Governance assessment of a protected area: the case of the Alde Feanen National Park

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenge of appropriate governance of complexity and diversity in the Dutch national park of Alde Feanen. The issue is how to enhance ecosystem resilience. Our focus relates to a navigable waterway within the park that affects the natural values of the area. The governance assessment tool is used to assess the governance context of the waterway and ecosystem resilience in the area. The study shows that a lack of a long-term integrated vision makes the governance context less supportive. Such a vision could maximize the focus on the resilience of the park's nature and motivate actors to work towards a common future for a concerned area. However, institutional complexity, combined with institutional inertia, is revealed as a hindrance to the quality of governance and shapes a weak ability to adapt the current situation to move towards resilience.

Comparative Assessment of Water Governance in Protected Areas

“…Moreover, institutional inertia, meaning that there are certain traditional practices that shape how problems are dealt with, is another factor that combined with institutional complexity weakens flexibility and does not provide enough intensity to change the current situation and behaviour in support of more resilient outcomes. Also, too many actors can easily lead to intertia and thus to low flexibility and low intensity [21].…”

“…Formal involvement of farmers is also identified as a concern. Farmers are land owners and important actors, and their interests need to be taken into account, especially if the area is planned to be extended (one of the alternatives that is discussed) [21].…”

“…The unit of the analysis is the context formed by governance dimensions and qualities of each case study. For each of the five cases a paper has been written and published [19][20][21][22][23]. The authors of this paper contributed to the first three Dutch cases, while the fourth and fifths cases were part of the DROP (Benefits of Governance in Draught Adaptation) project in the frame of EU Interreg IVB programme, in which the first and the second author participated and contributed to as well.…”

“…In the case of the Alde Feanen, the resilience has been threatened due to the challenging context with different contributing factors affecting the resilience of the area: on-going acidification causing the decline of fen meadows, disappearance of peat bog reed which threatens the diversity of animals and plants as they do not renew themselves. Also, human interventions, such as a waterway for commercial purposes and recreational boats in the summer time, potentially deteriorate the water quality and the natural values of the park [21]. In the Drents-Friese Wold National Park, the resilience status has been affected through several land use changes from nature to farmland and vice versa.…”

Governance and Management of Protected Natural Areas in the Era of Overtourism

“…Governance quality has been assessed in the governance literature by several assessment frameworks, with most of them being based on the principles of good governance to ensure sustainable management or tailored to the requirements of environmental problems or specific needs (Lordkipanidze et al 2018). Moreover, no Graham et al (2003) universally accepted method identifies the requirements of a good governance regime for the PAs (Lockwood 2009).…”