NRM addresses issues where it is often unclear where responsibilities lie and where traditionally no one sphere of government, agency, institution, or group of individuals has sole jurisdictional responsibility, such that problem solving capacity is widely dispersed and few actors or decision-makers can accomplish their mission alone (Innes and Booher 2003; Bellamy et al 2002, 2005). In a pluralistic society, therefore, NRM policy problems are what Rittel and Webber (1973) refer to as ‘wicked’; namely, problems that ‘defy efforts to delineate their boundaries and to identify their causes, and thus expose their problematic nature’ (p. 167). Wicked problems are characterised by a number of inherent properties (Rittel and Webber 1973; Bellamy and Johnson 2000; Williams 2006). Firstly, they cannot be definitively described. Second, they do not respect fixed and conventional territorial or sectoral boundaries or spheres of government (i.e. bridge political, geographical and ideological boundaries). Third, they are persistent, complex, non-linear and irreversible and involve long time scales. Fourth, they are socially constructed and often disputed. Fifth, there are no optimal solutions or solutions with definitive and objective answers. Finally, they levy enormous costs and have broad consequences (social, economic, environmental).
Wicked NRM policy problems involve large and multifunctional spatial areas (i.e. rather than the use of a single resource by a local community), substantial institutional and organisational fragmentation, and require enduring and resourced collective responses across interdependent public, private and community sectors (e.g. Bellamy and Johnson 2000; Bellamy et al 2002; Connor and Dovers 2004). ‘Collective action problems may occur because of a fragmented institutional setting that necessitates cooperation between a considerable number of actors with highly varying norms, interests and powers to act’ (Saglie 2006, p. 9). Wicked problems therefore require coordination and cooperation across the horizontal and vertical dimensions of policy and institutional systems and structures including (e.g. Murray 2005, p. 28-29):
horizontally across administrative boundaries;
horizontally between agencies and departments within the same level of government when management components of a single natural system is fragmented between them;
horizontally between government and non-government stakeholders who affect, or are affected by, natural resource management; and
vertically when responsibility for management of the processes of an ecological or spatial natural unit rests with different levels of government and/or private actors.
Within the Australian federal system, wicked natural resource problems have profound implications for political problem framing and the design of credible and legitimate pathways towards sustainable futures. From local to global scales, the increasing and on-going challenges of wicked natural resource problems are imposing and their continuing emergence as fundamental political problems signifies the need for a new approach to their governance. Specifically, this paper argues these new approaches need to support the development of governance frameworks that encourage and support adaptation as our social and natural systems inevitably continue to evolve and change.
The traditional hierarchical governmental institutions for NRM are increasingly identified as unable to cope with contemporary ‘wicked’ natural resource problems (e.g. Bellamy and Johnson 2000; Connor and Dovers 2004; Scholz and Stiftel 2005; Sabatier et al 2005). In the context of sustainability, there is also a growing recognition that government alone does not determine the future direction of sectors in society; these are shaped through the interaction of many actors. In response, there has been a global trend in government of devolving specific decision-making closer to its source or context and an emphasis on developing partnerships, strategic alliances, networks and broader consultation with those who are likely to be responsible for, or experience impacts from, decisions (Bellamy et al 2003; Brown this volume; Head this volume). As Eckersely (2003) argues:
From a political perspective, ecological problems represent a major disjuncture in democratic accountability and control. This arises because there is no necessary connection between those who create ecological problems, those who have the expertise to understand them, those who suffer the negative consequences and those who must take political responsibility for them. If there is a general lesson from the eco-political literature, it is that many of these ‘democratic deficits’ in relation to political accountability and control may be remedied by new forms and styles of political communication which brings together as many disparate players as practicable (including culprits and beneficiaries, experts and laypeople, indigenous and ‘settler’ communities) into an open and constructive dialogue aimed at reaching broad social consensus (p. 492-3).
Stoker (1998) describes this global shift as ‘the development of governing styles in which boundaries between and within public and private sectors have become blurred’ (p. 17). The term ‘governance’ is a contested concept but it is increasingly used to signify this transition in patterns and processes of governing across a wide variety of policy areas (e.g. Stoker 1998; Bingham et al 2005; Swyngedouw 2005). Governance encompasses formal institutions of government and informal arrangements among government and non-government actors from the private sector and civil society (see Brown, this volume). In particular, governance is increasingly used within the NRM arena to refer to processes by which power is exercised and conflicts and interests are accommodated within an institutional context which emphasises participation, inclusiveness, deliberation and social and political learning. Three broad ‘modes’ of NRM governance commonly occur through (Bell and Park 2006):
hierarchies (e.g. traditional forms of top-down control and regulation through the state);
market-based forms of resource allocation; and
networks (involving various forms of public-private collaboration).
Significantly, with the emergence of network governance and increasing community expectations for more participatory and inclusive governance arrangements, it is argued that the ‘new institutional ‘fixes’ have begun to challenge traditional state-centred forms of policy-making and have generated new forms of governance-beyond-the-state’ (Swyngedouw 2005, p. 1991). The term ‘new governance’ has emerged as a descriptor for this mode of governing (e.g. Howlett and Raynor 2006; Bingham et al 2005). The notion of complexity is key to understanding the perceived failures of traditional hierarchical modes and the emergence of these new more participatory and deliberative governance approaches.
NRM governance is typically highly complex and characterised by (e.g. Bressers and Kuks 2003): multiple levels of policy implementation; multi-actor character of policy implementation; multiple perceptions of the problem and the objectives of policy implementation; multiple strategies and policy instruments for policy implementation; and a complex multi-resourced and multi-organisational basis for implementation of policy.
The complexity of these characteristics relates not only to the functioning and outcomes of linked natural and social systems but also to the capacity to subject them to adaptive administrative management. In the NRM arena, therefore, new governance approaches aim to address ‘wicked’ natural resource problems occurring within complex multilevel and multi-actor settings based on a more holistic approach to problem framing and policy implementation. They focus, in particular, on participation, deliberative processes, collaborative relationships, networks and consensus building processes that serve ‘as mechanisms for cooperation and coordination among diverse and often rival participants in the policy process’ (Bingham et al 2005, p.551). Folke et al (2005) point out that governance of linked social and natural systems ‘generally involves polycentric institutional arrangements, which are nested quasi-autonomous decision-making units operating at multiple scales’ (p. 449). These arrangements involve ‘local, as well as higher, organisational levels and they aim at finding a balance between decentralised and centralised control’ (Folke et al 2005). These complex governance systems have multiple centres or authorities and, although typically multilayered, they are not necessarily neatly hierarchical (Lebel et al 2006).
Expectations are high for the new more participatory and inclusive modes of NRM governance. For example, Bingham et al (2005) identify that:
Advocates argue that new governance processes promote increased collaboration among government, business, civil society, and citizens; enhance democratic decision making; and foster decisional legitimacy, consensus, citizen engagement, public dialogue, reasoned debate, higher decision quality, and fairness among an active and informed citizenry. They contend that these processes promote individual liberty while maintaining accountability for collective decisions; advance political equality while educating citizens; foster a better understanding of competing interests while contributing to citizen’s moral development; and orient an atomised citizenry toward the collective good (p. 554).
Notwithstanding, there is considerable debate concerning their capacity to answer many of the pathologies of adversarial top-down policy systems and support a transition toward desired social, economic and environmental outcomes. For example, many question their capacity to:
reduce conflicts and transaction costs (e.g. Lubell 2004; Saglie 2006);
promote public participation and policy dialogue (e.g. Innes and Booher 2003; Leach et al 2002);
foster deliberative processes (e.g. Connelly et al 2006; Lebel et al 2006);
Lead to more cooperative behaviour (e.g. Lubell 2004; Scholz and Stiftel 2005; Kenney 2000; Sabatier et al 2005);
devolve power (e.g. Lane et al 2004; Bell and Park 2006);
be more democratic and equitable in relation to the legitimacy of process and outcome (e.g. Lane and Corbett 2005; Leach 2006; Moore and Rockloff 2006; Connelly et al 2006); or
improve environmental and social conditions (e.g. Bellamy and Johnson 2000; Kenney 2000; Lubell 2004).
The next section of this paper examines some of these issues in the context of a shift to regional NRM governance in Australia.