标题：Informal Participatory Platforms for Adaptive Management. Insights into Niche-finding, Collaborative Design and Outcomes from a Participatory Process in the Rhine Basin
摘要：New regulatory water management requirements on an international level increasinglychallenge the capacity of regional water managers to adapt. Stakeholder participation can contribute todealing with these challenges because it facilitates the incorporation of various forms of knowledge andinterests into policy-making and decision-making processes. Also, by providing space for informal multi-stakeholder platforms, management experiments can be established more easily in rigid regulatory settings,allowing for social learning to take place. Stakeholder participation is currently stipulated by several legalprovisions, such as the Water Framework Directive, which plays an increasingly important role in Europeanwater management. Drawing on recent experiences in a participatory process in the German Dhuenn basin,a sub-basin of the river Rhine, we explored the interplay of informal and formal settings in a participatoryprocess. To what degree can we allow for openness and catalyze social learning in participatory processesgrounded in formal management structures. To what degree can results of informal processes have animpact on practice. We analyzed three major challenges related to this interplay: (1) the niche-findingprocess to establish a participatory platform; (2) the co-design process by water management practitioners,researchers and consultants; and (3) the tangible outputs and learning. We found that niches for theestablishment of informal participatory platforms can occur even in a rigid and strongly structuredadministrative environment. Further, our case study shows that collaborative process design fosters dealingwith uncertainties. We conclude that in an effective participatory process, a balance should be struckbetween informality and formal institutional structures to catalyze experimentation and learning and toensure that process results have an impact on management decisions
关键词：adaptive water management; co-design; informal participatory platforms; social learning;stakeholder participation
