New research from Spain offers a nuanced answer

Members of the BlueGreen Governance project have recently published a new study in Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space exploring whether greater regional self-rule can contribute to more effective coastal biodiversity protection. Focusing on the Canary Islands, the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia, the research finds that decentralization can bring important advantages together with significant governance challenges.

The article reveals that having multiple decision‑makers across government levels creates coordination difficulties, with overlapping protection designations, inconsistent regulations and uncoordinated management being common issues. Nevertheless, the study also notes that judicial mechanisms such as the Constitutional Court serve as important checks and balances, helping to prevent cross‑level asymmetries and providing a framework for resolving jurisdictional disputes.

Further findings indicate that regional governments have used their legislative powers to adopt proactive biodiversity policies and have at times compensated for the absence of updated national frameworks. However, the effectiveness of regional discretion is constrained by limited resources and by the central state’s enduring legal authority over key coastal competences, which places the burden of protection on regional authorities without always providing sufficient means to act.

The results also reveal that closer contact with local communities enables regional authorities to design better‑tailored policies and collaborate effectively with stakeholders, allowing for more responsive and context‑sensitive governance. At the same time, the study acknowledges that close ties to local actors can increase vulnerability to capture by powerful economic interests, potentially slowing the expansion of protected areas or influencing policy decisions in favour of short‑term economic considerations.

Overall, the research argues that the benefits of regional self‑rule for coastal biodiversity protection depend on institutional arrangements. The study suggests that with appropriate safeguards in place, regional autonomy can enable responsive and innovative governance, but without these conditions, greater self‑rule may lead to fragmentation and inconsistency. The main challenge, therefore, is not whether to decentralise, but how to design multilevel governance systems that maintain coherent standards while allowing regions to tailor policies to local needs and protect environmental goals from being overshadowed by short‑term economic pressures.

Read the full article

For those who wish to read the full article, click here. Access is currently restricted to individuals with a Sage Journals account. If you do not have an account but would still like to read the article, please contact Joan Enguer: joan.enguer-saus@uv.es