A Comparative Institutional Arrangements Analysis of Complex Commons: The Case of Two Marine Protected Areas on the Black Sea Coast
Résumé
This work focuses on the institutional arrangements produced by different actors at the local level that underpin the governance of two marine protected areas (MPA) on the Balkan region of the Black sea, the Bulgarian Kaliakra MPA and the Romanian Vama Veche-2 Mai MPA. The Social-Ecological Systems Framework (SES), developed by Elinor Ostrom, is used to analyze the institutional arrangements of these two MPAs. Both are characterized by different outcomes, thus a comparative analysis is conducted to identify a set of internal and external factors to their governance. We investigated why after macro level convergence of policy measures in both countries, the dynamics at the meso level cause micro level divergence in outcome. Our results highlighted the importance of meso-level actors, such as NGOs and civil society, which we found influenced the social-ecological outcomes. This research contributes to the SES framework often too emphasizing the influence of local-level actors.