Collaboration and community in decision making
Collaborative decision making about water
Collaborative watershed management has been heavily promoted and widely implemented to address a variety of natural resource concerns, resulting in the adoption and adaptation of the approach to management by regulatory agencies. Although several characteristics or indicators of success for watershed partnerships have been identified in the literature, these often portray a direct cause and effect relationship between partnership characteristics and outcomes.
The increasing popularity of watershed partnerships has sparked interest in evaluating whether or not they are effective and the conditions under which success is attained. Empirical evidence points to aspects of the partnership itself and its processes, both form and function, as being important indicators for success.
This research stream focuses on the process of making decisions about water management as well as the role of trust in successful partnerships.
Hamm, J. Peters, A., Namanya, J., and M. L. Gore. (In Press). Vulnerability, trustworthiness, and motivation as emergent themes in cooperation with community-based water management in rural Africa. Journal of Rural Studies.
Rinkus, M.A. Dobson, T., Gore, M. L., and E. A. Dreelin, (2016). Collaboration as process: a case study of Michigan’s watershed permit. Water Policy, 18: 182-196.