Collaborative research approaches to cope with uncertainty of water management practices in Tidal areas

Throughout the world, tidal areas are being developed. The initial development is generally for agriculture, often in combination with flood protection. The development focus in tidal areas is, however, gradually moving to ports, harbours, transportation routes, industries, and aquaculture, housing and recreation facilities. Models are often used to develop strategies for sustainable land and water practices. These models normally require long-time data sets that are often not available in emerging countries, thus new ways have to be found to address the traditionally validated simulation models. This paper presents case studies in Surinam, India and Vietnam in which the traditional validation process was replaced by joint plausibility discussions and shared vision building in order to improve the understanding of cause–effect relationships and proposals for water management measures. The aim was to match the tacit knowledge of the local stakeholders with explicit scientific knowledge in order to create a mutual basis for an integrated approach as opposed to single-issue measures, and a mutual agreement on follow-up steps needed to sustain both the livelihood of the people as well as natural resource functions. The collaborative modelling approach proved to be a useful tool to obtain a consensus of opinion among the stakeholder