Achieving Cross‐Scale Collaboration for Large Scale Conservation Initiatives

Abstract

Abstract Large‐scale conservation requires the involvement of numerous stakeholders to plan for and implement a range of activities across multiple scales. Establishing and sustaining the effective collaborations necessary to achieve this is a key challenge. Utilizing data from a large‐scale conservation initiative in the south west of Australia we characterize the interactions between stakeholders as a social network. We employ a novel network theoretical approach to assess the different forms of collaboration, including cross‐scale collaboration. We find that the social network predisposes cross‐scale collaboration for invasive animal control, an action where coordination of activities is necessary. We find that for revegetation activities there is little evidence of collaboration across scales, but this could be fostered by a subset of stakeholders acting in a “scale‐bridging” role. Addressing this will likely improve the effectiveness of revegetation efforts and the outcomes of the broader conservation initiative.