A
ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE
Kalle Matso
NERRS Science Collaborative, Department of Natural
Resources and the Environment, University of New
Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
Definition
Adaptive governance integrates scientific and other types
of knowledge into policies to advance the common interest in particular contexts through open decision-making
structures. It is considered as an alternative to and
a reaction to the predominant approach to natural resource
management in the twentieth century, often referred to as
“scientific management.” Scientific management emphasized the isolation of a single best practice through rational
consideration of the problem and technical expertise,
often times developed and implemented by few persons
or entities, in a centralized power context (Brunner and
Steelman, 2005).
Adaptive governance is best understood as a pattern of
practices that emphasizes the adaptation of policy decisions to a diversity of those people who are affected by
the decision(s) in question. Any policy must be flexible
enough to react to ongoing experiences occurring on the
ground. So that managers have the ability to react to unexpected outcomes, enacted policies should be modest and
incremental, rather than broad, sweeping, long lasting,
and rigid. Authorities and participants must also plan for
and budget for monitoring and evaluation of decisions so
that policies can be terminated, modified, or nurtured, as
the case may be.
Adaptive governance sees the role of science as
important and critical but not sufficient in and of itself.
Important policy decisions inherently involve values, not
just rational consideration of information; no problem is
seen as “technical” only. Therefore, adaptive governance
depends on and makes use of bottom-up endeavors such
as community-based initiatives so that disparate values
are brought into the open and considered as part of any
policy decision. Moreover, adaptive governance proceeds
with the assumption that decision power is fragmented,
not centralized.
Bibliography
Brunner, R. D., and Steelman, T. A., 2005. Beyond scientific management. In Brunner, R. D., Steelman, T. A., Coe-Juell, L.,
Cromley, C. M., Edwards, C. M., and Tucker, D. W. (eds.),
Adaptive Governance: Integrating Science, Policy and Decision
Making. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 1–46.
ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
Kate Buenau and Michael Anderson
Coastal Ecosystem Research, Marine Sciences
Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Sequim, WA, USA
Synonyms
Adaptive resource management
M.J. Kennish (ed.), Encyclopedia of Estuaries, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE
Kalle Matso
NERRS Science Collaborative, Department of Natural
Resources and the Environment, University of New
Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
Definition
Adaptive governance integrates scientific and other types
of knowledge into policies to advance the common interest in particular contexts through open decision-making
structures. It is considered as an alternative to and
a reaction to the predominant approach to natural resource
management in the twentieth century, often referred to as
“scientific management.” Scientific management emphasized the isolation of a single best practice through rational
consideration of the problem and technical expertise,
often times developed and implemented by few persons
or entities, in a centralized power context (Brunner and
Steelman, 2005).
Adaptive governance is best understood as a pattern of
practices that emphasizes the adaptation of policy decisions to a diversity of those people who are affected by
the decision(s) in question. Any policy must be flexible
enough to react to ongoing experiences occurring on the
ground. So that managers have the ability to react to unexpected outcomes, enacted policies should be modest and
incremental, rather than broad, sweeping, long lasting,
and rigid. Authorities and participants must also plan for
and budget for monitoring and evaluation of decisions so
that policies can be terminated, modified, or nurtured, as
the case may be.
Adaptive governance sees the role of science as
important and critical but not sufficient in and of itself.
Important policy decisions inherently involve values, not
just rational consideration of information; no problem is
seen as “technical” only. Therefore, adaptive governance
depends on and makes use of bottom-up endeavors such
as community-based initiatives so that disparate values
are brought into the open and considered as part of any
policy decision. Moreover, adaptive governance proceeds
with the assumption that decision power is fragmented,
not centralized.
Bibliography
Brunner, R. D., and Steelman, T. A., 2005. Beyond scientific management. In Brunner, R. D., Steelman, T. A., Coe-Juell, L.,
Cromley, C. M., Edwards, C. M., and Tucker, D. W. (eds.),
Adaptive Governance: Integrating Science, Policy and Decision
Making. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 1–46.
ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
Kate Buenau and Michael Anderson
Coastal Ecosystem Research, Marine Sciences
Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,
Sequim, WA, USA
Synonyms
Adaptive resource management
M.J. Kennish (ed.), Encyclopedia of Estuaries, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016