Valentina Dinica

Governance for sustainable tourism: a comparison of international and Dutch visions.

This study focuses on the role of public authorities in the governance of tourism for sustainable development at national level. Departing from an overview of international recommendations, it analyses whether those recommendations are reflected in the way public authorities influence domestic tourism in the Netherlands. The conclusion is drawn that, currently, the internationally recommended horizontal and vertical coordination of public authorities and their policies is missing. This is largely due to a design approach that follows from neo-liberal principles of governance, as opposed to the sustainability performance of the tourism sector. The paper then discusses the results of a survey carried out to map the extent to which Dutch tourism stakeholders would be in favor of adopting measures to improve coordination. It is concluded that, although there is support for more coordination, there is no converging vision on how specific aspects of it should be best organized. The paper highlights the need for multi-stakeholder debates that should consider the links between governance features and the sustainability performance of tourism.

Green certificate trading in the Netherlands in the prospect of the European electricity market

The support system for green electricity in the Netherlands has been one of the most complex and complicated systems across Europe. A voluntary trade of green certificates—or green labels—was one of the schemes used in the policy models of the 1990s. The liberalization of the electricity market has attracted substantial changes in the degree and nature of commitment by energy companies and political authorities for renewable electricity. In 2001, a new mechanism for the voluntary trade of green certificates has become operational, replacing the green label trade system one terminated in the end of 2000. This paper presents the two systems of green certificates’ trade developed in the Netherlands and discusses their market stimulation potential in the very different economic and industrial circumstances that has surrounded each of them. The paper argues for a need to enable a support system that reduces investment risks as much as possible, and removes the residual, but still strong, institutional, administrative and social barriers for renewables’ deployment. But before this, a clear governmental vision on the role of renewables in current energy supply systems is first needed, backed by a coherent policy and sufficient support along the economic dimension of renewables’ market diffusion.

Tourism on Curaçao: Explaining the Shortage of Sustainability Legislation from Game Theory Perspective

Tourism has developed unsustainably in Curaçao, as in much of the worlds microstate islands. Numerous foreign investors favouring mass low-cost tourism development prefer to operate in countries where sustainability legislation is underdeveloped or un-enforced. Political actors often create such environments to maximize foreign investments. Although this is empirically widely acknowledged, no conceptual framework has yet been advanced to explain theoretically the situation of sustainability legislation shortage in so many developing islands and to suggest ways of overcoming this. This paper contributes to scientific literature by indicating such a framework. The paper illuminates how the Competitive Prisoner Dilemma Game, developed under game theory, can explain the failure (so far) of political actors on Curaçao to adopt laws that would enable a sustainable tourism development. Game theory also suggests interesting lock-out strategies for countries stuck into this dilemma and reveals that the key for change is a solidarity orientation of political actors across developing islands competing for similar tourism products.

Challenges for sustainable tourism governance in The Netherlands

The paper contributes to the academic discussion on the uptake of international policy recommendations concerning sustainable tourism. This is done by analysing the attempts to innovate the governance of the Dutch domestic tourism sector in order to accommodate sustainable development principles. After arguing that the incorporation of such principles has been limited and inadequate, the study investigates the main reasons for this. Three categories of factors emerge as decisive in the poor governance innovation results observed: lack of awareness of tourisms negative impacts; interpretations of neo-liberal political ideologies; and inflexibility in policymaking style by political and administrative actors.

Public engagement in governance for sustainability: a two-tier assessment approach and illustrations from New Zealand

ABSTRACT Public engagement (PE) is a recognized principle of governance for sustainability. Yet, the relationships between PE and sustainability prospects are poorly understood. This paper proposes a comprehensive evaluation approach to PE, based on a two-tier theoretical construct: an analytical framework, enabling qualitative assessments across various governance features; and a conceptual governance model, to help understand engagement opportunities holistically, for the (socio-)economic domain or natural resources of interest. A governance model is conceptualized for Protected Areas. The two-tier approach is illustrated to assess whether the engagement options available in New Zealand offer the public sufficient opportunities to safeguard environmental sustainability.

Competing societal and ecological demands for groundwater: boundary judgments and convergence mechanisms in the Netherlands

Conflicts between human demands for clean water and terrestrial ecosystems’ needs for water are increasing. Such conflicts are stronger in the case of groundwater, as one of the cleanest forms of drinking water, and are expected to increase in frequency, in the context of population growth and climatic changes. This paper argues that behavioral approaches are essential not only toward understanding how socio-ecological conflicts emerge, but also how they could be overcome. A theoretical the framework is proposed, which suggests that the behaviors/actions of actors who sustain such conflicts can be understood by examining their ‘boundary judgments’ regarding natural resources and sustainability, in interaction with their powers/resources to implement the preferred behaviors. The concept of boundary judgements is rarely used in investigating sustainability conflicts. This concept is operationalized in relation to nature-society conflicts and applied empirically to illuminate the conflict in a case study from the Netherlands. Further, the theoretical framework suggests a parsimonious, yet comprehensive, typology of mechanisms that can be used to change/‘converge’ the behaviors and actions of the actors contributing to the problem, toward conflict closure. These are referred to as convergence mechanisms and can be persuasive, enabling or constraining. The paper concludes with reflections on the practical usefulness of the framework and concretes suggestions for further research, drawing on these convergence mechanisms and their interactions with boundary judgments on natural resources and sustainability.

International sustainability agreements: are they politically influential for tourism governance innovations?

Political decision makers have significant roles to play in supporting or undermining the sustainability of tourism development nationally. To investigate their contributions to governance innovations, this article suggests a meta-conceptualization of governance in the form of Societal Hardwares (institutions/laws/strategies/policies) interacting with Societal Processes (psychological/policy oriented/political/social/economic/organizational). This article addresses a question that has not received so far any scholarly attention, namely whether the international sustainability agreements concluded in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002) have generated meaningful innovations in the governance of national tourism sectors, able to facilitate their sustainable development. Drawing on sociopsychology literature, this article proposes to differentiate among three groups of mechanisms that may influence the decision-making patterns and outcomes of political actors: Persuasion, Constraining, and Enabling Mechanisms. The research question is investigated empirically by means of the case study approach, looking at the political implementation processes by Parliament and Government in the Netherlands. The challenge for governance innovation addressed is that of horizontal policy integration across four policy domains: environmental protection, nature conservation, recreation, and tourism. The international agreements are assessed as having the effect of Persuasion Mechanisms on both political decision makers. Content-wise they were politically influential for Parliament but not for Government, who failed to adopt adequate governance innovations.

The environmental sustainability of protected area tourism: towards a concession-related theory of regulation

ABSTRACT Demand for Protected Area (PA) tourism continues to grow, raising concerns for its environmental sustainability. Numerous sustainable tourism guidelines and best practice examples exist for separate aspects of PA regulation and management. However, such efforts are insufficient to reliably and holistically understand how regulation can mediate the relationship between tourism development and PA environmental sustainability. This paper proposes a theory development project, to map the compatibility and interplays among various regulatory approaches, and their consequences for sustainable PA tourism. The project is initiated here by taking the first steps toward a concession-related theory of regulation. The focus on concessions has been chosen because concessions are the most under-researched aspects of PA tourism regulation. Four regulatory aspects are selected and conceptualized in this paper: the approaches to PA planning, the types of monitoring undertaken, the methods of concession allocation and the design of environmental requirements in concession contracts. Methodologically, grounded theory is used, with data collection relying on written sources. The paper develops two sets of narrative statements regarding the prospects for PA environmental sustainability, under particular examples of concession-related regulation. The conclusion articulates several research questions, as an immediate research agenda, and calls for an international research group to be formed.

Sustainable Tourism Development On Curaçao:The Implementation Challenge

In 1997, a comprehensive policy program for sustainable tourism was adopted by the Netherlands Antilles government. This paper is empirically-oriented and analyses the implementation of two measures of this policy on one of the five islands, Curacao, for the period 1998-2005. It investigates the implementation initiatives by various stakeholders, and the factors that affected the attitudes of the actors expected to implement the measures. Environmental NGOs have been key drivers for the voluntary implementation initiatives, together with the federal environmental agency. But their success in stimulating environmentally-responsible operations by tourism companies was limited. The paper underpins several lessons for the design and implementation of sustainable tourism initiatives that are especially relevant for developing countries.

Sustainable tourism development on Curacao - the implementation challenge

In 1997, a comprehensive policy program for sustainable tourism was adopted by the Netherlands Antilles government. This paper is empirically-oriented and analyses the implementation of two measures of this policy on one of the five islands, Curacao, for the period 1998-2005. It investigates the implementation initiatives by various stakeholders, and the factors that affected the attitudes of the actors expected to implement the measures. Environmental NGOs have been key drivers for the voluntary implementation initiatives, together with the federal environmental agency. But their success in stimulating environmentally-responsible operations by tourism companies was limited. The paper underpins several lessons for the design and implementation of sustainable tourism initiatives that are especially relevant for developing countries.