IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v28y2014i5p1431-1447.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Games to Create Awareness and Design Policies for Transboundary Cooperation in River Basins: Lessons from the Shariva Game of the Mekong River Commission

Author

Listed:
  • W. Douven
  • M. Mul
  • L. Son
  • N. Bakker
  • G. Radosevich
  • A. Hendriks

Abstract

International river basins cover a vast majority of the land surface, international cooperation is therefore important for the proper management, and to assure equitable and effective use in the basins. Key elements to improve international cooperation are common understanding of the issues in the basin, understanding upstream-downstream impacts and sharing a common vision for the future. This article focuses on the role of games in international basin cooperation to create awareness and to support policy development. The paper analysed the effects of the game in creating awareness and upgrading knowledge amongst water and related professionals and in designing procedures for cooperation in transboundary river basins. This was analysed during the implementation of the game with 28 participants from the four Lower Mekong countries. The impact on creating awareness and upgrading knowledge was evaluated through the use of questionnaires and pre- and post evaluation questions and for the design of policies, a SWOT analysis was used to evaluate the usefulness of the policies and frameworks as well as to identify possible improvements to the framework. The game implementation proved to be an appropriate tool to provide a practical way for stakeholders to become acquainted with the administrative and technical tools available in the Lower Mekong Basin. Pre- and post test shows that participants gained substantial knowledge on transboundary cooperation and use of tools. The game was part of a longer training programme addressing all the issues, however, the participants gained additional knowledge and insight by playing the game, well above what they had learned during the earlier training workshops. Playing the game proved an important aspect in training and education of such complex systems. The study also shows the role games can play in policy analysis, in particular the way the game provided insight in the design of the policy and the development of procedures, and their function to review and update policies and procedures. A number of recommendations have been made to strengthen the role in both training and education as well as in design of procedures. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • W. Douven & M. Mul & L. Son & N. Bakker & G. Radosevich & A. Hendriks, 2014. "Games to Create Awareness and Design Policies for Transboundary Cooperation in River Basins: Lessons from the Shariva Game of the Mekong River Commission," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(5), pages 1431-1447, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:5:p:1431-1447
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0562-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-014-0562-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-014-0562-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Coleen Fox & Chris Sneddon, 2007. "Transboundary river basin agreements in the Mekong and Zambezi basins: Enhancing environmental security or securitizing the environment?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 237-261, September.
    2. Timo Räsänen & Jorma Koponen & Hannu Lauri & Matti Kummu, 2012. "Downstream Hydrological Impacts of Hydropower Development in the Upper Mekong Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(12), pages 3495-3513, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Radini, Serena & Marinelli, Enrico & Akyol, Çağrı & Eusebi, Anna Laura & Vasilaki, Vasileia & Mancini, Adriano & Frontoni, Emanuele & Bischetti, Gian Battista & Gandolfi, Claudio & Katsou, Evina & Fat, 2021. "Urban water-energy-food-climate nexus in integrated wastewater and reuse systems: Cyber-physical framework and innovations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    2. Robert-Jan Den Haan & Mascha C. Van der Voort, 2018. "On Evaluating Social Learning Outcomes of Serious Games to Collaboratively Address Sustainability Problems: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Lehmann, Paul & Ammermann, Kathrin & Gawel, Erik & Geiger, Charlotte & Hauck, Jennifer & Heilmann, Jörg & Meier, Jan-Niklas & Ponitka, Jens & Schicketanz, Sven & Stemmer, Boris & Tafarte, Philip & Thr, 2020. "Managing spatial sustainability trade-offs: The case of wind power," UFZ Discussion Papers 4/2020, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    4. Lehmann, Paul & Ammermann, Kathrin & Gawel, Erik & Geiger, Charlotte & Hauck, Jennifer & Heilmann, Jörg & Meier, Jan-Niklas & Ponitka, Jens & Schicketanz, Sven & Stemmer, Boris & Tafarte, Philip & Thr, 2021. "Managing spatial sustainability trade-offs: The case of wind power," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robyn Johnston & Vladimir Smakhtin, 2014. "Hydrological Modeling of Large river Basins: How Much is Enough?," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 2695-2730, August.
    2. Diana Suhardiman & Mark Giordano, 2012. "Process-focused analysis in transboundary water governance research," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 299-308, September.
    3. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Walter, Götz, 2018. "Major hydropower states, sustainable development, and energy security: Insights from a preliminary cross-comparative assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1074-1082.
    4. Ina Pohle & Anne Gädeke & Sabine Schümberg & Christoph Hinz & Hagen Koch, 2019. "Management Influences on Stream-Flow Variability in the Past and Under Potential Climate Change in a Central European Mining Region," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(15), pages 5191-5206, December.
    5. Naho Mirumachi & Margot Hurlbert, 2022. "Reflecting on twenty years of international agreements concerning water governance: insights and key learning," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 317-332, June.
    6. Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman, 2016. "Projecting River Basin Resilience in the Zambezi River Basin through Global Analyses and Basin Realities," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(6), pages 1987-2003, April.
    7. Ruby W. Grantham & Murray A. Rudd, 2017. "Household susceptibility to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 3-17, February.
    8. Mark Zeitoun & Naho Mirumachi, 2008. "Transboundary water interaction I: reconsidering conflict and cooperation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 297-316, December.
    9. Xijun Lai & Qiuhua Liang & Jiahu Jiang & Qun Huang, 2014. "Impoundment Effects of the Three-Gorges-Dam on Flow Regimes in Two China’s Largest Freshwater Lakes," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(14), pages 5111-5124, November.
    10. Mark Zeitoun & Naho Mirumachi & Jeroen Warner, 2011. "Transboundary water interaction II: the influence of ‘soft’ power," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 159-178, May.
    11. Jian Tang & Xin-An Yin & Pan Yang & ZhiFeng Yang, 2014. "Assessment of Contributions of Climatic Variation and Human Activities to Streamflow Changes in the Lancang River, China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 2953-2966, August.
    12. Kim Hang Pham Do, 2014. "The Role of Issue Linkage in Managing the Mekong," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-164, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Jaap Evers & Assela Pathirana, 2018. "Adaptation to climate change in the Mekong River Basin: introduction to the special issue," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 1-11, July.
    14. Joyeeta Gupta & Aarti Gupta & Courtney Vegelin, 2022. "Equity, justice and the SDGs: lessons learnt from two decades of INEA scholarship," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 393-409, June.
    15. Huiyan Wang & Yong Li & Jia Li & Mengyuan Yu, 2020. "Internalization of External Benefits Brought by Hydropower Development," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    16. Dogmus, Özge Can & Nielsen, Jonas Østergaard, 2020. "The on-paper hydropower boom: A case study of corruption in the hydropower sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    17. Horstmann, Britta & Hein, Jonas, 2017. "Aligning climate change mitigation and sustainable development under the UNFCCC: a critical assessment of the Clean Development Mechanism, the Green Climate Fund and REDD+," IDOS Studies, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), volume 96, number 96, July.
    18. Lei Xie & Shaofeng Jia, 2017. "Diplomatic water cooperation: the case of Sino-India dispute over Brahmaputra," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 677-694, October.
    19. Pham Do, Kim Hang, 2014. "The role of issue linkage in managing the Mekong," WIDER Working Paper Series 164, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Penghao Ye & Senmao Xia & Yu Xiong & Chaoyang Liu & Fei Li & Jiamin Liang & Huarong Zhang, 2020. "Did an Ultra-Low Emissions Policy on Coal-Fueled Thermal Power Reduce the Harmful Emissions? Evidence from Three Typical Air Pollutants Abatement in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-19, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:5:p:1431-1447. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.