Abstract
Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a response to current acknowledgement of the complexity and wickedness of water management. IWRM aims to enable appropriate responses via multi-party participation. Adaptive management-purposeful learning for improved action-is a useful tool for integrating water resource management. It provides a framework to enable participatory processes and social learning to contribute to changed policies and practices. However, the institutional constraints on moving to adaptive management (and hence IWRM) are many and deeply entrenched. The paper explores these constraints by considering the almost unconscious, and generally uncritical, reliance on 'projects' in natural resource management. Using examples from Australia, it reflects on the defining features of natural resource management 'projects' and critically considers these in relation to the conditions needed for adaptive management, social learning and IWRM. Projects, bounded in time and space and strongly tied to political and financial cycles, encourage short-term planning and action, not to mention risk avoidance and solidification of power differentials. Active reflection on the nature of projects provides a useful space to explore a possible clash between the normative idealistic and the critical realist perspectives of integrating water management.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 231-241 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sep 2012 |
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Rethinking the 'Project' : Bridging the Polarized Discourses in IWRM. / Allan, Catherine.
In: Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Vol. 14, No. 3, 09.2012, p. 231-241.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Rethinking the 'Project'
T2 - Bridging the Polarized Discourses in IWRM
AU - Allan, Catherine
N1 - Imported on 12 Apr 2017 - DigiTool details were: month (773h) = September, 2012; Journal title (773t) = Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. ISSNs: 1522-7200;
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a response to current acknowledgement of the complexity and wickedness of water management. IWRM aims to enable appropriate responses via multi-party participation. Adaptive management-purposeful learning for improved action-is a useful tool for integrating water resource management. It provides a framework to enable participatory processes and social learning to contribute to changed policies and practices. However, the institutional constraints on moving to adaptive management (and hence IWRM) are many and deeply entrenched. The paper explores these constraints by considering the almost unconscious, and generally uncritical, reliance on 'projects' in natural resource management. Using examples from Australia, it reflects on the defining features of natural resource management 'projects' and critically considers these in relation to the conditions needed for adaptive management, social learning and IWRM. Projects, bounded in time and space and strongly tied to political and financial cycles, encourage short-term planning and action, not to mention risk avoidance and solidification of power differentials. Active reflection on the nature of projects provides a useful space to explore a possible clash between the normative idealistic and the critical realist perspectives of integrating water management.
AB - Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a response to current acknowledgement of the complexity and wickedness of water management. IWRM aims to enable appropriate responses via multi-party participation. Adaptive management-purposeful learning for improved action-is a useful tool for integrating water resource management. It provides a framework to enable participatory processes and social learning to contribute to changed policies and practices. However, the institutional constraints on moving to adaptive management (and hence IWRM) are many and deeply entrenched. The paper explores these constraints by considering the almost unconscious, and generally uncritical, reliance on 'projects' in natural resource management. Using examples from Australia, it reflects on the defining features of natural resource management 'projects' and critically considers these in relation to the conditions needed for adaptive management, social learning and IWRM. Projects, bounded in time and space and strongly tied to political and financial cycles, encourage short-term planning and action, not to mention risk avoidance and solidification of power differentials. Active reflection on the nature of projects provides a useful space to explore a possible clash between the normative idealistic and the critical realist perspectives of integrating water management.
KW - Open access version available
KW - Adaptive management
KW - Integrated Water Resources Management
KW - Project
KW - Social learning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865210552&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84865210552&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1523908X.2012.702012
DO - 10.1080/1523908X.2012.702012
M3 - Article
VL - 14
SP - 231
EP - 241
JO - Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
JF - Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
SN - 1522-7200
IS - 3
ER -