The aim of this paper is to investigate if stakeholder participation increases the legitimacy of nature reserves in the surrounding community. Most previous studies of the effects of stakeholder participation in natural resource management have relied on case studies, but in this paper we use a combination of panel data from a two-wave survey (2008 and 2013) of 92 Biosphere Reserves (BRs) in 36 countries and semi-structured interview data from 65 stakeholder respondents in a sub-sample of 10 BRs to systematically investigate the effects of stakeholder participation on the legitimacy of the natural reserve in the local community. The data cover four levels of stakeholder participation: (1) Information, (2) Implementation, (3) Involvement and (4) Representation. These levels roughly correspond to rungs on Arnstein's ladder of participation, and the expected outcome is that the legitimacy of the nature reserve will increase in the surrounding local community as the degree of participation increases. However, findings suggest that there is no linear relationship between participation and legitimacy: climbing upwards on Arnstein's ladder of participation does not uniformly enhance the level of legitimacy of the nature reserve in the local community. Instead, a practice-based form of participation is what seems to increase legitimacy.

Social justice has become an intrinsic feature of sustainable development. One of the ways in which it is expected we will reach more just and sustainable societies is through stakeholder participation in natural resource management. However, entrenched inequalities among participants have generated scepticism about the potential of participation to improve social justice and, until now, the literature has not provided sufficient evidence to disentangle such contradictory views. Approaching social justice from the viewpoint of equality, this dissertation contributes to the debate by studying how the socio-political structure in which participation is embedded affects how far participation outcomes respect equality. The political regime, the distribution of power at the local level, and the characteristics of the participatory process are conceived as embodiments of such socio-political structure. The impact of these three structural factors on outcome equality is studied in biosphere reserves, areas designated by UNESCO as sites for experimenting with sustainable development strategies through stakeholder participation. Survey panel data from biosphere reserve managers and interview data with stakeholders are used in large-n, medium-n, and small-n analyses to explore to what extent, and under which circumstances, participation can lead to equal outcomes. The results suggest that, although in nondemocratic states participation has more difficulty promoting equal outcomes than in democratic states, and that although participation leads to generally unequal outcomes in unequal contexts, some participation outcomes can approach an egalitarian ideal even in these unexpected settings. The results suggest as well that inclusiveness and moderate empowerment of participants can contribute to equal outcomes. In short, participation has the potential to contribute to equality, but such potential varies across outcomes, contexts, and processes.

Learning is considered a means to achieve sustainability in practice and has become a prominent goal of sustainability interventions. In this paper we explore how learning for sustainability is shaped by meaning, interpretation and experience, in the context of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs). The World Network of Biosphere Reserves brings environmental conservation, socio-economic development and research together in 'learning sites for sustainable development.' The World Network is globally significant, with 669 BRs in 120 countries, but as with many paradigmatic sustainability interventions BRs are perceived to suffer from a 'concept-reality gap.' We explore this gap from an interpretive perspective, focusing on participant interpretations of the meaning of BRs and their experiences of working with the concept - with the aim of painting a richer picture of learning for sustainability and the ways in which BRs might fulfil their role as learning sites. We provide a cross-case analysis of learning in 11 BRs around the world, drawing on interviews with 177 participants, and ask: How is the BR concept interpreted and enacted by people involved with BR work? What learning emerges through BR work, as described by those involved? We find that the BR concept is interpreted differently in each location, producing distinct expectations, practices and institutional designs. Learning occurs around common themes - human environment relationships, actors and governance arrangements, and skills to navigate BR work - but is expressed very differently in each BR. The position of BRs 'in between' social, ecological and economic goals; local places and global networks; and government, private and civil society sectors, provides a valuable space for participants to learn to live with social-ecological complexity. We discuss our results in terms of their contribution to three pressing concerns in sustainability science: (i) power and politics in learning for sustainability, (ii) intermediaries and bridging organizations in multi-level governance, and (iii) reflexivity and knowledge action relationships. Our comparative hermeneutic approach makes a novel methodological contribution to interpretive studies of sustainability policy and governance.

Stakeholder participation in natural resource management has spread widely, even to nondemocracies, driven by expectations of beneficial outcomes such as multidirectional learning. However, can we expect participation to be equally effective in achieving multidirectional learning in democracies and nondemocracies? Unsurprisingly, previous studies indicate the relevance of power distribution for learning. Higher levels of repression and accumulation of political capital in nondemocracies should limit the distribution of power across stakeholders. Yet, the relationship between political regime, participation, and learning has rarely been studied empirically. I address this gap by analysing multidirectional learning in stakeholder participation in 81 Man and the Biosphere reserves across 35 countries using ordinary least squares regression, Firth logistic regression, and heat maps. The results suggest that the amount of stakeholders sharing knowledge and learning is similar in both regimes. However, a closer analysis reveals differences in the impact different stakeholders have on the learning process. More concretely, local actors share knowledge more often and have a greater impact on stakeholders' learning in democracies, while state actors display similar behavior across regimes in terms of learning and sharing knowledge. Thus, although there are notable similarities across regimes, multidirectional learning through stakeholder participation is influenced by the political context.