USING ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE TO RETHINK THE WAY SCIENCE SUPPORTS AUSTRALIAN DROUGHT POLICY

By R. Nelson, M. Howden, M. Smith. 2008

214 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract In this paper we show how ideas from a longstanding but little recognised literature on adaptive governance can be used to rethink the way science supports Australian drought policy. We compare and contrast alternative ways of using science to support policy in order to critique traditional commentary on Australian drought policy. We find that criticism from narrow disciplinary and institutional perspectives has provided few practical options for policy makers managing these complex and interacting goals. In contrast, ideas from a longstanding but little recognised literature on adaptive governance have potential to create innovative policy options for addressing the multiple interacting goals of Australian drought policy. From an adaptive governance perspective, the deep concern held by Australian society for rural communities affected by drought can be viewed as a common property resource that can be sustainably managed by governments in cooperation with rural communities. Managing drought assistance as a common property resource can be facilitated through nested and polycentric systems of governance similar to those that have already evolved in other arenas of natural resource management in Australia, such as Landcare groups and Catchment Management Authorities. Essential to delivering these options is the creation of flexible, regionally distributed scientific support for drought policy capable of integrating local knowledge and informing the livelihood outcomes of critical importance to governments and rural communities.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Global and Planetary Change, Ocean Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0fa2d924ab18917d49266325ab59c21d5e717f6f

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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In Ocean Engineering

Citations in the corpus

Transformational adaptation: agriculture and climate change (2012, background): “More than interdisciplinary, such research also needs to be transdisciplinary, which refers to the integration of nonacademic knowledge through participatory processes and in developing systems of adaptive governance (Nelson et al. 2008).”
Polycentricity, reciprocity, and farmer adoption of conservation practices under community-based governance (2009, background): “p. 528); (vi) increased overlapping of management units, enabling lessons from policies that succeeded or failed for one unit to be communicated more easily to other units (ibid.), and (vii) enhanced capacity for adaptive management (Marshall, 2005; Nelson et al., 2008 ).”
The Adaptive Capacity Wheel: a method to assess the inherent characteristics of institutions to enable the adaptive capacity of society (2010, background): “While the articles focus on the adaptive capacity of households (Vincent, 2006; Paavola, 2008), of local communities (Smit and Wandel, 2006; Nelson et al., 2008; Pelling and High, 2005; Agrawal and Perrin, 2008; Bapna et al., 2009) and of nations (Haddad, 2005; Tol and Yohe, 2006); there is little…”
Integrated and Adaptive Management of Water Resources: Tensions, Legacies, and the Next Best Thing (2011, background): “…which emphasize stakeholder participation and sectoral integration through systematic processes of experimentation, learning, collaboration, and monitoring that attempt to reduce uncertainty (Olsson et al. 2004, Folke et al. 2005, Plummer and Armitage 2007, Nelson et al. 2008, Huitema et al. 2009).”
Adaptive governance: Towards a stable, accountable and responsive government (2016, methodology): “Adaptive governance is used as a principle in areas like climate-induced community relocations (Bronen & Chapin, 2013), ecological systems (Dryzek, 1987; Folke, Hahn, Olsson, & Norberg, 2005) and drought policies (Nelson et al., 2008).”