Assessing Management Regimes in Transboundary River Basins: Do They Support Adaptive Management?

Abstract

River basin management is faced with complex problems that are characterized by uncertainty and change. In transboundary river basins, historical, legal, and cultural differences add to the complexity. The literature on adaptive management gives several suggestions for handling this complexity. It recognizes the importance of management regimes as enabling or limiting adaptive management, but there is no comprehensive overview of regime features that support adaptive management. This paper presents such an overview, focused on transboundary river basin management. It inventories the features that have been claimed to be central to effective transboundary river basin management and refines them using adaptive management literature. It then collates these features into a framework describing actor networks, policy processes, information management, and legal and financial aspects. Subsequently, this framework is applied to the Orange and Rhine basins. The paper concludes that the framework provides a consistent and comprehensive perspective on transboundary river basin management regimes, and can be used for assessing their capacity to support adaptive management.

Science–policy processes for transboundary water governance

“…Although not without its challenges, the increased participation by a greater array of non-government actors in transboundary settings can lead to greater legitimacy, more effective and equitable allocation of resources, a better ratio of costs to benefits, and an improved access to a diversity of knowledge and expertise (Raadgever et al 2008), as well as broader acceptance and implementation success. For example, several ecological monitoring programs linking scientific and traditional knowledge have been developed for the Mackenzie River Basin, an enormous internal basin shared by five subnational jurisdictions within Canada.…”

Integrated watershed management: evolution, development and emerging trends

“…For AM to be successful, it requires set timeframes for management evaluation where failures and inadequacies can be openly discussed and dealt with. Management strategies need to be continuously improved by learning from the implemented policies and remaining flexible (Raadgever et al 2008). This requires financial support as well as the dedication of time and resolution of those involved to critically and objectively evaluate their own work (Allan et al 2008).…”

“…That being said, the ICPR has been an integral part of the development and exchange of knowledge as well as negotiations between the Rhine states, which has led to the successful management of the Rhine watershed (Dieperink 2000). ICPR encourages member states to share data, cooperate in research, and exchange information, and implemented legal obligations for states to make information available at some levels, with the ICPR helping to disseminate that knowledge through its website (Raadgever et al 2008).…”

“…The International commission for the protection of the Rhine (ICPR) is responsible for investigating the type, source, and extent of Rhine pollution, recommending measures to reduce it, and preparing agreements between involved countries (Dieperink 2000;Frijters and Leentvaar 2003;Raadgever et al 2008). Additionally, ICPR is responsible for any task that states jointly agree upon, such as the rehabilitation of ecosystems in 1987, and managing flood problems in 1995 (Frijters and Leentvaar 2003).…”

“…The Rhine action plan (RAP) is a flexible and adaptable plan that was introduced in 1987 (Raadgever et al 2008) to encourage industry to continually improve technology to avoid environmental pollution and to promote ecosystem restoration (Dieperink 2000;Frijters and Leentvaar 2003;Loucks et al 2005). Although it is not legally binding, it has been highly successful in achieving its goals.…”