Collaborative Adaptive Governance Model in Sustainable Natural Resource Management in the Era of Climate Uncertainty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71435/Keywords:
Collaborative Governance, Climate Uncertainty, PLS-SEMAbstract
Purpose: This study aims to examine the role of collaborative adaptive governance in promoting sustainable natural resource management under conditions of climate uncertainty in Laos. Specifically, it investigates the effects of collaborative governance and climate uncertainty on adaptive governance, the influence of adaptive governance on sustainable natural resource management, and the mediating role of adaptive governance within these relationships.
Subjects and Methods: A quantitative research design was employed using a survey of 320 stakeholders representing government agencies, local governments, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, and academic institutions involved in natural resource governance in Laos during 2025. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The analysis included measurement model evaluation, structural model assessment, hypothesis testing, and mediation analysis.
Results: The findings reveal that collaborative governance significantly strengthens adaptive governance, while climate uncertainty positively encourages institutional adaptation. Adaptive governance exerts the strongest direct effect on sustainable natural resource management and partially mediates the relationships between collaborative governance, climate uncertainty, and sustainability outcomes. These results support Collaborative Governance Theory, Adaptive Governance Theory, and Social-Ecological Systems Theory, demonstrating that institutional learning, stakeholder collaboration, and governance flexibility enhance environmental resilience and improve resource management effectiveness under uncertain climatic conditions.
Conclusions: The study concludes that adaptive governance is the key institutional mechanism translating collaborative governance and climate uncertainty into sustainable natural resource management. Strengthening collaborative institutions, adaptive leadership, and cross-sector coordination should therefore become strategic priorities for enhancing environmental governance and long-term sustainability in Laos.
References
Abbott, K. W., Green, J. F., & Keohane, R. O. (2016). Organizational ecology and institutional change in global governance. International Organization, 70(2), 247-277. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818315000338
Adams, D., Adams, K., Ullah, S., & Ullah, F. (2019). Globalisation, governance, accountability and the natural resource ‘curse’: Implications for socio-economic growth of oil-rich developing countries. Resources Policy, 61, 128-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.02.009
Afandi, M. N., Tri Anomsari, E., Novira, A., & Sudartini, S. (2023). Collaborative governance in a mandated setting: shifting collaboration in stunting interventions at local level. Development Studies Research, 10(1), 2212868. https://doi.org/10.1080/21665095.2023.2212868
Ahialey, E. K., Kabo–Bah, A. T., & Gyamfi, S. (2023). Impacts of LULC and climate changes on hydropower generation and development: A systematic review. Heliyon, 9(11).
Akamani, K. (2023). The roles of adaptive water governance in enhancing the transition towards ecosystem-based adaptation. Water, 15(13), 2341. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132341
Arciszewski, T. J., Munkittrick, K. R., Scrimgeour, G. J., Dubé, M. G., Wrona, F. J., & Hazewinkel, R. R. (2017). Using adaptive processes and adverse outcome pathways to develop meaningful, robust, and actionable environmental monitoring programs. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 13(5), 877-891. https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1938
Baird, I. G., & Barney, K. (2017). The political ecology of cross-sectoral cumulative impacts: Modern landscapes, large hydropower dams and industrial tree plantations in Laos and Cambodia. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 44(4), 769-795. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2017.1289921
Bleischwitz, R., Spataru, C., VanDeveer, S. D., Obersteiner, M., Van Der Voet, E., Johnson, C., ... & Van Vuuren, D. P. (2018). Resource nexus perspectives towards the United Nations sustainable development goals. Nature Sustainability, 1(12), 737-743. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0173-2
Borissov, D. (2024). Enterprises as complex systems: Navigating challenges and embracing resilience. Business Ethics and Leadership, 8(4), 95-122. https://doi.org/10.61093/bel.8(4).95-122.2024
Craig, R. K., Garmestani, A. S., Allen, C. R., Arnold, C. A. T., Birgé, H., DeCaro, D. A., ... & Schlager, E. (2017). Balancing stability and flexibility in adaptive governance: an analysis of tools available in US environmental law. Ecology and society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability, 22(2), 1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08983-220203
Cvitanovic, C., Hobday, A. J., van Kerkhoff, L., Wilson, S. K., Dobbs, K., & Marshall, N. A. (2015). Improving knowledge exchange among scientists and decision-makers to facilitate the adaptive governance of marine resources: a review of knowledge and research needs. Ocean & Coastal Management, 112, 25-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.05.002
Djafar, F., Akibu, R. S., & Namdech, P. (2025). Strengthening local government organisation capacity for adaptive development policy responsive to community needs. Journal of Contemporary Governance and Public Policy, 6(2), 135-156. https://doi.org/10.46507/jcgpp.v6i2.715
Eicken, H., Danielsen, F., Sam, J. M., Fidel, M., Johnson, N., Poulsen, M. K., ... & Enghoff, M. (2021). Connecting top-down and bottom-up approaches in environmental observing. BioScience, 71(5), 467-483. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab018
Emerson, K., & Nabatchi, T. (2015). Evaluating the productivity of collaborative governance regimes: A performance matrix. Public Performance & Management Review, 38(4), 717-747. https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2015.1031016
Esposito, D. (2025). A ladder of urban resilience: an evolutionary framework for transformative governance of communities facing chronic crises. Sustainability, 17(13), 6010. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17136010
Fox, M., Zuidema, C., Bauman, B., Burke, T., & Sheehan, M. (2019). Integrating public health into climate change policy and planning: state of practice update. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(18), 3232. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183232
Granata, F., Zhu, S., & Di Nunno, F. (2025). Hydrological extremes in the Mediterranean basin: interactions, impacts, and adaptation in the face of climate change. Regional Environmental Change, 25(3), 100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-025-02432-7
Hsieh, J. Y., & Liou, K. T. (2018). Collaborative leadership and organizational performance: Assessing the structural relation in a public service agency. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 38(1), 83-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X15623619
Huitema, D., Adger, W. N., Berkhout, F., Massey, E., Mazmanian, D., Munaretto, S., ... & Termeer, C. C. (2016). The governance of adaptation: choices, reasons, and effects. Introduction to the Special Feature. Ecology and Society, 21(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08797-210337
Hurlbert, M., & Gupta, J. (2016). Adaptive governance, uncertainty, and risk: policy framing and responses to climate change, drought, and flood. Risk Analysis, 36(2), 339-356. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12510
Karpouzoglou, T., Dewulf, A., & Clark, J. (2016). Advancing adaptive governance of social-ecological systems through theoretical multiplicity. Environmental Science & Policy, 57, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.11.011
Kolk, A., & Lenfant, F. (2015). Cross-sector collaboration, institutional gaps, and fragility: the role of social innovation partnerships in a conflict-affected region. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 34(2), 287-303. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.14.157
Lagerqvist, Y. F. (2016). Laos: Abundance, scarcity and the shifting role of natural resources. Routledge handbook of the environment in Southeast Asia, 408-417. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315474892
Laubek, C., & Bourgeois, I. (2024). Interorganizational evaluation capacity building in the public, health and community sectors. Evaluation, 30(2), 190-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/13563890231207115
Leiter, T. (2021). Do governments track the implementation of national climate change adaptation plans? An evidence-based global stocktake of monitoring and evaluation systems. Environmental Science & Policy, 125, 179-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.08.017
Li, P., Wang, Q., Umair, M., Shamshieva, N., & Zheng, Y. (2025). Three decades of wetland transformation in the middle and lower Yangtze River Basin: Classification, inundation dynamics, and ecological impacts. Ecological Indicators, 177, 113615.
Lloyd, E. A., & Shepherd, T. G. (2020). Environmental catastrophes, climate change, and attribution. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1469(1), 105-124. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14308
Mikhaylov, S. J., Esteve, M., & Campion, A. (2018). Artificial intelligence for the public sector: opportunities and challenges of cross-sector collaboration. Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 376(2128), 20170357. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0357
Moshtari, M. (2016). Inter‐organizational fit, relationship management capability, and collaborative performance within a humanitarian setting. Production and Operations Management, 25(9), 1542-1557. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12568
Olsson, L., Jerneck, A., Thoren, H., Persson, J., & O’Byrne, D. (2015). Why resilience is unappealing to social science: Theoretical and empirical investigations of the scientific use of resilience. Science advances, 1(4), e1400217. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400217
Ramadass, S. D., Sambasivan, M., & Xavier, J. A. (2018). Collaboration outcomes in a public sector: impact of governance, leadership, interdependence and relational capital. Journal of Management and Governance, 22(3), 749-771. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-018-9401-4
Ran, B., & Qi, H. (2018). Contingencies of power sharing in collaborative governance. The American Review of Public Administration, 48(8), 836-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074017745355
Schoenmakers, S., & Feudel, U. (2021). A resilience concept based on system functioning: A dynamical systems perspective. Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 31(5). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0042755
Schultz, L., Folke, C., Österblom, H., & Olsson, P. (2015). Adaptive governance, ecosystem management, and natural capital. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(24), 7369-7374. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1406493112
Scolobig, A., Prior, T., Schröter, D., Jörin, J., & Patt, A. (2015). Towards people-centred approaches for effective disaster risk management: Balancing rhetoric with reality. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 12, 202-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.01.006
Van der Molen, F. (2018). How knowledge enables governance: The coproduction of environmental governance capacity. Environmental science & policy, 87, 18-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.05.016
Vuola, M., Korkeakoski, M., Vähäkari, N., Dwyer, M. B., Hogarth, N. J., Kaivo-Oja, J., ... & Phonhalath, K. (2020). What is a green economy? Review of national-level green economy policies in Cambodia and Lao PDR. Sustainability, 12(16), 6664. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166664
Wang, J., Sui, L., Yang, X., Wang, Z., Ge, D., Kang, J., ... & Liu, B. (2019). Economic globalization impacts on the ecological environment of inland developing countries: A case study of Laos from the perspective of the land use/cover change. Sustainability, 11(14), 3940. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143940
Willetts, J., Priadi, C., Ombasta, O., Wulandari, D., Imtiyaz, I., Sudhiastiningsih, N. N. S. N., ... & Listyasari, M. (2022). Co-developing evidence-informed adaptation actions for resilient citywide sanitation: Local government response to climate change in Indonesia. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 49(8), 2129-2150. https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083221098740
Woldesenbet, W. G. (2020). Analyzing multi-stakeholder collaborative governance practices in urban water projects in Addis Ababa City: procedures, priorities, and structures. Applied Water Science, 10(1), 44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-019-1137-z
Xiaoman, W., Majeed, A., Vasbieva, D. G., Yameogo, C. E. W., & Hussain, N. (2021). Natural resources abundance, economic globalization, and carbon emissions: Advancing sustainable development agenda. Sustainable development, 29(5), 1037-1048. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2192
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
