A social learning and transition perspective on a climate change project in South Africa

Scholz, Geeske; Methner, Nadine

doi:10.1016/j.eist.2019.10.011

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This knowledge building has come from an extensive research and community engagement effort associated with the trial. This echoes the importance of trust and motivation as highlighted by a study on the transitioning perspective of social learning in South Africa(Scholz & Methner, 2019). However, the community perceptions of this trial still act as a major barrier to adaptive learning.…”

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confidence: 60%

The role of experimentation in water management under climate uncertainty: Institutional barriers to social learning

2020

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Current water governance systems and processes are often insufficient to deal with the challenge of climate uncertainty. Adapting to climate uncertainty requires trialing out new experiments in water governance and establishing processes to learn from those experiments. Social learning is regarded as an important aspect that supports the transformation of water governance systems. Understanding where and how social learning is occurring is critical to improving adaptation outcomes of water management in an uncertain climate. Yet, there is little research asserting the scope of social learning processes in a wide variety of empirical contexts. This article examines social learning in water management in Western Australia. Two specific case studies involving the state-of-the-art experiments in surface and groundwater management are used to illustrate and to understand the institutional dynamics and barriers of social learning. The cases depict single-loop learning to a larger extent and doubleloop learning to a lesser extent. The findings emphasize the importance of dealing with learning externalities, the mismatch of ecological and administrative scales, and facilitating actor networks and multilevel interaction in order to embed social learning in climate adaptation. Water governance reforms should facilitate institutional configurations that enhance social learning opportunities.

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confidence: 60%

The role of experimentation in water management under climate uncertainty: Institutional barriers to social learning

2020

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“…This inclination towards adaptation is found with all papers that conceptually engage with resilience in the context of climate resilient development (e.g. Abel et al, 2016;Scholz and Methner, 2020;Trabacchi and Stadelmann, 2016). In addition, the majority of these papers understand resilience from a social-ecological systems perspective.…”

Section: Conceptual Advances and Ambiguities In The Domain Of Climate Action (Adaptation And Mitigation)mentioning

confidence: 82%

“…This contrasts with authors that use resilience with a positive connotation (e.g. Burch et al, 2014;Scholz and Methner, 2020). A positive framing of resilience can also be found in AR5 (Denton et al, 2014).…”

Section: Conceptual Advances and Ambiguities In The Resilience Domainmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Others recognise this ambiguity with the term climate compatible development, yet explicitly understand climate resilience to include adaptation and mitigation (e.g. Scholz and Methner, 2020). Douxchamps et al (2017) deliver an extensive review of tools for resilience assessment and the most conscious reflection on assessment of resilience in the papers we reviewed.…”

Section: Conceptual Advances and Ambiguities In The Domain Of Climate Action (Adaptation And Mitigation)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advancing climate resilient development pathways since the IPCC’s fifth assessment report

Werners

Sparkes

Totin

et al. 2021

Environmental Science & Policy

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“…More so, an understanding of relational features in emergent social learning processes is still lacking as most research is focussed on deliberative processes (Cundill and Rodela, 2012;de Vries et al, 2017;Eriksson et al, 2019;Herrero et al, 2019). Yet, such dynamics could greatly impact the process of social learning and the outcomes of learning (Berkes, 2009;Cundill and Rodela, 2012;Pahl-Wostl and Hare, 2004;Romina, 2014;Scholz and Methner, 2019;Van Bommel et al, 2009). For example, in a project investigating integrated management and sustainable use of natural land among farmers and nature conservation groups in the Netherlands, Van Bommel et al (2009) find that social learning was hindered due to distrust.…”

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confidence: 99%

Evaluating trust and shared group identities in emergent social learning processes in the Zambezi river basin

Lumosi

Pahl‐Wostl

Scholz

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

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Social learning in natural resource management is considered important for addressing complex problems by supporting multi-stakeholder interactions in problem framing and co-construction of solutions. Despite the considerable progress in the social learning discourse, few scholars have empirically examined relational features in social learning interactions. Relational features such as trust and shared group identities are important for supporting engagement and interaction among actors. This study analyzed emergent social learning processes in transboundary river basin cooperation processes in the Zambezi basin. To do this, data was conducted through in-depth interviews with diverse actors, observations of participatory workshops, and review of documents on transboundary cooperation processes in the Zambezi basin. The study evaluated how trust and shared group identities shaped learning spaces (opportunities for interaction, deliberation and reframing) and in turn impacted transboundary river basin cooperation. The study found that trust and shared group identities had a crucial impact on learning spaces and in turn impacted transboundary river basin cooperation in the Zambezi basin. The results suggest that leveraging on trust and shared group identities can play a critical role in stimulating cooperation processes. However, it is not a guarantee for cooperation. This study highlights that structural-learning spaces such as institutions support the development of binding commitments and enduring shared practices. However, success of such institutionalization is strongly influenced by the prior development of trust and a shared social identity.

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A social learning and transition perspective on a climate change project in South Africa

Cited by 22 publications

References 33 publications

The role of experimentation in water management under climate uncertainty: Institutional barriers to social learning

The role of experimentation in water management under climate uncertainty: Institutional barriers to social learning

Advancing climate resilient development pathways since the IPCC’s fifth assessment report

Evaluating trust and shared group identities in emergent social learning processes in the Zambezi river basin

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