Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Cultivating Change in the Dutch Agri-Food System: Learning about transition processes and governance from transition pathways of small win initiatives in the Netherlands

Ter Borg, Bauke LU (2019) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEN41 20192
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Abstract
In light of a growing realization at the global level that the world’s agricultural system needs to change, the Dutch ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality recently announced its desire to transition into a circular agricultural system: a system where biomass and nutrient loops are closed at the lowest level of governance possible. However, as transitions are highly complex and the Dutch system currently still presents many lock-ins, the question is how to manage such a transition movement. This thesis sheds a light into this question by diving into the pathways of five ‘small win’ case studies: initiatives that have managed to overcome or bypass some of these lock-ins in their transition pathways and that thereby present... (More)
In light of a growing realization at the global level that the world’s agricultural system needs to change, the Dutch ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality recently announced its desire to transition into a circular agricultural system: a system where biomass and nutrient loops are closed at the lowest level of governance possible. However, as transitions are highly complex and the Dutch system currently still presents many lock-ins, the question is how to manage such a transition movement. This thesis sheds a light into this question by diving into the pathways of five ‘small win’ case studies: initiatives that have managed to overcome or bypass some of these lock-ins in their transition pathways and that thereby present meaningful small ‘wins’ in the way towards transition. The thesis analyzed these pathways in terms of the drivers and lock-ins behind them and abstracted their pathways through the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), the Transition Management (TM) framework and the propeller mechanism framework as put forward by the small wins approach. The thesis generated a number of conclusions. The main conclusions are that 1) movement at all three levels of the MLP (niche, regime and landscape) is necessary to create a transition movement, but that the respective order in which these movements occur is not always easy to extract; and 2) that a multitude of actors have the potential to employ TM strategies or propelling mechanism-related strategies such as coalition building, providing experimentation room, and offering an appraisal podium of initiatives to further the transition movement. The thesis author recommends that more research is done to further validate these conclusions with other small win pathways. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ter Borg, Bauke LU
supervisor
organization
course
IMEN41 20192
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Transition, Agriculture, Sustainability, Multi Level Perspective, Small Wins, Transition Management, Food System
publication/series
IIIEE Master Thesis
report number
2019:37
ISSN
1401-9191
language
English
id
8997050
date added to LUP
2019-10-30 07:54:54
date last changed
2019-10-30 07:54:54
@misc{8997050,
  abstract     = {{In light of a growing realization at the global level that the world’s agricultural system needs to change, the Dutch ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality recently announced its desire to transition into a circular agricultural system: a system where biomass and nutrient loops are closed at the lowest level of governance possible. However, as transitions are highly complex and the Dutch system currently still presents many lock-ins, the question is how to manage such a transition movement. This thesis sheds a light into this question by diving into the pathways of five ‘small win’ case studies: initiatives that have managed to overcome or bypass some of these lock-ins in their transition pathways and that thereby present meaningful small ‘wins’ in the way towards transition. The thesis analyzed these pathways in terms of the drivers and lock-ins behind them and abstracted their pathways through the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), the Transition Management (TM) framework and the propeller mechanism framework as put forward by the small wins approach. The thesis generated a number of conclusions. The main conclusions are that 1) movement at all three levels of the MLP (niche, regime and landscape) is necessary to create a transition movement, but that the respective order in which these movements occur is not always easy to extract; and 2) that a multitude of actors have the potential to employ TM strategies or propelling mechanism-related strategies such as coalition building, providing experimentation room, and offering an appraisal podium of initiatives to further the transition movement. The thesis author recommends that more research is done to further validate these conclusions with other small win pathways.}},
  author       = {{Ter Borg, Bauke}},
  issn         = {{1401-9191}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
  title        = {{Cultivating Change in the Dutch Agri-Food System: Learning about transition processes and governance from transition pathways of small win initiatives in the Netherlands}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}