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Exploring the Multiple Meanings of Adaptive Management: A Case Study of the Lachlan Catchment in the Murray–Darling Basin

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Abstract

Managing rivers and sharing their benefits is largely dependent on stakeholder values and knowledge, expressed through policy, governance and institutions. Adaptive management is essentially a social learning process, which can provide a tool to navigate the ‘wickedness’ of contemporary social-ecological challenges. This research applied an interpretive, qualitative approach to examine government intentions for adaptive management, as expressed in water policy documents, and practitioner experiences of learning through adaptive management in a case study of water management in the Lachlan catchment, Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Data were created from content analysis of government water policy documents and interviews with key water managing and policy stakeholders. Interview participants attached divergent meanings to the concept of adaptive management. Five different ‘styles’ of adaptive management were found to coexist in the Lachlan catchment, which were associated with different levels of learning. While some learning was ad hoc, there was also promising evidence of more active adaptive management of environmental flows, which was resulting in higher-level learning. The findings highlight a disconnect between how adaptive management is understood in the academic literature, by practitioners, and how it is portrayed in Australian water policy, which is restricting opportunities for higher-level learning. Transformative learning was found to occur in response to crisis, rather than being linked to an intentional learning process.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the interview participants who donated their time and energy to make this research possible. We also offer thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The work was funded through a Charles Sturt University Faculty of Science PhD Scholarship and a Charles Sturt University Writing Up Award. We would also like to acknowledge support from staff of the Central Tablelands Local Land Services (previously the Lachlan Catchment Management Authority).

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  1. School of Environmental Sciences, Charles Sturt University, PO Box 789, Albury, NSW, 2640, Australia

    J. Schoeman

  2. Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, 2640, Australia

    C. Allan & C. M. Finlayson

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  1. J. Schoeman
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Correspondence to J. Schoeman.

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Schoeman, J., Allan, C. & Finlayson, C.M. Exploring the Multiple Meanings of Adaptive Management: A Case Study of the Lachlan Catchment in the Murray–Darling Basin. Environmental Management 64, 470–482 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-019-01203-5

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