The environmental management of watersheds presents a complex governance issue due to their large spatial scales that include overlapping jurisdictions, competing interests in resource use, and lack of coordination among stakeholders. The Rideau Canal, spanning 200 km between the cities of Ottawa and Kingston, is an interesting case study as it is a multi-watershed system over which municipal, provincial and federal governments have authority. However, these governments have been unsuccessful in addressing system-wide issues such as shoreline development, erosion and invasive species that have significantly impacted the ecological integrity of the canal. A shift toward polycentric governance, which are systems of multi-scale governance, in which well-informed publics can contribute to the Rideau Canal’s management is required. This thesis examines how co-governance can be conceptualized for the RC by (1) analyzing convergences in stakeholder perspectives about the environment and governance, and (2) comparing collaborative causal mapping exercises with various stakeholders to current government engagement efforts. A tiered co-governance framework that intentionally links existing small-scale activities to system-wide formal venues of knowledge sharing could democratize environmental governance on the Rideau Canal to improve its management. Beyond its practical contributions, this research also contributes to developing the academic literature on co-governance for multi-watershed waterways that have both constructed and natural aspects.

This paper examines the implementation of biodiversity in local policy in the cities of Melbourne and Stockholm. Using process tracing as methodology, the study examines the process from the time the process to develop a policy on climate adaptation is initiated, to the time it is adopted. The process is examined in order to determine if and how biodiversity is included in local climate adaptation policies. Particular attention is paid to citizen participation in local governance in the process examined in the light of the research and theories developed by Elinor Ostrom. The paper finds biodiversity to be included in the policy outlined in the policy document in Melbourne, and citizen participation in local governance may have been conducive to this result. In contrast, biodiversity is included but in a less pronounced manner in the climate adaptation policy in Stockholm, and there seems to be no citizen participation in the policy process examined. These results indicate that citizen participation in local governance could be a contributing factor to biodiversity being included in local climate adaptation policy. It is however not unequivocally determined that it is in fact a causal mechanism.

In an increasingly complex, rapidly changing world, the capacity to cope with, adapt to, and shape change is vital. This thesis investigates how natural resource management can be organized and practiced to nurture this capacity, referred to as resilience, in social-ecological systems. Based on case studies and large-N data sets from UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) and the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), it analyzes actors and social processes involved in adaptive co-management on the ground. Papers I & II use Kristianstads Vattenrike BR to analyze the roles of local stewards and bridging organizations. Here, local stewards, e.g. farmers and bird watchers, provide on-site management, detailed, long-term monitoring, and local ecological knowledge, build public support for ecosystem management, and hold unique links to specialized networks. A bridging organization strengthens their initiatives. Building and drawing on multi-level networks, it gathers different types of ecological knowledge, builds moral, political, legal and financial support from institutions and organizations, and identifies windows of opportunity for projects. Paper III synthesizes the MA community-based assessments and points to the importance of bridging organizations, leadership and vision, knowledge networks, institutions nested across scales, enabling policies, and high motivation among actors for adaptive co-management. Paper IV explores learning processes catalyzed by bridging organizations in BRs. 79 of the 148 BRs analyzed bridge local and scientific knowledge in efforts to conserve biodiversity and foster sustainable development, provide learning platforms, support knowledge generation (research, monitoring and experimentation), and frame information and education to target groups. Paper V tests the effects of participation and adaptive co-management in BRs. Local participation is positively linked to local support, successful integration of conservation and development, and effectiveness in achieving developmental goals. Participation of scientists is linked to effectiveness in achieving ‘conventional’ conservation goals and policy-makers enhance the integration of conservation and development. Adaptive co-management, found in 46 BRs, is positively linked to self-evaluated effectiveness in achieving developmental goals, but not at the expense of conservation. The thesis concludes that adaptive collaboration and learning processes can nurture resilience in social-ecological systems. Such processes often need to be catalyzed, supported and protected to survive. Therefore, bridging organizations are crucial in adaptive co-management.

We live in a world that faces several social and environmental problems and achieving sustainable development in contexts where it is necessary to alleviate poverty without eroding the capacity of the ecosystems to support future generations is challenging. Therefore, fostering sustainable development requires enabling both society and environment to cope with disturbances, adapt to and shape change (resilience). Literature suggests that adaptive co-management practices are appropriate for building resilience and fostering sustainable development. Additionally, studies have highlighted the role of bridging organizations in coordinating and facilitating adaptive co-management. However, adaptive co-management has not been studied in poverty contexts. This thesis aims to understand what the main tasks of bridging organizations are, and how they facilitate and stimulate adaptive co-management in poverty contexts and their role in nurturing sustainability. The Environmental Monitors Programme of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve was chosen as a case-study. Biosphere reserves are considered learning sites for sustainable development. The programme was studied through the lenses of a bridging organization. Semi-structured interviews and participatory observation with stakeholders identified: 1) the importance of existing networks and collaborations; 2) monitoring contribution to the identification of social and environmental issues, experimentation contribution to the implementation of sustainable harvesting practices; 3) environmental education combined with social learning lead to community empowerment and adaptive responses that e.g. address erosion; 4) environmental monitors have a crucial role in linking organizations and communities; 5) challenges related to low income settings include communities’ basic needs. This study illustrates the need to address both social and ecological problems in a concerted manner, by capacitating and empowering communities while conserving the environment. Additionally, points out the need of studying alternative co-management strategies that give focus on different priorities regarding stakeholders’ interests and the influence of power in decision-making in poverty contexts.

The permitting process to determine whether high volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) should be allowed in New York State has been controversial and protracted. There have been intense disputes between those who see HVHF as an economic benefit and those who assert it will jeopardize health and the environment. Using the case study research method, perceptions of directly affected stakeholders regarding the issues, benefits and limitations associated with the public participation process were explored. Purposive sampling yielded participants from the natural gas industry, municipal governments, local landowners and residents. Data collection methods involved in-depth interviews, focus groups and document analysis. Since the HVHF conflict concerned a future possibility of environmental degradation, theoretical foundations included complex systems and green ideology, the enactment of power and social dominance, environmental conflict resolution, and principles of collaborative management. Findings demonstrate that the public participation process was embedded in a traditional top-down policy development approach that did not accommodate conditions of high uncertainty, nor did it allow for the broader and deeper discourse needed when development involves socio-economic and environmental justice issues. Implications include the potential to apply principles and methods of collaborative management typically used for natural resource management. In particular, the adaptive co-management approach provides a framework for managing issues that require problem solving over time, an essential missing element of the current HVHF stakeholder engagement process where diverse stakeholders identified issues of trust, empowerment, rights and fairness.

Världens befolkning ökar idag i rask takt. Om cirka 30 år beräknas det bo närmare tio miljarder människor i världen, varav över sex miljarder beräknas bo urbant. Urbaniseringen ökar kraftigt vilket sätter stor press på den fysiska planeringen. För att kunna inhysa en ökande befolkning är det många kommuner som satsar på att förtäta städerna. Dock leder förtätning till att de grönområden som finns i städerna blir allt färre vilket gör att städerna blir fragmenterade och att invånarna får allt längre till rekreationsområden. Vilka är viktiga för människans hälsa och välbefinnande. Städer måste ha grönområden som klarar ett ökat besökstryck eftersom slitaget ökar. Slitage, förändrad markanvändning och fragmentering påverkar biologisk mångfald och ekosystemtjänster negativt, både lokalt och regionalt. Ett samhälle med låg biologisk mångfald och få ekosystemtjänster har sämre förutsättningar för att klara chock och stress såsom pandemier och en ökad befolkning. I denna kvalitativa studie undersöks hur Järfälla kommun, Sollentuna kommun samt Sundbybergs stad i Stockholmsregionen arbetar med ett ökat besökstryck på sina grönområden. Samtliga kommuner har olika förutsättningar men gemensamt är att alla har en förväntad befolkningsökning samt hög befolkningstäthet. Empirin har samlats in med hjälp av intervjuer med kommunala tjänstemän samt dokumentanalys av kommunernas översiktsplaner. Det teoretiska ramverket utgörs av tidigare forskning kring ekosystemtjänster i urban miljö samt social-ekologiska system. Resultatet visar att samtliga kommuner i någon form har förändrat sitt arbete till följd av det ökade besökstrycket och det beräknade ökade invånarantalet. Förvaltning, planering, samverkan, kunskap och värdering är viktigt för att skapa ett hållbart och resilient samhälle. / The world's population is growing rapidly. It is estimated that almost ten billion people will live in the world in about 30 years, of which over 6 billion people are estimated to live in urban areas. Urbanization is increasing, which puts great pressure on urban planning. In order to accommodate an increasing population, many municipalities plan to densify the cities. However, densification leads to fewer green areas in the cities, which means that the cities become fragmented and that the inhabitants have longer distances to recreational areas. Which are important to human health and welfare. Cities must have green areas that can withstand an increased visitor pressure as wear and tear increases. Wear and tear, changes in land use and fragmentation have negative effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services, both locally and regionally. A society with low biodiversity and few ecosystem services is less able to cope with shock and stress such as pandemics and an increased population. This qualitative study examines how Järfälla municipality, Sollentuna municipality and the city of Sundbyberg in the Stockholm region work with increased visitor pressure in their green areas. All municipalities have different conditions, but they all have in common that they have an expected population increase and a high population density. The empirical data has been collected with the help of interviews with municipal officials and document analysis of the municipalities' general plans. The theoretical framework consists of previous research on ecosystem services in urban environments and social-ecological systems. The results show that all municipalities in some forms have changed their work because of the increased visitor pressure and the estimated increased number of inhabitants. Management, planning, collaboration, knowledge and evaluation are important for creating a sustainable and resilient society.

In an European context of agricultural land abandonment, the role of the farming community as landscape stewards is crucial for maintaining the rural landscape as well as the ecosystem services provided by this landscape. Such stewardship is studied here by assessing the participation of the farming community in the management of Menorca Biosphere Reserve, a small Mediterranean island with very well conserved and rich rural landscape which is not escaping this tendency of land abandonment. A survey of 41 farms and interviews with 15 stakeholders were performed in order to assess the role of the farming community in participatory management processes and the effectiveness of the Menorca Biosphere Reserve Agency (MBRA) in facilitating their participation.The results show that the participatory activities of the MBRA are effective and highly valued by participating stakeholders but could be improved by: 1) engaging non-associated farmers and traditional farmers in the MBRA activities 2) finding a consensual and long-term solution on issues related to the access to private rural land 3) providing rapid feedback to participants after meetings and 4) transforming the MBRA structure in order to deal with changes and an uncertain future. Failing to do this could illegitimate further participatory activities, erode trust among stakeholders and alienate the farming community and the society, thereby affecting the maintenance of the rural landscape.This case study highlights the importance of appropriate management structure for adaptive co-management to benefit from the participation of stakeholders in general and farmers in particular. The findings should be of interest to managers, scholars and practitioners using adaptive co-management approaches to manage complex social-ecological systems such as rural, cultural landscapes.

The conflict between the protected area and local people is a major challenge for conservation in developing countries. The conventional top-down approach has failed mainly due to the exclusion of local people in conservation. A new management approach that promotes local participation and reduces conflicts is necessary to achieve both conservation and development objectives. Using the case of Natma Taung National Park (NTNP) in Myanmar, this study investigates the relationship between the protected area and local indigenous people living in and around the park. The social-ecological coevolution model is applied to explore the inter-linkages between the protected area and local people. The empirical analyses focus on three main thematic areas: local land tenure system, livelihood dependency on forest resources, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of local people. The comparative study design is used to analyse similarities and differences among the three indigenous communities living inside, bordering, and outside the national park. Based on this information, four management scenarios are developed and evaluated by using multi-criteria decision analysis.

This thesis focuses on tribal engagement and tribal consultation in the United States. In the thesis, I discuss my experience working on an interdisciplinary research team completing a formal ethnographic study which was submitted to a federal agency. Using insights gained from this experience and additional experience working with American Indian tribes, I discuss historic, contemporary, and potential future strategies for involving and engaging American Indian tribes in land and resource stewardship decisions in the United States.

Different challenges arising from increasingly uncertain and unpredictable environmental and economicconditions have been shifting the focus of public governance and socio-economic development. Morerecently, empirical studies have demonstrated a transitional epoch in which humanity is currently in: TheAnthropocene, as well as its harmful effects that degrade the biosphere, and thus our economic, political,social well-being. The casual dynamics of climate change and its impacts on life-supporting ecosystemshas increasingly been recognized by a resilient approach which incorporates adaptive processes andschemes, allowing public governance to embrace the changes rather than control uncertainty. Thisresearch introduces the interwoven concepts of adaptive capacity, adaptive governance, and resiliencewithin a social and environmental framework. It provides a review of how these concepts support aparadigm shift to mitigating current and future challenges—understood through a multidisciplinaryapproach, and how scholars have sought to develop a blueprint to improve the need to foster and mobilizeadaptive capacity within the governance of the commons. In Sweden, key governmental and businessleaders have shown the ability to foster environmental governance that is capable of developing analternative form of planning, implementing, and managing public policy. Moreover, Sweden’s concertedmultilevel governance and public policy efforts have promoted an all-encompassing generational, mainlythrough: coordinated environmental policies and private, public, and civil society partnerships. Theseinitiatives have led to innovative technologies and projects (e.g. urban vertical farming technology) as wellas cross collaboration and integration of companies and industries in order to achieve economic, social,and environmentally symbiosis.