Environmental management article - Essay Example

Environmental management article The process of planning and management of water resources in California is a great example of governance innovation that outdoes the traditional bureaucracy that most governments have adopted for years. Participants and stakeholders confirm that the unique style referred to as ‘Self Organizing complex adaptive network. It is a case study of innovative government practices that have shaped the state of California’s management of water resources, As a complex adaptive system, the group has managed to come up with complex operations that have solved the complex water challenges that exist in the state. State agencies have a lot bureaucratic approaches to water resource conservation issues. From litigation to legislation, the bureaucracy has failed to solve the water needs of the residents. CALFED complements these structures in a way that simplifies accessibility and management of water resources. While governmental agencies and other non-governmental stakeholders battled out in courts and state senate about their overlapping mandates that make them clash, CALFED initiated innovative practices that adaptively transformed the management of water resources. It brought new insights about complex adaptive thinking that can be used to make governance more lithe and perceptive to the needs of people (Booher & Innes, 2010).
The dynamisms of this century bring issues that have overwhelmed the traditional government structures. Most of the decision-making processes are adversarial in a manner that emphasizes on interest representations. With these challenges, adaptive complex thinking is the best way forward in any solution seeking society or organization. The style is more flexible thus providing specific solutions to specific problems. According to CALFED’s success story, there are five main features can define the Complex adaptive systems in any setting (Booher & Innes, 2010). They include a large number of interconnected agents, dynamic interactions with vast exchange of information, non-linear interactions, an open system behavior, and resilient system that maintains viability and is sustainably dynamic.
References
Booher, D. E., and J. E. Innes. 2010. Governance for resilience: CALFED as a complex adaptive network for resource management. Ecology and Society Read More