Achieving social and ecological outcomes in collaborative environmental governance : Good examples from swedish moose management
Dressel, Sabrina ; Sjölander-Lindqvist, Annelie ; Johansson, Maria LU
; Ericsson, Göran
and Sandström, Camilla
(2021)
In Sustainability (Switzerland)
13(4).
p.1-21
- Abstract
Collaborative governance approaches have been suggested as strategies to handle wicked environmental problems. Evaluations have found promising examples of effective natural resource governance, but also highlighted the importance of social-ecological context and institutional design. The aim of this study was to identify factors that contribute to the achievement of social and ecological sustainability within Swedish moose (Alces alces) management. In 2012, a multi-level collaborative governance regime was implemented to decrease conflicts among stakeholders. We carried out semi-structured interviews with six ‘good examples’ (i.e., Moose Management Groups that showed positive social and ecological outcomes). We found that ‘good... (More)
Collaborative governance approaches have been suggested as strategies to handle wicked environmental problems. Evaluations have found promising examples of effective natural resource governance, but also highlighted the importance of social-ecological context and institutional design. The aim of this study was to identify factors that contribute to the achievement of social and ecological sustainability within Swedish moose (Alces alces) management. In 2012, a multi-level collaborative governance regime was implemented to decrease conflicts among stakeholders. We carried out semi-structured interviews with six ‘good examples’ (i.e., Moose Management Groups that showed positive social and ecological outcomes). We found that ‘good examples’ collectively identified existing knowledge gaps and management challenges and used their discretionary power to develop procedural arrangements that are adapted to the social-ecological context, their theory of change, and attributes of local actors. This contributed to the creation of bridging social capital and principled engagement across governance levels. Thus, our results indicate the existence of higher-order social learning as well as a positive feedback from within-level collaboration dynamics to between-level collaboration. Furthermore, our study illustrates the importance of institutional flexibility to utilize the existing knowledge across stakeholder groups and to allow for adaptations based on the social learning process.
(Less)
- author
- Dressel, Sabrina
; Sjölander-Lindqvist, Annelie
; Johansson, Maria
LU
; Ericsson, Göran
and Sandström, Camilla
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-02-02
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Adaptive management, Collaboration dynamics, Collaborative governance regime, Institutional flexibility, Leadership, Multi-level governance, Social capital, Social learning
- in
- Sustainability (Switzerland)
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 4
- article number
- 2329
- pages
- 21 pages
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85101944803
- ISSN
- 2071-1050
- DOI
- 10.3390/su13042329
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Funding Information: This research was funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency?s Wildlife Management Fund (Naturv?rdsverket Viltv?rdsfonden, grant number 802-0161-15), the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management (Svenska J?garef?rbundet, grant number 5871/2018), and the governmental assignment on moose management to SLU (Regeringsbeslut N2018/04160/FJR, 2018-07-12). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
- id
- cfc8c568-415a-4e2b-ad5e-63f1545a8c55
- date added to LUP
- 2022-03-22 17:31:41
- date last changed
- 2024-01-11 04:03:52
@article{cfc8c568-415a-4e2b-ad5e-63f1545a8c55,
abstract = {{<p>Collaborative governance approaches have been suggested as strategies to handle wicked environmental problems. Evaluations have found promising examples of effective natural resource governance, but also highlighted the importance of social-ecological context and institutional design. The aim of this study was to identify factors that contribute to the achievement of social and ecological sustainability within Swedish moose (Alces alces) management. In 2012, a multi-level collaborative governance regime was implemented to decrease conflicts among stakeholders. We carried out semi-structured interviews with six ‘good examples’ (i.e., Moose Management Groups that showed positive social and ecological outcomes). We found that ‘good examples’ collectively identified existing knowledge gaps and management challenges and used their discretionary power to develop procedural arrangements that are adapted to the social-ecological context, their theory of change, and attributes of local actors. This contributed to the creation of bridging social capital and principled engagement across governance levels. Thus, our results indicate the existence of higher-order social learning as well as a positive feedback from within-level collaboration dynamics to between-level collaboration. Furthermore, our study illustrates the importance of institutional flexibility to utilize the existing knowledge across stakeholder groups and to allow for adaptations based on the social learning process.</p>}},
author = {{Dressel, Sabrina and Sjölander-Lindqvist, Annelie and Johansson, Maria and Ericsson, Göran and Sandström, Camilla}},
issn = {{2071-1050}},
keywords = {{Adaptive management; Collaboration dynamics; Collaborative governance regime; Institutional flexibility; Leadership; Multi-level governance; Social capital; Social learning}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{1--21}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{Sustainability (Switzerland)}},
title = {{Achieving social and ecological outcomes in collaborative environmental governance : Good examples from swedish moose management}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13042329}},
doi = {{10.3390/su13042329}},
volume = {{13}},
year = {{2021}},
}