Co-creating narratives for WEF nexus governance: a Quantitative Story-Telling case study in the Canary Islands

The literature on the water-energy-food nexus has repeatedly signalled the need for transdisciplinary approaches capable of weaving the plurality of knowledge bodies involved in the governance of different resources. To fill this gap, Quantitative Story-Telling (QST) has been proposed as a science for adaptive governance approach that aims at fostering pluralistic and reflexive research processes to overcome narrow framings of water, energy and food policies as independent domains. Yet, there are few practical applications of QST and most run on a pan-European scale. In this paper, we apply the theory of QST through a practical case study regarding non-conventional water sources as an innovation for water and agricultural governance in the Canary Islands. We present the methods mixed to mobilize different types of knowledge and analyse interconnections between water, energy and food supply. First, we map and interview relevant knowledge holders to elicit narratives about the current and future roles of alternative water resources in the arid Canarias context. Second, we run a quantitative diagnosis of nexus interconnections related to the use of these resources for irrigation. This analysis provides pertinent feedback to the narratives in terms of constraints and uncertainties that might hamper the expectations posed on this innovation. Thirdly, the mixed analysis is used as fuel for discussion in participatory narrative assessment workshops. Our experimental QST process succeeded in co-creating new knowledge regarding the water-energy-food nexus while addressing some relational and epistemological uncertainties in the development of alternative water resources. Yet, the extent to which mainstream socio-technical imaginaries surrounding this innovation were transformed was rather limited. We conclude that the potential of QST within sustainability place-based research resides on its capacity to: a) bridge different sources of knowledge, including local knowledge; b) combine both qualitative and quantitative information regarding the sustainable use of local resources, and c) co-create narratives on desirable and viable socio-technical pathways. Open questions remain as to how to effectively mobilise radically diverse knowledge systems in complex analytical exercises where everyone feels safe to participate.

CABELLO Violeta;  ROMERO MANRIQUE LARA David;  MUSICKI Ana;  GUIMARAES PEREIRA Ângela;  PEÑATE Baltasar; 

2022-01-18

SPRINGER JAPAN KK

JRC123722

1862-4065 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11625-021-00933-y,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC123722,   

10.1007/s11625-021-00933-y (online),