Uncertainty management strategies: Lessons from the regional implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & policy 2011, Vol.14 (1), p.64-75
Main Authors: Raadgever, G.T., Dieperink, C., Driessen, P.P.J., Smit, A.A.H., van Rijswick, H.F.M.W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambiguity
Boards
case studies
Categories
Classification
Ecology
Empirical analysis
Environmental management
Environmental policy
issues and policy
Management
Management techniques
managers
Netherlands
Regional
Regional analysis
Regional implementation
Strategic planning
Strategy
Uncertainty
Uncertainty management
Water Framework Directive
Water management
Water quality
Water resources
Water supply
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Summary: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 strategies. The strategies mentioned in literature can be classified into four categories: ignoring uncertainty; knowledge generation; interaction and coping. A case study of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) by Dutch water boards was conducted to test whether the identified strategies are employed in practice. The WFD presents the water boards with uncertainties resulting from the requirements to improve water quality and ecology on one hand, while leaving room to adapt those requirements to regional interests, practices and institutions on the other. The case study confirms the empirical soundness of the classification by revealing that many of the uncertainty management strategies in literature are applied in practice as well. However, further research to test the empirical soundness of the classification in other fields of environmental management is required.
ISSN:1462-9011
1873-6416
DOI:10.1016/j.envsci.2010.11.001