R&D highlights edition 2019

PROJECTS Adaptive delta planning Public authorities’ strategy changes in the Marker Wadden case THE GOVERNANCE OF NATURE- BASED SOLUTIONS (NBS): THE MARKER WADDEN B uilding with Nature asks not only for innovative engineering but also for innovative governance arrangements. Governmental and non-governmental, public and private actors explore new forms of collaboration to implement NBS or in Dutch terms the so-called Building with Nature measures. We conducted a case study of the Marker Wadden, a project for ecosystem restoration, in the lake Markermeer in the Netherlands. NGO Natuurmonumenten took the initiative to realize marsh islands in the lake, and the national and local authorities decided to facilitate the initiative. Research design We conducted an extensive document analysis and analysed, among other things, a large number of documents, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, containing the communications between the government and the initiator Natuurmonumenten and between different government departments. Furthermore, we conducted eight semi-structured interviews with representatives of all the national and local authorities involved and with Natuurmonumenten. Value dilemmas for water authorities In our first article we analyse the value dilemmas that the Dutch water authority Rijkswaterstaat faced in its exceptional collabora- tion with Natuurmonumenten. To do this we distinguish between three types of administrative values: democratic theta values, lambda values related to professionalism, and sigma values related to efficiency and effectiveness. We find that the most prevalent dilemmas for Rijkswaterstaat are between traditional democratic values and efficiency-related values. In the chosen solutions, the latter seem to prevail over the former. In the article we show the potential of non-governmental initiatives for Building with Nature while also reflecting critically on dominant administrative values. The dynamics in water authorities’ strategy In our second article we analyse how and why the authorities in the Marker Wadden project changed their strategy regarding their non-governmental partners over time. We model the authorities’ strategy on two axes: governmental investments and governmental influence. Subsequently, we make a differentiation between four strategies: limited facilitation, invitational facilitation, partnering, and Design, Build, Finance, Maintain, and Operate. We find a U-turn- shaped pattern in the authorities’ strategy: they move from partnering to limited facilitation and subsequently revert to invitational facilitation. We identify the institutional factors, process factors, and initiative characteristics that explain the strategy changes. We conclude that government facilitation is a dynamic, interactive process and that authorities adapt their strategy to the initiative at hand and are pragmatic in their approach. Contact: Monica A. Altamirano, Monica.Altamirano@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 8165 2245 Sanne Grotenbreg, S.Grotenbreg@tias.edu , t +31 (0)6 13688866 Further reading : Grotenbreg et al. (2017). Government facilitation of external initiatives: how Dutch water authorities cope with value dilemmas. International Journal of Water Resources Development. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/07900627.2017.1374930 Besides innovative engineering Building with Nature asks for innovative governance arrangements. We conducted a case study of the Marker Wadden, a project for ecosystem restoration, in the lake Markermeer in the Netherlands. In this project, the Dutch water authority Rijkswaterstaat facilitates an initiative of the Dutch NGO Natuurmonumenten. 1. DBF(MO) 2. Partnering little governmental infuence high level of governmental investments large amount of governmental influence few governmental investments 3. Limited facilitation 4. Invitational facilitation 56

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