Panta Rhei: A Decadal Review of Cause-effect Pathways from Global Case Studies

The forthcoming Panta Rhei book will include a chapter that focuses on socio-hydrology case studies. Although phenomena and interactions between social and hydrological systems have been observed in many of these cases, an understanding of drivers and feedbacks has, thus far, lacked clear scientific explanation. This chapter addresses this issue by integrating key insights from over two-dozen case studies from around the world, representing authors and study locations from six continents and 26 countries. Many of the cases contain cross-cutting themes that build upon existing socio-hydrological research, including the relationship between extreme hydrological events and societal adaptation, drought propagation, water security, and eco-environmental phenomena. Some of the cases represent a distinct departure from previous research in socio-hydrology, for example, by exploring technological innovations (e.g., sustainable infrastructure) and climate prediction (e.g., snow conditions in alpine regions). Collectively, these case studies demonstrate the wide applicability of socio-hydrology to understand coupled human-water systems while simultaneously identifying unresolved questions that demand additional future research.