Adaptive Co-Management: A Policy Dialogue

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Adaptive Co-Management A Policy Dialogue

• Adaptive Co-Management Working Group
• Ocean Management Research Network Conference
• Ottawa, Ontario
• October 26th, 2007

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ACM Policy Dialogue

• Helen Fast, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Kerry Newkirk, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Burton Ayles, Canada/Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint
  Management Committee
• Tony Charles, Saint Marys University

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ACM Policy Dialogue

• Complex challenges of ocean and coastal
  governance
• Limitations of conventional governance models
• Focus on collaborative strategies involving
  vertical and horizontal connections
• Emphasis on systematic learning (learning by
  doing)

• Management is not a search for the optimal
  solution to one problem but an ongoing learning
  and negotiation process where a high priority is
  given to questions of communication,
  perspective-sharing and the development of
  adaptive group strategies for problem solving.
• - (Pahl-Wostl and Hare, 2004)

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ACM Policy Dialogue

• Elements of adaptive co-management
• Shared vision, goal and/or problem definition to
  provide a common focus among actors and interests
• A high degree of dialogue, interaction and
  collaboration among multi-level
• Distributed or joint control across multiple
  levels with shared responsibility for action and
  decision making
• A degree of autonomy for different actors at
  multiple levels
• Commitment to the pluralistic generation and
  sharing of knowledge
• A flexible and negotiated learning orientation
  with an inherent recognition of uncertainty

• An approach to resource management which
  encompasses multi-level linkages, feedback and a
  process of learning (Olsson et al., 2004).
• a process by which institutional arrangements
  and ecological knowledge are tested and revised
  in a dynamic, ongoing, self-organized process of
  trial-and-error (Folke et al., 2002)

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ACM Policy Dialogue

• Objectives for dialogue session
• Briefly outline concepts and principles
  associated with adaptive co-management and
  allied approaches
• Identify selected barriers/opportunities to the
  application of ACM in an ocean/coastal context
  and
• Elaborate an applied research agenda on ACM to
  support policy makers and practitioners

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ACM Policy Dialogue

• Possible, plausible outcomes
• Summary report of panel presentations and
  subsequent discussion
• Preliminary agenda for applied research to
  support policy and practice
• Further dissemination of dialogue outcomes
• a policy brief (online via OMRN)
• a summary PowerPoint presentation
• policy-oriented communication to an applied
  journal or appropriate forum