Transition in governance of river basin management in The Netherlands through multi-level social learning

Transition in governance of river basin management in The Netherlands through multi-level social learning

Van Herk, S.
Rijke, J.S.
Zevenbergen, C.
Ashley, R.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Hydraulic Engineering

2012-08-29

This paper presents a case study of a new adaptive, multi-level governance approach that supported a transition in river basin management in the Netherlands. The floods of 1993 and 1995 in the Netherlands triggered a paradigm shift in flood management. The 2.3 billion Euro flood safety programme Room for the River (RftR) was launched to increase flood safety by giving the rivers more room instead of merely enforcing the defence systems. This programme has been studied as a major stepping stone in the transition to integrated flood risk management: integrating spatial planning and flood risk management; and stimulating multi-­level and multi stakeholder decision making. This research studied the outcomes of RftR beyond its mere delivery and how these outcomes came about. It comprised: 55 qualitative interviews, a survey amongst professionals and politicians (151) and extensive document analysis. First results indicate impact on: practice through guidelines in various disciplines; policy and regulation for e.g.: land use in outer marches; dyke requirements; regulation on soil and water quality; and other policy domains; scientific models and methods; and capacity building of people; organisational and management processes; and the creation and connection of networks. This outcome was obtained by stimulating social learning, within a multi-level programme organisation. This made it possible to signal, escalate and address barriers and opportunities for transition at the appropriate scale level and subsequently disseminate the lessons. For scholars in transition management and adaptive management RftR provides an example of a large-scale programme that changes the regime from within at the meso level.

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IST 2012, 3rd International Conference on Sustainability Transitions: Sustainable Transitions: Navigating Theories and Challenging Realities, Lyngby, Denmark, 29-31 August 2012

Institutional Repository

conference paper

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