Annette Löf

Exploring adaptability through learning layers and learning loops

Adaptability in social–ecological systems results from individual and collective action, and multi‐level interactions. It can be understood in a dual sense as a systems ability to adapt to disturbance and change, and to navigate system transformation. Inherent in this conception, as found in resilience thinking, are the concepts of learning and governance. Without learning, or unlearning, neither adaptation nor transformation is possible, and without governance we neither collectively act on nor institutionally embed learning experiences. This paper provides an attempt at synthesising and structuring this conceptual mapping and understanding of adaptability by adding insights from governance theory and using learning layers and learning loops as bridging concepts. As the overview demonstrates, the resilience–learning–governance interface provides some fruitful insights for the conceptual and theoretical understanding of adaptability, adaptation and transformation in resilience theory. Whereas resilience answers to why the adaptation–transformation distinction is important in the first place, learning provides the necessary link between the individual and system level, while governance brings further insights into the different potential mechanisms available for institutionally implementing adaptation and transformation. This exploration points to the need to develop a framework for understanding adaptability that: (1) identifies social–ecological systems in terms of structure, process and outcome, and particularly self‐reinforcing feedbacks; (2) adds an institutional framework including formal and informal decision‐making arenas; (3) explicitly addresses norms, values and ideas; (4) emphasises power, negotiation and facilitation; and (5) emphasises the importance of deliberate learning and transformation strategies.

Examining limits and barriers to climate change adaptation in an Indigenous reindeer herding community

Based on recognized gaps in adaptation research the article begins by identifying the need to empirically investigate the ‘governance of adaptation’. Drawing on Kooimans interactive governance framework, the study examines through collaborative methodology how adaptation agency and the space for adaptation is constructed and restricted in the case of an Indigenous reindeer herding community in Sweden. Findings demonstrate that climate change and variability is currently a matter of concern. The greatest problem, however, is the diminishing space for adaptation due to accumulated pressure of predation and competing land-uses in combination with herders’ lack of direct and indirect power to influence the actors and institutional factors currently limiting adaptation options. This study carries relevance not only for reindeer herding communities in Sweden, but also for the general adaptation literature in demonstrating that limits and barriers to adaptation can be essentially political; requiring the making of hard choices and hence active governmental intervention. It also shows that marginalized groups, even in contexts where adaptive capacity is considered high, are likely to remain highly vulnerable with restricted adaptation opportunities unless deliberate structural and institutional transformation are initiated.

Dealing With a Wicked Problem? A Dark Tale of Carnivore Management in Sweden 2007-2011:

In this article, we investigate whether increased participation offers a way of addressing wicked policy problems. We utilize a natural policy experiment in the form of a 2010 reform of Swedish wildlife management policy aiming to solve longstanding conflicts over predators through increased stakeholder participation in regional Wildlife Management Boards. Using a panel study design containing quantitative and qualitative data, we estimate pre- and post-reform levels of three wickedness-reducing mechanisms: legitimacy, deliberation, and conflict intensity. Despite a substantial increase in participation, we find no evidence of reduced wickedness after the reform.

Locking in and locking out: a critical analysis of the governance of reindeer husbandry in Sweden

Drawing on an interactive governance framework, this article provides a critical analysis of the governing system (GS) of Sami reindeer husbandry in Sweden, an indigenous natural resource-based livelihood. Situated against a historical contextualization, and focusing on the relationship between governing images, instruments and action, the study explores how reindeer husbandry is currently governed and how governing has changed over time. In contrast to well-established narratives of increased participation and indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, this study demonstrates that the governing of Sami reindeer husbandry remains mainly hierarchical and is characterized by inconsistencies. The GS’s elements are poorly fitted internally, there are large differences in understanding between key actors and, over time, only marginal change – in governing structures and meta-images – has occurred. Thus, reindeer husbandry actors appear to be locked out of essential governing functions and locked into a system that is proving hard to change.