ACADEMIA Letters
Co-evolutionary Dynamics of Human Behaviour and
Water Resource Systems Performance: A
Socio-Hydrological Framework
Nura Jafar Shanono
Abstract
Previously, water management task involves predicting future challenges due to hydrological
uncertainties and physical constraints and propose alternative solutions without incorporating
the impact of human behaviour. The co-evolutionary dynamics due to interactions and feed-
backs between water resource systems (WRS) performance and human behaviour are still not
well-understood and documented. Conventional reservoir yield analysis, for example, entails
assessing the system’s yield potential under hydrological and physical constraints for a given
operating rule and reliability of supply. Such traditional methods of yield analysis can fail
to assess the actual dynamics of the WRS, as the causes and impacts of changing human be-
haviour are not explicitly incorporated which might lead to imprudent decisions. This brief
paper proposed a socio-hydrological framework for the co-evolution of WRS performance and
human behaviour using four-state variables (hydrological state, management actions, users’
wellbeing and compliance behaviour). The main aim was to guide future socio-hydrologists
to study, model and assess the impact of human behaviour on WRS performance.
Keywords: Co-evolution,Human behaviour, Water resource systems, Socio-hydrology
Academia Letters, June 2021
Corresponding Author: Nura Jafar Shanono, njshanono.age@buk.edu.ng
Citation: Shanono, N.J. (2021). Co-evolutionary Dynamics of Human Behaviour and Water Resource Systems
Performance: A Socio-Hydrological Framework. Academia Letters, Article 1191.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1191.
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©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0