Title: Understanding the role of behavioural change mechanisms in groundwater use conflicts - lessons from The Netherlands

Authors: Valentina Dinica

Addresses: School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract: Water conservation for healthy ecosystems is increasingly difficult in the context of climate change and population expansion. This paper tests the potential of a behavioural framework to understand the actionable roots of resource conflicts. The framework considers the motivations, powers/resources and knowledge of conflicting actors, next to their institutional freedom to conceptualise sustainability, and enables reflections on the prospects for conflict resolution, following the application of persuading, enabling and constraining mechanisms of behavioural change. A Dutch case-study confirms the framework's potential to dissect resource conflicts sufficiently, for the formulation of effective strategies to prevent or resolve resource use dilemmas.

Keywords: groundwater resources; sustainable development; conflict resolution; boundary judgements; behavioural change; The Netherlands; water conservation; resource conflicts; sustainability; resource use; water use; persuading mechanisms; enabling mechanisms; constraining mechanisms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2015.071297

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2015 Vol.7 No.3, pp.241 - 265

Published online: 20 Aug 2015 *

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