Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
actors in shifting policy from one regime to an alternate regime. For instance, social
networkers that share information freely; individuals that have numerous, diverse
connections; and individuals with powerful ability to persuade play key roles in policy
change [
47
]. These individuals can interact to create the conditions necessary for
regime shifts in public policy. In particular, the director of a municipal organization
(Ekomuseum Kristianstads Vattenrike) filled this leadership role and served as
a bridging organization that also was a significant factor in the transition to adaptive
governance [
45
]. The leadership needed to foster a transition to adaptive governance is
not necessarily the work of one individual, but rather is often encompassed by several
individuals and entities [
48
].
There are two types of policy windows: a problem-driven window and
a politically driven window [
49
]. A problem-driven window opens when
a policymaker believes that a policy is necessary for a specific issue. A politically
driven window is driven by a particular theme adopted by a policymaker, in which
the policymaker looks for problems that fit within the theme. Significant changes in
policy occur when conditions (e.g., problems, solutions, and politics) converge at
the same time, which creates the window of opportunity for change [
49
]. In the
Kristianstads Vattenrike example, social and ecological change at one scale trig-
gered cross-scale effects which resulted in a window of opportunity for the transi-
tion to adaptive governance [
45
]. In adaptive governance, decision making is not
top-down but rather emerges from outreach and group meetings with stakeholders
[
50
]. In order for adaptive governance to be effective, the policy requires strong
leadership, communication, and incorporation of uncertainty, which allows for
adaptation to changing circumstances [
50
].
Adaptive Management and Law
Legal certainty is an aspect of law that does not mesh well with environmental
unpredictability. One of the most significant barriers for managing linked social-
ecological systems is that often the aspects of a society that make it free (e.g.,
certainty of law) are not in concert with ecological realities (e.g., multi-regimes,
nonlinear systems, and responses) [
51
]. The certainty of law and institutional
rigidity often limit experimentation that is necessary for adaptive management
[
30
]. This point is critical, as some scholars contend that environmental governance
of the commons can only succeed if rules evolve with the system of interest [
41
].
Ecosystem management has been applied within the outdated framework of the
Endangered Species Act (ESA), but ecosystem management is best implemented
via adaptive management [
52
]. In its current form, the ESA does not have the
necessary flexibility in its regulatory language to effectively implement adaptive
responses to changing environmental conditions [
52
]. The legal constraints upon
adaptive management in the American system of law do not stop there. The
fundamental constraint to adaptive management is the current state of administra-
tive law [
53
]. As the law now stands, the procedural rules require a vast amount of
