Climate Change as a Wicked Problem

Understanding complexity suggests that some problems are morecomplex than others and defy conventional solutions. These wicked problems will not besolved by the same tools and processes that are complicit in creating them. Neither willthey be resolved by approaches short on explicating the complex interconnections of themultiple causes, consequences, and cross-scale actors of the problem. Climate change isone such wicked problem confronting water management in Ghana with a dilemma. Thephysical consequences of climate change on Ghana’s water resources are progressivelyworsening. At the same time, existing institutional arrangements demonstrate weakcapacities to tackle climate change–related complexities in water management. Therefore,it warrants a dynamic approach imbued with complex and adaptive systems thinking, whichalso capitalizes on instrumental gains from prior existing institutions. AdaptiveCo-Management offers such an opportunity for Ghana to adapt its water management systemto climate change