Browsing by Author "Methner, Nadine"

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    Conceptualizing horizontal cooperation in regional socio-ecological systems through actor networks and collective action: the case of Berg River catchment
    (2014) Methner, Nadine; Ziervogel, Gina; Pahl-Wostl, Claudia; Hamann, Ralph
    This research investigates the role of horizontal cooperation in the adaptive management of regional socio-ecological systems (SESs). Horizontal cooperation refers to the collaborative, non-hierarchical interactions of actors across sectors, modes of governance and spatial scales. It can allow diverse actors to deal with the complexity and uncertainties that characterize SESs and to co-produce public benefits. The research question is, When does horizontal cooperation contribute to adaptive management in complex governance arrangements? The Berg River catchment in South Africa serves as a case study to analyze such complex systems. The empirical focus is on the operational level which is responsible for maintaining key functions of the water resources in the SES. A formal social network analysis is employed to describe and analyze the management of the Berg River catchment. The analysis focuses on (i) cohesion and (ii) heterogeneity, which are two network characteristics that affect learning and collective action in actor networks. Horizontal cooperation is further investigated by examining selected collective action initiatives with the help of Ostrom’s eight design principles (1990). Constraints affecting collective action and the capacity to self-organize are identified, and the robustness of the governance arrangements arising from horizontal cooperation is evaluated. The study finds that the behavior of actors towards each other and the SES is influenced by incentives provided by informal network structures, market mechanisms and bureaucratic hierarchies. Hence, modes of governance intersect at the operational level and consequently influence the nature of horizontal cooperation. While the quality of the management of the SES is largely determined by the patterns of interactions among the actors that manage the SES, these interactions are influenced by other institutional and organizational structures in which they are embedded. Unexpectedly, market mode incentives stimulate collective action in the Berg catchment and accentuate the need for addressing degrading water quality. Informal relations and emerging inter-organizational platforms matter for learning and for providing opportunities for collective action. Yet, the incentives (or lack thereof) created through hierarchical steering of the South African water governance system by the national government department are often counterproductive. That is, so far the self-organizing efforts at sub-catchment level could not be transformed into functioning governance arrangements because of constraints imposed by the hierarchical mode. The study confirms that self-organization and collective action that arise from horizontal cooperation are important for the adaptive management of regional SESs.
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    Mainstreaming Water Energy Food Nexus thinking and drought preparedness into local municipal planning: An analysis in the Bergrivier Municipality
    (2022) Thwala, Setsabile; Methner, Nadine
    The study explores the impacts of drought at a local scale focusing on the drought impacts on a local municipality and major employers through a Water Energy Food Nexus lens. The study is grounded on literature based on water-energy-food nexus, the sustainable livelihoods framework and drought. Given that natural disasters such as drought tend to affect water, energy and food, it is important to understand how municipal policy is set to try to manage these drought impacts and the interconnections that exist between these resources water, energy and food, as well as how these three resources affect local livelihoods. This study assumes that when trying to understand drought impacts on local access and use of water, energy and food as well as the influence on livelihoods, it is essential to also incorporate the municipality that not only acts as a service provider for household water and energy but also plays a role in disaster risk management in times of drought. Therefore, the interventions municipality may take during the drought may also have an influence on employers within the municipality and household use and access to water, energy and food. Employers play a role towards people's livelihood security as they contribute to households earning a living (income generating activities) and interventions taken by employers during the drought may have an influence on household livelihoods. Employers are also competing resource users of water and energy within a municipality, which is why it's important to include in them when looking at impacts of drought on water, energy food at the local scale. The study conducted interviews with Bergrivier Municipal Officials and employers to gain an understanding of their experiences and actions taken during the 2015-2018 drought. The study also made use of a desktop review to assess municipal policy with regards to drought preparedness and the extent to WEF Nexus thinking within the municipality. In conclusion the study found that the municipal still required extensive work towards acknowledging WEF Nexus thinking or the interdependencies that exist amongst these three resources holistically. Even so the WEF Nexus is still a growing concept that requires more time to be adapted by municipalities nationally and globally into their development planning.
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    The role of the retailer in proactive adaptation to climate change at the farm level in South Africa
    (2016) Smit, Katherine; Methner, Nadine; Pereira, Laura
    Globally, agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Despite the high coping capacity of large-scale commercial agri-firms in South Africa, they are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly due to the semi-arid nature of the country and the frequency of droughts. Vulnerability at the farm-level has major implications for overall agri-supply chain resilience as the impact at the farm level is transmitted up and down the chain. Whilst large-scale commercial agrifirms are adapting autonomously some authors suggest that it won't be enough for them to manage the risks and impacts brought about by the expected rate of climate change. Enhancing the agri-firms' adaptive capacity to adapt proactively – in anticipation of climate change – could be essential to increase supply chain resilience and thus maintain economic development and safeguard employment in the agriculture sector in South Africa. The sustainable supply chain literature indicates that more powerful stakeholders, such as the retailers, have a bigger role to play up and down the chain. The retailer is in a strategic position to influence both supply and demand and thus have a powerful effect on the capacity of the agri-supply chain to proactively adapt to climate change. This study therefore aimed to look at the role of the retailer as an enabler to proactive adaptation at the farm-level for large-scale commercial agri-firms' in South Africa. The study used a qualitative research approach and looked at six agri-firms to gain a deeper understanding of the agri-firms perceptions of the retailer as an enabler and answered three objectives, i) to identify how the agri-firms were responding to climate risks, ii) to identify what barriers constrain proactive adaptation and iii) to explore what role the retailer could play in overcoming those specific barriers to proactive adaptation. The results of the study showed that the agri-firms' relatively high capacity to cope with climate variability, translated into incremental and system adaptation measures and included technological, land use management and financial insurance measures. These responses were, however, often reactive with few agri-firms regarding climate change as a high risk. Their key barriers to more proactive adaptation were: financial (e.g. cost-benefit), information (e.g. uncertainty around climate change impacts and projections), technological (e.g. inadequate research and development), organisational (shareholders only interested in short-term return on investments) and included constraints within the agri-supply chain (e.g. consumer demands for the perfect fruit). To overcome these barriers the respondents suggested a variety of measures that the retailer could do to enhance the adaptive capacity of agri-firms both directly (e.g. research at farm level, funding sustainability programs) and indirectly (e.g. influencing consumers, supporting technological development, supporting large scale research and influencing government policy). Further research on how the retailer perceives itself as an enabler (and whether its perceptions align with the agri-firms) would be necessary to ensure that shared value is created in response to shared risk.