Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
.
18
The
learning process also requires an ability to assess whether the basis on
which past policies were formed or decisions founded remains valid and
to draw conclusions from the knowledge base and from new information
as to how existing measures might be revised and better decisions made
subsequently. Karkkainen argues that a critical part of the task for
instituting adaptive management lies in putting into place
initially
'
but
'
help to promote real normativity in the longer term
'
the resources
and institutional mechanisms to ensure that we are generating the new
learning that must occur, and to see that subsequent rounds of policy
adjustment are informed by that new learning
'
.
19
The locus for this institutional learning must lie primarily with the
bodies that are responsible for producing and assimilating information
and advising on its implications. It is essential therefore that institutions
with a mandate to learn from information as it is generated and to react
to new learning should be established. The concern is that, if they are not,
adaptive management will remain essentially reactive and decision-
making reliant on assessments which are of limited value because they
lack the contextual backdrop for
'
rm conclusions about a system
'
s
condition and the effects of activities on it to be reached.
The third is that adaptive management requires an on-going investment
in the research, monitoring and information management systems that
allow decisions to be made and understanding advanced through new
learning.
20
However, the open-ended nature of this commitment may
leave it vulnerable to political and economic pressure, and particularly, as
Iles suggests, at times when strategies appear to have failed.
21
It is also the
case that willingness to support programmes of research and to allow
conclusions drawn from them to in
uence policy may vary according to
governmental perception of environmental problems and whether they pose
asuf
cient threat to be prioritised over other objectives. Haas notes this in
contrasting the in
uence of ecologists in Germany when the Black Forest
was seen to be under threat from acid rain with their lack of in
uence with
the US Government for tackling the same problem when it was understood
to present more of a problem for its neighbours than itself.
22
Ameansof
maintaining this investment, although it is by no means a guarantee that it
18
J. Brunnée and S. J. Toope,
'
Environmental Security and Freshwater Resources:
Ecosystem Regime Building
'
(1997) 91 American Journal of International Law,41.
19
Karkkainen,
'
Collaborative Ecosystem Governance
'
, 199.
20
Iles,
'
Adaptive Management
'
,291;Karkkainen,
'
Collaborative Ecosystem Govern-
ance
'
, 199.
21
22
Haas,
Iles,
'
Adaptive Management
'
, 292.
'
Do Regimes Matter?
'
,402
-
3.
