Defining Upscaling in Water Storage Co-Governance Experiments for the Dutch Agricultural Sector

One of the consequences of climate change in the Netherlands according to the newest KNMI climate scenarios report, is prolonged periods of drought and shorter, heavier periods of rainfall, causing dryer summers and wetter winters (Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, 2024; Van Dorland et al., 2024). This has significant impacts on water availability for the agricultural sector in the Netherlands. One possible solution for increasing climate variability can be water storage co-governance, but the scope of current water storage experiments is insufficient (van Buuren & Loorbach, 2009) and effectively upscaling them is a challenge (Vreugdenhil et al., 2010). This paper addresses the first part of this challenge, which is the lack of a clear definition, vision, or goal as to what upscaling means exactly in this specific context. Therefore, this article aims to clarify how upscaling is defined in the context of water storage co-governance experiments in the Netherlands, and why it is defined that way. According to transitions literature, there are different pathways towards scaling up (water) governance experiments. Van Doren et al. (2018) describe a difference between horizontal scaling (e.g. duplication, diffusion, spatial scaling) and vertical scaling (e.g. institutionalization, social learning across different levels of governance, embedding). This framework is used to analyse the ways in which the stakeholders that are involved in three different water-storage co-governance experiments define upscaling, what implications this has for the pathways towards upscaled water storage co-governance, and how the way in which the stakeholders define upscaling can be explained. This research is carried out by conducting a literature review of relevant theory and case studies regarding upscaling governance experiments and in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved in three water storage co-governance experiments. The interviews are analysed using open coding and Atlas.ti inspired by a grounded theory approach.