The duality of integrated water management: science, policy or both?

Integrated water management (IWM) is the mainstream approach for addressing and accommodating issues in current water management. Despite many elaborations, its meaning, interpretation and implementation are still debated. In this study, the meaning of IWM within the domains of science and policy is assessed by exploring its conceptual scope. Moreover, the rationale of IWM in both domains is compared and the different approaches are subjected to a thorough consideration. Emphasis is given to describing how science has elaborated IWM in a conceptual way. It is shown that in science, IWM is foremost a collection of theories and approaches surrounding resource and ecosystem management. It is argued that difficulties in scientific IWM development are attributed to different research traditions and dominant paradigmatic underpinnings. Taking the case of Dutch water policy, the article shows that IWM is multi-objective and adaptive, being functional in driving changes in the management process. Differences betw...