Jenny BELLAMY# Brian HEAD, Helen ROSS

Collaborative governance and wicked problems:

Linking science, policy and community

University of Queensland, Australia # jenny.bellamy@uq.edu.au

A ‘wicked’ problem

• Management of water and related natural resources of

large river systems is inextricably intermeshed with

human livelihoods and concerned with:

o The interaction between complex (multi-scalar, multi-actor)

institutional landscapes and the dynamics of on-going

change associated with linked social-natural systems

o The quest to develop solutions to problems that are

commonly complex and evolutionary, uncertain, contested

and have multi-value dimensions

o Challenge of linking the very different cultures of science,

policy and community/society across multiple scales of

decision-making

o Dealing with the emergent nature of management ‘solutions’

A ‘wicked’ problem (cont.)

• Major challenges emerge in managing the dynamics

of change and bridging the numerous boundaries

(political, institutional, sectoral, cultural,

environmental) involved

• Managing ‘wicked problems’ requires a systemic

approach and understanding of the problem in

context, that e.g.:

o recognises there are no blueprints or silver bullets

o every situation is different – e.g. problem framing and

action needs to embed in ‘context’

o need to embrace the emergent and nested nature of

governance and the importance of linkages /

connectedness / feedback processes

Fragmented and evolving arena

• Water resource governance in Australia is

fragmented across multiple-levels, multiple

actors and centres of action

• The national government has become an

increasingly important player in this complex

multi-level policy arena in which:

constitutional powers over natural resources reside at the sub-national level (i.e. state/territory governments)

international agreements and national obligations have increasingly become drivers of change for local to national agendas

‘Nested’ water governance system

in Australia

Source: Wallis and Ison (2011)

A contentious arena

• Since Federation in 1901, the governance of water and related natural resources in Australia has remained a contentious issue especially across borders/boundaries despite: o Experimentation, major reforms and adaptations

in the way water and NRM policies have been framed, administered and implemented

o Significant investments in integrating knowledge and linking science-policy-community/society for NR management

When rational planning fails

Heated backlash forces further consultation: rural irrigators burn copies of the

detailed guide to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority plan for water cuts, Griffith,

southern NSW. (Source: The Australian, 15 October 2010)

Water Governance Frameworks

• An adaptive and learning management approach is central to the rhetoric of catchment and river management policy across Australia o but rarely fully applied in its entirety or fully embedded as

on-going ‘practice’ or action

• Collaboration is commonly touted for its potential contribution in crossing boundaries and building bridges in complex policy arenas o but has proven challenging to implement and sustain in the

long-term

• Complex adaptive systems approach to inquiry of the governance of social-ecological systems, such as large river systems

Talk today will present a case study analysis of these frameworks examined through the ‘lens’ of collaboration and historical change

Case Study: Lake Eyre Basin o 1.2 million sq km (one-sixth the area of Australia)

o Encompasses 5 political jurisdictions – the Australian Govt plus 4 states/territories

o World’s largest internally draining system that terminates in Lake Eyre and its wetland systems

o One of the world’s last unregulated wild river system

o Low dispersed population - near 60,000 people (high proportion of indigenous people in NT and SA)

o ‘boom and bust’ desert ecology - adapted to enormously variable flow conditions

o World renown wetland breeding habitats for waterbirds

o Pastoralism (beef and sheep) is the dominant land use

o Mining and petroleum industries are the largest economic sectors

Georgina-Diamentina and Cooper Creek

Catchments –

unregulated wild river systems

‘boom and bust’ ecology

low dispersed population

Historical Snapshots of collaboration Problem framing / focus Collaborative forms

Late 1980s- early 1990s

•Perceived threats of development pressures to Lake Eyre and the future biodiversity of its related wetlands •Establishment of conservation reserves under Ramsar Convention and a proposal for World Heritage (WH) listing of small areas of SA •Lost/stalled in political process

•Political advocacy from ‘outsiders’ of the Basin (SA conservationists and federal politicians) • Coordination of national and state government agencies in scientific assessments of the WH/environmental values of Lake Eyre

1993 - 95 •Revamped WH proposal spawns a highly divisive conflict within the LEB community and galvanised diverse stakeholders to combine their resources to oppose the listing

•Shift to broader focus on cross-border SA-Qld Channel Country and water extraction rights

•Spawning of opposing multi-stakeholder policy coalitions (one with federal other with state government support) - ‘strange bedfellows (Arid Lands Coalition, LE Catchment Protection Group (LECPG)

•LEB Reference Group cross-jurisdictional multi stakeholder panel established by federal government to scrutinize scientific assessment process

Historical snapshot of collaboration

Problem framing / focus Collaborative forms

1995-96 • Proposal by consortium of cotton growers to Qld Govt to develop large-scale irrigated cotton venture in Cooper Creek catchment •Catalyses conservationists, ecologists, LEB community advocates, and policy makers to successfully work together through a community-driven process •rejection by Qld Government citing the ‘overwhelming weight’ of scientific evidence and community concern •Focus on Cooper Creek at whole of catchment level

• New policy coalitions to oppose proposal: - linking graziers, scientists, conservationists and politicians ( Australian Floodplain Alliance) - organisation of residents of Cooper Creek catchment (Cooper Creek Protection Group)

Historical snapshot of collaboration

Problem framing / focus Collaborative forms

1995-97 • Emergence of the first cross-border community driven integrated catchment management process involving diverse stakeholders and interest of the LEB to develop an integrated NRM framework •signing of a Heads of Agreement between AG, SA and Qld governments as a ‘springboard’ for negotiating a formal inter-governmental cooperative agreement for the LEB • AG political decision not to pursue WH listing due ‘to lack of community and SG support’ and expressing the view that ‘increased community efforts will deliver the best protection for the area's conservation values •Focussed on Cooper Creek and Georgina-Diamentina catchment systems in Qld and SA, although whole-of-Basin vision

• Establishment of LEB Steering Group (LEBSG) supported by Project Officer / Catchment Coordinator funded by federal government NHT funding •Whole-of-basin multi-stakeholder process / collaborative group (government and non-government) • Multi-jurisdictional Heads of Agreement (federal –state) • Multi-stakeholder committee / expert panel to advise federal govt on WH values assessment

LEB Inter-governmental Cooperative Arrangements

Australian NRM

regions in 2005

Change in LEB ‘nested’ water governance system

Arrangement 1991 2001 2011

International Ramsar Convention Ramsar Convention; Rio Convention

Ramsar Convention; Rio Convention; Kyoto agreement

Federal Federation 6 states & 2 territories

Federation 6 states & 2 territories; ESD Strategy

Federation 6 states & 2 territories; ESD Strategy; National Water Initiative

Cross-

jurisdictional

LEB Intergovernmental Agreement;

LEBCG; CCCC; GDCC

LEB Intergovernmental Agreement

State

statutory

water policies

CC Water Resource Plan CC Water Resource Plan; G-D Water Resource Plan; Arid Lands CWM Plan; Qld Wild Rivers Proposal

Regional NRM 4 state-based Regional NRM bodies; Landcare and Indigenous coordinators

Local Agricultural extension activities

Landcare & NHT1 projects & coordinators

CforOC projects

Conclusions

Through an historical approach and the lens of collaboration, identify the importance of:

• A governance system that enables self-organisation to emerge in response to the dynamics of change and ‘crises’

• Establishing long-term and enabling ‘relational spaces’ for sharing, experimenting with and generating new knowledge and ideas (cross multi-levels / scales and multi-actors)

• A diversity of formal and informal institutional arrangements (complementary and overlapping) and their ‘interplay’

– Interplay of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches in the development of a governance system that is ‘nested’ at and across multiple scales

– To the extent that feedback processes are occurring it appears to be operating informally

Conclusions (cont)

• Critical role of trusted champions and emergent leaders at all levels and scales (visionary, entrepreneurial, collaborative)

• Critical role of ‘emergent’ policy coalitions and other alliances, particularly at times of perceived crisis

• Embracing ‘shared capacity’ in cross-border management – including motivation, structural mechanisms, resources and knowledge

• Specific attention to development of appropriate strategies for involvement of indigenous communities and processes for their identification of indigenous NRM issues and knowledge integration needs and opportunities

Jenny BELLAMY# Brian HEAD, Helen ROSS

Collaborative governance and wicked problems:

Linking science, policy and community

University of Queensland, Australia # jenny.bellamy@uq.edu.au