Governance networks in a changing climate

1. Welcome to Stockholm Resilience Centre– Research for Governance of Social-Ecological Systems Governance networks in a changing climate Christian Stein Symposium The Governance of Adaptation 22-23 March 2012 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

2. Outline • Why a network perspective might be useful • Social network analysis as a method & theory • Agricultural water management an example • Preliminary findings and reflections

3. Governance of adaptation… • involves a range of actors related to each other through complex governance arrangements, i.e. networks Figure: adapted from Bodin and Crona 2009

4. Adaptive governance • recognize the crucial role of cross-scale interactions and argue for tapping into or establishing boundary spanning social networks • entails “an implicit assumption about the establishment of social networks“, i.e. a notion of network management or network governance. Carlsson and Sandström 2008

5. Why a network perspective? • Adaptation strategies are often biophysically and/or socially linked • Functional interdependencies occur, and • Actors are forced to operate in the context of networks to find comprehensive solutions to interconnected problems Source: Young 2002; Koppenjan and Klijn 2004

6. Social network analysis Figure: Ernstson et al 2010 Can be used for analyzing across different sectors and scales Focuses on relationships between social entities and the implications of these relationships

7. are more than just neat pictures (also analytical) Social networks…

8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ROW | Attributes 25 Female 23 Male 22 Male 56 Female 18 Female 6 5 4 3 2 1 COLUMN

9. Governance networks are: • reoccurring (formally or informally) institutionalized relationships that shape governance processes and outcomes Source: Newig et al 2010

10. The AgWater Solutions Project Aimsto improve the livelihoods of poor and marginalized smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through agricultural water management (AWM) solutions.

11. Agriculture in a changing climate Burkina Faso: Relation between rainfall and cereal production

12. The need for adaptation • Dry spells impact yields 2 out of every 3 harvests and cause the failure of 1 out of 5 in sub-Saharan Africa • Increasing variability in precipitation patterns and extreme weather events due to climate change • Agricultural water management -key for adaptation to climate change

13. Stylized networks illustrating the network approach Analyse the social network structure Identify opportunities and constrains Figure: Ernstson et al 2010

14. Summary of case study areas

15. Basic building blocks for modelling a system as a network • Actors • Organizations influencing NRM in the watersheds • Relationships • Reciprocated collaborative relationships regarding NRM • Attributes • Type of organization, up-/downstream, scale etc. • Boundaries • “Problemsheds”(def. spatially and relationally)

16. Data collection • Social-ecological inventory • Interviews, group discussions and organisational survey • Multi-scale assessment, complemented by PGIS livelihood assessment and hydrological modelling

17. Networks of collaborative relations

18. Key actors in the system

19. Cohesive subgroups Tanzania, Mkindo

20. Findings • Informal networks play a crucial role in the management and governance of natural resources • Local (informal) governance arrangements are often not recognized by higher level authorities

21. Finding cont. • At the landscape level the social networks become more fragmented, i.e. limited horizontal interaction • Local governance arrangements are often disconnected from the broader (formal) governance context, i.e. limited vertical interaction

22. Implications for the governance of adaptation • Lack of clear implementation pathways • Adaptation strategies should acknowledge and may benefit from building upon existing social structures • Social network analysis provides a promising approach to systematically describe and analyse certain aspects of social complexity

23. Some reflections • Social network analysis • is an interesting approach to systematically describe and analyse multi-actor and multi-scalar governance arrangements • can makes hidden actors and relationships visible • does not capture the political nature of (cross scale) interactions, e.g. weak conceptualization of power

24. Thank you for listening!

25. Future research • Scale-crossing brokers • A quantitative approach • Intermediary & boundary organizations • What functions do they perform and why? • The problem of institutional fit • Politics of rescaling

26. Social networks - just one perspective

27. Overall research context How to… balance water for humans and nature in agricultural systems

28. Multi scalar challenge Figure: Barron 2008

29. Cross-scale interactions in SES Figure: adapted from Ernstson 2010

30. Cross-scale interactions Figure: Cash et al 2006

31. Scale • Multi-scale assessment • Focal scale • Meso-scale (10-10.000km2)

32. Research questions • What actors are there? • How do they relate to each other: • Horizontally, and • Vertically • Who are the influential actors? • What influence do relational patterns have on governance process and outcomes?

33. Analytical dimension • Institutional interplay • Horizontally • Vertically • Key actors • Influence • Scale crossing brokers