Understanding actor perspectives regarding challenges for integrated river basin management

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of the world views of the cultural theory rationalities.

Cultural Theory rationality	World view
Hierarchist	Pursues a structured world with strong governmental responsibilities, laws and regulations Believes in strong structures where rules are followed and authorities obeyed Looks to establish stability in and controllability of the world
Egalitarian	Pursues a collective world wherein humans live in equality with each other and in harmony with nature Believes in strong communities with moral and ethical principles Looks to establish trust, cooperation and consensus
Individualist	Pursues a highly technological world based on innovations, opportunities and economic growth Believes in freedom, efficiency and self-determination Looks to establish a free market and to take risks that offer rewards
Fatalist	Pursues a world where people are not occupied in worrying about the future Believes in the unpredictability of the world and the lack of possibility to change anything for the better Does not look to establish anything, instead asks ‘why bother?’

Table 2. Lenses of cultural theory’s three active rationalities in relation to Dutch river basin management.

Cultural Theory way of life	Views on river basin management
Hierarchist	Stands for government regulation and control of both water and nature Pursues sustainable river basin management based on win-win solutions Flood safety is the top priority while leaving some room for economic and natural development Decision-making should be based on expert set norms
Egalitarian	Puts emphasis on the restoration of nature and ecology Pursues sustainable river basin management where water and natural processes guide management strategies Flood safety should be based on natural resilience Decision-making should be based on participatory processes and participants in these processes should have an (more) equal voice
Individualist	Stands for the free market and the use of the river for economic good Pursues river basin management seeking innovative projects in pursuit of economic opportunities Flood safety should be based on adaptation and innovation, viewing water as an opportunity Decision-making should be based on the functioning of the free market and privatization

Table 3. Interview respondents and their organizations.

Interview number	Organization	Organization’s focus in river basin management	Role in organization	Categorized Function	Experience in current function (years)
1	Agricultural Nature Association Rivierenland	Agriculture in combination with some nature management	Board member & farmer in a floodplain	Local agricultural manager	30
2	ARK Foundation Nature development organization	Nature management	1. Project leader & river team member. 2. Project leader (retired)	Regional nature managers (2)	11 & 24
3	Municipality of Deventer	Local government	Environment & maintenance manager	Local governmental manager	5
4	Dutch Delta Programme Rivers	Flood safety management (long-term planning)	Programme coordinator Delta Programme Rhine river	Regional governmental manager	2^a
5	Geldersch landscape and castles foundation	Nature management & cultural heritage	Region manager for the west region of the province of Gelderland	Regional nature manager	15
6	Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment	National government, policy-making towards flood safety	Senior policy advisor	National governmental manager	12
7	Ministry of Economic Affairs	National government, policy-making towards nature management	Manager river nature ambition	National governmental manager	13
8	Municipality of Nijmegen	Local government	Contract manager & maintenance advisor	Local governmental manager	7
9	Provincial Government of Gelderland	Regional government, setting up and stimulating nature development goals	Programme leader region development	Regional governmental manager	21
10	Rijkswaterstaat, Dutch Public Works Authority	Flood safety management & managing the rivers’ navigability	Senior advisor flood safety	National water manager	28
11	Rijkswaterstaat, Dutch Public Works Authority	Flood safety management & managing the rivers’ navigability	Senior advisor Room for the River	National water manager	17
12	Rijkswaterstaat, Dutch Public Works Authority	Flood safety management & managing the rivers’ navigability	Senior advisor water management	Regional water manager	7–8
13	Rijkswaterstaat, Dutch Public Works Authority	Flood safety management & managing the rivers’ navigability	Senior advisor Room for the River	Regional water manager	9
14	Staatsbosbeheer, Dutch State Forestry Agency	Nature management	River ecology manager	National nature manager	9–10
15	Water board Rivierenland	Flood safety management (responsible for the dikes)	Flood safety specialist	Regional water manager	10

^aHeld previous functions related to river basin management at other organizations listed in this table.

Appendix. Cultural Theory beliefs and positions in relation to river basin management.

Belief	Hierarchist position	Egalitarian position	Individualist position	Fatalist position	Source
General beliefs and positions
Position of man	Man partially dominates nature	Man is part of nature	Man dominates nature	Man has no influence on nature	Thompson et al. (1990)
Primary motives for action	Expert norms	Collective interests	Self-interests	Surprises	Thompson et al. (1990)
Myth of nature	Tolerant (disturbances have effect, but are not uncontrollable)	Fragile (disturbances break the fragile dynamic equilibrium)	Robust (disturbances have effect, but are of minor importance)	Capricious (disturbances have unknown effect, nature is random and unpredictable)	Thompson et al. (1990); Hoekstra (1998)
Risk	Risk-acceptance	Risk-aversive	Risk-seeking		Thompson et al. (1990)
Risk-handling style	Institutionalization	Reduction	Taking the opportunities	Acceptance	Hoekstra (1998)
Salient risks	Loss of control	Catastrophic developments	Threats to the free market	Surprises	Hoekstra (1998)
Management style/philosophy	Control, regulatory	Prevention	Adaptation	Passive	Thompson et al. (1990); Hoekstra (1998)
Management objectives	Social stability and safety	Environmental protection and equity	Economic growth and self-realization	No objectives, adjust to changes	Thompson et al. (1990)
Management mechanism	Government regulation	Participatory decision-making	Free market	No preference, does not matter anyway	Thompson et al. (1990)
Management responsibility	National & European governments	Regional governments & NGOs	Private sector & individuals	Individuals make their own decisions	Valkering et al. (2011); Offermans (2012)
Important values	Structure & stability	Harmony & solidarity	Freedom & independency	Comfort & pleasure	Offermans (2012)
Rationality	Procedural	Critical	Substantive	Fatalistic	Hoekstra (1998)
Knowledge	Almost complete, organized	Imperfect, holistic	Sufficient, timely	Irrelevant	Hoekstra (1998)
Needs	Given, unmanageable	Social, manageable	Individual, manageable	Unmanageable	Hoekstra (1998)
Resources	Scarce, manageable	Depleting, unmanageable	Abundant, manageable	Lottery, unmanageable	Hoekstra (1998)
Learning style	Anticipation	Trial without error	Trial and error	Luck	Hoekstra (1998)
Desired system’s properties	Controllability	Sustainability	Exploitability	Capability	Hoekstra (1998)
System response	Re-active (defensive strategies)	Pro-active (preventive strategies)	Opportunity seeking	Cope with surprises	Hoekstra (1998)
Ideal scale	Large	Small	Appropriate	No preference	Hoekstra (1998)
Climate change (attitude)	Climate is sensitive, changes must be expected, additional research is required	Climate is very sensitive, large changes must be expected	Climate is insensitive, some changes anticipated	Climate may change or not, what will be will be^a	Middelkoop et al. (2004)
Climate change (expectation)	Average trend	Extreme trend (worst-case)	Low trend (best-case)	Not identifiable	Valkering et al. (2011); Offermans (2012)
Socio economic development	Average growth	Weak growth	Strong growth	Not identifiable^a	Valkering et al. (2011)
River basin management specific beliefs and positions
Water	Manageable resource	Public property	Economic Good	Water is given to the rich	Hoekstra (1998)
Water problems vs manageability	Serious problem, but manageable	Serious problem, not manageable	No problem	Useless to consider	Offermans (2012)
Value of water	Diversity of functions	Well-being	Welfare	Comfort & pleasure^a	Valkering et al. (2011)
Water supply	Demand-driven	Supply-driven	Market-driven	Remain the same, useless to consider	Hoekstra (1998); Offermans (2012)
Water priorities	Preservation of current function	Compensation & ecology	Innovation & economy	Comfort & providing individual with enough supply	Offermans (2012)
Water system organization	Control & regulation	Nature development & resilience	Opportunism & innovative technologies	Passive, interference is useless	Valkering et al. (2011); Offermans (2012)
Water management	Sustainable water management, win-win solutions and negotiations, time horizon varies depending on function (10–50 years)	Pro-active, sustainable water management with long-term horizon (> 50 years)	Short time horizon planning (10 years)	Enjoy water here and now (no outlook)^a	Middelkoop et al. (2004)
River function priority	Safety has priority	Society will adapt to environment, not vice versa	Environment can be exploited for economic use	Comfort & pleasure have priority^a	Middelkoop et al. (2004)
Floodplain function priority	Discharge of water	Nature and space	Prosperity	Pleasure^a	Valkering et al. (2012)
Floodplains	Controllable land; engineering solutions based on regulations, rules and norms	Dangerous land; landowners must be protected	Profitable land; free choice of land use	Inconspicuous land; floodplains are just land that require no special attention	Hartmann (2011)
Floodplain management	Command and control; certain thresholds may not be exceeded (thus: building regulations, technical norms)	Retraction and protective measures	Innovative and risky approaches (e.g. floating homes)	Flood risk cannot be controlled, accept risk and make the best of it	Hartmann (2011)
Perspective on nature	Regulation of nature	Prevention and treat ecosystems with great care	Nature is benign	Enjoy nature^a	Thompson et al. (1990); Offermans (2012)
Approach to nature	Nature is vulnerable, but can be managed by defining adequate standards	Nature is vulnerable	Economy is more important than nature	Nature is unpredictable^a	Thompson et al. (1990); Middelkoop et al. (2004)
Nature management	Based on standards	Natural processes are guiding	Cost–benefit analysis and economic risk assessment guide water management	No policy^a	Middelkoop et al. (2004)
River nature (development)	Conservation	Compensation & ecology	Exploitation	What will be, will be^a	Valkering et al. (2011)
Land use (spatial planning)	Water follows; preservation of existing space	Water is guiding; functions follow water, give up space if necessary	Water offers opportunities; functions utilize water, creation of space on water	Water should be used for comfort & pleasure	Valkering et al. (2011); Offermans (2012)
Flood risk	Flood risk levels vary depending on the development of area (divergent risk levels)	Flood risk levels are equal for all locations (equal risk principle)	Flood risk levels reduction based on economic trade-offs (economic trade-offs)	Flood risk levels are irrelevant; accept flooding may occur (risk-acceptance)	Hoekstra (1998)
Flood safety	Flood prevention	Avoid flood-prone areas	Adaptation and innovation	Interference is useless	Valkering et al. (2011)
Damage due to flooding	Should be prevented, otherwise refunded by the government	Matter of solidarity; everyone is financially responsible	Matter of individual responsibility; known risk of living in flood-prone areas	Why bother to consider before it happens	Offermans (2012)
Response to drought	Following guidelines & laws	Fair distribution between nature and human consumption	Market forces; rising prices in times of scarcity	Why bother to consider before it happens	Offermans (2012)
Level of integrality	Sectoral	Integral	Competition	Irrelevant^a	Valkering et al. (2011)
Decision-making based on	Norms & expert knowledge, research	Participatory processes with input of all stakeholders	Functioning of free market and privatization (cost–benefit analyses)	No decision-making, waste of time	Valkering et al. (2011); Offermans (2012)
Time outlook	Mid-term	Long-term	Short-term	Now	Offermans (2012)
Identity and knowledge	National identity & traditional export product	Catchment identity & solidarity	International identity and innovative image	Individuals own identity and pleasure	Valkering et al. (2011); Offermans (2012)
Flood acceptability	Low	High	Medium	Why bother^a	Offermans (2012)
Flood damage acceptability	Medium	High	Low	Why bother^a	Offermans (2012)
False alarms acceptability	Low	High	Low	Why bother^a	Offermans (2012)
Shipping suitability	Medium	Low	High	Why bother^a	Offermans (2012)
Nature area and diversity	Medium	High	Low	Why bother^a	Offermans (2012)

^aIn some publications, the fatalist positions were excluded from the study as the fatalist perspective withdraws from policy-making. For these publications, the fatalist position is not taken from the source, but derived from Cultural Theory.

Thompson, M., Ellis, R., and Wildavsky, A., 1990. Cultural theory. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

 Google Scholar

Hoekstra, A.Y., 1998. Perspectives on water: an integrated model-based exploration of the future. Utrecht: Jan van Arkel (International Books).

 Google Scholar

Valkering, P., et al., 2011. Scenario analysis of perspective change to support climate adaptation: lessons from a pilot study on Dutch river management. Regional Environmental Change, 11 (2), 229–241. doi: 10.1007/s10113-010-0146-0

 Google Scholar

Offermans, A., 2012. The perspectives method: towards socially robust river management. Maastricht: Maastricht University Press.

 Google Scholar

Middelkoop, H., et al., 2004. Perspectives on flood management in the Rhine and Meuse rivers. River Research and Applications, 20 (3), 327–342. doi: 10.1002/rra.782

 Google Scholar

Valkering, P., et al., 2012. A perspective-based simulation game to explore future pathways of a water-society system under climate change. Simulation & Gaming, 44 (2-3), 366–390. doi: 10.1177/1046878112441693

 Google Scholar

Hartmann, T., 2011. Clumsy floodplains: responsive land policy for extreme floods. Surrey: Ashgate.

 Google Scholar