Carel Dieperink

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Utrecht University

Over the years, human impacts have resulted in great losses in riverine biodiversity. Ecosystem restoration could contribute to reversing this trend. Ecosystem restoration, however, involves many actors and perspectives and is, therefore, a complex governance challenge. So far, this governance challenge has been understudied, and it is not clear wh...

In times of climate change, periods of drought will occur more frequently. This causes challenges for water use, ranging from limitations on the navigability of water courses, limited availability of water for irrigation and drinking water supply, reduced hydropower production, increasing concentrations of pollutants, deteriorating water quality, a...

It is becoming increasingly clear that Caribbean islands are very vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, longer periods of droughts, loss of biodiversity, more extreme weather events (flooding and hurricanes), and increased freshwater demands. Addressing these issues encourages good climate change adaptation governance...

In the literature on coastal land reclamation and ecological restoration policies, the role of policy translation has received limited attention vis-à-vis domestic political factors. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by clarifying the role of Dutch actors in developing South Korea's coastal management policies. To do so, we first develop an a...

Sound governance is needed to address water issues, but soundness is a contested concept that should be further specified in societal debates. These debates can benefit from interdisciplinary knowledge. The 10 Building Blocks Approach, a tool developed to generate such knowledge, has been widely applied in research and teaching. In this paper, we d...

The aim of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve a “good” chemical and ecological status for all waters by 2027. Currently, the Netherlands and other EU Member States are finalizing their plans for the third iteration of the WFD management cycle. In this paper, we conducted an ex ante evaluation of these plans by assessing the percep...

Architectures of Earth System Governance - edited by Frank Biermann May 2020

Although social learning is a key element of multilevel flood risk governance, it is hardly studied. This paper addresses this knowledge gap. The paper aims to identify enabling conditions for social learning in multilevel flood risks governance arrangements. We first conceptualize social learning and draw up a conceptual framework consisting of en...

Recent grants of legal rights to rivers would seem to infuse traditional anthropocentric river governance with greater eco-centrism. Through a thought experiment, we scrutinize this proposition for the Rhine basin. We consider the governance implications of granting (procedural/material) rights to the river and elaborate on their implications for t...

This article assesses the rationality of the governance of the Vietnamese coastal zone's water system. We first specify five assessment criteria, which we apply to a case study. Based on document analysis, stakeholder surveys and in-depth interviews, we found an average score on the criterion that relevant water system knowledge must be available....

Collaboration among multiple stakeholders is crucial in decentralised governance settings. The success of such collaboration hinges upon collaborative learning – the acquiring, translating, and disseminating of policy-relevant knowledge. However, despite much research, a knowledge gap persists in the public policy literature on the relationship bet...

Today, over 50% of the global population lives near water. Due to population growth, ongoing economic development, and extreme weather events, urban areas are growing more susceptible to flood risks, and the costs of inaction of failing to manage flood risks are high. Research into the benefits of pluvial flood-risk management is needed to spread a...

Ecological restoration projects may provide solutions for degraded ecosystems in estuaries, but are challenging due to complex governance processes. Scientific studies on the latter are limited. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the governance process aiming at ecological restoration in estuaries. Based on a literature r...

Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging, and little is known about the governance conditions which are required for this. This paper addresses this knowledge gap. Based on a review of governance literature we sugg...

Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging due to the possible emergence of various barriers. Based on a review of the governance literature we suggest that a set of five governance conditions is necessary for a succ...

Public participation is a central topic in urban water governance. With the spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), urban water governance has undergone prominent changes, including the process and outcomes of public participation. This paper aims to systematically review existing scientific and grey literature on the use of ICT...

Sea level rise and increased storm events urge cities to develop governance capacity. However, a cohesive conceptual and empirical-based understanding of what governance capacity implies, how to measure it, and what cities can learn, is largely lacking. Understanding the influence of context is critical to address this issue. Accordingly, we aim to...

Sea level rise and increased storm events, urge cities to develop governance capacity. However, a cohesive conceptual and empirical-based understanding of what governance capacity implies, how to measure it, and what cities can learn, is largely lacking. Understanding the influence of context is critical to address this issue. Accordingly, we aim t...

In both academic literature and flood risk management practices, it is argued that governance initiatives are needed to enhance the flood resilience of urban agglomerations. Multiple levels of governance will be involved in this activity. However, thus far, the literature has hardly addressed what mechanisms are required to coordinate the different...

Little research has been done on the effectiveness of communicative tools for climate change adaptation. Filling this knowledge gap is relevant, as many national governments rely on communicative tools to raise the awareness and understanding of climate impacts, and to stimulate adaptation action by local governments. To address this knowledge gap,...

The Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) is a region of utmost importance to Vietnam's national food security. However, the availability of required freshwater resources (from both surface and groundwater sources) is currently under great threats due to dry season salinity intrusion, surface water pollution, and over-exploitation of groundwater. Global cl...

The challenges of water, waste, and climate change in cities are overwhelming and underpin the importance of overcoming governance issues impeding adaptation. These Bgovernance challenges^ typically have fragmented scopes, viewpoints, and responsibilities. As there are many causes leading to this uncertainty and disagreement, there is no single bes...

Throughout the legal and practical implementation of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD), subnational implementing agents experience how this policy works in practice. The feedback, or reloading, of these experiences is an important contribution to create resilient EU water governance and to further elaborate the flexible requir...

In Europe increasing flood risks challenge societies to diversify their Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs). Such a diversification implies that actors not only focus on flood defence, but also and simultaneously on flood risk prevention, mitigation, preparation and recovery. There is much literature on the implementation of specific strategie...

European countries, especially urban areas, face increasing flood risks due to urbanization, increase of exposure and damage potential, and the effects of climate change. In literature and in practice, it is argued that a diversification of Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs) makes countries more flood resilient. The latter requires innovation...

Both in literature and in practice, it is claimed that joint knowledge production (JKP) by researchers, policy makers, and other societal actors is necessary to make science relevant for addressing climate adaptation. Although recent assessments of JKP projects have provided some arguments in favor of their societal merit, much less is known about...

Climate change is putting pressure on water systems, and its effects transcend man-made boundaries, making cooperation across territorial borders essential. The governance of transboundary flood risk management calls for solidarity among riparians, as climate change will make river basins more prone to flooding. ‘Solidarity’ means that individuals...

Population growth, urbanization, pollution and climate change pose urgent water challenges in cities. In this study the sustainability of integrated water resources management in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) was evaluated using the City Blueprint approach. The City Blueprint is a set of 24 dedicated indicators divided over 8 categories, i.e., water secu...

In recent years the number and frequency of high-impact floods have increased and climate change effects are expected to increase flood risks even more. The European Union (EU) has recently established the Floods Directive as a framework for the assessment and management of these risks. The aim of this article is to explore factors that have hamper...

European urban agglomerations face increasing flood risks due to urbanization and the effects of climate change. These risks are addressed at European, national and regional policy levels. A diversification and alignment of Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs) can make vulnerable urban agglomerations more resilient to flooding, but this may req...

In order to alleviate urgent and pressing environmental issues, a transition towards decentralised production and consumption of renewable energy is necessary. The establishment of local renewable energy organisations (LREO) can stimulate this transition. In the recent past the number of LREOs has grown substantially in the Netherlands. However, du...

In the domain of climate change adaptation, joint knowledge production (JKP) through intensive cooperation between scientists, policy-makers, and other actors is often proposed as a means to reconcile supply and demand for knowledge. Regional adaptation projects in the Netherlands form prominent examples of this. However, there is a lack of systema...

Climate change will have various effects on river basins: precipitation levels and water temperature may change, floods and also droughts may occur more frequently. These effects do not respect man-made borders, so climate adaptation in itself is a transnational challenge. Adaptation can reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems to clim...

Maatschappelijke problemen en beleidsopgaven laten zich niet zomaar doorgronden. Zij zijn veelal geworteld in verscheidende domeinen, er zijn meerdere waarheden, en er staan verschillende en soms tegenstrijdige belangen op het spel. Steeds vaker wordt erkend dat interactie tussen verschillende vormen van kennis nodig is om problemen het hoofd te bi...

Floods are the most frequent and damaging of all types of natural disasters and annually affect the lives of millions all over the globe. Against this background, enhanced climate variability and climate change are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of floods. The situation is further complicated by the transboundary nature of water,...

In various countries, actors try to reconcile climate science and policy through joint knowledge production (JNP). While many conceptual analyses of JNP exist, empirical studies that actually try to assess JNP processes are rare. This paper aims to fill this gap through an empirical analysis of the ‘Hotspot Zuidplaspolder’ project in which scientis...

In several Western European countries, scientists, policymakers and other actors collaborate in regional climate change adaptation projects. Such joint knowledge production is often assumed to lead to reconciliation of supply and demand for knowledge. Many conceptual analyses of joint knowledge production have been performed, yet systematic empiric...

In the last decade, many authors have observed shifts from government to governance in the environmental policy domain. However, a clear conceptual framework to differentiate between modes of environmental governance is lacking and our understanding of when, how and why environmental governance changes from one mode to another is limited. In this p...

Matching supply and demand for knowledge in the fields of global change and sustainability is a daunting task. Science and public policy differ in their timeframes, epistemologies, objectives, process-cycles and criteria for judging the quality of knowledge, while global change and sustainability issues involve value pluralities and large uncertain...

Starting in 1975, the Brazilian ethanol programme is the world's oldest and most advanced biofuels programme. Nowadays, ethanol accounts for 40% of total fuel consumption in Brazil and the country is market leader, responsible for 45% of the world's ethanol fuel production. The Brazilian ethanol programme can be a source of inspiration for other co...

Sustainable development asks for open planning processes. Such open planning processes have become common practice in the Netherlands and other Western countries. Since EU accession, new member states such as Bulgaria also have to face the challenge of organizing more open planning processes in their search for a more sustainable future. The aim of...

The Water Framework Directive has introduced a new governance approach that offers implementing agencies in EU Member States policy discretion to implement ecological ambitions. The aim of this paper was to gain insight into the way regional actors use this discretion and into the rationale behind their behaviour. Our research revealed that in regi...

Negotiations concerning the quality of international rivers are not easy, as incongruence in preferences between upstream and downstream countries generally exists. The Rhine Chlorides dispute is a clear example of this. The chloride issue has been on the international water agenda of the Netherlands and the upstream Rhine riparian states for more...

Environmental managers have to deal with many uncertainties in carrying out their jobs. Literature describes several strategies that can be employed to manage these uncertainties, but this is done in a fragmented way. Therefore, this article aims to develop a comprehensive, coherent and empirically sound classification of uncertainty management str...

This project aimed to develop multidisciplinary knowledge for a more sustainable and integrated coastal zone management by reflecting on existing forms of coastal governance and knowledge use. A review of coastal governance on different levels as well as a review of the usefulness of decision support system for coastal management has resulted in a...

This article reflects on the Costa Rican experiences with ecotourism by assessing the positive and negative environmental, economic and social impacts of ecotourism development at four tourist destinations—Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, Tortuguero and ASCOMAFOR. These destinations represent different stages of tourism development. The assessment shows...

The environmental management and planning community is struggling with a gap between knowledge and policy making. To bridge this gap, ‘decision support systems’, ‘planning support systems’, and other computer tools have been developed to make knowledge about complex issues more accessible for policy makers. However, the use of these systems in prac...

The use of Decision Support Systems (DSSs) in Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has declined since the 1990s. In this article we investigate the opportunities for enhancing the applicability of ICZM-DSSs by considering the following research questions: (1) "What DSS functionalities are important for ICZM decision-making?" and (2) "which of...

Despite its promising prospects, a growing global bio-energy market may have sustainability risks as well. Governing this market with respect to installing safeguards to ensure sustainable biomass production might reduce these risks. Therefore, proposals for governance systems for bio-energy are discussed in this article. The proposals are based on...

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is struggling with a lack of science-management integration. Many computer systems, usually known as “decision support systems”, have been developed with the intention to make scientific knowledge about complex systems more accessible for coastal managers. These tools, allowing a multi-disciplinary approach...

This article analyses the application of voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) in watershed protection in Costa Rica. Next to an involvement of private energy firms, the Costa Rican state, and farmers, the participation of NGOs is a remarkable feature. From an analysis of these multi-stakeholder arrangements, it is concluded that these arrangem...

With regard to environmental decision-making, the field of conceptual modelling is primarily focused on representation and visualisation. As such, the 'soft' problem structuring methods have limited analytical value. On the other hand, quantitative analyses with various types of 'hard' models lack in flexibility and versatility. The Quasta approach...

The core element of the Costa Rican forestry policy is a financial instrument called the environmental service payment. This instrument rewards forest owners for the environmental services (the mitigation of greenhouse gases, the protection of watersheds and scenic beauty, and the development of biodiversity) their forests provide. In this article,...

Purpose The paper seeks to propose the basic competencies of environmental social scientists regarding policy analysis for sustainable development. The ultimate goal is to contribute to an improvement of educational programmes in higher education by suggesting a toolbox that should be integrated in the curriculum. Design/methodology/approach Start...

The need to improve eco-efficiency is indisputable, and the way forward is through widespread application of environmental innovations. Yet research into the dissemination of such innovations in the Netherlands has been limited in scope. Most studies tend to focus on the feasibility of a particular technology. Few try to explain how technology spre...

Afforestation is considered an important option for mitigation of greenhousegas emissions. Recently, plantation projects have been suggested for inclusionunder the Clean Development Mechanism. While considered a cheap option,significant uncertainties make it difficult to determine the (net) carbonbenefits and profitability of forestry projects. The...

Forests offer good possibilities for the sequestration of carbon dioxide. This service can be commodified by the introduction of carbon (dioxide) credits, which can be traded on a carbon market. The premise of this paper is that the traditional economic view on the construction of these carbon markets is a too simplistic one, particularly, because...

That there is a question of a paradigm shift in Dutch environmental policy, both at the level of discourse on policy and its implementation, has been pointed out several times in this book. This paradigm shift is also referred to in this chapter as ‘policy innovation’. The key words in this change include: a differentiation in the objectives, flexi...

The regime to control the water quality of the river Rhine is widely rated as successful. This article reviews the history of the riparian cooperation. This cooperation was promoted by the policies of the downstream Dutch government, the activities of NGOs, the efforts of upstream riparian states, and by the activities of the International Rhine Co...

The international cooperation to control the water quality of the Rhine river is widely rated as successful. By the turn of the century the cooperation has resulted in a well-elaborated international regime. This article reviews the development of the Rhine regime. Explanations for this development are found in the policies of the downstream Dutch...

The international regime for the River Rhine is widely considered to be unique. In this article, the author draws some lessons from the regime's development. These are related to two distinct strands in the literature. The first can be summarized under the heading of regime theory. It comprises studies dealing with the development of international...

The approach to environmental problems that extend beyond national borders requires a particular management strategy. If at the national level the possibilities for direct hierarchical management are limited, in cross-border situations this is even more the case: in a trans-boundary context, we are dealing with sovereign states that cannot compel o...

The Brundtland Commission defined sustainabledevelopment as development that meets the needs of the present without compromisig the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987). This entails various complexities that policy‐makers will have to deal with to attain this objective. The first complexity resides in the need to opti...

"This paper will focus on the way in which Brazil interpreted and applied the provisions of equitable and fair benefit-sharing provided for in the Convention on Biological Diversity. Brazil is one of the 'biospots' of the world, as the Amazon is an area of very great biological diversity. Besides, Brazil's interpretation of the Convention raised gr...