Paper short abstract:

Transdisciplinary project bringing exploring the issues with current catchment-based approaches and a proposal for a catchment capabilities approach.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper we explore key issues with the catchment-based approach used in the UK encountered during a transdisciplinary study in SE England. We identify these as arising from a continued focus on centring water in catchment-based approaches. We argue that the catchment-based approach is not delivering its potential benefits because it remains subsumed to a focus on delivering quantities and qualities of water to different stakeholders within the catchment area. We observed that the highest aim of a catchment-based approach is to coordinate the management of water across the whole of a catchment area to take into consideration the whole network of water flows that impact each other. In other words, stakeholders who are using the catchment-based approach see themselves as being "holistic". However, we argue that water is merely an interconnective network of flows rather than an end in itself. It is just one dimension of a catchment and not the key element that a catchment can be reduced to. Through the lens of the Medway Catchment this paper explores the implications of a holistic yet water-centric approach to catchment management and proposes a deliberative-analytic approach instead.