Parks, Policies and People Nature Conservation Governance in Post-Socialist EU Countries
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Parks, Policies and People and People Policies Parks, Parks, Policies and People Our main goal is to preserve species and habitats in the good condi- Nature Conservation Governance tions and maintain favourable conservation status. (Park administration) in Post-Socialist EU Countries We [the municipality] do not receive taxes or subsidies, so I always wonder how we are supposed to make ends meet and deliver education, Natalya Yakusheva healthcare and reliable public transportation. (Municipality office) Nature conservation and rural development are seen increasingly as interlinked agendas. In practice, however, the local potential for their integration remains limited, and often no strategic vision exists for how to achieve it. Local actors are reluctant to engage in developing more inclusive, transparent, accountable, and participatory policy making, as they have often experienced few positive outcomes from these strategies. This thesis explores key challenges and opportunities for nature con- servation policy and practices at the local level in a context of post- socialist legacies and Europeanization to further understand the ongoing governance changes in Central Eastern Europe. Natalya Yakusheva carries out research in the field of environmental science with a special focus on environmental governance. This is her PhD thesis. NA TALYA YAKUSHEVA TALYA Environmental Science, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies, Södertörn University. Baltic and East European graduate school (BEEGS), Södertörn University. ISBN 978-91-87843-94-5 Södertörn University | Library, SE-141 89 Huddinge | [email protected] SÖDERTÖRN DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS Parks, Policies and People Parks, Policies and People Nature Conservation Governance in Post-Socialist EU Countries Natalya Yakusheva Subject: Environmental Science Research Area: Environmental Studies School: Natural Science, Technology and Environmental Studies and Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS) Södertörns högskola (Södertörn University) The Library SE-141 89 Huddinge www.sh.se/publications © The author Cover Image: View on the village Zboj near the Slovak Poloniny National Park © Natalya Yakusheva Cover Layout: Jonathan Robson Graphic Form: Per Lindblom & Jonathan Robson Printed by Elanders, Stockholm 2017 Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations 136 ISSN 1652–7399 ISBN 978-91-87843-94-5 (print) ISBN 978-91-87843-95-2 (digital) Abstract The national parks in the Carpathian Mountains along the Polish and Slovak border represent encompassing policy agendas that strive to balance biodiversity conser- vation and social welfare tasks. These countries have, during the last 25 years, undergone rapid transformation from socialist regimes to liberal democracies, and this transformation has affected the political, social and economic spheres. The accession to the European Union (EU) introduced demands for further changes, such as closer integration of conservation and socioeconomic development and inclusive, transparent and accountable decision-making that are based on parti- cipatory mechanisms. Therefore, modern policy processes do not follow the pre- vious hierarchical model but rather have a diffused character, including actors from both the vertical and horizontal policy axes. This thesis explores key challenges and opportunities for nature conservation policy and practice at the local level in a context of post-socialist legacies and Europeanization. Multi-level governance, Europeanization, and post-socialist studies are used as theoretical vehicles for the analysis of four transboundary national parks: Pieninsky national parks (NP) in both Poland and Slovakia and Bieszczady NP [Poland] and Poloniny NP [Slovakia]. The results of this study show that the early designation of the studied parks as protected areas prevented their exploitation and enabled preservation of important landscapes, which currently are highly valued at the European level. These nature conservation regimes have created tangible restrictions on the possible economic uses of these areas. However, rural development alternatives depend on a broader set of local, national and global factors such as the structure of the local economy and employment, the prioritization of nature conservation in national policies, investors’ interest, and increasing urbanization. Europeanization provided oppor- tunities for local actors to benefit from additional funding made available for nature conservation and rural development. At the same time, demands for participatory decision-making posed significant procedural and conceptual challenges to achieving transparent, inclusive and accountable governance. The prevalence of informal practices in local policy-making and the lack of trust in state authorities pose further challenges to formal participatory processes. The opportunities of local actors to reach out across levels to express their interests remain scarce and are not institutionalized, whereas the multi-level characteristics of modern governance indirectly shape local processes by defining common legal and policy frameworks. Keywords: national parks, Carpathians, Poland, Slovakia, Europeanization, Central Eastern Europe, multi-level governance. Contents Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................13 List of tables and figures.............................................................................................................17 List of abbreviations and acronyms..........................................................................................19 PART 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................21 CHAPTER 1 Contested conservation regimes: between socialist legacies, EU norms and local conditions.................................................................................................23 1.1 Main objective and research questions........................................................................26 1.2 Background and cases in focus.....................................................................................29 1.3 Conceptual approaches to nature conservation.........................................................33 1.3.1 Protected areas and local development: a literature review............................35 1.3.2 Land use and nature conservation in Central Eastern Europe: key features and practices..............................................................................................37 1.3.3 Protected areas during socialism and transformation.....................................38 1.3.4 Previous research in post-socialist legacies and Europeanization .................41 1.4 The contribution of this study......................................................................................45 1.5 Thesis outline ..................................................................................................................46 PART 2: Theoretical considerations and methods ......................................................49 CHAPTER 2 Multi-level governance and Europeanization in post-socialism..........................................51 2.1 MLG, Europeanization, and post-socialist legacies in the analysis of local processes...................................................................................................................52 2.1.1 Introducing the selected concepts ......................................................................56 2.2 Elaborating selected concepts .......................................................................................58 2.2.1 Actors, interests, resources and power...............................................................58 2.2.2 Inclusion, transparency, and accountability: exploring the qualities of multi-level governance ..............................................................................60 2.2.3 Participation: Analytical approaches and the MLG twist ...............................62 2.2.4 Trust and post-socialist legacies..........................................................................66 2.2.5 Operationalizing the dynamics of change in Europeanization ......................68 2.3 Analytical framework of the research..........................................................................70 CHAPTER 3 Methods........................................................................................................................................75 3.1 Case Selection: nature conservation in transboundary national parks in the Carpathians.................................................................................................................75 3.1.1 Chosen cases similar, but different.....................................................................78 3.2 Methodological reflections: interviews........................................................................79 3.2.1 Getting started .......................................................................................................81 3.2.2 Interview guide ......................................................................................................82 3.2.3 Secondary sources .................................................................................................85 3.3 Methodological reflections from the field trips..........................................................86 3.3.1 Field Trip I: October–November 2013...............................................................86