Hybrid modes of governance for ecosystem services provision: A review

Abstract

The paper deals with emerging hybrid forms of environmental governance combining state, market and community-based governance features, including policy mixes. Conceptual approaches in sociology, political science and institutional economics share a similar focus on hybrid modes of governance and policy mixes as promising approaches for dealing with current environmental and societal challenges. However, the diversity of scientific perspectives has led to different, partially overlapping, definitions and typologies in the literature. This poses limitations for analytical clarity, comparison and policy implications. The paper reviews how hybrid modes of governance for ecosystem services provision are conceptualized, taking into account their different characteristics (type of governance or policy instruments, underlying theoretical orientation, actors involved, formulation and application level). A set of 120 published journal articles serves as a basis for characterizing the different concepts, definitions and rationales of hybrid modes of governance and for synthetizing the empirical evidence on their performance. As an outcome, this paper provides for a research agenda to further improve the understanding of hybrid modes of governance and their potential for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services.