The fundación nueva cultura del agua at the intersection of science and policy: a modification of the epistemic communities framework

Resumo

Epistemic communities as a transmission belt of science to policy

It is increasingly a normative assumption that science should contribute to environmental policy, given that science provides a means of understanding natural systems and human impacts on those systems (Steel, et al., 2004). In international regime theory, the epistemic communities framework provides a set of hypotheses regarding the conditions under which such a community can be a transmission belt of scientific knowledge into policy. An epistemic community is “a network of professionals with recognized expertise and competence in a particular domain and an authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge within that domain or issue area” (Haas, 1992, 3). In addition to sharing a set of causal assumptions informed by scientific research about a particular phenomenon, the community also has “a set of normative and principled beliefs and a common policy enterprise” (Ibid.). The community then may transmit this consensus into the policy realm, as policymakers facing complexity and uncertainty in determining courses of action turn to the epistemic community. Knowledge becomes a valuable commodity under these conditions (Haas, 2002).

The Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua (FNCA) may be identified as an epistemic community. The FNCA was founded in 1998 by academics and water professionals from a variety of disciplines with the purpose of bringing a discussion of sustainable water management to the Iberian Peninsula and opposing the traditional hydraulic paradigm. The community sees the problems of water quality and quantity, as well as more general damage to aquatic ecosystems, as stemming from the historical dominance in both Spain and Portugal of the traditional paradigm, which focuses on harnessing water through hydraulic infrastructure (especially in hydroelectric power generation and irrigation) in order to serve economic development. The FNCA has a very clearly articulated set of causal assumptions, normative beliefs, and a common policy enterprise, as indicated by its stated mission:

…to collect, integrate, generate, and transmit knowledge and human values in order to promote the adoption of the New Water Culture, understood as a change of paradigm toward environmental, economic, social, and cultural sustainability, oriented toward an ecosystemic and patrimonial consideration of water. This will be achieved through active participation in society and promotion to decision-makers of alternatives consistent with the New Water Culture.