Sustainable Management of Natural Resources: Lessons from Wales

Abstract

Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR) is essential to ecosystems resilience which itself underlines human well-being. A multi-disciplinary literature has begun to identify the governance challenges of SMNR around scale, adaptive management and collaboration. Law can play an important role in providing the architecture for SMNR, but there have, so far, been few attempts at legislative design. Wales has introduced a new operational framework for its environment agency founded on the objective of SMNR. This article considers the successes and shortcomings of this system in addressing the key governance challenges. The article concludes that there is much to be applauded in Wales’s ambition and engagement with existing evidence and practice. The system is also based on a clear set of principles that provide clarity in the approach. Crucially, however, it has been framed as a scientifically driven process that lacks attention to issues of both accountability and the need for collaboration. From the experience in Wales, the article identifies the issues that should be addressed in ensuring that foundational principles are supported by a robust procedural framework. This will provide valuable evidence for other countries wishing to follow in Wales’ path.

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