Abstract
Many research initiatives worldwide are established with the aim of explicitly contributing to sustainable development efforts within their respective contexts. Transdisciplinarity is one of the basic principles used to achieve this aim. In practice, however, this has remained a daunting task for many institutions, especially those focusing on sustainable natural resources management. This is partly due to a number of factors: a limited timeframe of operation; limited scope of work and implementation methodology, which are critical to ensuring broad disciplinary coverage and multistakeholder involvement; and use of approaches that do not guarantee integration of, or ensure responsiveness to, changing ecological processes and socio-economic, cultural and political landscapes.
This chapter presents an example of transdisciplinarity based on 25 years of continuous research in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro north basin on the north-western slopes of Mount Kenya. The chapter describes how this research programme, which aimed to contribute to integrated river basin management, was furnished with structures and apparatus that helped to navigate the transdisciplinarity process through the limiting factors listed above. The chapter shows how the research facility evolved from a district and project planning support institution, based on needs, to a regionally oriented and integrated facility addressing the requirements of sustainability. Projecting on the basis of long-term implications of changes in ecological processes and socio-economic and institutional dynamics on water availability, research activities were embedded in a multilevel, multistakeholder transfer strategy to ensure integration of scientific and local knowledge systems and long-term ownership of preferred interventions. In conclusion, the chapter lists seven recommendations on salient issues of transdisciplinary research.
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Kiteme, B.P., Wiesmann, U. (2008). Sustainable River Basin Management in Kenya: Balancing Needs and Requirements. In: Hadorn, G.H., et al. Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6699-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6699-3_4
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