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Indigenous nations worldwide are working with and lobbying private and public resource developers to ensure meaningful engagement in decisions tied to resource development in their territories. The diversity of approaches for engagement can be framed along a continuum, with voluntary practices at one end and legal responsibilities at the other. Given this continuum, the roles and responsibilities of various actors involved have become blurred, which leads to poor practice. In an effort to bring clarity, the aim of this research was to understand the distinctions between voluntary practices and legal responsibilities among key actors, identify how key actors understood their different roles and responsibilities, and explain the implications of these differences. In partnership with a First Nation and a public power utility in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, we employed semi-structured interviews and group workshops with Indigenous, industry, and government actors who participate in environmental management and resource development decisions. We found that actors had distinct motivations for interacting with one another, that perceptions of voluntary practices and legal responsibilities aligned among some participants but not among others, and that participants were indeed confused about their roles and responsibilities in relation to legal requirements and voluntary engagement activities. Furthermore, we learned that clarifying the intended roles of those involved in resource development decisions would be insufficient for improving practice. This is because improved clarity may not address underlying mistrust of government by Indigenous people, or may not be possible where rights and interests are intertwined under a broad conception of Indigenous rights. Findings also suggest the need for government and industry to work with Indigenous nations as self-determining entities, rather than imposing unilateral processes upon them. Consequently, more serious scrutiny, understanding and action is needed by government and industry when employing and assessing voluntary actions and legal measures for Indigenous inclusion in resource development decision-making processes., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In evaluating effectiveness for collaborative environmental governance arrangements, a key concern is describing not just the processes and actors that are a part of these systems, but also the impacts that these processes have on ecological and social conditions. Existing research delineates an emphasis on process variables over outcome variables, as well as the difficulties of demonstrating causal relationships between collaborative governance processes and ecological outcomes. In this paper, we examined how process and outcome criteria are used by sponsors, industry practitioners, and participants of collaborative environmental governance (CEG) arrangements in Canada's forest sector to ascertain effectiveness. We explicitly sought evidence from sponsors and industry practitioners of self-described effective forest advisory committees, anticipating that sponsors or practitioners might place greater emphasis than participants on outcome criteria over process criteria. We analyzed data from a nation-wide survey of forest advisory committee participants, conducted interviews with sponsoring agencies, and completed two in-depth case studies. We found that sponsors and industry practitioners, like participants, perceived a strong relationship between process and effectiveness. The perspectives of all participants helped us articulate ten key process criteria that they determined as essential for CEG. By including the insights of sponsoring agencies, our study provides both on-the-ground and management interpretations of process and outcomes as well as a nuanced approach to understanding the relationship between the two. However, we conclude that systematic evaluation approaches involving outcome-based criteria are still necessary and would provide a clear step towards encouraging accountability in CEG decision-making, both for sponsors and members.

A challenge for transdisciplinary sustainability science is learning how to bridge diverse worldviews among collaborators in respectful ways. A temptation in transdisciplinary work is to focus on improving scientific practices rather than engage research partners in spaces that mutually respect how we learn from each other and set the stage for change. We used the concept of Nicolescu's "Hidden Third" to identify and operationalize this transformative space, because it focused on bridging "objective" and "subjective" worldviews through art. Between 2014 and 2017, we explored the engagement of indigenous peoples from three inland delta regions in Canada and as a team of interdisciplinary scholars and students who worked together to better understand long-term social-ecological change in those regions. In working together, we identified five characteristics associated with respectful, transformative transdisciplinary space. These included (1) establishing an unfiltered safe place where (2) subjective and objective experiences and (3) different world views could come together through (4) interactive and (5) multiple sensory experiences. On the whole, we were more effective in achieving characteristics 2-5-bringing together the subjective and objective experiences, where different worldviews could come together-than in achieving characteristic 1-creating a truly unfiltered and safe space for expression. The novelty of this work is in how we sought to change our own engagement practices to advance sustainability rather than improving scientific techniques. Recommendations for sustainability scientists working in similar contexts are provided.

The decoupling of human-ecosystem relationships in underutilized forested or agricultural regions poses a threat to cultural and biological diversities. Some scholars have proposed transformative strategies involving local-led efforts to reconnect social and ecological systems with the support of bridging organizations (BOs). However, empirically-based understandings about how and under what conditions BOs can address context-specific social conditions to enable transformation work remain limited. Using the concept of social fit - how institutional arrangements address contextual social conditions to enhance governance effectiveness - this study examines the work of the Kyoto Model Forest Association (KMFA), a BO, in improving the relationship between forests and people in Kyoto, Japan. We employed a mixed method approach involving a questionnaire survey, document review, semi-structured interviews, and direct observations. Our findings showed that to improve human-ecosystem interdependence, the KMFA prioritized the provision of public education; invested in places and systems to reduce participation costs; built trust and reduced value mismatches; provided incentives and built management capacity; provided leadership to diverse local forestry groups; facilitated institutional integration of forest and non-forest organizations; and drew resources from diverse organizations. These roles broadened the participation of different actors with novel connections to local ecosystems, enhanced self-organizing capacities, and streamlined the roles of forest management institutions. To sustain these efforts, the KMFA needs to continuously adapt to meet the needs and perceptions of diverse and dynamic actors and to broaden participation. Our analysis provides evidence of the efficacy of BOs to recouple human-ecosystem relationships and improve governance outcomes in underutilized social-ecological systems., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Researchers of adaptive capacity and sustainable livelihoods have frequently used social, cultural, human, economic and institutional capitals to better understand how rural and resource-dependent communities address environmental, social and economic stresses. Yet few studies have considered how men and women contribute differently to these capitals to support community resilience overall. Our research sought to understand the differential contributions of Sami men and women to the adaptive capacity of reindeer husbandry and reindeer herding communities in northern Sweden. Our focus revealed a gendered division of labour in reindeer herding as an economic enterprise as well as gendered contributions to a broader conceptualization of reindeer husbandry as a family and community-based practice, and as a livelihood and cultural tradition. Based on our results, we recommend that community resilience be enhanced by generating more opportunities for men to achieve higher levels of human and economic capital (particularly outside of herding activities) and encouraging women to contribute more directly to institutional capital by participating in the formation and implementation of legislation, policies and plans.

Collaborative forest governance arrangements have been viewed as promising for sustainable forestry because they allow local communities to participate directly in management and benefit from resource use or protection. Such arrangements are strengthened through social learning during management activities that can enhance capacity to solve complex problems. Despite significant research on social learning in collaborative environmental governance, it is not clear how social learning evolves over time, who influences social learning, and whether learning influences management effectiveness. This study investigates how social learning outcomes change over time, using an in-depth study of a community forest in Canada. Personal interviews, focus group meetings, and participant observation revealed that most participants started engaging in community forestry with limited knowledge and learned as they participated in management activities. However, as the community forest organization became effective at complying with forestry legislation, learning opportunities and outcomes became more restricted. Our results run contrary to the prevalent view that opportunities for and outcomes of social learning become enlarged over time. In our case, learning how to meet governmental requirements increased professionalism and reduced opportunities for involvement and learning to a smaller group. Our findings suggest the need to further test propositions about social learning and collaborative governance, particularly to determine how relationships evolve over time.