Reflexive learning in adaptive management: A case study of environmental water management in the Murray Darling Basin, Australia

Abstract

Adaptive management is a structured approach for people who must act despite uncertainty and complexity about what they are managing and the impacts of their actions. It is learning-by-doing through deliberate cycles of experimentation, review, and synthesis. However, understanding the processes of learning and how they relate to achieving resource management goals is in its infancy. Reflexive learning-a process of identifying and critically examining assumptions, values, and actions that frame knowledge-is critical to the effectiveness of adaptive management. It involves adaptive feedbacks between stakeholders as they examine assumptions, values, and actions. Adaptive management has been applied to environmental flows because it offers a system for making decisions about tradeoffs. In the Murray Darling Basin (MDB), Australia, adaptive management is applied as a cycle of plan, do, monitor, and learn, facilitated by short-and long-term learning among stakeholders. An alternative conceptualization of adaptive management as an integration of single-, double-, and triple-loop learning across multiple levels of governance is presented. This is applied to environmental flows in the MDB to map adaptive feedbacks of reflexive learning. At the lowest level of governance (Water Resource Planning Area), goals are assessed as Thresholds of Potential Concern related to flow-ecology responses, which are reviewed every 3-6 years. At the second level of governance (Basin-States), Water Management Targets are the key goals; reviewed and reframed every 6-10 years. The highest level of governance (the MDB) is concerned with policy targets, with review and reframing over 8-15 years. Feedbacks that generate reflexive learning are complex and require commitment to move through the modes of single-, double-, and triple-loop learning. Effective adaptive management of environmental water requires practitioners to situate themselves within a matrix of information flow across modes of learning, levels of governance, and components of a social-ecological system, where reflexive learning drives the achievement of management goals. K E Y W O R D S

Challenges, solutions and research priorities for sustainable rangelands

“…This approach recognises that there is no such thing as a 'failsafe' policy for enhancing rangeland resilience. One advantage that Australia has in this respect is the distribution of its rangelands across multiple state and territory jurisdictions, which enables different policy settings to be trialled in different locations and learning to be shared between governments through a process of 'triple-loop learning ' (McLoughlin et al 2020).…”

Riverine landscapes, water resource development and management: A view from downunder

“…At its core, adaptive management is a learning‐by‐doing process. McLoughlin, Thoms, and Parsons (2020) argue that attention to the processes of learning, and how these relate to achieving resource management goals is critical in adaptive management. In this manuscript, reflexive learning—a process of identifying and critically examining assumptions, values, and actions that frame knowledge—is shown to be critical to the effectiveness of adaptive management.…”

“…This will challenge the dominant view in resource and environmental management of “river systems in equilibrium,” because it is incompatible with observations of the complex dynamics of social–ecological systems (Berkes et al, 2008). The complex nature of feedbacks in the study and management of social–ecological systems is well illustrated in the study of McLoughlin et al (2020) who conceptualizes the management of rivers as a three‐dimensional matrix comprising the axes of levels of governance, modes of learning, and the domains of the social–ecological system: biophysical, social, economic, and political. Currently, management of riverine landscapes focuses primarily on biophysical processes.…”

“…River scientists and managers must work across biophysical, social, economic, and political domains to set objectives and manage for multiple, often competing, outcomes (cf. McLoughlin et al, 2020). This set of conditions leads to the emergence of “wicked problems,” which often paralyze management actions, particularly those framed within traditional management paradigms.…”

Science-Narrative Explorations of “Drought Thresholds” in the Maritime Eden Catchment, Scotland: Implications for Local Drought Risk Management

“…However, system goals themselves also require periodic review and revision. McLoughlin et al (2020) argue for reflexive learning in adaptive management of water resource systems, emphasizing challenges of decision-making in contexts of uncertainty and complexity, thereby promoting evolutions in thinking about actual goals and how they may be achieved. Similar thinking can be extended to the setting of thresholds used in local drought management, and construing that task in creative participatory ways.…”