A Systematic Assessment of Community-Based Resource
"A new dogma is emerging as achallenge to us. It embodies the proposition that the best way for the public to determine how to manage its interests in the environment is through collaboration among stakeholders, not
A Systematic Assessment of Community-Based Resource
"A new dogma is emerging as achallenge to us. It embodies the proposition that the best way for the public to determine how to manage its interests in the environment is through collaboration among stakeholders, not through normal governmental processes."
Michael McCloskey, Sierra Club Chairman
(as written in a memo to the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club, 1996)
INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW
Out of the progressive field of environmental conflict management, a new genre of collaboration is currently breeding controversy in the environmental arena. Community-based Collaborative Resource Management Partnerships (collaborative partnerships) are initiatives in which diverse stakeholders use consensus building techniques for making decisions about the long- term management of natural resources. These groups, which include watershed councils, Rangeland Advisory Councils and sustainable community initiatives, have stimulated a lively, if not contentious debate about the role of direct citizen involvement in environmental planning and management. Praised by some for bringing stakeholders together to resolve contentious environmental issues, collaborative partnerships are also harshly criticized. Above all, opponents blame this process for producing "lowest common denominator" solutions (McCloskey, 1996) and co-opting the environmental advocacy movement (Mazza, 1997; Britell,1997).
Stakeholder negotiation is increasingl