Sustainability 2017, 9(10), 1685; doi:10.3390/su9101685
Does Collaboration Lead to Sustainability? A Study of Public–Private Partnerships in the Swedish Mountains
Department of Political Science, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Received: 23 August 2017 / Revised: 18 September 2017 / Accepted: 20 September 2017 / Published: 21 September 2017
Abstract
The conflicts that frequently manifest in the Swedish mountains often stem from the use and preservation of natural resources. Resistance against protected area proposals, protests concerning the management of large carnivores, the felling of old-growth forests, and disputes over who should be allowed to hunt or fish are all commonplace. There are currently strong trends, both in national and international policy making, towards leaning on various forms of collaborative governance arrangements to deal with such policy failures. Consequently, various forms of partnerships have been initiated to promote more sustainable practices in the mountain regions of Sweden. To what extent has the creation of these collaborative partnerships in natural resource management improved policy output and sustainability outcomes? To examine the issue, data was extracted from 47 semi-structured interviews with 39 project leaders and eight county officials, with the sample randomly selected from a database of 245 public–private collaborative projects in the Swedish mountains. The results indicate that partnerships do lead to improved sustainability, especially when it comes to social outcomes. However, there is a need for more systematic follow-ups by practitioners, particularly on ecological outcomes, where the country administrative boards should take a leading role and facilitate such evaluations in the future. View Full-TextKeywords:
collaboration; public–private partnership; policy output; outcomes; sustainability; follow-up; evaluation; natural resource management; Swedish mountains
▼
Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Bjärstig, T. Does Collaboration Lead to Sustainability? A Study of Public–Private Partnerships in the Swedish Mountains. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1685.
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Related Articles
Article Metrics
Comments
[Return to top]
Sustainability
EISSN 2071-1050
Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
RSS
E-Mail Table of Contents Alert