Policy-induced innovations networks on climate change adaptation – An ex-post analysis of collaboration success and its influencing factors

This study is about 16 policy-induced innovation networks on climate change adaptation, i.e., subsidised multi-actor networks that are initiated by research institutes and formed around a particular real-life problem aiming at joint development, test, and implement adaptation measures. The political-administrative context is Germany, and the institutional context is a joint research framework in which each network works independently on a particular topic, but remains bound to the principle of practical and solution-oriented research carried out in close partnership between scientific and extra-scientific actors. Our objective is to provide empirical insights into the processes and outcomes of such networks and to systematically analyse the networks’ collaboration success and its influencing factors. To this end, collaboration success is operationalised as a three-dimensional metric including (1) the practitioners’ satisfaction with the cooperation, (2) their perceived learning effects, and (3) their perceived implementation capacity. Results show a decreasing level of success throughout the three dimensions and particularly a gap between knowledge acquisition and learning on the one hand and implementation, i.e., transforming the knowledge into action, on the other. While the positive relationship between these dimensions is confirmed, results of correlation analysis highlight the importance of repeated participation, appropriate information management, and inclusive as well as responsive network practices. We discuss the results against our existing knowledge on multi-actor collaborative research and deduce (methodological) lessons learnt as well as future research needs.     

Policy dimensions of development and financing of water infrastructure: The cases of China and India

The past decades have seen planning and implementation of built infrastructure in all over the developed and developing world growing in large scales. This has been influenced by economic and population growths, urbanization and industrialization, which in turn have put increasing stress in provision of services. The paper reviews the policy dimensions of water infrastructure development and financing in the two largest economies at present, China and India, including planning, implementation and decision-making processes. Findings indicate that main challenges for infrastructure development have been limited sources of financing, but also policies and their implementation. The high levels of investment in water infrastructure in the two countries have been impressive, mainly in China. However, they still have not necessarily addressed efficiency over the long term, supported more inclusive and higher economic growth or improve social and environmental conditions in all cases.     

Conservation and Aid: Designing More Effective Investments in Natural Resource Governance Reform

Abstract:  Biodiversity conservation outcomes are closely related to the rules and institutions governing resource use. Creating local incentives for conservation through more secure resource tenure is central to conservation outcomes on private and communal lands, where the preponderance of biodiversity occurs. Conservation efforts in sub-Saharan Africa are therefore centrally concerned with governance dynamics and institutional reform processes, such as the decentralization of property rights, and how best to achieve such reforms. Traditional mechanisms for financing conservation efforts in Africa rely heavily on funds channeled through multilateral and bilateral aid agencies. The history of development aid highlights a range of constraints these aid agencies face in terms of working toward more effective resource governance arrangements and promoting reforms. Government aid agencies possess incentives for promoting large-scale and short-term projects that maximize expenditure volumes and tend to define issues in technical rather than political terms. The history of development aid suggests that these and other characteristics of aid agencies impedes their ability to influence governance reform processes and that aid funding may discourage the adoption of reforms. Greater emphasis in African conservation financing needs to be placed on flexible, small-scale investments aligned to local interests and constituencies that prioritize innovation, learning, and experimentation. Additionally, more research is required that explores the linkages between conservation funding, donor decision-making processes, and governance reforms.     

Analysing the influence of visualisations in global environmental governance

Visualisations can highly contribute to the importance and authority of new ideas, concepts, and knowledge claims. Among the many visualisations, few become well-known and influential in environmental governance. Whilst these have been objects of specific research, this study questions what constitutes and underpins their influence. For this, the paper codifies influential visualisations and defines criteria for studying their visual characteristics. The criteria are applied to two case studies, the “traffic light” and the “planetary boundaries” diagrams. To increase the validity of the findings, the study also introduces two “failure cases” as a plausibility check.     

The conception of public interest in Dutch flood risk management: Untouchable or transforming?

The governance of flood risks varies considerably in different parts of the world. Obviously this is due to the nature and characteristics of flood risks, but in part governance approaches vary because of political differences in the nature of governance itself. What is ‘appropriate’ in this respect depends partly on the prevailing conceptions of the public interest in a country. By applying Alexander’s (2002) categorization of public interest to flood risk management practices in The Netherlands, we show that the strongly unitary conception of the public interest (a historic ‘flood risk safety for all’), is intertwined with a state-based, sector-based, hydro-technical governance and expertise system. Although this conception is very strong it is no longer self-evident. Because of changing conceptions of governance in general and because of the felt necessity to adapt to climate change, Dutch flood risk management is gradually changing. Increasingly, the Dutch government has to deal with more dialogical and utilitarian approaches to public interest in the governance of flood risks. The Dutch approach is rooted in community-based interests in flood protection and was centralized and rationalized during the 19th and 20th century. The current flood risk standards are based upon a coarse utilitarian benefit-cost analysis, but evolved into mostly a unitary idea of national safety materialized in law by statutory flood risk standards. The findings show that this unitary concept and status of the public interest of flood risk safety has not diminished; it must, however, increasingly take into account the importance of both processes of decision making (dialogues, deliberations) and neighboring public interests. We conclude that the Dutch conception of the public interest on flood safety is still strong but nevertheless gradually changing, not the least because of a general availability of the information and technology to calculate and differentiate risks.     

Institutional effectiveness of REDD+ MRV: Countries progress in implementing technical guidelines and good governance requirements

The UNFCCC requires REDD+ countries wishing to receive results-based payments to measure, report and verify (MRV) REDD+ impacts; and outlines technical guidelines and good governance requirements for MRV. This article examines institutional effectiveness of REDD+ MRV by assessing countries’ progress in implementing these technical guidelines and good governance requirements, from three dimensions. Ownership of technical methods examines whether countries own technical methods for forest area and area change measuring, and for estimating forest carbon stocks; and whether national MRV systems cover all forests, land uses and carbon pools. Administrative capacity examines development of administrative competence to implement MRV. Good governance examines whether countries espouses norms of good governance in their MRV systems. We apply these dimensions to assess and compare progress in 13 REDD+ countries, based on a review of national and international documents. Findings show that REDD+ countries have high to very high ownership of technical methods. However, majority ranks only low to moderate on administrative capacity and good governance. This means that although countries have started developing technical methods for MRV, they are yet to develop the competence necessary to administer MRV and to inculcate good governance in MRV. The article explain the scores and suggest ways of improving implementation of REDD+ MRV.     

Combining internal and external motivations in multi-actor governance arrangements for biodiversity and ecosystem services

This paper analyses the possibility of building a mutually supportive dynamics between internally and externally motivated behaviour for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision. To this purpose a face to face survey amongst 169 key actors of 34 highly successful and prominent biodiversity arrangements in seven EU countries was conducted. The main finding of the paper is the feasibility of combining inherently intrinsically motivated behaviours (providing enjoyment, pleasure from experimentation and learning, aesthetic satisfaction) and internalized extrinsic motivations (related to the identification with the collective goals of conservation policy) through a common set of governance features. Successful initiatives that combine internal and external motivations share the following features: inclusive decision making processes, a broad monitoring by “peers” beyond the core staff of the initiatives, and a context that is supportive for the building of autonomous actor competences. These findings are in line with the psycho-sociological theory of motivation, which shows the importance of a psycho-social context leading to a subjective perception of autonomy and a sense of competence of the actors.     

舟山市渔农村水污染治理法律机制研究——以社会协同治理为视角

舟山目前正处在治理渔农村水污染的关键时期.政府与普通民众积极协同,各自发挥自己的优势是打赢渔农村水污染治理这场战役的关键.然而,在这场战役中,出现了“政府干,群众看”、“政府热,群众冷”这一尴尬局面.所以,亟需建立起政府主导,民众积极参与,协同参加水污染治理的法律机制,重点要建立起政府水污染治理源头控制制度、公众充分参与水污染治理的保障制度、社会监督制度、社会教育制度.     

River Chief System (RCS): An experiment on cross-sectoral coordination of watershed governance

The trans-regional characteristics of watershed governance produce more problems beyond the capacity of each individual water-related department, leading to the fragmentation of watershed management. The River Chief System (RCS) has experienced swift developments over the past decade in China by appointing the local government heads as river chiefs. RCS works efficiently in the short-term due to its superiority in the inclusion of clear responsibility, authority, and multi-sectoral collaboration. However, the characteristics of the authority-based vertical coordination of the hierarchical system remain unchanged, and therefore the problems of organizational logic and the responsibility dilemma still exist. Tasks including perfecting of laws, integrated watershed management, and public participation still need to be completed. RCS reflects the routine and characteristics of the migration of national governance, and as such provides new insights for other developing countries in the design of river management systems.     

The future of disasters studies: new disasters and the case of the Horn of Africa

Past disasters have been well studied, but the challenge of using the findings to improve the management of future events remains a daunting task. This paper argues that there are new and complex disasters of which the state itself has become the main source, as reflected in the Horn of Africa. This region is characterised by increasing vulnerability owing to the alarming decline of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism. These new disasters are less researched because of the hazard of conducting fieldwork in such environments. However, there is mounting evidence to highlight the possibility of performing research in these settings, but not by employing traditional methods; rather, these tools may need to be customised for use. One key policy implication here is that donors may need to invest more money in analysing these new disasters and they may need to consider building and strengthening genuine partnerships between Northern and Southern research institutions