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Abstract: Invasive species are increasingly recognized as one of the most significant threats to global functioning of social-ecological systems. Despite the urgency of this threat, development of effective policy and governance responses has been slow. Practitioners on the ground often focus on the development of technical solutions for mitigation, and relatively few social scientists have begun to ask questions about “what works and why” in invasive species governance. There are several significant challenges to greater understanding, development, and dissemination of effective governance responses to invasive species, including a general lack of theoretical understanding about the nature of invasive species as a collective action dilemma; the tendency of invasive species to cross jurisdictional and sectoral boundaries, making their management a complex, cross-boundary collective action problem with heterogenous actors and interests; and last, given that invasive species management is a relatively “new” area of environmental concern, it is difficult to conduct empirical studies that assess and compare past instances and results of governance approaches. In this talk, Dr. Baldwin will present an overview of an NSF-funded research project designed to overcome these challenges to identify and predict governance approaches that are likely to be effective in addressing invasive buffelgrass in Southern Arizona.
Dr. Elizabeth Baldwin is an Assistant Professor in the University of Arizona’s School of Government and Public Policy. She researches energy and environmental policy in the U.S. and in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular focus on the way that decision making authority is shared between state and non-state actors, as well as the laws and formal and informal rules that structure these arrangements. She currently has ongoing research projects examining the governance of invasive buffelgrass in Southern Arizona; the governance of forest transitions in the U.S. Forest Service; stakeholder engagement in the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act; state-regional interactions in U.S. clean energy governance; the governance of energy provision in sub-Saharan Africa; and the development of methods to study complex governance arrangements. Baldwin’s work has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, World Development, Governance, Policy Studies Journal, Environment and Resource Economics, and the Annual Review of Environment and Resources.
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