Adaptive Governance of Dynamic Social-Ecological Systems: The Case of the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan (1992–2011)

Abstract

The sustainability of environmental stewardship programs is an ongoing concern. The fluidity of multilevel, polycentric social-ecological systems requires partnerships to be flexible and adaptive. As society changes, the foundation of stewardship programs also shift. In this article, Glasbergen's (2011) Ladder of Partnerships is applied to the analysis of three governance regime shifts in the agroecosystem stewardship program, the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan (OEFP). Six key-informant interviews with pivotal actors within each phase of the program were conducted along with a review of documents and program data. The study finds that changes in the context for, and the governance of, OEFP are shifting the foundations of the original program. The adverse consequences of these changes for the viability of the program, illustrates the need to understand governance issues. The study supports the call for program analysis that is sensitive to the evolution of the system in question. Specifically, the shifting baseline of social norms and policies that affect the sustainability of stewardship programs that are governmental civil society partnerships. The study concludes that the co-option of bottom up processes and programs by top down government interventions can lead to loss of integrity and legitimacy of the programs.