Assessing governance context to increase drought resilience

The case of the Drents-Friese Wold National Park

Abstract

The paper explores the connection between governance and the resilience of the DrentsFriese
Wold National Park in the Netherlands. We assess the governance context that affects the
implementation of measures to increase drought resilience in the Park. The Oude Willem area
restoration project within the Park is studied more explicitly as one of the measures applied towards
managing an area eroded due to long agricultural land use. The focus is on the governance
context and process under which measures are taken rather than on the results of the implementation
of the measures. The case shows that context is changing over time as the priorities of
stakeholders change from economic to nature development and vice versa, making it a complex
process to implement measures. The Governance Assessment Tool is used to analyze the governance
context in the restoration project. The observations signify the qualities of the governance
dimensions in the process of enhancing the resilience of the area. Though the assessment reveals
some weaknesses, the overall picture shows the governance context to be relatively supportive
with high involvement of multilevel actors dealing with adaptive measures. The transition to a
more decentralized governance system and the recognition of multi-level/scale approach, as a
response to changes, has created a new context for the protected area management.