Interaction between stakeholders and research for integrated river basin management

Integrated Water Management calls for basin-wide coordination of activities related to land and water use. The need for multi-stakeholder involvement, the necessity to integrate scientific approaches and local information, the process of mutual communication, the results of discussions on integrated water and river management at the basin, scale and decisions for further action are reviewed and illustrated. In the Pantanal, Brazil, stakeholders have had an essential role in developing knowledge for decision-making in river management. Integrated knowledge was generated by combining different types of scientific knowledge with visions, information and solutions developed in cooperation with local, regional and national stakeholders. The process showed that this integrated knowledge was essentialfor involvement of stakeholders in problem formulation, identification of solutions and decision-making on preferred developments. Stakeholders have helped to direct the research process by bringing in ideas about causes and solutions and adding local and regional knowledge to the research process. Once involved in the process, stakeholders took on board new ideas and visions, and were critical about solutions. Research is important in gaining insight in complex processes (climate, hydrology, geology, ecosystems and politics); stakeholders display a wide knowledge of the regional history that generally is not documented and inaccessible to scientists. The conclusion is that cooperation between stakeholders and researchers in this case has started a chain of actions that is still continuing.