How can systemically-oriented simulation models be used to support climate change planning for water resources? This paper reports on an innovative approach to support climate change planning using a collaborative, integrative process based on system dynamics. The approach (called Collaborative Dynamic Modeling, or CoDyM) was piloted between 2015 and 2016 to support strategic planning and scenario thinking in a multi-stakeholder context in the Olifants River Catchment of South Africa. In the pilot study described in this paper (and in many similar contexts), planning for different scenarios of climate change remains particularly challenging given the many under-capacitated organisations. The model that was collaboratively developed in this context, called ResiMod, has three aims: (1) to integrate perspectives of multiple, diverse stakeholders; (2) to improve stakeholder understanding and increase the recognition of possible climate change impacts on the stakeholders' sectors; and (3) to uncover and communicate learning and management insights - through the model-building process and through the resulting simulations. The model itself is detailed in the paper along with the results, nested within a description of the broader process undertaken within the CoDyM pilot. By using a quantified simulation model as part of a collaborative process, the project team has begun facilitating cross-sectoral learning as a step towards fostering joint custodianship in the catchment.
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