This study, funded by the Studies of Policy, Science, Engineering and Technology component of the Science and Society Program, seeks to understand the role of knowledge in building adaptive capacity of water systems to climate variability and change across eighteen river basins in Brazil. While the negative effects of climate variability already distress a large number of the poor around the world, it is expected that future changes in the climate regime will affect populations in the global south even more disproportionately. Although knowledge systems have been extensively theorized as a determinant of adaptive capacity, there has been relatively little empirical research specifically focusing on the role of knowledge in adapting to climate. What role has knowledge, in particular science generated knowledge (or technoscientific knowledge), played in past adaptations to climate stress? What role can it play to build adaptive capacity to future climate change? The study combines qualitative and quantitative methods to explore hypotheses both about patterns of knowledge use across river basin councils and about the role of technoscientific knowledge and governance in building adaptive capacity in these basins. This study aims to contribute to the literature on climate adaptation and human dimensions of global climate change as well as to social and economic planning for the mitigation of both destructive climate-related impact (drought, flooding) and social problems related to inequitable resource distribution, predatory water use and exclusionary decision-making processes.
