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Participatory practices are prominent strategies for increasing the legitimacy and effectiveness of resource commons governance. Despite increases in participatory practices legitimacy of such governance is in decline. Remaining commons are sites of conflict echoing wider disillusionment in democratic governance across mature liberal democracies. Much participatory governance literature argues that more involvement of citizens in deliberation and decision-making is the solution, turning away from representative practices to strengthen direct participation in commons governance. In this paper we draw on seminal work in political representation theory to examine legitimacy and political agency in participatory governance practices. We develop a conceptual lens drawing on key elements of: Hannah Pitkin's The Concept of Representation; Michael Saward's Representative Claim; and, Vivan Schmidt's throughput model of legitimacy. The lens comprises three 'conditions' for analyzing how political agency of participants is constituted through institutional processes: authorization, dissent and exit, and accountability. We argue that this conceptual lens can serve the participatory turn in commons governance by enabling explicit consideration of the links between political participation and representation as foundations of democratic legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural resource management practices such as community-based resource management (CBRM) are well-established bottom-up approaches to developing adaptive governance systems. Less is understood about how communities involved in such processes can attract top-down support without compromising their credibility or salience. We tested the usefulness of the linked boundary functions concept - boundary chains - for explaining the role of "research for development" (R4D) organizations in the integration of bottom-up community resource governance and top-down policy and legislative governance. We used the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in the Solomon Islands as a case study to probe the role of R4D organizations in this regard. The linked boundary functions concept proved useful in exploring the active functions of R4D organizations as actors that lend credibility, salience, and legitimacy to community-based governance initiatives. The concept of linked boundary functions or boundary chains can contribute to the current discussion in the complexity-aware theory of change and open new avenues for boundary management that enable the development of integrated resource governance in complex development contexts. This article contributes to the existing literature on the boundary spanning activities of R4D organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholder participation has become central to marine governance, a trend that is consistent with resource governance more broadly. Imperatives for increasing participation in marine governance reflect complex sociological trends, including population-driven change in coastal areas, increasing marine industry; climate-mediated changes in productivity; and decreasing trust in governing institutions. Despite this, marine governance research points to a paradox - efforts to increase participatory governance are leading towards decreasing legitimacy and low levels of trust in the governance system. This paper examines stakeholder perceptions of representation in the context of efforts to achieve effective participatory governance of a multiple-use marine commons: the D’Entrecasteaux-Huon Channel region in Tasmania, Australia. Political representation was found to be an essential component of stakeholders’ assessment of the legitimacy of the governance of multiple-use marine systems. At the same time, representation was found to be a contradictory component that could not necessarily be settled by ideal type institutional rules for participation in governance. This paper suggests that rethinking how representation can be managed institutionally within the network context is warranted. It contributes to marine governance research by directly facing the complexity of representation in participatory initiatives, and signals a potential avenue for examining the challenges of participatory governance of shared marine systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaculture technologies are developing quickly for land-based or onshore aquaculture. Recirculated aquaculture systems (RAS) are among a suite of emerging technologies in land-based aquaculture focused on increasing food production whilst aiming to reduce negative environmental effects of aquaculture. Despite optimism about the potential for RAS aquaculture production, questions about RAS production methods are beginning to emerge. In turn, such questions trigger a question about the role social acceptability in the extent to which RAS-based industries can establish and expand. This has not been addressed in the literature and is explored in this paper by using current understanding of social acceptability to analyse potential issues for RAS. We found that social concerns about negative environmental effects are not expected to offer the same challenges that apply to existing inshore aquaculture. However, competition for land, and energy costs and their carbon footprint are key issues the industry will need to consider where expansion is pursued. Social acceptability, however, is not only a matter of specific concerns but core determining factors for social acceptability – legitimacy, credibility, and their role in trust – must be considered. • Social acceptability of RAS aquaculture has not been examined to date. • High energy costs and greenhouse emissions must be addressed to meet sustainability values that inform social acceptability. • Land-based footprint required for the expansion of RAS aquaculture to industrial scale is likely to create social acceptability challenges. • A schema that increases the sensitivity of social acceptability analysis for the applied context is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean governance is complex and influenced by multiple drivers and actors with different worldviews and goals. While governance encompasses many elements, in this paper we focus on the processes that operate within and between states, civil society and local communities, and the market, including industry. Specifically, in this paper, we address the question of how to move towards more sustainable ocean governance aligning with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the UN Ocean Decade. We address three major risks to oceans that arise from governance-related issues: (1) the impacts of the overexploitation of marine resources; (2) inequitable distribution of access to and benefits from marine ecosystem services, and (3) inadequate or inappropriate adaptation to changing ocean conditions. The SDGs have been used as an underlying framework to develop these risks. We identify five drivers that may determine how ocean governance evolves, namely formal rules and institutions, evidence and knowledge-based decision-making, legitimacy of decision-making institutions, stakeholder engagement and participation, and empowering communities. These drivers were used to define two alternative futures by 2030: (a) 'Business as Usual'—a continuation of current trajectories and (b) 'More Sustainable Future'—optimistic, transformational, but technically achievable. We then identify what actions, as structured processes, can reduce the three major governance-related risks and lead to the More Sustainable Future. These actions relate to the process of co-creation and implementation of improved, comprehensive, and integrated management plans, enhancement of decision-making processes, and better anticipation and consideration of ambiguity and uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]