Collaborative natural resource and landuse planning in the Copper Canyon region, Chihuahua, Mexico: Prerequisites, incentives and challenges

Centralized forms of decision making have failed to halt natural resource degradation and achieve effective implementation of land-use policies. Stakeholder involvement in collaborative planning attempts to improve the environmental and political sustainability of natural resource management. However, collaboration can be costly and time consuming and must be adapted to context-specific conditions. Under these conditions, how should parties decide whether a situation lends itself to collaboration and whether engaging in the efforts and costs will likely be beneficial? This research was designed to help provide an answer to these questions in the Copper Canyon Region (CCR), Chihuahua, Mexico, where initiatives for Tourism Development, Sustainable Forestry, Protected Area, and Urban Development and Territorial Ordering Plans were being formulated by independent government agencies.