Bridging Adaptive Learning and Desired Natural Resource Management Outcomes: Insights from Australian Planners

ABSTRACT

Natural resource management (NRM) has been increasingly guided by governance arrangements seeking less centralized and hierarchical and more integrated and adaptive approaches to achieve desired social-ecological outcomes. Successful implementation of these approaches requires adaptive learning which entails the application of individual, institutional and social learning to adaptive co-management. This paper proposes and validates a conceptual model that identifies components of adaptive learning and their relationships with desired NRM outcomes. Supported by on-ground experience of Australian NRM planners, it discusses three key insights to enable bridging between adaptive learning and NRM outcomes: changing focus away from economic-efficiency culture, supporting learning and knowledge exchange structures, and reinventing practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptive co-management
• social learning
• environment
• institutional change
• planning

Acknowledgements

The authors thank members of the East Coast Cluster, and in particular the PWG, for their support and participation in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Social learning generally refers to learning that occurs through interaction and collaboration which leads to shared knowledge and understanding as well as change in attitudes and beliefs at both the individual and social units level (Baird et al., 2014; Newig et al., 2010; Reed et al., 2010).

Additional information

Funding

This research has been funded by the Australian Government as part of the Natural Resource Management Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Grants Program, under Stream 2 of the Natural Resource Management Planning for Climate Change Fund.