YUTPA as a design tool for climate change adaptation: Insights from Nzoia River Basin

Abstract:

With recent transitions from unilateral to joint river basin management, distances between social systems for negotiating water issues has largely increased. Thus, riparian local governments have resorted to the use of mediated technology for the management of water issues. Physical presence is thus replaced by mediated presence, to bridge the distance and facilitate joint actions. Mediated presence is commonly employed to resolve short-term water management problems with rare instances of negotiating long-term water system changes. This has led to the inextricable coupling of river basin management to short-term actions at the detriment of the much-needed long-term changes. In this paper, we assess the potential for a climate change game known as Nzoia We-Share-It in enabling long-term water planning. To do this, we use the YUTPA framework that models mediated presence for long-term climate change adaptation, as an in-game design tool. YUTPA is an acronym for “being with You in Unity of Time, Place and Action.” We test whether the four YUTPA dimensions (place, action, time, and relation) facilitate a transition from short-term to long term basin management. Under each analysis, we compare the responses of each of the 35 water policymakers relative to their counterparts. This experiment allows us to begin to build theory on increasing adaptive capacity, at the basin level. The findings indicate a progressive transition from short to long-term oriented basin management. This approach shows promise in facilitating joint climate actions in the use of mediated technologies.