Integrated Governance Framework Research Articles

Achieving synergistic benefits through integrated governance of cultivated cadmium contamination via multistakeholder collaboration.

Rice serves as a vital staple food, but its accumulation of cadmium (Cd) has sparked widespread concerns regarding food safety and ecosystem security. Here, we conducted a seven-year systematic field experiment in the Xiangjiang River Basin of China, where an integrated governance framework (IGF) was established to ensure rice safety. The IGF, tailored to geographical zoning and pollution gradation, includes targeted soil treatments, crop management strategies, and stakeholder engagement. The quality of both the soil and the crop was improved, with a reduction in soil Cd availability of 36%, and a decrease in Cd in rice grain of 57-78%. This framework not only addresses multiple challenges but also supports sustainable development goals (SDGs 2, 3, 6, 9) by fostering comprehensive synergies among science, policy, and local community participation. Our findings provide empirical guidance for safe rice production in Cd-contaminated areas and provide solid scientific-driven decision support globally.

Global pandemic governance: A multilevel concept for managing pandemic crises worldwide

This article examines how countries can effectively respond to global health pandemics in six stages. Previous research has assumed that human social and economic activities affect the spread of viral infectious diseases, and it has been noted that countries fight global pandemics independently, making the response inefficient. As no comprehensive governing guidelines exist for managing global public health pandemics, this article argues for the need for an international, integrated governance framework, offering theoretical reflections on a novel integrated, multilevel governance concept, the Global Governance of Pandemic Crises (GGPC), which is centered around crisis management theory at an international level. The article differentiates four pandemic governance processes—risk, emergence, recovery, and goal governance—in six pandemic periods that are linked to different processes of public health pandemic governance. The GGPC concept may prove useful to organisations responsible for governing pandemics and implementing relevant measures in affected countries.

Identifying and understanding digital exclusion: a mixed-methods study

ABSTRACT Many of our transactions and interactions are now exclusively online; however, whilst we live in a world which is becoming ubiquitously digital, digital exclusion remains a complex societal issue. This study aimed to identify the scale and characteristics of ‘digitally excluded’ individuals in one borough in North East England and investigate factors influencing experiences of digital exclusion. A two-phase, sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used. Phase One utilised a survey which was sent to every household in the borough (N = >98,000). The surveys (N = 9181) were analysed using exploratory univariate analysis, followed by a two-staged regression model. Of those responses, 1130 individuals (12.3%) were identified as digitally excluded. Older adults with disability, no or low-level education, and residing in specific (micro) geographical areas, were at higher risk of digital exclusion. Smaller household sizes and lower income also contributed to digitally exclusion. To further enhance inclusivity, three focus groups were conducted with groups who were identified as being at higher risk of digital exclusion (N = 10). Discussions highlighted the complexities of digital exclusion and digital use across communities and within individual circumstances. Digital exclusion is multi-factored and complex. It requires regional institutions and local communities to collaborate in an integrated governance framework to improve digital inclusion.

An integrated governance framework to map out and act on the interrelationships between human mobility and disaster risk

ABSTRACT In modern complex societies with profoundly interlinked sectors and sub-sectors, policymakers and scholars need to adopt systemic thinking as an analytical lens for mapping the intersections and interdependencies between social systems and their related vulnerabilities. This paper argues for an integrated governance approach to manage the risks and opportunities arising from the interactions between human mobility (HM) and disaster risk (DR). The analysis of HM and DR governance frameworks at the international and national levels (including through the case study lens of Bangladesh) shows that some progress has been made in integrating aspects of HM into DR governance and vice versa. Although respective frameworks have been integrated to a certain extent, further points of convergence and overlap still need to be adequately addressed. The policy integration process can be guided and facilitated by combining two conceptual frameworks originating in the HM and DR governance fields: the human mobilities perspective and the systemic risk approach. The paper concludes by proposing an HM-DR governance framework informed by these perspectives and steered by an interagency standing committee.

Exploring Environmental Collaboration and Greenwashing in Construction Projects: Integrative Governance Framework

Exploring Environmental Collaboration and Greenwashing in Construction Projects: Integrative Governance Framework

Comparing Health Workforce Policy during a Major Global Health Crisis: A Critical Conceptual Debate and International Empirical Investigation.

The health workforce is central to healthcare systems and population health, but marginal in comparative health policy. This study aims to highlight the crucial relevance of the health workforce and contribute comparative evidence to help improve the protection of healthcare workers and prevention of inequalities during a major public health crisis. Our integrated governance framework considers system, sector, organizational and socio-cultural dimensions of health workforce policy. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the policy field and Brazil, Canada, Italy, and Germany as illustrative cases. We draw on secondary sources (literature, document analysis, public statistics, reports) and country expert information with a focus on the first COVID-19 waves until the summer of 2021. Our comparative investigation illustrates the benefits of a multi-level governance approach beyond health system typologies. In the selected countries, we found similar problems and governance gaps concerning increased workplace stress, lack of mental health support, and gender and racial inequalities. Health policy across countries failed to adequately respond to the needs of HCWs, thus exacerbating inequalities during a major global health crisis. Comparative health workforce policy research may contribute new knowledge to improve health system resilience and population health during a crisis.

Advancing Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education in Nigeria: Current Challenges and Future Directions

The important roles of environmental education (EE) as a tool for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been clearly identified in national policy visions and guidelines in Nigeria. Despite this increasing recognition however, the implementation and delivery of EE programs remain adversely impacted by a wide range of practical implementation challenges. While a number of existing studies have compiled the importance of EE for advancing the SDGs, a detailed examination of the law and governance challenges that limit the implementation of EE programs in Nigeria has remained absent. This article fills a gap in this regard. Various legal and institutional challenges that arise with the design and implementation of EE programs in Nigeria are examined in order to identify the ways in which an integrative governance framework on EE can help close these gaps. The study suggests that an elaboration of coherent national strategy on EE; a dedicated budgetary allocation for EE programs; reform of the existing laws to ensure coherent implementation of EE programs; and the designation of focal EE units at higher education institution are significant steps towards improving the development and implementation of EE programs in Nigeria.

A Systemic Understanding of Hybrid Peace: An Examination of Hybrid Political Orders in African Peace Governance

The idea of hybrid peace has gained prominence in both academic and policy literature, yet ongoing debates fail to explicitly address a key lacuna concerning the relationship between hybrid political orders and the enhancement of traditional peacemaking in the Global South. Using an integrative governance framework, this article examines the notion of hybridity from grassroots to regional peace practices in Africa. It argues that the efficacy and sustenance of traditional African peacemaking could be enhanced if a customary peace practice is systemically integrated with liberal procedures and that discussions on hybridity will gain more value and meaning if the debates (re)center on unpacking hybridity at key governance arenas/stages—and the implications for a national and international order. The article thus attempts to provoke a new conversation that disaggregates the possibilities, dilemmas, and implications of hybrid orders from grassroots through regional to a global level and what it contributes to future peacebuilding.

Integrated governance for managing multidimensional problems: Potentials, challenges, and arrangements

The implementation challenge of ecosystem-based (fisheries) management (EB(F)M) has entailed calls for integrated governance (IG) approaches in the marine field. We arranged an expert workshop to study the preconditions and applicability of IG, and to suggest how IG could be arranged in practice. Focusing on the management of the dioxin problem shared by the herring and salmon fisheries in the Baltic Sea, and using a coupled ‘insight network’- SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) methodology, we evaluated two scenarios: 1) IG of herring and salmon fisheries to benefit from collaboration between these fisheries that suffer from the same problem, and 2) IG between the fisheries sector and the food/public health sector to incorporate food safety in fisheries governance. Our results demonstrate that a variety of societal, political, institutional, operational, instrumental, and biological factors affect the applicability of IG in marine contexts, and work as preconditions for IG. While societal needs for IG were obvious in our case, as major challenges for it we identified the competing cross-sectoral objectives, path dependencies, and limitations of experts to think and work across fields. The study suggests that establishing an IG framework by adding new aspects upon the current governance structures may be easier to accept and adapt to, than creating new strategic or advisory bodies or other new capacities. Viewing IG as a framework for understanding cross-sectoral issues instead of one that requires a defined level and form of integrated assessment and management may be a way towards social learning, and thereby towards the implementation of more sophisticated, open and broad EB(F)M frameworks.

Assessing land–sea interactions in the framework of maritime spatial planning: lessons from an ecosystem approach

Maritime spatial planning aims to provide an integrated governance framework for the rational allocation of activities whilst also preserving marine ecosystems. Maritime spatial planning is a complex task with similarities to but also significant differences from onshore spatial planning. The sea is a multidimensional environmental, economic and social territory, so the methods and methodologies used for classical land-use planning can vary. The management of the coastal zone, which is the link between the land and the sea, is critical. The adoption of European Union Directive 2014/89 has led to the creation of a new national legal framework for the preparation of maritime spatial plans in European Union member states, including Greece. However, the complexity of the interactions between anthropogenic pressures and the marine ecosystem makes it essential to quantitatively assess the impact of the land uses included in proposed local spatial plans. Thus, the cumulative impact score index (Ic) was used to assess the pressures on the coastal environment caused by the land uses proposed in the local spatial plan for the Mastichochoria area of the island of Chios in Greece. Based on the results of the case study, the authors argue that quantitative analytical tools are required for comprehensive and effective planning, especially within the ecosystem approach framework. The results indicate that an integrated approach between onshore and offshore institutional spatial planning is required, and that a new, more effective spatial governance model is needed in Greece.

A framework for analyzing and practicing Integrative Governance: The case of global animal and conservation governance

This article presents a framework to analyze and practice Integrative Governance, defined as the theories and practices that focus on the relationships between governance instruments and/or systems. The need to pay explicit attention to such relationships is increasingly recognized, especially in achieving the transformative change needed for sustainable development. The Integrative Governance framework focuses on explanatory analyses of the relationships and performance of governance instruments and/or systems, and is inspired by a pragmatic theoretical perspective. It includes three steps of analysis, with the first focused on the governance instruments and the relationships between them, the second on the combined performance of governance systems, and the third on explanations for the relationships and performance. Especially for this third step, insights from different theoretical perspectives are used, incorporating insights from rational choice theory, institutionalism, constructivism and critical theory. The application of the framework is illustrated by the example of the global animal and conservation governance systems. The preliminary analysis shows that the global conservation governance system is relatively more developed than the global animal governance system. The latter is mainly focused on animal health, with fewer instruments on welfare, and none on animal rights. The former includes more governance instruments and has some systems in place for monitoring implementation. The performance of both systems however remains limited, and there are few interactions between the systems. Main explanations include the interests of countries involved in the governance systems, the dominant anthropocentric discourses, and the current mostly animal-unfriendly and unsustainable political economy. Applying the Integrative Governance framework enables an enhanced understanding of the multiple and intertwined explanations of the relationships and performance of governance systems, allowing academics and practitioners to develop more realistic, durable solutions both in the shorter and longer term.

England's evolving marine and coastal governance framework

This paper reviews the principal marine and coastal policy changes in England since 1999. The key changes identified are the establishment of a strategic national marine and coastal policy direction, new marine legislation and institutions, the emergence of a marine planning framework, the consolidation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management approaches to coastal governance, the establishment of a Marine Protected Area network, and the decline of coastal partnerships. The European Union, UK National Government, and devolved administrations are identified as key influences on the governance evolution and their relative contributions are discussed. It is concluded that the English marine and coastal governance context has evolved significantly since 1999 and that the new framework, if implemented successfully, represents a genuine step towards an integrated governance framework for England's coasts and seas.

Coastal and marine governance in the United Kingdom Editorial

The purpose of this special issue is to consider a number of contemporary issues related to coastal and marine governance in the UK. This is a particularly pertinent geographical question at this time, as coastal and marine spaces are at the forefront of a number of important challenges for the UK, and governance structures are a key influence on how these issues can be tackled (McFadden 2007). The first and most obvious issue is climate change, the impacts of which are likely to be felt at the coast before anywhere else, perhaps through increased flood severity and frequency, increased erosion, and greater land instability. Second, the UK’s coastal spaces are under immense socioeconomic pressure for development and exploitation, for tourism, port infrastructure, residential development, and more recently, for environmental mitigation schemes, managed realignment sites, and compensatory habitat. Third, is the changing pattern of the use of the UK’s marine environment, including a reduction in fishing activity and an expansion of both the offshore renewable energy and cruise tourism sectors. These challenges form the context for the central question of this special issue: how to establish an effective governance framework for the UK’s coastal and marine environment.

The role of local government in redressing neighbourhood disadvantage: A case study from Penrith City Council

The concentration of disadvantage in specific neighbourhoods is a widespread characteristic of many Australian cities. A broad range of policies and programs which utilize integrated forms of governance have been designed and implemented to redress this. Within the state of New South Wales, Australia, local governments have been identified as being amongst the most effective drivers for these integrated governance approaches. Utilizing a case study of the Penrith Neighbourhood Renewal Program, this paper explores recent attempts by Penrith City Council to develop a framework to redress neighbourhood disadvantage, firstly by establishing an integrated governance framework for the program, and secondly by transforming the council’s operational structure.