IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v2y2012i2p2158244012448487.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Climate Change as a Wicked Problem

Author

Listed:
  • John FitzGibbon
  • Kenneth O. Mensah

Abstract

Understanding complexity suggests that some problems are more complex than others and defy conventional solutions. These wicked problems will not be solved by the same tools and processes that are complicit in creating them. Neither will they be resolved by approaches short on explicating the complex interconnections of the multiple causes, consequences, and cross-scale actors of the problem. Climate change is one such wicked problem confronting water management in Ghana with a dilemma. The physical consequences of climate change on Ghana’s water resources are progressively worsening. At the same time, existing institutional arrangements demonstrate weak capacities to tackle climate change–related complexities in water management. Therefore, it warrants a dynamic approach imbued with complex and adaptive systems thinking, which also capitalizes on instrumental gains from prior existing institutions. Adaptive Co-Management offers such an opportunity for Ghana to adapt its water management system to climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • John FitzGibbon & Kenneth O. Mensah, 2012. "Climate Change as a Wicked Problem," SAGE Open, , vol. 2(2), pages 21582440124, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:2:y:2012:i:2:p:2158244012448487
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244012448487
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244012448487
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244012448487?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Pahl-Wostl, 2007. "Transitions towards adaptive management of water facing climate and global change," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 49-62, January.
    2. Alexandros Flamos & Katherine Begg, 2010. "Technology transfer insights for new climate regime," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 19-33, February.
    3. Paul Sarfo-Mensah & W. Oduro, 2007. "Traditional Natural Resources Management Practices and Biodiversity Conservation in Ghana: A Review of Local Concepts and Issues on Change and Sustainability," Working Papers 2007.90, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    4. Matthew Bunce & Sergio Rosendo & Katrina Brown, 2010. "Perceptions of climate change, multiple stressors and livelihoods on marginal African coasts," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 407-440, June.
    5. Benjamin Apraku Gyampoh & Monica Idinoba & Steve Amisah, 2008. "Water Scarcity Under a Changing Climate in Ghana: Options for livelihoods adaptation," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 51(3), pages 415-417, September.
    6. Sarfo-Mensah, Paul & Oduro, William, 2007. "Traditional Natural Resources Management Practices and Biodiversity Conservation in Ghana: A Review of Local Concepts and Issues on Change and Sustainability," Natural Resources Management Working Papers 7440, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    7. Schiffer, Eva & McCarthy, Nancy & Birner, Regina & Waale, Douglas & Asante, Felix, 2008. "Information flow and acquisition of knowledge in water governance in the Upper East Region of Ghana:," IFPRI discussion papers 820, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Wolfram Laube, 2007. "The promise and perils of water reforms: Perspectives from Northern Ghana," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 42(3), pages 419-437.
    9. Sharma, N.P. & Damhaug, T. & Gilgan-Hunt, E. & Grey, D. & Okaru, V. & Rothberg, D., 1996. "African Water Resources; Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development," Papers 331, World Bank - Technical Papers.
    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. D. Lumbroso & G. Woolhouse & L. Jones, 2015. "A review of the consideration of climate change in the planning of hydropower schemes in sub-Saharan Africa," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 621-633, December.
    2. Drielsma, Michael J. & Love, Jamie & Williams, Kristen J. & Manion, Glenn & Saremi, Hanieh & Harwood, Tom & Robb, Janeen, 2017. "Bridging the gap between climate science and regional-scale biodiversity conservation in south-eastern Australia," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 360(C), pages 343-362.
    3. Ashwin Ram Sridharan & Zareena Begum Irfan, 2020. "Understanding the Water Crisis in India: Application of Causal Loop Modelling to Examine the Environment-Economy Interlinkage across Sectors," Working Papers 2020-201, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    4. Norbert Brunner & Vijay Mishra & Ponnusamy Sakthivel & Markus Starkl & Christof Tschohl, 2015. "The Human Right to Water in Law and Implementation," Laws, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-59, August.

    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. Osei-Tutu, Paul, 2017. "Taboos as informal institutions of local resource management in Ghana: Why they are complied with or not," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(P1), pages 114-123.
    2. Osei-Tutu, Paul & Pregernig, Michael & Pokorny, Benno, 2015. "Interactions between formal and informal institutions in community, private and state forest contexts in Ghana," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-35.
    3. Undp, 2011. "HDR 2011 - Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All," Human Development Report (1990 to present), Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), number hdr2011, September.
    4. N. Graveline & B. Aunay & J. Fusillier & J. Rinaudo, 2014. "Coping with Urban & Agriculture Water Demand Uncertainty in Water Management Plan Design: the Interest of Participatory Scenario Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 3075-3093, August.
    5. Joon Sik Kim & Peter W. J. Batey & Yanting Fan & Sheng Zhong, 2021. "Embracing integrated watershed revitalization in Suzhou, China: learning from global case studies," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 565-595, June.
    6. Riyanti Djalante & Cameron Holley & Frank Thomalla & Michelle Carnegie, 2013. "Pathways for adaptive and integrated disaster resilience," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(3), pages 2105-2135, December.
    7. Hassan Tolba Aboelnga & Lars Ribbe & Franz-Bernd Frechen & Jamal Saghir, 2019. "Urban Water Security: Definition and Assessment Framework," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-19, November.
    8. T. D. Pol & S. Gabbert & H.-P. Weikard & E. C. Ierland & E. M. T. Hendrix, 2017. "A Minimax Regret Analysis of Flood Risk Management Strategies Under Climate Change Uncertainty and Emerging Information," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(4), pages 1087-1109, December.
    9. Onesmo Z. Sigalla & Madaka Tumbo & Jane Joseph, 2021. "Multi-Stakeholder Platform in Water Resources Management: A Critical Analysis of Stakeholders’ Participation for Sustainable Water Resources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    10. Joon Sik Kim & Peter W. J. Batey, 2021. "Integrated watershed revitalization: the experience of the Mersey Basin Campaign," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 531-563, June.
    11. Mariana Fuentes & Lynda Chambers & Andrew Chin & Peter Dann & Kirstin Dobbs & Helene Marsh & Elvira Poloczanska & Kim Maison & Malcolm Turner & Robert Pressey, 2016. "Adaptive management of marine mega-fauna in a changing climate," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 209-224, February.
    12. Dagmar Haase, 2013. "Participatory modelling of vulnerability and adaptive capacity in flood risk management," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 67(1), pages 77-97, May.
    13. Mahdi Soleimani Motlagh & Hoda Ghasemieh & Ali Talebi & Khodayar Abdollahi, 2017. "Identification and Analysis of Drought Propagation of Groundwater During Past and Future Periods," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(1), pages 109-125, January.
    14. Adelle Thomas & Lisa Benjamin, 2018. "Perceptions of climate change risk in The Bahamas," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 63-72, March.
    15. Guy Meublat, 2001. "La gestion partagée des fleuves internationaux en Afrique," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 42(166), pages 427-453.
    16. Ayodele, T.R. & Ogunjuyigbe, A.S.O. & Amusan, T.O., 2018. "Techno-economic analysis of utilizing wind energy for water pumping in some selected communities of Oyo State, Nigeria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 335-343.
    17. Wiwandari Handayani & S. P. Dewi & Bintang Septiarani, 2023. "Toward adaptive water governance: An examination on stakeholders engagement and interactions in Semarang City, Indonesia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1914-1943, February.
    18. Masoud Yazdanpanah & Michael Thompson & Dariush Hayati & Gholam Hosein Zamani, 2013. "A new enemy at the gate: Tackling Iran’s water super-crisis by way of a transition from government to governance," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 13(3), pages 177-194, July.
    19. G. Raadgever & E. Mostert & N. Giesen, 2012. "Learning from Collaborative Research in Water Management Practice," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(11), pages 3251-3266, September.
    20. J. Doummar & M. Massoud & R. Khoury & M. Khawlie, 2009. "Optimal Water Resources Management: Case of Lower Litani River, Lebanon," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(11), pages 2343-2360, September.

    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:sae:sagope:v:2:y:2012:i:2:p:2158244012448487. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.