In order to design improved governance schemes, one first has to identify weaknesses and strengths of current governance schemes. Governance schemes can be evaluated according to their outcomes and/or to their processes. Governance outcomes such as changes in natural systems are often immeasurable due to the misfit of natural and social systems, involved time lags, unclear causal links, and ill-identified goals. Therefore, only expected outcomes and associated uncertainties can often be used for evaluation.
GoverNat uses a set of criteria developed for process-oriented evaluation, which focuses
- on the way in which information on natural systems enters the process,
- institutional, legal and ethical legitimacy,
- social dynamics, and
- costs of decision processes.
GoverNat concentrates on participatory processes and analytical tools as means to improve environmental multi-level governance. In specific case studies, GoverNat researchers match the need for improvement of specific governance schemes with the potential of improvement of combined participatory and analytical approaches. Designing and ideally even implementing improved governance schemes in collaboration with praxis partners constitutes the final challenge for this research project. GoverNat researchers herewith empirically test the hypothesis that certain combinations of analytical and participatory processes improve multi-level governance.