Ecosystems, Adaptive Management - Ecological Systems - page 137

situation intractable. One possible option for improving environmental management,
as highlighted in this section, appears to be in developing bridging organizations that
catalyze cross-scale communication across the panarchy of institutions and
ecosystems, and explicit recognition of the underlying cross-scale structure and
nonlinear interactions of these linked systems, by both policy and policy makers.
The lack of communication and cooperation between institutions at even small scales
further illuminates that bridging organizations may help bring about effective man-
agement of natural resources at multiple scales [ 35 ]. Thus, bridging organizations
should act as mini think tanks that facilitate communication between institutions,
incubate new ideas for environmental management, and provide a forum for coming to
agreements on contentious issues [ 36 ].
Bridging organizations play a critical role in facilitating adaptive comanagement
and governance, and are essential to managing for resilience in social-ecological
systems [ 37 ]. Perception of a particular policy can play a significant role in whether it
is accepted by critical stakeholders in a social-ecological system [ 38 ]. Engaging
stakeholders, implementing change at a suitable rate, and providing outreach to
keep the public informed are all important for new environmental policy to be
perceived of as positive and for a successful transition to a new policy regime [ 38 ].
This environmental management framework, which incorporates panarchy, adaptive
management, and bridging organizations, could serve as one scenario in the suite of
policy options for actualizing sustainability [ 30 ].
Adaptive Governance
Administrative agencies typically change incrementally [ 39 ], and as such, changes
in policy are small because there is not enough information to make large overhauls
of organization policy. Standard operating procedures are another mechanism that
contributes to organizational inertia, as they slow the bureaucratic process [ 40 ].
Further, the lack of institutions matched to the appropriate scale is a significant
barrier for sound environmental management [ 41 ]. Within this context, adaptive
governance can help with this scale mismatch via collaboration of a diverse set of
stakeholders at multiple scales [ 42 ]. Adaptive governance is a form of governance
that incorporates formal institutions, informal groups/networks, and individuals at
multiple scales for purposes of collaborative environmental management [ 43 ].
Bridging organizations, enabling legislation and government policies can also
contribute to the success of an adaptive governance framework; governance creates
a vision and management actualizes the vision [ 43 ].
Adaptive governance works via sharing of management power and responsibilities,
and promotes a collaborative, participatory process, but is dependent upon adaptive
comanagement, and adaptive comanagement is dependent upon social networks for
success. Social networks have the capacity to allow for development of new ideas, to
facilitate communication between entities, and to create the flexibility necessary for
the interplay of the fluid (ecological systems) and the rigid (institutions) to be