Interrogating Participatory Catchment Organizations: Cases from Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, and the Scottish/English Borderlands

Catchment management in the developed world is undergoing a
fundamental reconfiguration in which top-down governance is being
challenged by local organisations promoting collaborative decision-making.
Local, participation-based organisations are emerging as mediators of
relations between governments and publics. These organisations, what are
here defined as participatory catchment organisations (PCO), are emergent
at a time when developed world catchment management is itself
undergoing substantial change. Through in-depth engagement with four
PCOs, and using six case studies, we identify the principles associated with
successful problem resolution. The findings illustrate the importance of
PCOs as two-way bridges between publics and governments. We identify
three principles shared by these organisations that show how, through
participatory approaches founded on trust, complicated problems can be
resolved in ways that do not unduly punish groups or individuals. In
conclusion, we identify four questions that highlight the need to consider
the practicality of evolving relations amongst governments, publics, and
the organisations that have come to mediate catchment management.