Governance approaches to balance trade-off situations between Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Insights from Chaco Culture National Historical Park, US

Abstract

While the UN and its member states place high hopes on the achievement of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Emissions Gap Report for 2022 concludes that the international community is significantly off track in achieving the Paris Agreement's goals, and there is currently no viable path to limit global warming to 1.5°C. In addition, the recently published Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023 shows that there is a global lack of progress. One of the barriers to achieving the goals are trade-off situations between the goals. This requires governance approaches to balance competing (resource) interests. This study gives insights into the governance approaches to balance a complex trade-off situation in the World Heritage site Chaco Culture National Historical Park, US, as a critical case in this regard. Data were collected through document analysis and 20 semi-structured interviews between 2022 and early 2023 and analysed through qualitative content analysis. The presentation concludes with reflections on how to improve governance processes to balance trade-off situations in WHS.