Unveiling Water Allocation Dynamics

Abstract

Managing water resources in regions with high climate variability and frequent extreme weather events poses challenges for policymakers. To facilitate water allocation in these cases, participatory and collaborative decision-making approaches have become common. However, the evaluation of these approaches is hindered by the lack of structured methods and data to understand them. To address this knowledge gap, we propose a novel methodology that leverages text data to identify key topics, conflicts, and influential actors that shape water allocation dynamics. Our methodology is tested using records of 1020 water basin committee meetings held between 1997 and 2021 across 12 basin committees in Ceará, Brazil—a region known for its extensive history of droughts that have impacted water governance.

Taís Carvalho

Postdoc researcher

I like to explore unusual data sources to support water resources planning and management and natural hazards research.