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Emergence of Collaborative Environmental Governance: What are the Causal Mechanisms?

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Abstract

Conflict in environmental governance is common, and bringing together stakeholders with diverse perspectives in situations of conflict is extremely difficult. However, case studies of how diverse stakeholders form self-organized coalitions under these circumstances exist and provide invaluable opportunities to understand the causal mechanisms that operate in the process. We focus on the case of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve nomination process, which unfolded over several years and moved the region from a series of serious conflicts to one where stakeholders came together to support a Biosphere Reserve nomination. Causal mechanisms identified from the literature and considered most relevant to the case were confirmed in it, using an 'explaining outcomes' process tracing methodology. Perceived severity of the problem, institutional emulation, and institutional entrepreneurship all played an important role in the coalition-building process. The fear of marginalization was identified as a potential causal mechanism that requires further study. The findings here contribute to filling an important gap in the literature related to causal mechanisms for self-organized coalition-building under conflict, and contribute to practice with important considerations when building a coalition for natural resource management and governance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

    Julia Baird & Ryan Plummer

  2. Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

    Julia Baird

  3. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lisen Schultz, Ryan Plummer & Örjan Bodin

  4. School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Derek Armitage

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  1. Julia Baird
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  2. Lisen Schultz
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  3. Ryan Plummer
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Correspondence to Julia Baird.

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Baird, J., Schultz, L., Plummer, R. et al. Emergence of Collaborative Environmental Governance: What are the Causal Mechanisms?. Environmental Management 63, 16–31 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1105-7

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