Environmental Collaborative Governance in Large Carnivore Management

Background and research aims

Environmental collaborative governance, mostly in terms of decentralization and inclusion of stakeholders has increasingly become advocated as a useful way of handling conflicting goals, balancing different interests, and reconciling local concerns without compromising wildlife population viability. 

Through comparing three cases of environmental collaborative governance, in Norway, Finland, and Sweden, that have been initiated to promote large carnivore recovery amidst many human land use, the research project aims to synthesize and advance knowledge on the challenges, incentives for and constraints on collaborative governance and the building of legitimacy.  Through different governance paths these countries have adopted collaborative measures by building large carnivore committees to increase and improve legitimacy in decision-making. 

Research questions

By combining expertise from three disciplines – political science, public administration, and social anthropology – the project investigates:

• the motivations of the actors involved and the powers they exercise, to whom they are accountable, 
• the facilitative role of the administration and the symbolic meanings congregated around policy work, 
• the social and cultural conditions creating and sustaining policy work, 
• and the kinds of relations and subjects produced by decentralization.