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

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  • Philip Wallis
  • Raymond Ison

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. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

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  • Philip Wallis & Raymond Ison, 2011. "Appreciating Institutional Complexity in Water Governance Dynamics: A Case from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 4081-4097, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:25:y:2011:i:15:p:4081-4097
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-011-9885-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin Collins & Ray Ison, 2010. "Trusting Emergence: Some Experiences of Learning about Integrated Catchment Science with the Environment Agency of England and Wales," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(4), pages 669-688, March.
    2. Ray Ison & Kevin Collins & John Colvin & Janice Jiggins & Pier Roggero & Giovanna Seddaiu & Patrick Steyaert & Marco Toderi & Chiara Zanolla, 2011. "Sustainable Catchment Managing in a Climate Changing World: New Integrative Modalities for Connecting Policy Makers, Scientists and Other Stakeholders," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 3977-3992, December.
    3. David McClintock & Ray Ison & Rosalind Armson, 2003. "Metaphors for Reflecting on Research Practice: Researching with People," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 715-731.
    4. Jim Woodhill, 2010. "Capacities for Institutional Innovation: A Complexity Perspective," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(3), pages 47-59, May.
    5. Magnus Moglia & Stephen Cook & Ashok Sharma & Stewart Burn, 2011. "Assessing Decentralised Water Solutions: Towards a Framework for Adaptive Learning," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(1), pages 217-238, January.
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    5. Lee Godden & Raymond Ison & Philip Wallis, 2011. "Water Governance in a Climate Change World: Appraising Systemic and Adaptive Effectiveness," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 3971-3976, December.
    6. Ray Ison & Kevin Collins & John Colvin & Janice Jiggins & Pier Roggero & Giovanna Seddaiu & Patrick Steyaert & Marco Toderi & Chiara Zanolla, 2011. "Sustainable Catchment Managing in a Climate Changing World: New Integrative Modalities for Connecting Policy Makers, Scientists and Other Stakeholders," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 3977-3992, December.
    7. Miao Yu & Dong Liu & Jean Dieu Bazimenyera, 2013. "Diagnostic Complexity of Regional Groundwater Resources System Based on time series fractal dimension and Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 1897-1911, May.
    8. Christine Harley & Louise Metcalf & Julia Irwin, 2014. "An Exploratory Study in Community Perspectives of Sustainability Leadership in the Murray Darling Basin," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 413-433, October.
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    10. Colvin, John & Blackmore, Chris & Chimbuya, Sam & Collins, Kevin & Dent, Mark & Goss, John & Ison, Ray & Roggero, Pier Paolo & Seddaiu, Giovanna, 2014. "In search of systemic innovation for sustainable development: A design praxis emerging from a decade of social learning inquiry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 760-771.
    11. Shion Takemura & Hidetomo Tajima & Juri Hori & Mitsutaku Makino & John Banana Matewere & Dorothea Agnes Rampisela & Tetsu Sato, 2022. "Autonomous Innovations in Rural Communities of Developing Countries II—Causal Network and Leverage Point Analyses of Transformations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, September.
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    13. Dong Liu & Mingjie Luo & Qiang Fu & Yongjia Zhang & Khan M. Imran & Dan Zhao & Tianxiao Li & Faiz M. Abrar, 2016. "Precipitation Complexity Measurement Using Multifractal Spectra Empirical Mode Decomposition Detrended Fluctuation Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(2), pages 505-522, January.
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