Governance of working landscapes: a conceptual framework

The working landscape approach is gaining rapid recognition for its potential to help address global environmental crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss and support social well-being. Yet, the working landscape approach still lacks a comprehensive conceptual framework to guide further research and practice. This article provides such a framework through a comprehensive review and synthesis of the governance dimension of working landscapes. The framework is built on five premises, including (1) the working landscape approach focuses on simultaneously achieving social well-being and environmental protection within the landscapes, (2) it is concerned with fostering collective action among multiple actors to deliver sustainable outcomes, (3) the social-ecological context affects and is affected by the working landscape in question, (4) five common elements-equity, facilitative leadership, local autonomy, incentives, and trust-are essential for facilitating collective action in working landscapes, and (5) collaborative and multilevel interactions enhance governance fit in working landscapes. Our framework focuses on the local scale and how the local is embedded within multilevel governance arrangements. This framework can guide empirical case studies on the working landscape approach, further its theoretical understanding, and contribute to enhancing policy aimed at increased social well-being and environmental protection.

Automated summary

The working landscape approach is gaining recognition for its potential in addressing global environmental crises and supporting social well-being. However, a comprehensive conceptual framework to guide further research and practice is still lacking. This article provides such a framework through a review and synthesis of the governance dimension of working landscapes. The framework focuses on achieving social well-being and environmental protection, fostering collective action, and enhancing governance fit in working landscapes.