How actors manage scientific and other information across scales in polycentric governance for collaborative ecosystem recovery

Abstract

Restoration of complex socio-ecological commons involves diverse stakeholders in multiple jurisdictions and organizations. When these decision centers are part of a polycentric governance system, it opens possibilities for sharing information vertically and horizontally. A key type of information shared in large social-ecological commons is scientific knowledge. Scientific information can be used by local level actors to inform local solutions, or to make connections to the larger scale. Prior research suggests much information sharing and learning in polycentric governance is horizontal, with actors sharing information across their level of governance. As well, different types of information may be shared in different directions, with scientific information shared from the large scale down to the local scale, and time and place information shared from the local scale to other local scales or up to the larger scale.

This research examines how scientific information is sought and shared by local level actors in the polycentric Puget Sound region (USA). This is a science-rich and institutionally thick polycentric governance system with four types of local collaborative partnerships that are connected vertically to a distinct larger scale jurisdiction. Thus it is an opportune setting to ask and answer questions about sharing and use of scientific information. Analyses of a survey completed by over 200 local partnership members indicates that respondents are comfortable working with science and actively seek it from a variety of horizontal and vertical sources in roughly equal measure. They report sharing scientific information vertically upward less often, but a nontrivial amount. Their key purposes for seeking scientific information include both applying it to address local issues and learning about larger scale connections. Finally, the importance of scientific information compared to other types of information depends on the type of science: natural science is valued more than other types of information, but social science is valued less.