Coupling System Dynamics and SahysMod Models for Participatory Soil Salinity Management in the Rechna Doab Region, Pakistan

English Abstract:

The principles of Integrated Water Resource Management outline the importance of stakeholder participation in water management processes, but in practice, there is a lack of meaningful engagement in water planning and implementation, and participation is often limited to public consultation and education. When models are used to support water planning, stakeholders are usually not involved in their development and use, and the models commonly fail to represent important feedbacks between socio-economic and physical processes.

This paper presents the development of a holistic model of the Rechna Doab basin in Pakistan, that simulate socio-economic and physical processes related to soil salinity management. The model consists of two sub-components: a System Dynamics (SD) model, and a physically based model. The SD component was developed in collaboration with key stakeholders in the basin, and was coupled with SahysMod, a soil salinity model. The coupled models were used to assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of different management scenarios proposed by stakeholders.

Results indicate that coupled SD – physically-based models can be used as effective tools for participatory water planning and implementation. The participatory modeling process provides a structure for meaningful stakeholder engagement, and the models themselves can be used to transparently and coherently assess and compare different management options.