The role of accountability in the emergence of adaptive water governance

IF 3.6 2区 社会学 Q1 ECOLOGY
Bimo Abraham Nkhata
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Abstract

In this article we examine the role of accountability in the emergence of adaptive water governance drawing on a case study of shifts in governance on the Pongola River Floodplain in South Africa. The case study illustrates how lack of accountability by decision makers over the years inhibited the emergence of adaptive water governance on the floodplain. An important lesson to be drawn from the case study is that although adaptive governance can offer decision makers the capacity to confront change and uncertainty, this capacity is diminished when accountability is lacking or blurred because of conflicting interests. We demonstrate the need for accountable entities (such as government and NGOs) in contextualized situations to augment the emergence of adaptive water governance. Importantly, this research demonstrates how the emergence of adaptive water governance in part depends on the capacity of other stakeholders to hold decision makers accountable for the consideration and resolution of governance trade-offs. The role of accountability in this case is broadly based on the need to sustain delivery of aquatic ecosystem services so that generations can continue to enjoy them in the present and into the future. This case analysis is aimed at informing environmental governance scholarship and policies regarding the conditions that promote or inhibit the emergence of adaptive water governance.

The post The role of accountability in the emergence of adaptive water governance first appeared on Ecology & Society.

问责制在适应性水资源治理中的作用
在本文中,我们通过对南非邦戈拉河洪泛平原治理转变的案例研究,探讨了问责制在适应性水治理中的作用。该案例研究说明了多年来决策者缺乏问责制是如何阻碍洪泛平原适应性水治理的出现的。从案例研究中汲取的一个重要教训是,尽管适应性治理可以为决策者提供应对变化和不确定性的能力,但如果由于利益冲突而缺乏问责制或问责制模糊不清,这种能力就会被削弱。我们表明,在具体情况下,需要有负责任的实体(如政府和非政府组织)来加强适应性水治理。重要的是,这项研究证明了适应性水治理的出现如何在一定程度上取决于其他利益相关者在考虑和解决治理权衡问题时让决策者承担责任的能力。在本案例中,问责制的作用广泛基于持续提供水生生态系统服务的需要,以便世世代代能够在现在和未来继续享受这些服务。本案例分析旨在就促进或抑制适应性水治理出现的条件为环境治理学术和政策提供信息。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Ecology and Society
Ecology and Society 环境科学-生态学
CiteScore
6.20
自引率
4.90%
发文量
109
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: Ecology and Society is an electronic, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research. Manuscript submission, peer review, and publication are all handled on the Internet. Software developed for the journal automates all clerical steps during peer review, facilitates a double-blind peer review process, and allows authors and editors to follow the progress of peer review on the Internet. As articles are accepted, they are published in an "Issue in Progress." At four month intervals the Issue-in-Progress is declared a New Issue, and subscribers receive the Table of Contents of the issue via email. Our turn-around time (submission to publication) averages around 350 days. We encourage publication of special features. Special features are comprised of a set of manuscripts that address a single theme, and include an introductory and summary manuscript. The individual contributions are published in regular issues, and the special feature manuscripts are linked through a table of contents and announced on the journal''s main page. The journal seeks papers that are novel, integrative and written in a way that is accessible to a wide audience that includes an array of disciplines from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities concerned with the relationship between society and the life-supporting ecosystems on which human wellbeing ultimately depends.
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