Enabling and hindering factors to successfully governing ecosystem services in a cross-collaborative setting

Abstract: This research paper hones into the field of natural resource management. More specifically, it investigates cross-sector collaborations around the governance of ecosystem services in the forestry sector. As ecosystem services are inherently challenging to sustainably and collaboratively manage due to the multitude of vested interests existing among stakeholders, there is a need to enhance the understanding of the collaborative process. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to provide an understanding for which factors hinder or enable the successful governance of ecosystem services in a cross-collaborative setting, and how these factors interrelate with each other. Included in this paper are four cases from within Europe where local stakeholders in collaboration with varying actors from forest management, policy, public, tourism, research, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and business sectors, collaborate in order to effectively manage forest ecosystem services. The main findings suggest that organisational factors, relational factors, cultural factors, unforeseen external events, communication, engagement and their associated sub-factors are most notable. Additionally, this study showcased that most of these factors are interrelated with each other in a complex manner.