Environmental NGOs work to address a deficit in environmental protection and improvement. In order to achieve positive environmental outcomes, it is critical that these groups are as effective as possible. Studying how nonprofits construct their assessments of organizational effectiveness can reveal important insights into a sector's strategic vision and performance. This research explores how the leadership of large Canadian nonprofit environmental groups and their funders assess the effectiveness of environmental organizations. The analysis of interview data reveals key findings, including: that effectiveness assessments within this subsector are multidimensional with an emphasis on mission and goal attainment; there exists a reluctance to include resource efficiency in assessments despite research participants identifying resource deficiency as a major sector weakness; and that generally positive organizational self-assessments do not equate to a positive assessment of sector performance.

Individuals, communities, non-government organizations and governments are in constant pursuit of intelligent responses to the complex socio-environmental challenges they encounter. The capacity to respond effectively to these contemporary challenges is deeply dependent on the presence of effective governance processes. Governance scholarship has typically been limited to individual elements such as frameworks (hierarchical or market or network), tools (e.g., regulation) or actors (e.g., government). The goal of this thesis is to characterize and explain transformations in water governance in order to offer insight into how more effective governance processes can be created. Transformations in governance speak to the dynamic nature of governing, and highlight the consistent push and pull between, and amongst, the various components at play. Components include actors, formal and informal structures, and the social, economic and environmental contexts in which governance is embedded. Critically each of these components also exists and has influence at multiple levels, adding to the complex and dynamic nature of governance. This research argues that the core elements (frameworks, tools, actors) should be examined individually, as well as collectively, and within context of the various components in order to obtain a holistic perspective on governance process. This holistic perspective is necessary if we are to garner a true understanding of how governance is ultimately designed, contested and transformed. The research focuses on a large-scale water governance case in southern Ontario that is governed by its own provincial legislation ??? the first of its kind in Canada. The research examines governance frameworks as situated within the broader architecture, tools, and actor dynamics in the Lake Simcoe watershed and how they evolved over a 30-year period. Interviews, archival research, surveys and social network analyses were utilized in a mixed methods approach. The first governance element examined in this thesis is the architecture of the entire system over the 30 year time period. Rather than conduct a narrow analysis of an individual governance framework in a select period of time, the research takes a high level perspective to identify the transitions between governance frameworks, and the social, economic, and environmental tensions and drivers that initiated change. Particular value is offered by the use of social network analysis to visually identify the structure and statistically evaluate the governance framework at multiple phases in the research period. The second element of governance, tools, is then assessed. Specifically, the utility of a watershed boundary for water governance is examined. The thesis argues that the watershed boundary has value, but should be applied in limited and focus ways, and greater attention should be given to governance processes that transcend the watershed boundary. The final element examined is actors. Early in the thesis, focus is given to the role of government, but in the final section particular attention is given to the role of non-government actors. The research describes how the role and activities of non-government actors has advanced beyond late 20th century approaches, where recent trends display more innovative and entrepreneurial characteristics. The research offers nine important insights for theory and practice in water governance. (1) Governance processes have the potential to be flexible, adaptive and responsive. (2) A reduced presence of government does not always hold back processes of governance. (3) Existing tools can be re-imagined for new processes. (4) Non-government actors have agency (5) Give attention to individual knowledge and capacity through a distributed governance approach (6) Give attention to time and the building of scientific knowledge (7) Give attention to need for effectively facilitated processes (8) Give attention to emerging opportunity (9) Permits space for creative destruction. Collectively, the findings from this research further develop scholarship on the individual elements of governance, as well as speak to the transformations in water governance as a whole.

This thesis presents some articulations of environmentalism in Italy. Using the Italian environmental association Legambiente as entry point, it explores how the vision of a collective environmental conscience is constructed, represented, claimed and contested in the 2013 edition of the association’s principal campaign, Goletta Verde. The integration of theoretical tools [narrative-networks (Lejano et al. 2013), matters of concern (Latour 2008), imagined audiences (Litt 2012) and performance and impression management (Goffman 1959)], and research methods [fieldwork, interviews, participant observation, and the use of extensive literature], reveals analytical findings divided in three parts - how the campaign narrative is constructed, what are some of the discontinuities encountered, and what are implications of the associative vision for environmentalism and its study by anthropologists.

This thesis aims to address the research gap in the ENGO literature of how the present Covid-19 pandemic has influenced ENGOs operations. Further, it seeks to explore whether these changes are experienced as an opportunity or a challenge. Additionally, the thesis explores what lessons have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic, in relation to ENGOs operations. A qualitative case study methodology is chosen. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary sources. The findings present how ENGOs operations have been influenced, which mainly includes the shift of activities from physical to virtual platforms. Moreover, the different opportunities and challenges are discussed. The findings indicate that virtual interactions are not always equivalent to physical. Finally, the lessons: striving for agreen recovery, opportunities of virtual work, the importance of resilience and the link between health of the people and the health of the ecosystems are discussed.

This study aims to compare two Swedish Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGO:s) in relationship to their international establishment, for the purpose to gain a more nuanced knowledge of how they operate to achieve their goals, and a better understanding of the challenges and benefits the different international establishments can bring. We interviewed two ENGO:s, Naturskyddsföreningen and Jordens Vänner, on the basis of two main issues:- How can work to influence environmental policy differ between a Swedish ENGO and an international ENGO operating in Sweden?- What are the challenges and benefits of influencing Swedish environmental policy for ENGO:s in Sweden that are different internationally established?This study used the method of Most Similar System Design to answer the main issues in the selection of cases, and further a semi-structured interview was used to collect empirical data. The main theory to analyse the data drew from Beyers (2004) conceptualisation of mobilization strategies in from of access and voice.The empirical study shows that the difference in international establishments indeed brings both challenges and advantages to the ENGO:s operationalization. The Swedish established Naturskyddsföreningen could engage in a more local matter, were they influenced both members to be more active and local politicians and political decision-makers. But the inefficient way to combine both access and voice proved to be a challenge in articulating certain core issues. The international established Jordens Vänner showed a different way of conducting environmental policy, by using their international networks as a way of influencing the policy process. But restrains from their internationally management proved limit the space and possibility to operate.Keywords: NGO, ENGO, environmental governance, policy process, mobilization strategies, institutional actors, local engagement, networks

This thesis investigates the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Swedish forest sector, with the purpose to understand why the ratification has become so controversial and what the further implications may be for international environmental conventions. Employing a mixed-methods approach a three-part data collection of policy documents, media articles, and interviews with involved actors was done and later analysed through thematic analysis and an implementation-theory framework. From this, it was found that the main contention from the involved actors were based in conceptions of rights and values, and it is recommended for future research to investigate conflicts between different sorts of rights and sovereignty in the context of environmental policy.

<p dir="ltr">This dissertation examines how partnerships between leading environmental non-governmental organizations (IENGOs) and corporations shape the agency of nonstate actors in global politics. It contributes to the growing scholarship on non-substantialist approaches to the concept of agency in International Relations (IR) by analyzing how interactions between nonstate actors can influence their ability to act and exert influence in global politics. The central concept of <i>agency reconfiguration</i> is introduced. This concept argues that IENGO-corporate partnerships can create opportunities for nonstate actors to gain new capacities and influence in global politics. However, it also acknowledges potential trade-offs associated with such partnerships. To explore this concept, the dissertation first maps the landscape of IENGO-corporate partnerships. This includes a comprehensive list of corporate partners for four leading IENGOs (Greenpeace, EDF, FoE, and WWF), how these partnerships have evolved over time, and a typology of partnership structures. Finally, a process tracing approach is used to examine a specific case: the partnership between Greenpeace and Foron, a former German appliance manufacturer. Within-case evidence is used to link the events from the formation of the partnership to Greenpeace's agency reconfiguration, which ultimately positioned Greenpeace as a central actor in ozone governance, particularly the implementation of the Montreal Protocol.</p>

The leader of the climate change regime is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which hosts the international climate change negotiations at the annual Conference of Parties (COP). In addition to official parties which represent nations in the UNFCCC, businesses and environmental groups are also playing a role in the negotiations as observers, which are grouped together in constituencies. This research will look at the two largest and original constituencies, the Business NGOs (BINGOs) and the Environmental NGOs (ENGOs) which represent business and environmental groups respectively. Both constituencies have a focal point for their members with the UNFCCC Secretariat, which for BINGOs is the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Climate Action Network (CAN) for ENGOs. Specifically, this paper compares the ICC and CAN and finds similarities and differences between their functioning within the UNFCCC in regards to their ability to build coherent policies between their members and how transparent they are in their activities. It was predicted that businesses groups have a harder time working together and are less transparent than the environmental groups which the research indeed confirmed. A series of interviews with various actors in the climate negotiations...

This thesis examines the role of ENGOs in inter-Korean environmental cooperation and how together with experts, they rely on scientific knowledge to influence South Korea’s policies towards North Korea. More specifically, the empirical focus is on how ENGOs contribute to the reconciliation and peacebuilding process in the Korean Peninsula. In contrast to previous scholarship, this thesis approaches the topic through a constructivist lens. Thus, to explore What is the role of environmental non-governmental organisations in the peacebuilding process and reconciliation of inter-Korean relations?, this study applies Quantitative Content Analysis to selected NGO publications and on the whitepapers of the South Korean Ministry of Unification, and finds evidence of the complementary effects of environmental cooperation to humanitarian cooperation and a deepened cooperation of the South Korean government with NGOs on humanitarian and environmental issues. Moreover, the study demonstrates the significance of activities supporting reconciliation and international integration and cooperation in environmental cooperation that enable the spill-over effects to other areas and thus nullify the possible side effects, such as costs for the economy in the long run.

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