Integrating resilience and socioeconomic demands through adaptive governance: Dilemmas in the Brazilian water sector

Managing environmental resources is a complex task that requires identifying and reconciling socioeconomic goals with ecosystem resilience limits. In the water sector, this complexity is further exacerbated by the crucial nature of the resource and its multifunctional roles. We introduce a Panarchy Tree as an analytical and conceptual model that reveals the multiple interconnected factors influencing water governance decisions. This model is underpinned by a comprehensive literature review on adaptive cycles, ecosystem resilience, and bioeconomic limits and has the potential to enhance the efficiency of the water governance system. We evaluated the model by analyzing water charging impacts and connections in a semiarid river basin, revealing the dissociation between public policy, stakeholders’ plans, and environmental unpredictability that impacts the resilience of ecosystems, thereby affecting the governance process. Vertical impacts arise at different decision-making levels without hierarchical constraints, while horizontal impacts go through up-level nodes, affecting several branches. The model aids in enhancing water management instruments by offering suggestions about reducing disconnections that affect water governance efficiency and offering a sustainable outlook for the future of water resource management. • Adaptive governance and resilience link social interest and environmental limits. • Bioeconomics redefines the socio-eco-environmental adaptive cycles framework. • The Panarchy Tree is a dynamic multilevel model for the governance decision process. • Water governance decisions impact top-down decision-making levels. • Differences in space-time sectorial aims undermine governance efficiency.