Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey
Governance is increasingly recognized as key to sustainability and human wellbeing in mountain social–ecological systems (MtSES). Mountains present particular challenges for effective governance related to their geographic complexities, status as commons, susceptibility to environmental change, and...
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International Mountain Society
2021-05-01
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doaj-2a1abfbf5d5c4257b7a4c12aa675b2032021-07-27T14:50:22ZengInternational Mountain SocietyMountain Research and Development0276-47411994-71512021-05-01412R10R20https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-20-00080.1Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global SurveyCatherine M. Tucker0Irasema Alcántara-Ayala1Alexey Gunya2Elizabeth Jimenez3Julia A. Klein4Jun Xu5Sophie Lena Bigler6University of Florida, Department of Anthropology and Center for Latin American Studies, PO Box 115530, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; tuckerc@ufl.edu National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Institute of Geography, Av. Universidad 3000, Coyoacán 04510, Mexico City, MexicoRussian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography, Staromonetny per. 29, Moscow, RussiaUniversidad Mayor de San Andres, CIDES-UMSA, La Paz, BoliviaColorado State University, Department of Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, Campus Delivery 1476, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USASichuan University, Department of History, Center for Tibetan Studies, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu, ChinaThe Mountain Research Initiative, c/o Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Mittelstrasse 43, 3012 Bern, SwitzerlandGovernance is increasingly recognized as key to sustainability and human wellbeing in mountain social–ecological systems (MtSES). Mountains present particular challenges for effective governance related to their geographic complexities, status as commons, susceptibility to environmental change, and impacts of external political and socioeconomic processes. This study reports on the results of a global survey of local mountain governance. It explored a range of known governance challenges to discover which are most prevalent and whether relative strength of local governance helps to mitigate these challenges. The study analyzed 75 survey responses across 5 continents from researchers and practitioners who work on mountain governance. Major challenges for governance included contradictory policies, poverty, and the presence of valuable nonrenewable natural resources. Compared with sites with stronger local governance, those with weaker arrangements reported significantly greater prevalence of certain challenges, such as corruption. Yet many challenges did not differ significantly by strength of local governance, implicating external factors instead. This finding points to a need to improve governance across levels to support MtSES sustainability.https://bioone.org/doi/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-20-00080.1challengescommonsglobal surveygovernancemountain sustainability |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Catherine M. Tucker Irasema Alcántara-Ayala Alexey Gunya Elizabeth Jimenez Julia A. Klein Jun Xu Sophie Lena Bigler |
spellingShingle |
Catherine M. Tucker Irasema Alcántara-Ayala Alexey Gunya Elizabeth Jimenez Julia A. Klein Jun Xu Sophie Lena Bigler Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey Mountain Research and Development challenges commons global survey governance mountain sustainability |
author_facet |
Catherine M. Tucker Irasema Alcántara-Ayala Alexey Gunya Elizabeth Jimenez Julia A. Klein Jun Xu Sophie Lena Bigler |
author_sort |
Catherine M. Tucker |
title |
Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey |
title_short |
Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey |
title_full |
Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey |
title_fullStr |
Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey |
title_full_unstemmed |
Challenges for Governing Mountains Sustainably: Insights From a Global Survey |
title_sort |
challenges for governing mountains sustainably: insights from a global survey |
publisher |
International Mountain Society |
series |
Mountain Research and Development |
issn |
0276-4741 1994-7151 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
Governance is increasingly recognized as key to sustainability and human wellbeing in mountain social–ecological systems (MtSES). Mountains present particular challenges for effective governance related to their geographic complexities, status as commons, susceptibility to environmental change, and impacts of external political and socioeconomic processes. This study reports on the results of a global survey of local mountain governance. It explored a range of known governance challenges to discover which are most prevalent and whether relative strength of local governance helps to mitigate these challenges. The study analyzed 75 survey responses across 5 continents from researchers and practitioners who work on mountain governance. Major challenges for governance included contradictory policies, poverty, and the presence of valuable nonrenewable natural resources. Compared with sites with stronger local governance, those with weaker arrangements reported significantly greater prevalence of certain challenges, such as corruption. Yet many challenges did not differ significantly by strength of local governance, implicating external factors instead. This finding points to a need to improve governance across levels to support MtSES sustainability. |
topic |
challenges commons global survey governance mountain sustainability |
url |
https://bioone.org/doi/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-20-00080.1 |
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