Technological innovations and social change have consistently had consequences for river environmental systems since the 19 th  century. The river basin is no longer regarded as a natural object and should be conceptualized as a coupled co-evolutionary socio-ecological system. The increasing uncertainties due to climate change and fast changing socio-economic conditions further add challenges on future river basin management. Therefore, a systemic innovation in knowledge in the river basin management is required to adapt to this changing environment. A knowledge co-production system based on social learning is proposed for realizing the systemic innovation, preceded by the identification of mismatches between the current science and management. This knowledge co-production system provides an innovative idea to improve the application of scientific achievement in river basin management and is also useful for framing the scientific research closely related to the management practices.