Environmental Policy and Governance最新文献

{"title":"Toward Comprehensive Climate Action: Assessing Mitigation Approaches Across Canadian Municipalities","authors":"Aryana Soliz,&nbsp;Adriane MacDonald,&nbsp;David Talbot,&nbsp;Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce,&nbsp;Ying Zhou,&nbsp;Samantha Hall Linton,&nbsp;Amelia Clarke,&nbsp;Amr ElAlfy","doi":"10.1002/eet.70110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70110","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Local governments are widely regarded as key leaders in the global response to climate change. Understanding if and how municipalities commit to climate mitigation is crucial for assessing their contribution to global emission-reduction goals and identifying barriers to effective climate transitions. Here we provide an assessment of local climate action planning and implementation approaches. Drawing from an original survey dataset from municipal governments across Canada, we identify in a cluster analysis six climate governance typologies: Comprehensive Climate Advocates, Foundation Builders, Internal Impact Architects, Unseen Leaders, Silent Implementers, and Climate Bystanders. Whereas municipalities in the top-performing cluster have adopted the most convincing approaches, subsequent clusters highlight inconsistencies regarding planning, budgeting, implementation, and reporting, revealing a polarized climate action landscape. Association analysis points to the limited influence of existing subnational policies on local climate action and to setbacks for some municipalities, while also revealing an emerging group of small and mid-sized municipalities that is gaining prominence in comprehensive climate action. These results can help to inform climate action scholarship and policymaking, providing insights into the comprehensiveness of mitigation approaches across different types of municipalities and the need for continued assessment of multi-level accountability mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1265-1281"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.70110","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From Explicit Insights to Tacit Learning: A Multiframework Analysis of NBS Evaluation in Malaysian Sponge City Planning","authors":"Fatemehalsadat Khoshhalshaghaji","doi":"10.1002/eet.70125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70125","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This article re-analyses expert survey data from two Malaysian case sites where sponge city concepts were newly introduced to examine learning-related patterns within a participatory evaluation of nature-based solutions (NBSs). The study applies an integrative analytical framework combining Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, Pahl-Wostl's Triple-Loop Learning, and Wenger's Communities of Practice to interpret cognitive, institutional, and practice-oriented dimensions of expert responses. The recoding analysis suggests a predominance of Abstract Conceptualization and Practice-oriented dimensions, indicating a strong emphasis on codified technical reasoning. Indicators associated with reflective, relational, and higher-order institutional learning appeared less frequently. While these patterns cannot be interpreted as direct evidence of social learning, they provide insight into the types of learning orientations that structured expert-based evaluation methods may be more likely to capture. The findings highlight both the strengths and limitations of survey-based participatory approaches. Structured evaluations can support systematic technical assessment and knowledge synthesis but may provide more limited insight into experiential, relational, and context-specific forms of knowledge. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the potential value of using multiple learning frameworks as a diagnostic reinterpretation tool for participatory evaluation data. More broadly, the results contribute to discussions on how expert-led assessment processes shape the forms of knowledge that become visible within climate adaptation planning.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1446-1457"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Competition and Cooperation in Urban Climate Governance: A Global Systematic Review","authors":"Tian Xu,&nbsp;Huachun Wang,&nbsp;Jianhui Cong","doi":"10.1002/eet.70108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70108","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cities are assuming an increasingly pivotal role in global climate governance. They function not only as key drivers of “bottom–up” governance initiatives but also as active practitioners of a “learning-by-doing” approach in tackling climate challenges. A key issue in understanding urban climate actions relates to when and where they cooperate and/or compete with other urban areas as they address climate challenges. This study conducts a systematic review to identify 61 relevant studies from the perspective of competition and cooperation theories, through iterative screening and to consider the roles of competition and cooperation in these studies. The findings reveal that competitive dynamics within climate governance are mainly reflected in the allocation of carbon responsibilities, access to climate finance, and the development of green technologies and innovation. Cooperative interactions, by contrast, are more evident in both “hard” domains such as the exchange of resources and technologies and “soft” domains including policy learning, experience sharing, and information flows. Different climate issues further demonstrate an embedded configuration in which competition and cooperation are jointly integrated throughout the policy process. The analysis builds understanding of urban climate governance across multiple levels, polycentric structures, and intercity network arrangements, and it identifies a number of critical gaps in the literature that could be addressed in future research.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1236-1251"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Towards Transformative Climate Governance: Capacities and Constraints for Local Government in Aotearoa New Zealand","authors":"Gangadari K. Ranawaka,&nbsp;Anna L. Berka,&nbsp;Karen F. Hytten,&nbsp;Florentine D. van Noppen","doi":"10.1002/eet.70105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70105","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An emerging consensus calls for transformative climate governance. However, what instigates and sustains transformative pathways remains unclear. This study characterises the existence, quality and structural underpinnings of transformative governance capacities in local government climate change response in Aotearoa New Zealand, applying a well-established conceptual framework for transformative governance to existing literature. Results show that some local authorities have started to develop ‘stewarding’, ‘unlocking’, ‘orchestrating’, and ‘transformative’ capacities, focusing on adaptation more than mitigation. This evidence stems from a small number of urban centres and regional areas with a strong presence of indigenous (Māori) communities. Most evidence points to the development of ‘stewarding capacity’, showing that local governments are building an evidence base around understanding climate risks in collaboration with communities and knowledge partners. Beyond biophysical monitoring, however, there was limited evidence of monitoring and learning. Literature documenting ‘unlocking capacity’ shows that local governments have tried a variety of activities to overcome resistance to change. However, the literature also points to limited efforts to identify the drivers of unsustainable practices, few mechanisms for challenging vested interests and existing incentive structures, and a need for stronger accountability mechanisms in decision-making. Results underscore a lack of co-ordination and empowerment of actors to engage in adaptation or mitigation. Overall, capacity development was enabled by applied research projects, with ad-hoc local government-led initiatives and state government incentive schemes also playing a role, and was constrained by a wide range of institutional, regulatory, economic, and social factors - consistent with a country at the formative stages of decentralised climate policy implementation. We contextualise the findings in relation to international literature and practices, pointing to opportunities to further develop local government capacity for transformative governance.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1166-1192"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.70105","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149099542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Public Opinion About Community Participation in Natural Resources Governance: A Population Survey in Indonesia and Malaysia","authors":"Rachel S. Friedman,&nbsp;Emily Massingham,&nbsp;Kerrie A. Wilson,&nbsp;Angela J. Dean","doi":"10.1002/eet.70109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70109","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The international conservation and natural resources communities have increasingly embraced the principle of community participation. This rhetoric around participation has gained power and influence in setting countries' agendas for natural resources governance, largely without a sound understanding of public opinion on the issues. As such, this paper seeks to better understand public opinion about community participation in natural resources management and decision-making, and the factors underpinning those opinions. We draw on a large quantitative population survey in Indonesia and Malaysia to examine views on who should participate in forest management, how actively communities should participate in decision-making, and how geography, experiences, and other social factors affect these views. Our study shows that over half (59%) of respondents prefer that local people be involved in forest management and taught any skills they need, whereas 41% prioritize managers with existing skills. Almost half of participants also indicate that communities should be actively involved in decisions that affect their lives (43%). However, perceptions about participation varied significantly with experiences and other social factors. For example, proximity to forests was associated with prioritizing local involvement; conversely, those most familiar with forest regulations preferred involving people with existing necessary skills. Overall, these findings demonstrate how perspectives about participation are not universally held across populations. This highlights the importance of considering perspectives from diverse social groups when designing and enacting participatory mechanisms within natural resources policies, and exploring how opportunities and capacity to participate are understood and valued by those on the front lines of implementation.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1219-1235"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.70109","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149099589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Everything Changed, Yet Hunting Rights Did Not: Formulation of Wildlife Property Rights in Postsocialist Slovenia","authors":"Milan Šinko,&nbsp;Brina Malnar","doi":"10.1002/eet.70119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70119","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study uses the policy regime framework to examine how background conditions, institutions, and actor configurations shaped hunting rights within the forest–wildlife policy domain during Slovenia's postsocialist transformation. Drawing on media analysis, in-depth interviews with policymakers, and legislative documents, it conducts a detailed process-tracing analysis of wildlife policy formulation to investigate why private landowners were unable to reclaim their presocialist hunting rights. The analysis shows that a normative consensus around environmental stewardship, reinforced by asymmetric power relations, was a key driver of institutional persistence. In part due to its political learning capacity, the Hunting Association of Slovenia emerged as the dominant actor, supported by center-left parties, while forest owners remained marginalized. Advocates of state-controlled hunting successfully aligned their agenda with the prevailing state-planned wildlife management paradigm and public sentiment, thereby reinforcing continued state ownership of wildlife. The case provides an empirically grounded demonstration of how actor power, institutional structures, and dominant policy ideas can structurally constrain the scope and direction of policy change within governance systems, as observed at the national level, even under conditions of major systemic transformation and in the context of EU accession. The study profiles Slovenia as a normatively conservation-oriented policy context, in which European norms of “civilized” governance were mobilized to legitimize state control, while market-oriented or privatized governance models lack political legitimacy.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1365-1377"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.70119","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustaining Collective Action Under Institutional Constraint: Governance Dynamics in Interdisciplinary Sociotechnical Interventions","authors":"Antonio Cáñez-Cota","doi":"10.1002/eet.70124","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70124","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Interdisciplinary sociotechnical interventions are widely promoted to address sustainability challenges in energy, water, and environmental governance, yet many struggle to sustain collective action once external funding and coordination recede. This article examines how governance arrangements are reconfigured under institutional constraint during the implementation of a community-based sociotechnical intervention in rural Mexico. Drawing on qualitative process tracing grounded in project documentation, institutional deliberations, and reflexive engagement with the intervention, the analysis reconstructs how distributive conflict, enforcement fragility, fiscal misalignment, temporal pressure, and multilevel accountability shaped the project trajectory. The study develops an empirically grounded governance framework centered on four interdependent conditions: stabilization of authority, alignment of incentives and responsibilities, management of temporality and transition, and fiscal and operational continuity. The findings show that governance sustainability depended less on technological feasibility than on institutionally durable arrangements capable of reconciling participation, enforcement, and accountability.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1416-1429"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“We Are Willing to Change, If…”: Potential Impacts of Citizens' Assemblies on the Willingness to Change for Sustainability in Rural East German Municipalities","authors":"Lea Findeis,&nbsp;Nicolas Jager","doi":"10.1002/eet.70113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70113","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In light of the democratic and social-ecological crises, deliberative minipublics such as citizens' assemblies are increasingly implemented and discussed by scholars as a means for sound decision-making and to enhance public support for sustainability transformations. Through a case study covering three municipalities in East Germany, this article examines how citizens' assemblies can impact the willingness to change for sustainability in rural municipalities. Interviews were conducted with participants of the assemblies, local politicians, and administrative employees. The locally prevailing willingness to change was perceived as low, mainly due to structural barriers and widespread disenchantment with current approaches to sustainability. Despite this, the findings suggest effects of the citizens' assemblies on the participants' willingness to change, notably through a reported increase in knowledge and in the perceived feasibility of change. The described effects on the municipal administration and politics include local trust building and an enhanced participatory culture. The findings point to the potentials of locally adapted solutions, while emphasizing a need for deliberative approaches that are sensitive to both diverging contexts and structural conflicts in sustainability transformations.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1304-1319"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.70113","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecological Institutional Failure in Local Governments: Rethinking Environmental Governance in Decentralized Indonesia","authors":"Isnaini Muallidin","doi":"10.1002/eet.70106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70106","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Despite decentralization, Indonesian local governments persistently fail to deliver environmental outcomes. This article asks: why do institutional architectures systematically disable ecological responsiveness despite formal mandates? Introducing ecological institutional failure (EIF), the study develops a diagnostic framework moving beyond capacity-centric explanations. Based on document analysis of planning documents, budgets, and performance evaluations across five regencies, Sleman, Banjarmasin, Kutai Kartanegara, Sumbawa, and Wakatobi, the research identifies three mechanisms reproducing failure: symbolic compliance (performative commitment without substantive change), structural disjunction (fragmented mandates misaligned with ecological imperatives), and inertial governance (ritualized activity simulating motion without transformation). Rather than lacking resources, local governments exhibit overproduction of forms that obscure systemic inaction. Drawing on institutional theory and ecological governance literature, the article reframes governance failure as strategic maintenance of bureaucratic comfort zones, contributing to debates on environmental governance in the Global South.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1151-1165"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of Collaborative Gaps in Stakeholders' Partnership Evaluations in Complex Environmental Governance Systems","authors":"Harrison Fried,&nbsp;Ramiro Berardo,&nbsp;Matthew Hamilton","doi":"10.1002/eet.70122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.70122","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this article, we explore how stakeholders navigate potential collaborative partnerships in complex social-ecological systems. Building from literature on social-ecological fit, collaborative governance, and resource dependence, we evaluate the degree to which (1) collaborative gaps (i.e., instances where stakeholders manage the same issue(s) but do not directly collaborate), (2) mutual partners, and (3) the potential to access social, financial, and human capital guide stakeholders' evaluations of potential partners. We organized a partnership rating activity where stakeholders involved in climate change adaptation in Columbus, Ohio, interacted with potential partners and privately rated the importance of their potential partnership. We find that participants were more likely to rate other stakeholders as important partners when they worked on more overlapping issues, but less likely to favorably rate potential partners when they shared more mutual partners. Our study describes how actors navigate complex social-ecological systems, showing that collaborative gaps are important for partnership evaluation.</p>","PeriodicalId":47396,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Policy and Governance","volume":"36 5","pages":"1402-1415"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/eet.70122","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149100345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}