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Interplay of actors, scales, frameworks and regimes in the governance of biodiversity
Author(s) -
Paavola Jouni,
Gouldson Andrew,
KluvánkováOravská Tatiana
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
environmental policy and governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.987
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1756-9338
pISSN - 1756-932X
DOI - 10.1002/eet.505
Subject(s) - corporate governance , biodiversity , context (archaeology) , directive , politics , environmental governance , multi level governance , environmental resource management , political science , environmental planning , ecology , business , economics , geography , biology , law , finance , computer science , programming language , archaeology
This article examines the key contributions of the political science and systems theory based literatures on environmental governance, and uses them to analyse the governance of biodiversity in Europe. The article suggests that the key insights of the two bodies of literature are a distinction between governance frameworks and regimes on one hand, and the importance of multifaceted and multiple scales on the other. These key insights draw attention to horizontal and vertical forms of interplay. The article suggests that interplay, both between actors and levels and between frameworks and regimes, is ubiquitous and ambivalent: it can either foster or hinder environmental governance. The article illustrates this discussion in the context of governance of biodiversity in Europe, highlighting how vertical and horizontal interplay between the governance framework for biodiversity and the broader institutional setting or regime have characterized the implementation of the Habitats Directive, both complicating and fostering the governance of biodiversity in Europe. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.