The world(s) we live in – Inter-agency collaboration in forest management

Abstract

Academics and politicians alike have argued for greater inter-agency collaboration to address sector-crossing policy issues, such as health care, policing, or natural resource management. Nevertheless, in reality, it remains a rare occurrence. We examine local-level (street-level) collaboration in the context of public forest management in Germany where, historically, public forests were solely under the forest management agency's authority. With the establishment of a nature conservation agency and subsequent legislative changes, responsibilities and authorities were increasingly distributed among both agencies. Today, the two agencies are connected through a system of approval procedures and expected to collaborate to further nature conservation objectives. We aim to understand how the mandate to collaborate is put into practice, and find a diversity of local level agency relationships. While the literature suggests the benefits of inter-agency collaboration stems from including a diversity of disciplines and compensating for limited resources, we find these aspects to pose significant challenges in local level practices. Aside from actor-related factors, we also found systemic and societal actors to be a strong influence on inter-agency exchange.