Examining the Claims of Environmental ADR

Challenges to successful environmental management, such as costly litigation, planning delays, and contentious stakeholder relations, suggest a need for improved environmental governance. The need for improvement does not, however, in and of itself make a case for alternatives that engage diverse interests collaboratively in environmental decision making, commonly referred to as environmental conflict resolution (ECR). To better make the case for ECR and to understand what contributes to ECR success, a group of federal and state agencies developed an ECR evaluation framework. This article describes the evolution, structure, associated instrumentation, and current applications of this ECR evaluation framework.

Environmental conflict resolution practice and performance: An evaluation framework

Orr

Emerson

Keyes

2008

Evaluating environmental conflict resolution: Practitioners, projects, and the movement

Fisher

Sablan

2018

Environmental conflict is complex and variable, and over time, a concerted field has developed to study processes for collaboration and resolution. This article examines the evaluations of multistakeholder collaborative processes underpinning the field of Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR). Specifically, we analyze ECR evaluations from over four decades, across different approaches, geographies, and scales. We also corroborate our findings through interviews and discussions with key scholars and practitioners in the field. We highlight the valuable empirical data from evaluations and point to a three‐pronged approach for reinvigorating evaluations that support practitioners and projects and promote broader ideals of ECR collaboration.

Environmental conflict resolution: Evaluating performance outcomes and contributing factors

Emerson

Orr²,

Keyes

et al. 2009

This empirical study of fifty-two environmental conflict resolution (ECR) processes is based on an evaluation framework that specifies key conditions and factors that contribute to ECR outcomes. Data were collected on a range of ECR processes and applications. This article reports on findings from a multilevel modeling analysis that focuses on three primary outcomes: reaching agreement, the quality of agreement, and improved working relationships among parties. Effective engagement of parties is identified as a major contributor to all three outcomes. Other key factors that operate directly and indirectly through effective engagement are involvement of appropriate parties, the skills and practices of ECR mediators and facilitators, and incorporation of relevant and high-quality information. Findings generally support the ECR evaluation framework.