nature organizations, has significantly improved during the last two years. Being
part of the process creates also gradually more enthusiasm among the farmers.
Agricultural interests can this way become coherent with the interests of drought
resilience projects that often imply forms of re-naturalization. This close collaboration of multi-stakeholders at levels of administration and project managers is a
great advantage that provides coherence and enables successful implementation of
measures. It can also be seen as a necessary and relatively successful adaptation to
deal with an inherent rather than incoherent and fragmented governance context,
labelled as the fragmentation—coherence paradox. It is called a “paradox” because,
while normally fragmentation would lead to stalemates and ultimately disinterest in
the topic, in a context of sufficient positive experiences with mutual cooperation it
has led to a recognition that the various parties need each other and to the absence
of fear that one of them will become too dominant. This “being part of the process”
creates enthusiasm with farmers. Trust between farmers and the government is
extremely important. Otherwise also mutual social control among farmers will turn
against collaboration or even selling agricultural land to the government.
In terms of problem perceptions, drought resilience is not yet a fully shared
priority. Instruments and strategies are not balanced and relatively fragmented in
their consequences for implementation. As for responsibilities and resources, they
are fragmented in a very complex way that only mutual consultations are the ways
to proceed, creating the already above mentioned fragmentation—coherence
paradox.
9.4.3 Flexibility: Are Multiple Roads to the Goals,
Depending on Opportunities and Threats as they
Arise, Permitted and Supported?
The flexibility aspect gets a moderately positive assessment with fair degree of
adaptive capacity. It is for instance seen in the way how the province and the
municipalities took over on the emptied role of the national level, showing a healthy
degree of flexibility. The high interconnectedness character of the group has
advantages to get political and financial support for projects and thus contributes to
flexibility.
However, there are sometimes inflexibilities that derive from the geo-physical
and landscape conditions of the small-scale Twente area, or relate to the strong
Dutch local land use planning system. The Dutch planning system has lengthy
decision-making procedures, like EIA, not only in the Twente region but in the
whole country. For example, the creation of a new well for drinking water production has to undergo a lengthy procedure even when aiming to replace a well that
has more impact on the drought resilience of an area. Also the stakeholder representation by institutionalized organizations can sometimes lead to inflexibilities. For
example, not in all cases it is easy to get quick recognition as a new actor in the
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H. Bressers et al.
part of the process creates also gradually more enthusiasm among the farmers.
Agricultural interests can this way become coherent with the interests of drought
resilience projects that often imply forms of re-naturalization. This close collaboration of multi-stakeholders at levels of administration and project managers is a
great advantage that provides coherence and enables successful implementation of
measures. It can also be seen as a necessary and relatively successful adaptation to
deal with an inherent rather than incoherent and fragmented governance context,
labelled as the fragmentation—coherence paradox. It is called a “paradox” because,
while normally fragmentation would lead to stalemates and ultimately disinterest in
the topic, in a context of sufficient positive experiences with mutual cooperation it
has led to a recognition that the various parties need each other and to the absence
of fear that one of them will become too dominant. This “being part of the process”
creates enthusiasm with farmers. Trust between farmers and the government is
extremely important. Otherwise also mutual social control among farmers will turn
against collaboration or even selling agricultural land to the government.
In terms of problem perceptions, drought resilience is not yet a fully shared
priority. Instruments and strategies are not balanced and relatively fragmented in
their consequences for implementation. As for responsibilities and resources, they
are fragmented in a very complex way that only mutual consultations are the ways
to proceed, creating the already above mentioned fragmentation—coherence
paradox.
9.4.3 Flexibility: Are Multiple Roads to the Goals,
Depending on Opportunities and Threats as they
Arise, Permitted and Supported?
The flexibility aspect gets a moderately positive assessment with fair degree of
adaptive capacity. It is for instance seen in the way how the province and the
municipalities took over on the emptied role of the national level, showing a healthy
degree of flexibility. The high interconnectedness character of the group has
advantages to get political and financial support for projects and thus contributes to
flexibility.
However, there are sometimes inflexibilities that derive from the geo-physical
and landscape conditions of the small-scale Twente area, or relate to the strong
Dutch local land use planning system. The Dutch planning system has lengthy
decision-making procedures, like EIA, not only in the Twente region but in the
whole country. For example, the creation of a new well for drinking water production has to undergo a lengthy procedure even when aiming to replace a well that
has more impact on the drought resilience of an area. Also the stakeholder representation by institutionalized organizations can sometimes lead to inflexibilities. For
example, not in all cases it is easy to get quick recognition as a new actor in the
194
H. Bressers et al.