The role of governance in the sustainable management, including equitable distribution, of resources is at the heart of governing for the Resource Nexus. These problems have been increasingly described in conjunction with structural characteristics such as wickedness in the context of theory-building and empirical analysis. Although recent studies have contributed to a systematic analytical understanding of public policy problems beyond traditional policy field distinctions, a better understanding of how the different characteristics of policy problems influence policy design and implementation is needed.
Against this background, the topic of governance aims to strengthen the Institute’s mission to advance a Resource Nexus approach in environmental resource management through problem-structural governance analyses. This focus will be further reinforced in the work of developing a junior research group consisting of a series of (PhD) projects. The group will work closely with other Nexus topics and analytical themes (specifically agrifood systems, climate change, the Resource Nexus construct and sustainability assessment).
In the long term, the goal is to strengthen the use of appropriate governance approaches to support the design and implementation of policies towards achieving the SDGs in its ecological, social and economic dimensions; particularly the interlinked SDG 6, SDGs 2, and SDG 13, and their interconnected SDGs. The focus is on the governance arrangements (including institutions and participation) across various levels (local, national, regional and international level/global governance) for the purpose of influencing policy design and implementation to address wicked resource management problems.
