Environmental collaboration: Potential and limits

Collaborative processes toward sustainability have been receiving increased interest among scholars, policy makers, business practitioners, and other environmental constituents (Hartman et al., 1999). Despite the emergence and acceptance of collaboration within and across a variety of sectors, including government, industry, and the environmental community, little critical research has contributed to our understanding of how effective and appropriate collaboration is as an alternative to traditional ‘command and control,’ protest, or confrontational approaches to environmental protection and sustainability (Harrison, 1999). In a review of collaborative partnerships amongst environmental non-government organisations (NGOs), businesses, and other entities, Murphy and Bendell (1997) claimed: “In most of the partnerships described ... almost no attempt was made to develop systems to evaluate the partnership’s direct contributions to the achievement of environmental goals” (p. 229). In practice, some of the shortcomings resulting from collaboration to address environmental problems have generated harsh criticisms (Currah, 2000).