Title: Water governance and the importance of dynamic and adaptive management approaches

Authors: Jurian Edelenbos

Addresses: Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract: Water governance is about developing and implementing effective and legitimate adaptive water and climate measurements in the larger whole of spatial and regional development. Water issues transcend domains (such as agriculture or recreation) and scales (such as municipal and county boundaries). They need collaboration, sharing, meeting and connecting. Realising coherence in water management depends on the ability to make connections; between interests, between values, between the water domain and the domain of spatial planning. However, making connections also means having to deal with tensions due to differences in perspectives, in institutions, in approaches, and in interests. Water is in itself a tense interconnection. At the same time these situations create breeding grounds for developing and implementing innovative, effective and legitimate measures and solutions for water and climate issues. To realise connective capacity it is important to focus on the creation of dynamic water management.

Keywords: water governance; dynamic water management; adaptive water management; Holland; The Netherlands.

DOI: 10.1504/IJW.2012.049503

International Journal of Water, 2012 Vol.6 No.3/4, pp.330 - 343

Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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