Delivering Change: Towards Fit-for-Purpose Governance of Adaptation to Flooding and Drought PDF
Preview Delivering Change: Towards Fit-for-Purpose Governance of Adaptation to Flooding and Drought
Delivering Change Towards fit-for-purpose governance of adaptation to flooding and drought Jeroen Rijke Delivering Change Towards fit-for-purpose governance of adaptation to flooding and drought Cover: Delivering change. The de-poldering of the Noordwaard represents a new way of flood risk management in the Netherlands in which flood risks are reduced by creating space for discharging peak river flows (where appropri- ate). Source: https://beeldbank.rws.nl, Rijkswaterstaat , Ruimte voor de Ri- vier / Con Mönnich Delivering Change Towards fit-for-purpose governance of adaptation to flooding and drought Dissertation Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Board for Doctorates of Delft University of Technology and of the Academic Board of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education for the Degree of DOCTOR to be defended in public on Friday, 14 February 2014 at 12:30 hours in Delft, The Netherlands by Jeroen Sebastiaan RIJKE Master of Science in Civil Engineering born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands This dissertation has been approved by the supervisor: Prof. dr.ir. C. Zevenbergen Composition of Doctoral Committee: Chairman Rector Magnificus TU Delft Vice-chairman Rector UNESCO-IHE Prof. dr.ir. C. Zevenbergen UNESCO-IHE / TU Delft, supervisor Prof. dr. R.R. Brown Monash University, Australia Prof. R.M. Ashley University of Sheffield, United Kingdom Prof. dr. J. Edelenbos Erasmus University Rotterdam Prof. dr. ir. M.J.C.M. Hertogh TU Delft Ir. I. de Boer Rijkswaterstaat, Utrecht Prof. dr. ing. S. Schaap TU Delft, reserve member CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business 2014, Jeroen Rijke All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written prior permission from the publishers. Although all care is taken to ensure the integrity and quality of this publica- tion and information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers or the author for any damage to property or persons as a result of the operation or use of this publication and or the information contained herein. Published by: CRC Press/Balkema PO Box 11320, 2301 EH Leiden, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] www.crcpress.com – www.taylorandfrancis.com ISBN 978-1-138-02633-9 (Taylor & Francis Group) Preface This dissertation combines the outcomes of two research projects that were conducted between September 2009 and June 2013. The first project (September 2009 – March 2012) was funded by the Cities as Water Supply Catchments research programme and explored how urban water governance in Australia could enhance resilience to drought. I have collaborated in this project as a visiting researcher at the School of Geogra- phy and Environmental Science at Monash University in Melbourne. The second project (January 2010 – June 2013) entailed a scientific evalua- tion of the Room for the River programme that was commissioned by Rijkswaterstaat to UNESCO-IHE. The scientific rigour of this evaluation was evaluated by a scientific advisory board that included Prof. dr. Jim Hall (Uni- versity of Oxford), Prof. dr. Jurian Edelenbos (Erasmus University) and Prof. dr. Rebekah Brown (Monash University). In addition, a user panel consisting of experts with policy and advisory roles reflected on the practical relevance of the evaluation. These two projects have resulted in several interrelated papers of which five are included in this thesis. The presented thesis should, therefore, be consid- ered a thesis by papers. However, from the outset of the research, these papers were written to an overall plan to create a coherent story. This plan was driven by the ambition to assist policy makers and project managers in delivering adaptation action in practice. This thesis is the result of that plan that, was also adapted to opportunities that came on to my path and has evolved and deepened as I progressed. Jeroen Rijke February, 2014 This research is funded by: v vi Summary Overcoming hurdles to adaptation There is a great need for societies to adapt to climate change in order to anticipate increasing risks and/or seize new opportunities. The IPCC defines adaptation as “the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities” (Parry et al., 2007, p.6). Adaptation to cli- mate change is commonly referred to as a governance challenge. With re- gard to water management, the focus of this thesis, this governance chal- lenge can be broken down into several parts. Firstly, the practical implemen- tation of available innovative technologies and knowledge required to de- velop adaptive water management systems is slow. Secondly, it is nowadays frequently suggested that new modes of governance are needed that are effective under conditions of high complexity and uncertainty. These ap- proaches would involve, for example, multiple disciplines, multiple govern- ment levels, the community, the private sector and academia. Adger and colleagues summarise these governance challenges nicely, by suggesting that “adaptation to climate change is limited by the values, perceptions, processes and power structures within society” (Adger et al., 2009, p.349). Delivering adaptation action in the water sector is about delivering change, because adaptation of a water system requires a transition in the form of technological innovation and/or the adoption of new governance ap- proaches. In this thesis, it is explained that governance approaches for the effective delivery of adaptation action to manage changes in flood and drought risks should be considered on a case by case basis. However, the analyses provide several ingredients that assist policy makers, planners and project managers in developing effective governance approaches for adapta- tion to flooding and drought: 1. A procedure for establishing fit-for-purpose governance reform. (chapter 2) 2. A pattern of governance approaches that are typically effective dur- ing the early, mid and late stages of transformation. (chapter 3) vii 3. A checklist for the availability of the required ingredients for change. (chapter 4) 4. A set of attributes for effective design and management of adapta- tion programmes (chapter 5) 5. Recommendations for aligning governance of strategic planning and delivery of adaptation. (chapter 6) Fit-for-purpose governance Drawing on an extensive, critical literature review of adaptive governance, network management and institutional analysis, I argue that the constraints to the governance of adaptation relate to a large extent to the inability of practitioners and policy makers to cope with complexity and various uncer- tainties: i) ambiguous purposes and objectives of what should be achieved with governance; ii) unclear contextual conditions in which governance takes place; and, iii) uncertainty around the effectiveness of different governance strategies. To address such practical challenges, I introduce a ‘fit-for- purpose’ framework consisting of three key ingredients for developing a diagnostic approach for making adaptive governance operational. This con- cept is meant to be used as an indication of the effectiveness of governance structures and processes and define it as a measure of the adequacy of the functional purposes that governance structures and processes have to fulfil at a certain point in time. In other words, are existing and proposed govern- ance structures and processes fit for their purpose? While adaptive govern- ance focuses on responding to (potential) change, fit-for-purpose govern- ance is specifically considering the (future) functions that the social and physical components of a particular system, such as an urban water system, have to fulfil. As such, the fit-for-purpose governance framework provides an alternative starting point for developing the much sought-after guidance for policy and decision makers to evaluate the effectiveness of established gov- ernance arrangements and to predict the likelihood of success of institu- tional reform. A pattern of effective governance during consecutive stages of transforma- tion Based on a comparison of governance reform of urban water management in three Australian cities, a pattern of effective governance configurations dur- ing consecutive stages of system transformation is identified. By linking the viii (perceived) effectiveness of centralised, decentralised, formal and informal governance approaches to the requirements of consecutive stages of respec- tively adaptive cycles and transition stages, it was found that different con- figurations of these governance approaches are needed during different stages of adapting to drought and transitioning to a water sensitive city that is resilient to immediate and gradual change. The research insights suggest that decentralised and informal governance approaches are particularly ef- fective in early stages of transformation processes (i.e. adaptation and tran- sition processes), whilst formal and centralised approaches become more effective during later stages of transformation (Table S.1). This pattern of effective governance configurations can be used to provide guidance for urban water governance reform to policy makers and governance evaluators. Table S.1 Effective governance during consecutive stages of transformation Transition Adaptive cycle Typical activities Effective governance approaches stage phase Pre- - Network forma- Decentralised and informal: to estab- development tion, experi- lish and nurture new relationships and mentation, test innovations learning. Take-off Re- Response to a Hybrid: formal policy decision to cata- organisation / crisis or estab- lyse and/or coordinate activities, and renewal lishment of a informal and decentralised learning to policy decision. further test innovations Acceleration Growth / Increasing Hybrid: centralised policy to enable exploitation implementation activities, decentralised implementa- of innovation. tion, informal network to distribute tacit knowledge, coordinated capacity building to create synergies and avoid inefficient use of resources. Stabilisation Conservation Regulation and Centralised and formal: to adjust or legislation to establish legislative frameworks and establish the coordinated capacity building to con- status quo vince and enable laggards to adopt innovative approaches and safeguard a new status quo. - Collapse / Losing faith, Decentralised and informal: to search release searching for for alternative solutions and share new/alternative experiences. solutions ix
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