WCRP, IGBP, IHDP and DIVERSITAS) and president of TIAS, The Integrated Assessment Society.

Prof. Pahl-Wostl has participated in and coordinated several European projects. She wascoordinator of the EU project HarmoniCOP (Harmonizing Collaborative Planning on the role of social learning and IC tools in participation, with specific emphasis on the European Water Framework Directive), member of the core group of the EU Concerted Action Harmonica (Harmonizing Model-ling Tools at Catchment Scale - developing guidance for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive) and coordinator of the EU project cluster on the Human Dimension in Water Management, the Integrated Project NEWATER (New methods for adaptive water management), and the EU project Twin2Go (Coordinating Twinning partnerships towards more adaptive governance in river basins).

In 2012, Prof. Pahl-Wostl was awarded the Bode Foundation Water Management Prize for her pioneering interdisciplinary work on "governance in times of change" and comparative analyses of water governance in large river basins.

"The book covers a wide range of water governance related issues, including policies, institutions, actors, governance modes and scales - to name only a few. As such, it is well suited for anyone familiar with water governance and willing to go deeper into certain topics while keeping a synthetic vision of the field. ... This book provides a broad and systemic approach in order to do justice to the complexity of water governance systems and their dynamics." (Émeline Hassenforder, Natures Sciences Societes, Vol. 25 (1), 2017)