The remediation of nitrate and pesticide pollution from agriculture in drinking water resources has manifested itself as a complex and multifaceted challenge in Europe and in other continents. Addressing agricultural pollution in water resources requires cross-sectoral approaches. The EU Water Framework Directive aims to build bridges among these sectors, but the often sectoral implementation by Member States prevents its potential from being fully explored. This study aims to contribute to the body of interdisciplinary knowledge on the driving forces towards water quality improvement from agricultural pollution by case study research in five European countries in an interdisciplinary setting. The cases have shown that the added value of voluntary practices is considerable for creating shared ambitions but limited for actual water quality improvement. Implementation of strategies should be supported by practical guidance and monitoring of outcomes that enables compliance testing and refines simulation models for the formulation of follow-up actions. Dynamic interactions among the knowledge domains, for example, social-economic context, the legal framework, and the state of the water system, help to identify necessary actions at the different stages of the policy cycle. Especially in the implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation stage of the policy cycle, there is a need for further studies in order to improve effectiveness, for example on the role of monitoring and evaluation, licensing, and the issue of scale in cross-sectoral approaches.

Kelp forests are highly productive habitats which support important marine species and ecosystem services including coastal protection and carbon storage. Demand is increasing for commercial products from wild and cultivated kelp, however questions remain on how harvesting of wild kelp can be managed and governed in a sustainable and adaptive way. This paper analyses and contrasts the institutional arrangements for wild kelp harvesting in Scotland and Norway by examining three recent governance processes through document analysis and participant observation. We investigate to what extent the regimes display three foundational aspects of adaptive governance: local governance and participation; the use of knowledge; and legal adaptive capacity. Industrial harvesting has been underway for decades in Norway but is not yet practiced in Scotland, although kelp availability and traditional usage are similar. In Scotland, following extensive public objection in response to proposed industrial harvesting, a legal restriction was adopted in 2019 that prohibits industrial harvesting of whole plants, and the regulatory regime remains under review. In Norway, governance of kelp harvesting is designed to be adaptive and inclusive through periodic review of regional harvesting regulations, yet has not been adjusted despite contestation from stakeholders. In both cases, adaptive governance processes are indicated but are not influential on outcomes. Our paper reveals several obstacles to knowledge-based adaptive governance in practice. First, it is insufficient to create the processes of engagement and participation - these must be empowered to influence governance and remain legitimate. In both cases, the regimes remain hierarchical and dominated by central agencies, even though structures for local governance are available. Second, integrating scientific and local knowledge was shown to be difficult, and mechanisms to debate and negotiate risks and benefits were lacking. In each case, diverging perspectives on kelp harvesting were sustained even though final outcomes were reached, and consensus was elusive. Third, adaptive capacity of applicable legal instruments is of crucial importance, with differences apparent in capacity to enable on-going revision (as in Norway) and limit future change (in Scotland). Poor co-ordination between legal instruments also leads to complications between actors with different mandates and policy objectives. Recommendations are made for an adaptive approach to protect and manage kelp as a critical habitat.

Solutions to current complex environmental challenges demand the consultation and involvement of various groups in society. In light of the WFD’s requirements of public participation, this paper presents an analysis of the establishment and development of nine different multi-actor platforms (MAPs) across Europe set up as arenas for long-term engagements to solve water quality challenges in relation to agriculture. The MAPs represent different histories and legacies of engagement; some are recent initiatives and some are affiliated with previous government-initiated projects, while other MAPs are long-term engagement platforms. A case study approach drawing on insights from the nine engagement processes is used to discuss conditions for enabling long-term multi-actor engagement. The perceived pressure for change and preferred prioritization in complying with mitigating water quality problems vary within and among the MAPs. The results show that governmental and local actors’ concern for water quality improvements and focusing on pressure for change are important for establishing meaningful multi-actor engagement when concerns translate into a clear mandate of the MAP. Furthermore, the degree to which the MAPs have been able to establish relationships and networks with other institutions such as water companies, agricultural and environmental authorities, farmers, and civil society organizations influences possibilities for long-term meaningful engagement.

While the role of forestry in mitigating climate change is increasingly subject to political commitment, other areas, such as water protection, may be at risk. In this study, we ask whether surface waters are sufficiently safeguarded in relation to the 2015 launch of a series of measures to intensify forest management for mitigation of climate change in Norway. First, we assess how impacts on water are accounted for in existing regulations for sustainable forestry. Secondly, we provide an overview of the impacts of forestry on water quality relevant to three support schemes: afforestation on new areas, increased stocking density in existing forests, and forest fertilisation. Lastly, we assess the uncertainties that exist with regard to surface waters in the implementation of these measures. We find that the safeguards in place are adequate to protect water resources at the point of initiation, but there is a large degree of uncertainty as to the long-term effect of these mitigation measures.

ABSTRACT Green-grabbing has recently been suggested as a label for describing processes of dispossessions undertaken in the name of conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. For the case examined here, the Dukuduku forest and the Mfolozi flats in northern KwaZulu-Natal, we will argue that the label obscures more than it helps illuminate the complex processes leading up to the present-day struggle over land rights. The land in question has been subjected to a number of different land uses in the past: hunting, conservation, commercial agriculture and small-scale agriculture. We show how contestation over desirable future land use options lies at the heart of the problems raised by an ongoing land claim to the forest.

Land restitution has become an important means to rectify South Africa's skewed property relations after decades of racially discriminatory laws and practices. The Dukuduku forest in KwaZulu-Natal is subject to one such claim to land restitution, which remains unsettled more than a decade after it was lodged. While being planned for incorporation into the adjacent wetland park and World Heritage Site, the forest has over the last decades become home to an increasing number of predominantly subsistence farmers, some of whom form part of the group of land claimants. This study of the Dukuduku forest attempts to explore the interplay of community and authority in a setting where claims for historical redress materialises both in processes of land restitution and in the acquisition of land through ` illegal squatting'. Land restitution at Dukuduku involves the restoration of lost rights to land and resources and the formalisation of these rights. Overlapping and differently founded claims, however, drawing differently on the past and the present, form a complexity that defies such straightforward processes. The struggle over the Dukuduku forest is one over different interpretations of what constitutes authority and community. The land claim process feeds into existing struggles and creates new ones, and in this way, the larger cause of the land claimants -to obtain recognition of property claims and land belonging -is infused by conflicts external and internal to the community of claimants.

Against the backdrop of current demands of historical redress and restitution of land in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, this article provides a historical analysis of landscape change and changing ideas about nature in relation to the Dukuduku forest. From the time of the first written sources in the mid-nineteenth century up until the point when the forest turned into an informal settlement area in the 1990s, people have used and perceived the forest. Dukuduku's image as a pristine indigenous forest is problematic, for it obscures local lives and histories. Inhabitation of the Dukuduku forest is not a recent phenomenon. Colonial preservation measures have little continuity with present-day environmentalism. The article demonstrates the incompleteness of a wilderness vision of nature in which humans intervene by utilitarian motives or conservation visions.