Watershed Governance for Rural Communities: Aligning Network Structure with Stakeholder Vision

Authors

  • Darwin Glen Horning University of Northern British Columbia
  • Bernard O Bauer University of British Columbia, Okanagan
  • Stewart J Cohen Environment Canada

Abstract

Water governance often adopts one of two end-member frameworks: (a) centralized, command-control structures, or (b) distributed–collaborative networks. The former typifies the traditional style of water governance that has reigned for the past century, whereas the latter is increasingly touted as a panacea to the evolving challenges of water resource management in a time of rapidly changing drivers (e.g., climate change, urbanization). This study applies Social Network Analysis (SNA) to two case-study watersheds in south-central British Columbia in order to assess the (mis)alignment between water governance network structure and stakeholder objectives regarding adaptation to the pressures imposed by climate change. The results indicate that rural, water-scarce regions continue to be burdened by centralized, command-control style structures that reinforce the status quo in watershed governance (Neef, 2009). This reality marginalizes stakeholders at the peripheries of the network, who may represent a silent but significant voice in regard to future visions for watershed governance. The management of common-pool resources in rural areas will likely remain a difficult challenge without social networks that are designed strategically so as to become better aligned with stakeholder visions. Keywords: adaptive; bridging; knowledge transfer; learning; social network ------------------------------------------------------------- Résumé La gouvernance des ressources en eau adopte souvent une des deux structures diamétralement opposées: (a) centralisée, des structures de commande de contrôle, ou (b) distribuée - réseaux collaboratifs. La première caractérise le style traditionnel de gouvernance d'eau qui a régné pendant le siècle passé, tandis que la dernière est de plus en plus vantée comme la panacée aux difficultés rencontrées dans la gestion des ressources en eau, en période de facteurs de changements rapides (ex.: changements climatiques, urbanisation). Cette étude applique la méthode de l'analyse des réseaux sociaux (ARS) à deux études de cas de bassins hydrologiques, dans le centre-sud de la Colombie-Britannique afin d'évaluer l'alignement et le désalignement entre la structure des réseaux de la gouvernance de l'eau et les objectifs des intervenants clés, pour toutes les questions relatives aux pressions imposées par le changement climatique. Les résultats indiquent que les régions rurales, pauvres en eau, continuent d'être accablées par un style de structures de commande de contrôle centralisé qui renforce le statu quo dans les gouvernances de bassins (Neef, 2009). Cette réalité marginalise les intervenants clés à la périphérie du réseau, qui peut représenter une voix faible mais cependant significative au regard de la vision future de la gouvernance des bassins. La gestion des ressources collectives dans les zones rurales demeurera probablement un défi difficile sans réseaux sociaux désignés stratégiquement dans le but d'être mieux enlignés avec les visions des intervenants.

Author Biography

Darwin Glen Horning, University of Northern British Columbia

Darwin Horning currently holds a Lecturer position in the School of Environmental Planning at the University of Northern British Columbia. Having worked internationally as an urban planner, Darwin has developed a deep interest in community resilience. In particular Darwin’s research focuses on governance and socio-ecological processes that enable effective governance design and policy implementation. Darwin’s recent involvement in the World Forum on Ecosystem Governance has lead to recent academic and professional work involving the enhancement of socioecological networks as a means for bridging the gap between adaptive theory and effective policy development. With over 25 years of urban, environmental and community development experience at the local through to global scale, Darwin continues to work towards improving governance systems by increasing our understanding of the social underpinnings and operations of natural resource governance.

Downloads

Published

2017-03-24