Transdisciplinary catchment management in the developing tropics: bridging scientific enquiry with societal needs

Rivers and streams in the developing tropics face mounting pressures from climate variability, land-use change, and weak governance, threatening water, food, and energy security. To address these issues, a Transdisciplinary Catchment Management (TCM) framework is proposed designed to bridge the gap between scientific research and societal needs in these complex and resource-limited regions. TCM is structured as an adaptive, eight-step process that prioritises fieldwork, local hydrological understanding, and the co-creation of knowledge with diverse stakeholders, leveraging affordable technologies to address data and capacity gaps, while emphasising inclusive decision-making and capacity building. By aligning scientific advances with local realities of the tropics, TCM offers a pragmatic and flexible pathway to sustainable catchment management. While established frameworks such as Integrated Water Resources Management and Integrated Watershed Management provide policy and governance guidance, our approach seeks to augment these efforts by offering a process-based, context-sensitive strategy grounded in actionable science.