Local government and nature conservation in Norway: decentralisation as a strategy in environmental policy

Abstract

The government in Norway transfers considerable powers in nature conservation management to local government, hoping to facilitate a wider local involvement in conservation policy. Decentralisation has proven to be a success in welfare policy but is rather controversial in environmental policy. Local councils do act in a double capacity, first as conduits of government policy and second as local political institutions in their own right. Conservation policy differs from welfare policy, as the first is marked by conflicting goals and interests between local and central governments. This is exacerbated by weak institutional arrangements for environmental policy enactment within local government. Given their stance on conservation issues, we would expect local councils to use their expanded powers to develop a local conservation policy that supported local rather than central goals and preoccupations. This article reports the findings of a study of two administrative trials, where local councils are responsible for the management of protected areas. The study finds, as anticipated, that local councils redefine national policy and implement management practices more attuned to local needs and interests. The study indicates that local governments play a different role in conservation policy than in welfare policy. Local implementation of national policy depends largely on the political and institutional characteristics of the actual policy area.