1932

Abstract

Transformative governance is an approach to environmental governance that has the capacity to respond to, manage, and trigger regime shifts in coupled social-ecological systems (SESs) at multiple scales. The goal of transformative governance is to actively shift degraded SESs to alternative, more desirable, or more functional regimes by altering the structures and processes that define the system. Transformative governance is rooted in ecological theories to explain cross-scale dynamics in complex systems, as well as social theories of change, innovation, and technological transformation. Similar to adaptive governance, transformative governance involves a broad set of governance components, but requires additional capacity to foster new social-ecological regimes including increased risk tolerance, significant systemic investment, and restructured economies and power relations. Transformative governance has the potential to actively respond to regime shifts triggered by climate change, and thus future research should focus on identifying system drivers and leading indicators associated with social-ecological thresholds.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085817
2016-10-17
2024-04-25
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/energy/41/1/annurev-environ-110615-085817.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085817&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Crutzen PJ.1.  2002. The geology of mankind. Nature 415:23 [Google Scholar]
  2. Steffen W, Crutzen PJ, McNeill JR. 2.  2007. The Anthropocene: Are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature?. Ambio 36:614–21 [Google Scholar]
  3. Steffen W, Persson Å, Deutsch L, Zalasiewicz J, Williams M. 3.  et al. 2011. The Anthropocene: from global change to planetary stewardship. Ambio 40:739–61 [Google Scholar]
  4. Barnosky AD, Hadly EA, Bascompte J, Berlow EL, Brown JH. 4.  et al. 2012. Approaching a state shift in Earth's biosphere. Nature 486:52–58 [Google Scholar]
  5. Lenton TM.5.  2013. Environmental tipping points. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 38:1–29 [Google Scholar]
  6. Gunderson LH, Holling CS. 6.  2002. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems Washington, DC: Island Press
  7. Schultz L, Folke C, Österblom H, Olsson P. 7.  2015. Adaptive governance, ecosystem management, and natural capital. PNAS 112:7369–74 [Google Scholar]
  8. Rockström J, Steffen W, Noone K, Persson A, Chapin FS. 8.  et al. 2009. A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461:472–75 [Google Scholar]
  9. Steffen W, Richardson K, Rockström J, Cornell SE, Fetzer I. 9.  et al. 2015. Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet. Science 347:6223 doi: 10.1126/science.1259855 [Google Scholar]
  10. Walker B, Holling CS, Carpenter SR, Kinzig A. 10.  2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecol. Soc. 9:25 [Google Scholar]
  11. Holling CS. 11.  1978. Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management New York: Wiley
  12. Holling CS.12.  1973. Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 4:1–23 [Google Scholar]
  13. Clark WC, Munn RE. 13.  1986. Sustainable Development of the Biosphere Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
  14. Walters CJ.14.  1986. Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources New York: Macmillan
  15. Walker B, Salt D. 15.  2006. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World Washington, DC: Island Press
  16. 16. United Nations (UN). 2012. UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda: governance and development thematic think piece UN Dep. Econ. Soc. Aff., UN Dev. Progr., UN Educ. Sci. Cult. Org. Rep., May. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/Think%20Pieces/7_governance.pdf
  17. Lemos MC, Agrawal A. 17.  2006. Environmental governance. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 31:297–325 [Google Scholar]
  18. Rogers P, Hall A. 18.  2003. Effective water governance. Backgr. Pap. 7, Tech. Comm., Glob. Water Partnersh., Stockh., Swed. http://www.gwp.org/Global/ToolBox/Publications/Background%20papers/07%20Effective%20Water%20Governance%20%282003%29%20English.pdf
  19. Delmas MA, Young OR. 19.  2009. Governance for the Environment: New Perspectives Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
  20. Hardin G.20.  1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science 162:1243–50 [Google Scholar]
  21. Ostrom E.21.  2009. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 325:419–22 [Google Scholar]
  22. Adger WN, Brown K, Tompkins EL. 22.  2005. The political economy of cross-scale networks in resource co-management. Ecol. Soc. 10:29 [Google Scholar]
  23. Armitage D, Marschke M, Plummer R. 23.  2008. Adaptive comanagement and the paradox of learning. Glob. Environ. Change 1886–98
  24. Plummer R, Armitage DR, de Loë RC. 24.  2013. Adaptive comanagement and its relationship to environmental governance. Ecol. Soc. 18:121 [Google Scholar]
  25. Ansell C, Gash A. 25.  2008. Collaborative governance in theory and practice. J. Public Adm. Res. Theory 18543–71
  26. Bingham LB.26.  2010. Next generation of administrative law: building the legal infrastructure for collaborative governance. Wis. Law Rev.297–356
  27. Lockwood M, Davidson J, Curtis A, Stratford E, Griffith R. 27.  2010. Governance principles for natural resource management. Soc. Nat. Resour. 23:986–1001 [Google Scholar]
  28. Lockwood M.28.  2010. Good governance for terrestrial protected areas: a framework, principles and performance outcomes. J. Environ. Manag. 91:754–66 [Google Scholar]
  29. Dietz T, Ostrom E, Stern PC. 29.  2003. The struggle to govern the commons. Science 302:1907–12 [Google Scholar]
  30. Folke C, Hahn T, Olsson P, Norberg J. 30.  2005. Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 30:441–73 [Google Scholar]
  31. Brunner RD, Steelman TA, Coe-Juell L, Cromley CM, Edwards CM, Tucker DW. 31.  2005. Adaptive Governance: Integrating Science, Policy, and Decision Making New York: Columbia Univ. Press
  32. Gunderson LH, Light SS. 32.  2006. Adaptive management and adaptive governance in the everglades ecosystem. Policy Sci. 39:323–34 [Google Scholar]
  33. Chaffin BC, Gosnell H, Cosens BA. 33.  2014. A decade of adaptive governance scholarship: synthesis and future directions. Ecol. Soc. 19:356 [Google Scholar]
  34. Cosens BA, Gunderson LH, Chaffin BC. 34.  2014. The adaptive water governance project: assessing law, resilience and governance in regional socio-ecological water systems facing a changing climate. Ida. Law Rev. Nat. Resour. Environ. Law Ed. 51:1–28 [Google Scholar]
  35. Brand FS, Jax K. 35.  2007. Focusing the meaning(s) of resilience: resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object. Ecol. Soc. 12:123 [Google Scholar]
  36. Folke C, Carpenter S, Walker B, Scheffer M, Elmqvist T. 36.  et al. 2004. Regime shifts, resilience, and biodiversity in ecosystem management. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 35:557–81 [Google Scholar]
  37. Hughes TP, Bellwood DR, Folke C, Steneck RS, Wilson J. 37.  2005. New paradigms for supporting the resilience of marine ecosystems. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20:380–86 [Google Scholar]
  38. Estes JA, Duggins DO. 38.  1995. Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecological paradigm. Ecol. Monogr. 65:75–100 [Google Scholar]
  39. Steneck RS, Graham MH, Bourque BJ, Corbett D, Erlandson JM. 39.  et al. 2002. Kelp forest ecosystems: biodiversity, stability, resilience and future. Environ. Conserv. 29:436–59 [Google Scholar]
  40. Gunderson LH, Holling CS, Light SS. 40.  1995. Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions New York: Columbia Univ. Press
  41. Craig RK.41.  2010. Stationarity is dead—long live transformation: five principles for climate change adaptation law. Harv. Environ. Law Rev. 34:9–75 [Google Scholar]
  42. Milly PC, Betancourt J, Falkenmark J, Hirsch M, Kundzewicz RM. 42.  et al. 2008. Stationarity is dead: Whither water management?. Science 319:573–74 [Google Scholar]
  43. Allen CR, Angeler DG, Garmestani AS, Gunderson LH, Holling CS. 43.  2014. Panarchy: theory and application. Ecosystem 17:578–89 [Google Scholar]
  44. Angeler DG, Allen CR, Garmestani AS, Gunderson LH, Hjerne O, Winder M. 44.  2015. Quantifying the adaptive cycle. PLoS ONE 10:12e146053 [Google Scholar]
  45. Chaffin BC, Gunderson LH. 45.  2016. Emergence, institutionalization and renewal: rhythms of adaptive governance in complex social-ecological systems. J. Environ. Manag. 165:81–87 [Google Scholar]
  46. Davidson DJ.46.  2010. The applicability of the concept of resilience to social systems: some sources of optimism and nagging doubts. Soc. Nat. Resour. 23:1135–49 [Google Scholar]
  47. Cote M, Nightingale AJ. 47.  2012. Resilience thinking meets social theory: situating social change in socio-ecological systems (SES) research. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 364:475–89 [Google Scholar]
  48. Olsson L, Jerneck A, Thoren H, Persson J, O'Bryne D. 48.  2015. Why resilience is unappealing to social science: theoretical and empirical investigations of the scientific use of resilience. Sci. Adv. 1.4:e1400217 [Google Scholar]
  49. Berkes F, Folke C. 49.  1998. Linking Social and Ecological Systems: Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
  50. Biggs R, Schlüter M, Biggs D, Bohensky EL, BurnSilver S. 50.  et al. 2012. Toward principles for enhancing the resilience of ecosystem services. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 37:421–48 [Google Scholar]
  51. Olsson P, Gunderson LH, Carpenter SR, Ryan P, Lebel L. 51.  et al. 2006. Shooting the rapids: navigating transitions to adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Ecol. Soc. 11:118 [Google Scholar]
  52. Holling CS.52.  1986. The resilience of terrestrial ecosystems: local surprise and global change. See Ref. 13 292–317
  53. Olsson P, Folke C, Hughes TP. 53.  2008. Navigating the transition to ecosystem-based management of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. PNAS 105:9489–94 [Google Scholar]
  54. Walker B, Salt D. 54.  2012. Resilience Practice: Building Capacity to Absorb Disturbance and Maintain Function Washington, DC: Island Press
  55. Folke C, Carpenter SR, Walker B, Scheffer M, Chapin T, Rockström J. 55.  2010. Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecol. Soc. 15:420 [Google Scholar]
  56. O'Brien K.56.  2012. Global environmental change II: from adaptation to deliberate transformation. Prog. Hum. Geog. 36:667–76 [Google Scholar]
  57. Westley FR, Tjornbo O, Schultz L, Olsson P, Folke. 57.  et al. 2013. A theory of transformative agency in linked social-ecological systems. Ecol. Soc. 18:327 [Google Scholar]
  58. Marshall NA, Park SE, Adger WN, Brown K, Howden SM. 58.  2012. Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity. Environ. Res. Lett. 7:3034022 [Google Scholar]
  59. Park SE, Marshall NA, Jakku E, Dowd AM, Howden SM. 59.  et al. 2012. Informing adaptation responses to climate change through theories of transformation. Glob. Environ. Change 22:115–26 [Google Scholar]
  60. Westley F, Olsson P, Folke C, Homer-Dixon T, Vredenburg H. 60.  et al. 2011. Tipping toward sustainability: emerging pathways of transformation. Ambio 40:762–80 [Google Scholar]
  61. Berkhout F.61.  2002. Technological regimes, path dependency and the environment. Glob. Environ. Change 12:1–4 [Google Scholar]
  62. Garmestani AS, Benson MH. 62.  2013. A framework for resilience-based governance of social-ecological systems. Ecol. Soc. 18:19 [Google Scholar]
  63. Gunderson L.63.  1999. Resilience, flexibility, and adaptive management—antidotes for spurious certitude?. Conserv. Ecol. 3:17 [Google Scholar]
  64. Rijke J, Farrelly M, Brown R, Zevenbergen C. 64.  2013. Configuring transformative governance to enhance resilient urban water systems. Environ. Sci. Pol. 25:62–72 [Google Scholar]
  65. Cosens B.65.  2013. Legitimacy, adaptation, and resilience in ecosystem management. Ecol. Soc. 18:13 [Google Scholar]
  66. Huitema D, Mostert E, Egas W, Moellenkamp S, Pahl-Wostl C, Yalcin R. 66.  2009. Adaptive water governance: assessing the institutional prescriptions of adaptive (co-) management from a governance perspective and defining a research agenda. Ecol. Soc. 14:126 [Google Scholar]
  67. Wyborn C.67.  2015. Co-productive governance: a relational framework for adaptive governance. Glob. Environ. Change 30:56–67 [Google Scholar]
  68. Allen CR, Garmestani AS. 68.  2015. Adaptive Management of Social-Ecological Systems Berlin: Springer
  69. Craig RK, Ruhl JB. 69.  2014. Designing administrative law for adaptive management. Vanderbilt Law Rev. 67:1–87 [Google Scholar]
  70. Allen CR, Gunderson LH. 70.  2011. Pathology and failure in the design and implementation of adaptive management. J. Environ. Manag. 92:1379–84 [Google Scholar]
  71. Clark WC.71.  2001. A transition toward sustainability. Ecol. Law Q. 27:1021–75 [Google Scholar]
  72. Smith A, Stirling A. 72.  2010. The politics of social-ecological resilience and sustainable socio-technical transitions. Ecol. Soc. 15:111 [Google Scholar]
  73. Loorbach D.73.  2007. Transition Management: New Mode of Governance for Sustainable Development Utrecht, Neth.: Int. Books
  74. Rotmans J, Kemp R, Van Asselt M. 74.  2001. More evolution than revolution: transition management in public policy. Foresight 3:15–31 [Google Scholar]
  75. Martens P, Rotmans J. 75.  2005. Transitions in a globalizing world. Futures 37:1133–44 [Google Scholar]
  76. Bijker WE.76.  1997. Of Bicycles, Bakelites and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Socio-technical Change Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
  77. Rotmans J, Van Asselt MBA. 77.  1999. Perspectives on a sustainable future. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. 2:201–30 [Google Scholar]
  78. Loorbach D.78.  2014. To transition! Governance panarchy in the new transformation Presented to Faculty Soc. Sci. on behalf of Vereniging Trustfonds, EUR, Oct. 31. http://www.drift.eur.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/To_Transition-Loorbach-2014.pdf
  79. Olsson P, Galaz V, Boonstra WJ. 79.  2014. Sustainability transformations: a resilience perspective. Ecol. Soc. 19:41 [Google Scholar]
  80. Kates RW, Clark WC, Corell R, Hall JM, Jaeger CC. 80.  et al. 2001. Sustainability science. Science 292:641–42 [Google Scholar]
  81. Schellnhuber HJ, Messner D, Leggewie C, Leinfelder R, Nakicenovic N. 81.  et al. 2011. World in Transition: A Social Contract for Sustainability Berlin: German Advis. Counc. Glob. Change
  82. Weinstein MP, Turner RE, Ibáñez C. 82.  2013. The global sustainability transition: It is more than changing light bulbs. Sustain.: Sci. Pract. Policy 9:4–15 [Google Scholar]
  83. Smith A, Stirling A. 83.  2007. Moving outside or inside? Objectification and reflexivity in the governance of socio-technical systems. J. Environ. Policy Plan. 9:351–73 [Google Scholar]
  84. Smith A, Stirling A, Berkhout F. 84.  2005. The governance of sustainable sociotechnical transitions. Res. Policy 34:1491–510 [Google Scholar]
  85. Loorbach D.85.  2010. Transition management for sustainable development: a prescriptive, complexity-based governance framework. Government 23:161–83 [Google Scholar]
  86. Fischer-Kowalski M, Rotmans J. 86.  2009. Conceptualizing, observing, and influencing social-ecological transitions. Ecol. Soc. 14:23 [Google Scholar]
  87. Avelino F, Rotmans J. 87.  2009. Power in transition: an interdisciplinary framework to study power in relation to structural change. Eur. J. Soc. Theory 12:543–56 [Google Scholar]
  88. Brown K.88.  2014. Global environmental change I: A social turn for resilience?. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 38:107–18 [Google Scholar]
  89. Jerneck A, Olsson L. 89.  2008. Adaptation and the poor: development, resilience and transition. Clim. Policy 8:170–82 [Google Scholar]
  90. Pelling M, Manuel-Navarrete D. 90.  2011. From resilience to transformation: the adaptive cycle in two Mexican urban centers. Ecol. Soc. 16:211 [Google Scholar]
  91. Pelling M.91.  2011. The vulnerability of cities to disasters and climate change: a conceptual framework. Coping with Global Environmental Change, Disasters and Security: Threats, Challenges, Vulnerabilities and Risks HG Brauch, UO Spring, C Mesjasz, J Grin, P Kameri-Mbote 549–58 Berlin: Springer [Google Scholar]
  92. Chelleri L, Waters JJ, Olazabal M, Minucci G. 92.  2015. Resilience trade-offs: addressing multi-scale and temporal aspects of urban resilience. Environ. Urban. J. 27:181–98 [Google Scholar]
  93. Ernstson H.93.  2011. Transformative collective action: a network approach to transformative change in ecosystem-based management. Social Networks and Natural Resource Management: Uncovering the Social Fabric of Environmental Governance Ö Bodin, C Prell 255–87 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  94. Garmestani AS.94.  2014. Sustainability science: accounting for nonlinear dynamics in policy and social-ecological systems. Clean Technol. Environ. Policy 16:731–38 [Google Scholar]
  95. Wamsler C.95.  2015. Mainstreaming ecosystem-based adaptation: transformation toward sustainability in urban governance and planning. Ecol. Soc. 20:230 [Google Scholar]
  96. Farrelly M, Brown R. 96.  2011. Rethinking urban water management: Experimentation as a way forward?. Glob. Environ. Change 21:721–32 [Google Scholar]
  97. Bos JJ, Brown RR. 97.  2012. Governance experimentation and factors of success in socio-technical transitions in the urban water sector. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 79:1340–53 [Google Scholar]
  98. Brown RR, Farrelly MA, Loorbach DA. 98.  2013. Actors working the institutions in sustainability transitions: the case of Melbourne's stormwater management. Glob. Environ. Change 23:701–18 [Google Scholar]
  99. Alexander SM, Armitage D, Charles A. 99.  2015. Social networks and transitions to co-management in Jamaican marine reserves and small-scale fisheries. Glob. Environ. Change 35:213–25 [Google Scholar]
  100. Moore ML, Westley F. 100.  2011. Surmountable chasms: networks and social innovation for resilient systems. Ecol. Soc. 16:15 [Google Scholar]
  101. Gunderson LH, Garmestani AS, Rizzardi KW, Ruhl JB, Light A. 101.  2014. Escaping a rigidity trap: governance and adaptive capacity to climate change in the Everglades social-ecological system. Ida. Law Rev. Nat. Resour. Environ. Law Ed. 51:127–56 [Google Scholar]
  102. Green OO, Garmestani AS, Allen CR, Gunderson LH, Ruhl JB. 102.  et al. 2015. Barriers and bridges to the integration of social-ecological resilience and law. Front. Ecol. Environ. 13:332–37 [Google Scholar]
  103. Limerick PN, Hanson JL. 103.  2012. A Ditch in Time: The City, the West, and Water Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publ.
  104. Arnold CA.104.  2014. Framing watersheds. Environmental Law and Contrasting Ideas of Nature: A Constructivist Approach K Hirokawa 271–302 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  105. Head BW.105.  2014. Managing urban water crises: adaptive policy responses to drought and flood in southeast Queensland, Australia. Ecol. Soc. 19:233 [Google Scholar]
  106. Hettiarachchi M, Morrison TH, Wickramsinghe D, Mapa R, De Alwis A, McAlpine CA. 106.  2014. The eco-social transformation of urban wetlands: a case study of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Landsc. Urban Plan. 132:55–68 [Google Scholar]
  107. Palmer C, McShane K, Sandler R. 107.  2014. Environmental ethics. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 39:419–42 [Google Scholar]
  108. Doremus H, Tarlock AD. 108.  2008. Water War in the Klamath Basin: Macho Law, Combat Biology, and Dirty Politics Washington, DC: Island Press
  109. Gosnell H, Kelly EC. 109.  2010. Peace on the river? Social-ecological restoration and large dam removal in the Klamath basin, USA. Water Altern. 3:361–83 [Google Scholar]
  110. Chaffin BC, Craig RK, Gosnell H. 110.  2014. Resilience, adaptation, and transformation in the Klamath River basin social-ecological system. Ida. Law Rev. Nat. Resour. Environ. Law Ed. 51:157–93 [Google Scholar]
  111. Garcia JH, Garmestani AS, Karunanithi AT. 111.  2011. Threshold transitions in a regional urban system. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 78:152–59 [Google Scholar]
  112. Hartley D.112.  2013. Urban decline in rust-belt cities Econ. Comment. 2013–06, Fed. Reserve Bank Clevel., May 20
  113. Green OO, Garmestani AS, Albro S, Ban N, Berland A. 113.  et al. 2016. Adaptive governance to promote ecosystem services in urban green spaces. Urban Ecosyst. 19:177–93 [Google Scholar]
  114. Shuster WD, Garmestani AS. 114.  2015. Adaptive exchange of capitals in urban water resources management—an approach to sustainability?. Clean Technol. Environ. Policy 17:1393–400 [Google Scholar]
  115. Bergsten A, Galafassi D, Bodin Ö. 115.  2014. The problem of spatial fit in social-ecological systems: detecting mismatches between ecological connectivity and land management in an urban region. Ecol. Soc. 19:46 [Google Scholar]
  116. Garmestani AS, Allen CR. 116.  2014. Social-Ecological Resilience and Law New York: Columbia Univ. Press
  117. Schewenius M, McPhearson T, Elmqvist T. 117.  2014. Opportunities for increasing resilience and sustainability of urban social-ecological systems: insights from the URBES and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook projects. Ambio 43:434–44 [Google Scholar]
  118. Hansen R, Pauleit S. 118.  2014. From multifunctionality to multiple ecosystem services? A conceptual framework for multifunctionality in green infrastructure planning for urban areas. Ambio 43:516–29 [Google Scholar]
  119. Arnold CA, Green OO, DeCaro D, Chase A, Ewa JG. 119.  2014. The social-ecological resilience of an eastern urban-suburban watershed: the Anacostia River basin. Ida. Law Rev. Nat. Resour. Environ. Law Ed. 51:157–93 [Google Scholar]
  120. Ernstson H.120.  2013. The social production of ecosystem services: a framework for studying environmental justice and ecological complexity in urbanized landscapes. Landsc. Urban Plan. 109:7–17 [Google Scholar]
  121. Boyd E, Ensor J, Broto VC, Juhola S. 121.  2014. Environmentalities of urban climate governance in Maputo, Mozambique. Glob. Environ. Change 26:140–51 [Google Scholar]
  122. Karvonen A.122.  2011. Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085817
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085817
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error