Closing integrative gaps in complex environmental governance systems

Abstract

Modern environmental problems pose unique management challenges as they are usually interdependent in myriad, complex ways. Climate change is the ultimate example of a problem that forces environmental managers to confront highly interdependent challenges, such as invasive species, rising temperatures, and habitat loss. Interdependencies abound: for example, the issue of warming winter temperatures exacerbates the issue of invasive species, and a high prevalence of invasive species contributes to the issue of habitat loss. Ideally, stakeholders should account for these issue interdependencies by managing connected issues. Such activities close "integrative gaps," which refer to instances in which interdependent issues are managed independently. By closing integrative gaps, actors align management activities with underlying ecological processes. We focus on climate change adaptation governance in Ohio, USA, as a model study system and evaluate conditions that enable integrative gap closure through analysis of a network of adaptation actors and issues. Our findings show that actors are more likely to close integrative gaps between issue pairs that are highly biophysically interdependent, receive higher collective levels of public attention, and have garnered higher levels of progress. We also find that regional-scoped, specialized, and non-profit actors are most likely to manage for environmental interdependencies. We discuss how these findings advance theoretical understanding of institutional fitness and resilience in socialecological systems by revealing how actors navigate highly interdependent environmental governance settings.

Socio-Technical Challenges Towards Data-Driven and Integrated Urban Water Management: A Socio-Technical Network Approach

“…Second, the STN approach could be useful for interactions and discussions with stakeholders to demonstrate gaps in the information exchange network (Fried et al, 2022;Bergsten et al, 2019) but also to show which technical elements might need to be equipped with sensors or which social actors would need to have access to data from which technical element. However, transferring such results from the STN analysis into practice (Bixler et al, 2019) might evoke challenges.…”

Evaluating the impact of different spatial linkages on forum outcome interdependencies in polycentric systems

“…Each individual forum can be conceptualized as an individual component of the entire polycentric system. Thus, while maintaining a stake in how a forum‐specific issue is managed, actors also have organizational objectives that they work toward across an entire system (Chen, 2010; Crona & Parker, 2012; Fried et al, 2022; Scott, 2016). Therefore, when making decisions in forums, actors should contemplate the series of policy options and distribution of costs and benefits, while also considering how within‐forum solutions may interact with the other forums they attend (Fried et al, 2022; Mewhirter & Berardo, 2019; Mewhirter, McLaughlin, & Fischer, 2019).…”

The patchwork governance of ecologically available water: A case study in the Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States

“…Bergsten et al (2019) identify two types of "governance gaps:" integrative gaps emerge when interdependent issues are not recognized and managed as such, and collaborative gaps arise when those managing the same issues do not work together (also see: Hamilton et al, 2021). Integrative gaps are particularly relevant to the challenge of EAW since management activities are often not aligned with ecosystem processes (Fried et al, 2022). For example, political jurisdictions are not generally organized according to ecohydrological processes (Cohen & Davidson, 2011).…”