Abstract

Water security (WS) is a desirable goal of ensuring a sufficient quantity and quality of water for life-supporting processes and the development of society. However, achieving WS is a complex challenge that must be addressed in an integrated and interdisciplinary way. Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) could be a means to achieve WS if it is supported by the development of an appropriate adaptive governance process that emphasizes more collaborative and coordinated actions and recognizes river basins as complex social-ecological systems. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between WS and the hybrid conceptualization of hierarchical, market and network governance, namely metagovernance of modes. Here the three governance modes are best coordinated by a public metagovernor, who is a key actor in avoiding typical governance failures, helping it become an effective approach to implement adaptive river basin management. The context-specific attribute of metagovernance of modes, and the situationally optimal mixtures that it provides, seem to make it the most suitable alternative to deal with complexity, uncertainty and constant change. We propose that social-ecological components and processes in river basins must be integrated through sound combinations of these three governance modes, which could determine the adoption of a specific adaptive management instrument, according to the problem to be solved. Further research is needed to understand how metagovernors could achieve better coordination and how to best address context-specific intervention strategies.