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Exploring the Socio-Environmental Regulation of Water—A Systematic Review of Sustainable Watershed Management

Author

Listed:
  • Felipe Sáez-Ardura

    (Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Matías Parra-Salazar

    (Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad Mayor, Temuco 4780000, Chile)

  • Arturo Vallejos-Romero

    (Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Ignacio Rodríguez-Rodríguez

    (Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Minerva Cordoves-Sánchez

    (Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • César Cisternas-Irarrázabal

    (Núcleo Científico Tecnológico en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Loreto Arias-Lagos

    (Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Jaime Garrido-Castillo

    (Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile)

  • Pablo Aznar-Crespo

    (Departamento de Sociologia, Universidad de Alicante, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain)

  • Vinicius Genaro

    (Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS), Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís 65080-805, Brazil)

Abstract

This article presents a systematic review of sustainable watershed management at the international level. Based on the risk regulation approach, this review approaches the specific gaps in the literature related to relevant issues outlining the international freshwater resources socio-environmental regulation issue, especially in regards to its sociological dimensions: the organizational capabilities of agents involved in regulatory efforts, issue-implicit challenges, and regulatory effort-generated socio-environmental risks. The study identifies the reflexive components of the involved institutions, outlines the deployment of organizational processes in normative regulatory components, and explores the modalities for addressing change and complexity in the regulatory field. A corpus of 64 articles published in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases between 2021 and 2024 was analyzed, and the following findings are demonstrated: (1) regulatory requirements emerge across the three dimensions due to sociological factors, with the need for broad-ranging coordination capacities and socio-technical improvements highlighted, (2) while high political–technical capacities are exhibited by regulatory agents in the field of study, significant regulatory challenges persist, complicating the sustainable management of watersheds, and (3) decision-making based on socio-environmental risks is deemed feasible within the field of study, enabling advancements in techno-scientific and socio-political areas, although achieving this is considered challenging. It is concluded that sustainable watershed management can be better understood when the risk-based approach is used as an explanatory framework, particularly in priority areas for addressing—and regulating—the global and local dilemmas involved in governing water resources. As this field has been scarcely examined from this perspective, a series of potential research avenues with substantial scope are faced by the social sciences. Socio-environmental challenges related to water should be rigorously analyzed in future studies through innovative approaches, with the social components of the issue prioritized.

Suggested Citation

  • Felipe Sáez-Ardura & Matías Parra-Salazar & Arturo Vallejos-Romero & Ignacio Rodríguez-Rodríguez & Minerva Cordoves-Sánchez & César Cisternas-Irarrázabal & Loreto Arias-Lagos & Jaime Garrido-Castillo , 2025. "Exploring the Socio-Environmental Regulation of Water—A Systematic Review of Sustainable Watershed Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:1588-:d:1591502
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    References listed on IDEAS

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