Governance of climate adaptation, which mode? An exploration of stakeholder viewpoints on how to organize adaptation
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Governance of climate adaptation, which mode? An exploration of stakeholder viewpoints on how to organize adaptation Astrid Molenveld 1,2
1
& Arwin van Buuren & Gerald-Jan Ellen
3
Received: 3 September 2019 / Accepted: 19 February 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
There are many normative answers on the question how to realize climate adaptation, ranging from pleas for the government to play a decisive role, to calls for refraining from action and relying upon spontaneous adaptation of both government and nongovernmental actors. In this article, we present a Q methodological study, aimed at investigating the governance preferences among non-governmental actors in the Netherlands and the “narratives” they use to motivate these preferences. Our empirical results underline the fact that the question “how to organize adaptation”, is a controversial one. The results resemble the various positions in the current academic debate about the governance of adaptation, and add important insights and nuances to it. Many respondents feel that the current climate adaptation policy is too non-committal. The dominant viewpoint underscores a need for more rules and norms and the possibility to sanction organizations that do not adapt. Minority viewpoints show an urge to stimulate and support self-organization of partners, as well as a need for more action. However, financial and regulatory preconditions are needed to stimulate actors in order to see to the necessary investments. Policy-makers have to invest in mixing their policy instruments. Clearly, most nongovernmental actors are in favor of the government setting a framework with rules and norms for climate adaption. However, the viewpoints show that this is not sufficient. The government should facilitate networks, joint efforts and create the financial and regulatory preconditions to remove current barriers blocking adaptation measures. Keywords Climate adaptation . Stakeholder perspectives . Governance . Q methodology
* Astrid Molenveld [email protected]
1
Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2
Research Group on Politics & Public Governance, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen 2000, Belgium
3
Deltares, Delft, Netherlands
Climatic Change
1 Introduction The increasing evidence of the various impacts of climate change urges governments to think not only about mitigation programs in order to reduce CO2 emissions but also to formulate adaptation strategies in order to cope with the consequences. At the same time, many scholars claim that governance of climate change is a “wicked” (Alford and Head 2017) or even “a super wicked” (Lazarus 2008) problem. This “wickedness” implies not only a lack of consensus about (scientific) knowledge of the (potential and impact of the) effects of climate change and about (the consequences of) solutions for the problem, it also means there are highly divergent viewpoints about the strategy on how to solve the issue with the actors involved (Hulme 2009; Verwe
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