Abstract While it is increasingly important to strengthen the existing knowledge base in Africa to adequately respond to the rising risks and impacts of climate change on water resources, a significant research gap remains to identify areas and mechanisms to cope with these societal challenges. The aim of the paper is twofold: i) to provide subject-specific insights by analyzing the current knowledge base in Africa given water-related challenges due to climate change, and ii) to offer methodological insights into how a knowledge base can be studied comprehensively. This study overcomes the limitations of existing studies by combining two different perspectives, namely a thematic focus on six societal challenges and a conceptual focus on five social innovation dimensions. It does so by undertaking an innovative qualitative analysis that combines both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. Top-down, it explores the extent to which five social innovation dimensions are included and addressed in policy agendas and action plans. Bottom-up, it explores the perception of African experts and practitioners in how these knowledge gaps should be addressed. The research identifies a strong bias in the policy arena towards water security versus other water-related societal challenges. Our research suggests that rather than focusing on traditional policy instruments, water-related societal challenges should be addressed by joint attention to all five social innovation dimensions. There is a strong call from practitioners and experts towards strengthening the existing knowledge base by engaging local realities and local stakeholders and for the involvement of business and private sector actors.

中文翻译：

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加强知识库以应对气候变化对非洲水资源的影响：社会创新视角

摘要 虽然加强非洲现有的知识基础以充分应对气候变化对水资源日益增加的风险和影响越来越重要，但在确定应对这些社会挑战的领域和机制方面仍存在重大研究差距。本文的目的有两个：i) 鉴于气候变化带来的与水相关的挑战，通过分析非洲当前的知识库，提供特定主题的见解，以及 ii) 提供关于如何全面研究知识库的方法论见解. 本研究通过结合两个不同的视角来克服现有研究的局限性，即以六个社会挑战为主题的主题和对五个社会创新维度的概念关注。它通过结合自上而下和自下而上的视角进行创新的定性分析来实现。自上而下，它探讨了政策议程和行动计划中包含和解决五个社会创新维度的程度。自下而上，它探讨了非洲专家和从业者对如何解决这些知识差距的看法。该研究确定了政策领域对水安全与其他与水相关的社会挑战的强烈偏见。我们的研究表明，与其关注传统的政策工具，不如通过共同关注所有五个社会创新维度来应对与水相关的社会挑战。