Adaptive Governance in the
Headwaters: the Resilience and Law
Project
Barbara Cosens, University of Idaho
College of Law, Waters of the West
Lance Gunderson, Emory University,
Environmental Sciences
MTNCLIM 2014: Machida Session
Social-Ecological System
Resilience, Climate Change and
Adaptive Water Governance
Barbara Cosens, University of Idaho / Lance Gunderson, Emory University
Craig Allen, Univ. Nebraska, SNR, USGS
Anthony Arnold, University of Louisville
Melinda Benson, University of New Mexico,
Brian Chaffin, EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Robin Craig, University of Utah
Daniel DeCaro, University of Louisville
Alex Fremier, Washington State University
Ahjond Garmestani, EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Hannah Gosnell, Oregon State University
Olivia O. Green, EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory
J.B. Ruhl, Vanderbilt University
Edella Schlager, University of Arizona
Mark Stone, University of New Mexico
National Science Foundation DBI-1052875
COLUMBIA
STUDY BASINS: to assess ecological
resilience to climate change and identify
the role of law in preventing or
facilitating adaptive governance
ANACOSTIA
KLAMATH
MIDDLE RIO GRANDE
PLATTE
EVERGLADES
Bridging: Three Concepts
Ecological Resilience
Changing
Climate
Adaptive
Governance
The Role of Law
Ecological Resilience
Source: Protecting and Enhancing Landscapes and Rural Communities, The
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute
http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/issues/ProtectionEnhancementofLandscapesRur
alCommunitiesAims.php
Rapid Resilience Assessment
Variables
• Diversity
• Variability
• Modularity
• Innovation
• Tight feedbacks
• Natural and Engineered
Infrastructure
CRB RRA through time
Diversity
6.0
4.0
Variability
2.0
Nat. and
Eng.
Services
Innovation
0.0
Modularity
Tight
feedbacks
Panarchy: Gunderson and Holling
Source: The Sustainable Scale Project
http://www.sustainablescale.org/ConceptualFramework/Un
derstandingScale/MeasuringScale/Panarchy.aspx
Governance
• Governance: “the process of resolving trade-offs
and of providing a vision and direction” . . .,
management is the operationalization of this
vision...”.
• Governance includes laws, policies, regulation,
institutions, and institutional structures that both
enable and constrain the process of governing,
but also the informal norms and interactions that
influence decisions including those of private and
nongovernmental actors.
Adaptive Governance
• Adaptive Governance enables society to
navigate the dynamic, multi-scalar nature of
social-ecological systems, and is an emergent
phenomenon when the appropriate formal
and informal organizations and institutions
are present.
• AWG Project Question: what is the role of law
in preventing, triggering, and facilitating
Adaptive Governance?
Governance of Trajectories
• Maintain desired trajectory/
threshold identified
• Maintain desired trajectory/
resilience reduced
• Transformation
Diversity
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
Nat. and
Eng.
Services
Innovatio
n
Variabilit
y
Modulari
ty
Tight
feedback
s
Maintain desired trajectory/
threshold identified
• The role of law in
identifying thresholds
– ESA: listing
– CWA: WQS
– Water allocation: conflict
• Solutions
– Tools for adaptive
management
– Collaborative processes
– Participatory capacity
Source: First People
Maintain desired trajectory/
resilience reduced
The Role of Law
• Identify crossed thresholds
CRB RRA through time
– Species listing
– Water quality exceeded
– Water shortage
• Restoration
authority/mandate
• Build capacity
• Tools -- adaptive
management
Diversity
6.0
4.0
Variability
2.0
Nat. and
Eng.
Services
Innovation
0.0
Modularity
Tight
feedbacks
Transformation
•
•
•
•
RRA
Situation Assessment
Adaptive Governance
Beyond Adaptive
Governance
Impact of pine bark beetle near
Los Alamos, New Mexico from
southwesternclimatechange.org
IUCN Protected Areas Workshop
• Situation assessment
–
–
–
–
–
Uncertainty
Complexity
Conflict
Scarcity
Looming threshold
• Governance assessment
– Structure
– Capacity
– Process
Source: World Wildlife Fund
Governance Assessment
• Structure
– Redundant
– Polycentric
– Nested
• Capacity
– Adaptive
– Participatory
• Process
– Legitimacy
– Procedural justice/selfdetermination
– Problem solving approach
– Balance stability and
flexibility
Lessons for the Headwaters
• The use of Resilience Assessment and
Situation Assessment to identify the
appropriate governance trajectory
• Development of appropriate structure
(networks), capacity, and processes to allow
emergence of adaptive governance