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Abstract  Organic agriculture is perceived as being more sustainable than conventional agriculture. However, while there is a growing interest in, and market for, organic products, large‐scale conversion to organic agriculture is not taking place. Even though conversion from conventional to organic dairy production is not especially difficult in theory, conversion is slow in this specific sector. The conversion process to organic agriculture is often analyzed by investigating farmer motivations and attitudes. However, since modern agricultural production is organized in production chains, which are in turn subject to stakeholder influence, a wider focus that includes these interrelationships might provide new insights regarding the lagging conversion. Based on document analysis, policy analysis, and interviews, this article investigates opportunities for, and barriers to, conversion to organic dairy production in the Netherlands within the setting of the chain network. Opportunities and barriers are found at three levels within the chain network: the actor level, the chain level, and the network level. We conclude that, despite some involvement in organic production and a positive disposition toward it, the chain network is not ready for a large‐scale conversion.

Worldwide countries face challenges to restore and preserve water resources. This paper analyses how governance approaches support the attainment of water quality ambitions set out in the European Water Framework Directive and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, the connection between the physical water system and the governing legal and societal systems is explored, using scientific literature and empirical material on governance approaches in the subdo-mains of drinking water resources, freshwater ecosystems and bathing water in The Netherlands. The results show the effects of the intricate relationship between water system characteristics and the drivers of water quality versus the various elements of a governance approach. For instance, hydrological, morphological and chemical objectives set different demands on governance conditions, related to the scale, roles and responsibilities of actors who need to be involved and coherence of the legal and policy frameworks in place. These demands can also be different during the different stages of a policy process. Choices made in a governance approach (who to involve, availability and use of legal instruments, measures and monitoring) may therefore influence the level of water quality improvement that can be achieved. A joint approach from the social-economic, legal and ecological knowledge domain during all stages of a policy process is necessary to overcome such unintended results.

There is a broad range of literature on individuals who mediate at the boundaries between science and policy. However, there seems to be little empirical evidence on the goals and strategies of knowledge brokers, even though they appear to be becoming increasingly important in the field of environmental science and policy. This paper aims to improve the understanding of why and how knowledge brokers operate through an analysis of 27 in-depth interviews. It demonstrates that they see themselves as (strategically) sensitive to all stakes and stakeholders involved, possess a large network, and act without interests. They appear to act strategically in two different settings: on stage, where the collaboration of all stakeholders is needed, and backstage, where the knowledge broker steers the process on his/her own. Furthermore, our research suggests that the (perceived) credibility and legitimacy of the knowledge broker is more important to the process than the degree of credibility and legitimacy of the knowledge used in the decision-making process, and that it would be advisable to deploy knowledge brokers proactively, instead of reactively, which could lead to 'incident politics'.

Studies on stability and change in modes of environmental governance often remain implicit regarding the conceptualisation, nature and causes of stability and change. Moreover, they are selective in the addressed explanatory factors. Theorising of stability and change in modes of environmental governance could be brought to the next level by enhancing the comparability and alignment of explanatory studies. This paper aims to contribute to this effort using insights regarding the definition and explanation of change processes gained in the policy and political sciences. Based on these insights, we provide a systematic approach for conceptualising "stability" and "change" in modes of governance and introduce six categories of explanatory factors: physical circumstances, infrastructures, institutional settings, discourse, characteristics of agency and shock events. The case of Dutch flood risk governance shows the usefulness of the proposed approach. We conclude by reflecting on the approach's potential for providing richer and more nuanced explanations.

Abstract Citizens' initiatives for climate action are actively encouraged by governments to enhance the resilience of communities to climate change. This increased responsibilisation of citizens has implications for the roles of governments. The degree of government involvement does not necessarily decline, but government roles may need to shift: from a regulating and steering government towards a more collaborative and responsive government that enables and facilitates community initiatives that are self-governed by citizens. However, we lack a conceptual understanding of such new government roles, as well as empirical insights into how local governments participate in citizens' initiatives and how they take up such new roles. In this paper, a ?ladder of government participation? is introduced, which is used to explore the roles of local governments in citizens' initiatives for climate change adaptation in the Netherlands. The results show that local governments are slowly but gradually shifting towards more networking, stimulating, and facilitating roles. Key concerns of local practitioners are (a) a lack of flexibility and support of their own municipal organisation to facilitate citizens' initiatives, (b) uncertainty about the continuity of citizens' initiatives over time, and (c) a potential increase of inequity among citizen groups resulting from facilitating citizens' initiatives. An important finding is that the roles of local governments tend to be flexible, in that they can move from one role to the other over time for one and the same citizens' initiative depending on its stage of development, as well as take up several roles simultaneously for different citizens' initiatives.