Community-based shared values as a 'Heart-ware' driver for integrated watershed management: Japan-Malaysia policy learning perspective

- Review the importance of the “heartware” approach in watershed governance.
- Investigate the potential of 'community-based shared value' as a heartware driver.
- Highlight the possible decline of 'community-based shared values' in Malaysia.
- Elucidate similarities and differences between Japanese and Malaysian experiences.
- Provide lessons for international policy learning in the field.

SummaryThis paper explores the case for using “community-based shared values” as a potential driver for the “Heartware” aspects of governance in Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) - from a Japan-Malaysia policy learning perspective. This policy approach was originally inspired by the Japanese experience, and the paper investigates whether a similar strategy can be adapted in the Malaysian context-based on a qualitative exploratory case study of a local downstream watershed community. The community-based shared values are categorized into six functional values that can be placed on a watershed: industry, ecosystem, lifestyle, landscape, water resource and spirituality. The study confirmed the availability of a range of community-based shared values in each category that are promising to drive the heartware for integrated watershed management in the local Malaysian context. However, most of these shared values are either declining in its appreciation or nostalgic in nature. The paper ends with findings on key differences and similarities between the Malaysian and Japanese contexts, and concludes with lessons for international transfer of IWM heartware policy strategies between the two countries.