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Water Resources Management

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01-12-2011

Appreciating Institutional Complexity in Water Governance Dynamics: A Case from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

Authors: Philip J. Wallis, Raymond L. Ison

Published in: Water Resources Management | Issue 15/2011

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Abstract

Water managing systems are becoming more complex as new institutional arrangements are created in response to a changing climate. Our inquiry centred on the ‘water managing system’ within a nested set of Australian water governance regimes, including relevant local, regional, state and national governance regimes. New institutions in national and state systems, seemingly intended to reduce complexity through centralisation or integration, only increase complexity by adding to the existing mix of institutional arrangements. This complexity can reduce the effectiveness of water managing organisations by increasing administrative burden, creating high costs of entry for new staff and leading to confusion in communications with external stakeholders. Regional water managers deal with this complexity by drawing on relational capital built from long-term engagement in the water managing system. However, relational capital is difficult to build and easy to destroy, thus this ‘soft’ capacity is under threat from shifts in decision making power and of resources out of regional water governance systems. Institutional innovation is therefore required to create opportunities to build relational capital in order to effectively manage natural resources at the regional level as coupled socio-ecological systems.

previous article The Impact of Institutional Path Dependence on Water Market Efficiency in Victoria, Australia

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Title: Appreciating Institutional Complexity in Water Governance Dynamics: A Case from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia
Authors: Philip J. Wallis
Raymond L. Ison
Publication date: 01-12-2011
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Water Resources Management / Issue 15/2011
Print ISSN: 0920-4741
Electronic ISSN: 1573-1650
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9885-z

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Developing Purposeful and Adaptive Institutions for Effective Environmental Water Governance

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Political and Professional Agency Entrapment: An Agenda for Urban Water Research

Water Governance in a Climate Change World: Appraising Systemic and Adaptive Effectiveness

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Sustainable Catchment Managing in a Climate Changing World: New Integrative Modalities for Connecting Policy Makers, Scientists and Other Stakeholders