Multi-level environmental governance: A comparative case study of five large scale natural resource management programs

Globalization is occurring at an unprecedented pace through the end of the twentieth century and into the new millennium. In such a world, governance is increasingly shared among governments, civil society organizations and businesses. Globalization has placed new demands on environmental management across national borders. Hence, changes in the environmental governance frameworks are required to create the enabling conditions for the effective management of the natural resources and the environment.;To explore its explanatory power, the MLEG was applied to five of large scale natural resource management cases respectively: The Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment; the Central Truong Son Biodiversity Conservation Initiative; The Central America Regional Environmental Program; The European Climate Change Program and Northwest Power and Conservation Council Fish and Wildlife Program.;This research found that the MLEG framework is best suited to address the governance challenges of stationary natural resources. The presence of the core characteristics of the MLEG framework contributes to a higher degree of program achievement under the following conditions: (1) The resource is of a stationary nature and the program uses an ecologically defined governance structure; (2) There is continuous funding to support the conservation effort; (3) There is a high degree of scientific certainty about the management of the resource; (4) The conservation effort is based on "multi-stakeholder processes" that are informational and consultative in nature.;This study seeks to develop an integrated "Multi-level Environmental Governance" (MLEG) framework and to explore the relationship between the core characteristics of the framework and the achievements of large scale natural resource management programs. The MLEG framework encompasses several related theories and frameworks of Multi-level Governance, Institutions for Environmental Governance and Environmental Decision Making.