Collaborations in environmental initiatives for an effective gover- nance of social-ecological systems: What the scientific literature suggests.

Moving from the scientific literature on evaluation of environmental projects and programs, this study identifies how and under which conditions collaborations are considered effective for adaptive gover- nance of SES. The method adopted is a systematic literature review based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 56 articles selected through specific queries on the SCOPUS database and published from 2004 to 2020. Results of the quantitative analysis underline conditions able to make collaborations effective for adaptive governance of SES: the importance of transdisciplinary research tackling both environmental and social sciences, the perceived urgency of stakeholders to tackle environmental challenges and consequently their inclusion in projects, the valorisation of different typologies of knowledge, and the adaptation to local culture and lifestyle. Results of the qualitative analysis provides specific recommendations for collaborations to be effective related to communication, equity, foresight, and respect, which need to be further strengthened. Multiplicity in visions and approaches should not be seen as a limit but as a resource able to stimulate creativity in social arrangements and environmental practices, making collaborations instrumental for the effectiveness of adaptive governance

Probabilistic network analysis of social-ecological relationships emerging from EU LIFE projects for nature and biodiversity: An application of ERGM models in the case study of the Veneto region (Italy)

Considering social-ecological relationships in managing protected areas is fundamental to ensuring effective biodiversity conservation and restoration governance. Network analysis offers valuable methods to disentangle intangible relations between and within the social and ecological systems. In this way, it could be possible to identify and integrate multiple social and ecological variables that inevitably affect collaborative environmental governance's effectiveness. Nevertheless, this research area is still nascent, with few methodologies and concrete applications reported in the scientific literature. With this study, we aim to propose a robust novel application of a network methodology to enrich the evaluation of the effectiveness of collaborative environmental governance for nature and biodiversity, which has been applied through the analysis of social-ecological relationships that emerged from EU-cofounded LIFE-NAT projects. Specifically, we focus on LIFE-NAT projects implemented in the Veneto Region (Italy) financed in the last programming period (2014–2020). Through formulating four research hypotheses to be tested through Exponential Random Graph Models, we analyze 13 LIFE-NAT projects involving 83 social actors and 29 Natura 2000 (N2000) sites composed of 57 protected habitats. Results show that LIFE-NAT projects in Veneto Region stimulate polycentric governance. Nevertheless, they still need to concretize a multi-actor and multilevel governance. Furthermore, the analysis highlights that selected LIFE-NAT projects implement activities in N2000 sites able to support ecological connectivity and synergies across marine, freshwater, and land habitats through the bridging role of forests, especially in estuarine and coastal areas

SOCIETÀ ED ECOLOGIA IN UNIONE EUROPEA: la valutazione della governance ambientale collaborative del Programma LIFE attraverso un approccio di rete

Negli ultimi decenni, l’umanità ha preso consapevolezza che la qualità della sua stessa vita è completamente dipendente da quella della natura: emergenze che la società globale sta oggi affrontando (es., emergenza climatica e Pandemia da Covid-19) sono evidenze di questa stretta connessione. Le istituzioni internazionali hanno riconosciuto il bisogno di agire urgentemente per proteggere, ripristinare e gestire gli ecosistemi naturali in modo tale da assicurare un benessere sociale, identificando dei principi condivisi e universalmente accettati che incentivano delle trasformazioni verso la sostenibilità. Nonostante ciò, la concretizzazione di trasformazioni sostenibili nel mondo reale necessita di strategie chiare adottate dai decisori politici, appartenenti a un sistema di governance multi-livello, che hanno il ruolo e la responsabilità di realizzare questi processi. La collaborazione emerge come una componente fondamentale che è capace di aumentare l’efficacia delle iniziative derivate da una governance ambientale collaborativa, anche se non può essere considerata una soluzione universale capace di fornire una strategia generale che si adatti a tutti i contesti socio-ecologici nel quale tali iniziative hanno luogo. Nel contesto dell’Unione Europea (UE), il programma LIFE è considerato la più importante fonte di risorse finanziarie di progetti ambientali co-finanziati, che permettono la concretizzazione di attività ambientali collaborative tra i Paesi europei. Per questo motivo, l’obiettivo principale di questa ricerca è di investigare in che modo la società e l’ecologia interagiscono nel contesto delle iniziative supportate dal Programma europeo LIFE, che è stato declinato nei seguenti obiettivi specifici: (i) chiarire come il concetto teorico di governance ambientale di rete possa essere adattato al caso specifico del Programma Europeo LIFE, (ii) identificare i fattori, caratteristiche di rete, e conseguentemente, le statistiche che meglio specificano l’emergere di azioni collettive nei progetti LIFE in Europa. Attraverso il raggiungimento degli obiettivi specifici di ricerca è possibile proporre uno strumento di misurazione capace di valutare specifiche caratteristiche della governance ambientale collaborativa sostenuta dai progetti LIFE, attraverso un approccio di rete che valorizzi le relazioni socio-ecologiche. Questa tesi è composta da due parti. La prima parte rappresenta il corpo della tesi, dove gli obiettivi di ricerca sono raggiunti attraverso tre studi riportati come un articolo (Articolo 1) e due papers (Papers 2 e 3), dopo l’introduzione dei concetti teorici chiave, le metodologie fondamentali e gli obiettivi di ricerca. Successivamente, nella parte due, due articoli aggiuntivi (Articoli A e B) riporta degli studi complementari che compongono delle ricerche aggiuntive fatte – come co-autrice – che sono complementari al corpo di questa tesi. Nella prima parte, assumendo il ruolo fondamentale della collaborazione nella governance degli ecosistemi naturali, l’Articolo 1 (i.e., Collaborazioni in Iniziative Ambientali per una “Governance Adattiva” Efficace dei Sistemi Socio-Ecologici: Cosa Suggerisce la Letteratura Esistente) esamina come e in quali condizioni gli sforzi collaborativi sono efficaci. L’articolo esamina le esperienze passate riportate nella letteratura scientifica per identificare delle raccomandazioni capaci di migliorare la governance ambientale collaborativa. L’analisi sottolinea l’importanza fondamentale di adottare degli approcci partecipativi che vengano supportati da una chiara comunicazione e dialogo trasparente tra i diversi portatori di interesse per poter assicurare equità nei processi verso la sostenibilità.In the last decades, humanity takes consciousness that the quality of its life is entirely dependent on health of state of nature: emergencies that global society is fighting nowadays (e.g., climate emergency and the Covid-19 pandemic) are pieces of evidence of this close connection. International institutions recognize the need to urgently take actions to protect, restore, and manage natural ecosystems, and to ensure social well-being, through the identification of shared and universally accepted principles fostering sustainability transformations. Nevertheless, the concretization of sustainability transformations in the real world requires clear strategies by decision-makers pertaining to a multi-level governance system having the role and responsibility to realize these processes. Collaboration emerges as a fundamental factor that can enhance the effectiveness of environmental governance initiatives, even if it cannot be considered a panacea solution, able to provide a general strategy that fits all social-environmental contexts where initiatives take place. In the European Union (EU), the LIFE Programme is considered the most important financial source of environmental project co-financing, allowing the concretization of collaborative environmental activities to foster sustainability transformations. Thus, the analysis of governance characteristics enabled by LIFE projects allows getting a general overview of strengths and weaknesses of the collaborative environmental governance across EU countries. Therefore, the general objective of this research is to contribute to investigate how society and ecology interact within the EU-funded LIFE initiatives and, as specific research objective (i) clarify how the theoretical concept of environmental network governance can be adapted to the specific case of the EU-funded LIFE Programme, (ii) identify the network factors, features, and, consequently, statistics that better specify the emergence of collective action in LIFE projects across Europe. Addressing the specific research objectives allows to propose a measurement tool able to evaluate specific features of the collaborative environmental governance sustained by LIFE projects through a network approach that can valorize social-ecological interdependencies. Thus, thanks to the tool, it will be possible to make evident the strengths and weaknesses of the collaborative environmental governance enabled by LIFE projects. This dissertation is composed of two parts. The first part represents the body of the dissertation, where research objectives are addressed through three studies reported as an article (Article 1) and two papers (Papers 2 and 3), after introducing critical theoretical concepts and core methodologies. Then, in part two, two additional articles (Articles A and B) report complementary studies composing the additional researches done – as co-authors – which are complementary to the body of this dissertation. In part one, by assuming the fundamental role of collaboration in the governance of natural ecosystems, Article 1 (i.e., Collaborations in Environmental Initiatives for an Effective “Adaptive Governance” of Social–Ecological Systems: What Existing Literature Suggests) reviews how and under what conditions collaborative efforts are effective. The article reviews past experiences reported in the literature to identify recommendations to improve collaborative environmental governance. The analysis highlights the importance of adopting participative approaches fostered by clear communication and transparent dialogue among stakeholders to ensure equity in the sustainability processes. Furthermore, transdisciplinary, and integrations of knowledge, practices, and perspectives emerge as key concepts allowing strategic visions that simultaneously address social and ecological challenges, concretizing effective collaborative initiatives

Appendix A. Supplementary data of "Intermediary Organisations in Collaborative Environmental Governance: evidence of the EU-funded LIFE Sub-Programme for the Environment (LIFE-ENV)"

The Appendix A a Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) file composed by a node file and an edges files. The node file is organized into three columns: A: id of the node which could (a) the official EU-code of the LIFE project or (b) the id we have attributed to organizations financed B: label of the node (equals to the id) C: type One if an organization is considered; Two if a project is considered. The edge file is organized in different columns: A: Source B: Target C: Type (undirect relation) D: Id (of the edge) E: Label F: Time set (for dynamic representations) G: Weight (of the edge) H: start (of the edge) I: end (of the edge

Multi-level collaborations in the European climate governance: a network analysis of LIFE projects partnerships.

The European Green Deal aims to make the European Union (EU) the first climate neutral continent by 2050. Even if climate change is a global challenge, it requires a sustainable energy transition through local interventions, evidencing its glocal nature. Additionally, while mitigation is a global concern, adaptation is mostly addressed locally. Accordingly, the EU recognizes the need to address climate change challenges using multi-level governance approaches, integrating activities placed at different jurisdictional levels, from local to international, through collaborations between multiple actors, where local levels lead the implementation of EU and national policies, and climate initiatives are diffused and upscaled through networking. As one of the most important European funds aimed to concretize the EU environmental policy objectives, the LIFE Programme clearly focuses on climate change adaptation and mitigation through specific sub-programmes for the climate, using a collaborative approach. In fact, LIFE projects are usually proposed by partnerships of actors who share resources to reach a common goal. Exploring multi-level connections which enable collaborations for climate actions that are supported by realizing LIFE projects, helps identify the best composition of actors able to stimulate effective collaborative initiatives for the climate. Discerning mitigation from adaptation projects, this study aims to: (i) verify if LIFE projects promote multi-level governance in both sectors, (ii) identify what jurisdictional level leads collaborations for the climate through LIFE projects. By identifying 197 LIFE project partnerships implemented in the 2014-2020 period, we analyze 911 relationships between 925 actors using Social Network Analysis. Results confirm the presence of multi-level collaborations in both mitigation and adaptation LIFE projects and reveal national actors transversally suited to lead collaborations for both mitigation and adaptation projects, supported by local actors in adaptation initiatives, highlighting the strategic role of national actors as bridges between European initiatives and their local realization

Connections in Climate Change. A Network Analysis of the EU-funded LIFE Sub-Programme for Climate Action

Climate change constitutes a complex and urgent challenge that requires the collaboration of diverse sets of public and private actors with different interests, values and way of conceiving and managing natural, environmental, and economic resources (Juhola et Westerhoff, 2011; Bodin, 2017; Ortega D\uedaz and Casamadrid Guti\ue9rrez, 2018). Collaborative approaches can provide positive contributions to governance processes and their outcomes by joining the use of the material and non-material resources, facilitating information diffusion and sharing of rules for conflict resolution (Bodin et Crona, 2009). Nevertheless, collaborative governance also testifies criticisms in multiple circumstances. Thus, studies evidencing when and how collaborative governance is effective are in need (Crona and Bodin, 2006). In this realm, a network approach can be considered an appropriate instrument to understand better the complexity of severe environmental problems impacting on society, such as climate change (Oosterveer, 2018). As Borgatti et al. 2013 observe, differences in the structure of social networks have implications for governance and consequently for reaching its expected outcomes. The European Union plays an essential role in climate change adaptation and mitigation processes, proposing ambitious strategies to reach environmental and climate policy targets (i.e. Europe 2020 strategy and its targets and the 7th Environment Action Programme). In the last programming period, the attention to climate change has been strategically operationalised through an innovative sub- programme for climate action within the LIFE programme, focused on climate mitigation, adaptation, governance and information. The sub-programme cofounds environmental projects proposed by partnerships of public and private actors through grants (UE Regulation No. 1293/2013). In the frame of the scientific discussion on collaborative environmental governance, this study represents the first structural analysis based on bipartite (i.e. organisations and projects) and dynamic networks of the LIFE sub-programme on Climate Action. The study aims to explore the evolving patterns of betweenness and degree centrality measures (for individual nodes) and density and clustering (for the collaborative network), describing the critical structural features of the networks. Specifically, the study wants to address the following research questions: Q1. To what extent, have actors been connected through the LIFE sub-programme for Climate Action? Q2. To what extent, have actors entered or exit projects by forming or ceasing partnerships? Q3. To what extent, has the sub- programme supported intermediaries (betweenness centrality)? Which are the types of actors who maximise the transmission and control of information and resources among projects? Which is the relative level of influence of these central actors? (degree centrality)? Q4. To what extent is the network cohesive (density)? Has the sub-programme cohesiveness changed during the twelve years considered? To what extent is the network clustered (clustering coefficient)? Has the clustering changed during the eleven years considered? Q5. To what extent, has the sub-programme financed partnerships across Europe? Which are the countries attesting a better performance in terms of transnational cooperation? Data, research methodology and empirical results In order to access detailed data and information regarding LIFE Climate Action projects, the LIFE website has been consulted (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/) where the complete database of projects is available since the first edition of the Programme. Querying by theme and period, it is possible to obtain the full list of projects carrying the desiderated characteristics and thus accessing the general project information (i.e., title, project reference, duration, total budget, EU contribution, project location), and the specific ones related to the beneficiaries (i.e., coordinator, type of organisation, description, and partners excluding co-financiers). Data collected from the LIFE projects database were exported in two separated MS Excel spreadsheets (i.e. node files and edge files). The type of relationship is undirect 1 because it has been assumed the lack of directionality among nodes. Data in the spreadsheets have been used as input data for the SNA, implemented via GEPHY\uae software. Additional statistical elaborations have been performed via STATPLUS\ua9 and R statistical software focusing the attention on specific network statistics computed for the case of bi-partite and dynamic networks (i.e. betweenness and degree centrality measures, clustering coefficient and density of the network). Through LIFE, the European Commission has financed 189 projects (in 2007-2013 programming period) and 162 projects (in 2014-2017 programming period) on the topics of climate change mitigation, adaptation, governance and information. From 2007 to 2018 LIFE co-financed 351 coordinators and 1583 partners, some of them are involved in numerous projects. In this way, they can be considered as bridges from one project to another one. Computing network statistics such as degree centrality which is defined as the number of links incident upon a node (i.e., the number of ties that a node has) and betweenness centrality which quantifies the number of times a node acts as a bridge along the shortest path between two other nodes, results evidence that the degree centrality is on average 5,372 (2007- 2013) and 7,771 (2014-2017). These values represent the average number of relations a LIFE partnership has typically in the two programming periods considered. Concerning betweenness centrality measures, the nodes with the highest betweenness centrality are in South European countries (i.e., Spain, Italy and Greece) and they usually are public bodies such as research institutions. At the same time, private actors typically attest lower values, attesting a lower performance as project brokers. First conclusions The analysis of two networks created by actors implementing projects on climate action from 2007 to 2018 shows that the geographical distribution of financed actors is not homogenous. However, it is centralised on Spanish and Italian organisations (in both networks, 40% of nodes is composed of Italian and Spanish actors). LIFE represents the unique possibility to implement climate action projects in South European countries. Moreover, the Mediterranean area is the European region most affected by the effects of climate change (Ciscar et al., 2018). Thus, the centralisation of Mediterranean countries in the two networks can be justified by the higher relevance of climate change effects in those contexts. Besides the analysis reveals that only a few actors of South Europe (Italy, Spain and Greece) can act as a bridge between partners of different projects. On the contrary, projects implemented in North Europe tends to be more isolated. It is also possible to state that public bodies (research institutions and universities) are the most central actors in the network structure; in fact, they usually coordinate ad cofound many different projects. Finally, the comparison of the two networks evidences that connectivity between partners increased in the second network if compared to the first one. Thus, the creation of a new specific sub-programme for climate action has catalysed and improved the flow of knowledge, skills, capacities, and economic resources among actors involved in projects that face climate change

Exploring synergies in the collaborative governance of European forests supported by the EU-funded LIFE Programme

With the EU Green Deal strategy in the background, the European Union (EU) is developing a new policy framework related to forest ecosystems and forestry aiming to address global environmental challenges, especially through the new EU Forest Strategy for 2030, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the “Fit for 55” package for climate neutrality, and the new Common Agricultural Policy 2023- 2027. All the policies mentioned above recognize networking and collaboration fundamental to achieve effectiveness of activities. Integrating multiple actions implemented in European forests in a sharing effort perspective and diffuse them through the replication of good practices, potentially could contribute to a wider societal transition able to address global environmental challenges affecting not only forests but, more generally, all ecosystems. The LIFE Programme could represent one example of an EU program devoted to concretizing the collaborative governance in forest ecosystems through the proposition and implementation of LIFE projects by partnerships of multiple actors. In effect, the LIFE Programme in the last programming period (2014-2020) promotes multiple projects dealing with environmental challenges related to forests, e.g., due to climate change. Exploring concrete examples of collaborative governance implemented in forests through LIFE projects, could be helpful to get insights valuable to enhance the governance of forests and, more generally, the collaborative environmental governance. In particular, enhancing knowledge of connections and synergies is strategic for promoting coherence between multiple actions, which need to integrate different and specific social needs and policy objectives with global environmental challenges. Thus, this study focuses on the identification of synergies between (i) projects key elements, (ii) projects beneficiaries, (iii) policies fostering LIFE projects, performing the Social Network Analysis. From selecting projects in the LIFE Programme database, we get 61 LIFE projects co-funded from 2014 to 2020. They are implemented in the whole European territory. Additionally, we identify 113 keywords, 282 beneficiaries and 28 EU policies. Results evidence the high value of forests for nature and biodiversity as the main source of synergies between multiple activities. This is confirmed also by the analysis of policies. Conversely, central issues like bioeconomy and soil protection are not equally shared by projects. Additionally, forests emerge as tools to create synergies for adaptation to climate change in rural and urban areas. Actors creating networks of collaborations are especially public bodies or NGOs placed in south Europe

Relational attributes in social ecological systems fostering the transition towards a bio\u2010based economy: insights and operative indications

The bioeconomy concept makes explicit the close connection between humanity and nature. The notion refers to the multiple ways of environmental\u2010friendly production based on biological processes, which realisation requires cross\u2010sectoral and interdisciplinary research and the involvement of different types of actors interacting with the ecological systems across scales and societal domains. The interplay among society and nature is theorized in the Social\u2010Ecological Systems (SES) approach which underlines that every social process is an embedded part of nature. In this framework, collaboration, conceptualize as a participative approach aimed to involve stakeholders to identify priorities in management actions, constitutes an essential tool to empower communities by identifying novel solutions and strategies to solve environmental issues through collective learning. Powered by external and self\u2010evaluation processes, collaboration allows people to increase the effectiveness of their actions and to adjust them to emerging needs, by learning from previous successes and failures. Nevertheless, at present knowledge on how collaboration can enhance the good governance of SES and the transition towards a bioeconomy is still limited, with the risk that it could be conceptualized as a panacea solution. Furthermore, the close connection among humanity and environment requires a greater awareness on relations arising among actors (i.e. State, market, community, and research organizations) involved in environmental governance. Moving from scientific literature on projects and programs evaluation, this study aims to analyse how relations and interactions among actors involved in SES management have been conceptualized and evaluated. The final aim is to identify different typologies of relational attributes among them by providing policy indications for the environmental governance. The literature review, based on the analysis of 68 articles selected through queries on SCOPUS database, shows that the effective management of SES requires the involvement of all types of actors having different responsibilities and duties associated to their stakeholder group. At present evaluations reported in scientific articles mostly focus on public authorities\u2019 role, with a minor attention on other actors\u2019 contribution. A relation is made at least by two different entities, this requires not to focalize only to one side, but also to the others, in this case, community, market actors and research organizations. In particular there is the need to clarify direct relationships between research organizations and community, which are analysed by very few papers. In addition, there is the need to measure quantitatively stakeholders involvement on environmental collective actions through a network approach in order to identify who has a central role on sustainability transition and to what extent actors belonging to the four categories play a relevant role on it