The application of collaborative governance in local level climate and disaster resilient development – A global review

Major global agreements and frameworks on climate change, disasters and sustainable development emphasise collaborative, integrated and localised approaches to enable effective implementation of climate and disaster resilient development pathways. Progress in local level climate change and disaster-related research indicates the growing complexity of issues and their solutions also requires more collaborative forms of governance. However, an adequate understanding as to which particular factors make collaborative governance work in the context of climate and disaster resilient development is lacking. This paper contributes to filling this gap by presenting a quantitative systematic literature review of the core factors that enhance the effectiveness of collaborative governance for local-level climate and disaster resilient development. Through the interrogation of 35 papers, key characteristics of collaborative local governance were analysed, including the starting conditions, institutional design, collaborative processes, outcomes, and system interactions of such initiatives. Consideration of diverse worldviews, a breadth of engagement approaches and skilled facilitation by collaboration convenors are amongst the factors that enhance the outcomes of collaboration. Findings indicate that organisations and individuals gain clear social learning benefits from participating in collaborative initiatives which may compensate for the investment required to make a collaboration work. However, the review found that actors with decision making power struggle to share that power with other actors. Investing in the ‘soft skills’ of collaborative leadership, including in conflict resolution are amongst the important ingredients for actioning global ambition. Findings justify further research in a broader range of regions and cultural settings.