Scale-Descale-Rescale – An Emerging Analytical Tool

Abstract

Understanding multi-scale interactions and their effects across spatial, temporal, and organizational scales are important aspects of designing effective environmental governance policies. Problems of scale are intrinsic to environmental governance, where managing natural resources across political jurisdictions and biophysical scales is a familiar theme in the complex human–environment relations. Some agreement has emerged that scale is fundamentally a relational concept that is socially constructed and both fluid and fixed and must therefore be considered when analyzing effectiveness of environmental governance policies. However, what form such an analysis should take to accurately capture the multifaceted relations and interactions, remains an open question. Given that policies designed for environmental governance often carry objectives at larger geophysical scales of resource management, the design and implementation strategies of such policies must include better description of how different design aspects and implementation measures lead towards long-term sustainability and equitable outcomes.