Joint Knowledge Production in the Water-Soil-Carbon-Nexus – stakeholders in ex-ante modelling on drought resilience

Practitioners in water boards in NW-Europe are mostly focused on the prevention of flooding and inundation issues, due to their legal obligations and historical responsibilities. In order to spatially plan the necessary transitions, water board practitioners consult with their stakeholders (municipalities, land managers, farmers). Global and climate change are causing disruptions in the hydrological cycle. More and more of the tasks of water board practitioners are focused on drought mitigation, water distribution and water quality. This focus on water-related issues indicate that water boards are very strong in monitoring and managing hydrological data and hydrological models. Hence, in an optimally functioning soil-water system, carbon management is directly correlated to these hydrological tasks. Since water management requires soil carbon management (infiltration and water holding capacity), carbon sequestration can facilitate water management. So if we invest in carbon sequestration, it will also have a positive impact on water management. Therefore we need joint knowledge production among practitioners involved in water and in carbon management to understand the water-soil-carbon nexus. In recent years, water boards have been tasked with countering these effects of drought and flooding by implementing nature-based solution in their catchments – in co-design with spatial governance bodies, residents and land users . Often, these solutions have a clear spatial component and depend on their land users by changes in land use, in land management and in the soil-water system. For these land users, arguments other than hydrology may play a role in this process of co-design. In this study, we show the importance of interactions (using ex-ante modelling in a catchment) and how understanding these insights in a water-soil-carbon nexus scaffolds stakeholders in joint knowledge production. We investigated this research question based on the field expertise of about 40 water and land use professionals involved in the co-creation and implementation of NbS in headwater catchments in Brabant (Nl/B). We collected and evaluated arguments from these meetings in order to better facilitate water & carbon management in these spatially relevant transitions towards nature-based solutions.