{"refrec":{"BRefID":437347,"RR":"<b>Arroyave, L.O.; Lopes, R.; Santos, R.</b> (2025). Leveraging local environmental management in the scope of an administrative decentralization process: The case of Portuguese coastal municipalities. <i>J. Environ. Manage. 394</i>: 127052. <a href=\"https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052\" target=\"_blank\">https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052</a>","BEntID":435178,"PublicFlag":1,"CheckedFlag":0,"wosflag":1,"vabbflag":1,"RefStringPartII":". <i>J. Environ. Manage. 394</i>: 127052. <a href=\"https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052\" target=\"_blank\">https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052</a>","DocTypID":8,"DocType":"Journal article","MarineFlag":0,"FreshFlag":0,"BrackishFlag":0,"TerrestrialFlag":0,"Authorstring":"Arroyave, L.O.; Lopes, R.; Santos, R.","OrigTitleTranslFlag":0,"Authorstringtrunc":"Arroyave, L.O.; Lopes, R.; Santos, R.","Englishabstract":"Administrative decentralization has been widely promoted as a pathway to more responsive and context-sensitive governance; however, its implications for local environmental management remain underexplored. This study examines how to leverage local environmental management in the context of administrative decentralization in Portugal, focusing on coastal municipalities. Our findings reveal that despite formal administrative decentralization reforms, central government retains strong control through uniform competence structures that disregard regional specificities, limiting municipalities' capacity for local environmental management. Municipalities exhibit a preference for maintenance and operational tasks over strategic planning roles, reflecting constrained autonomy and resource limitations. Drawing on these insights, we propose a conceptual framework for strengthening local environmental management under administrative decentralization, highlighting four critical factors: (i) institutional capacity (political, human, and technical resources); (ii) financial and political autonomy; (iii) multi-level and cross-sectoral collaboration; and (iv) local political willingness to act proactively. This framework offers practical guidance for designing context-sensitive, participatory approaches to environmental governance, contributing to both theoretical debates and policy implementation. Our study underscores the importance of capacity-building and sustained stakeholder engagement to ensure decentralization reforms translate into effective local environmental outcomes.","AbstractOtherLang":null,"BibLvlCode":"AS","StandardTitle":"Leveraging local environmental management in the scope of an administrative decentralization process: The case of Portuguese coastal municipalities","OrigTitleLangCode":"en","OrigTitleLangCodeExtended":"eng","OrigTitleLangID":15,"DateLastModified":{"date":"2026-05-21 01:34:50.151965","timezone_type":1,"timezone":"+02:00"},"UserAccessRight":null,"UserAccID":null,"AuthorKeywords":"Administrative decentralization; Multi-level participation; Local public administration; Municipal capacity; Environmental management; Political autonomy","OtherDescriptors":null,"Notes":null,"AnaPub":2025,"MonPub":null,"DateUpdate":"2026-01-22","DateCreate":"2026-01-22","SecASFANote":null,"ConfID":null,"PeerRev":1,"VlizCoreFlag":1,"WoScode":null,"VABBcode":null,"OpenAcc":1,"DOI":"10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052"},"refs":null,"anarec":{"AnaID":437347,"PubliDate":2025,"Pagination":"127052","XtraPublOfAnaID":null,"ISBN":null,"Volume":"394","Issue":null,"BRefMon":null,"BRefMonRR":null,"BRefXtra":null,"BRefXtraRR":null,"SerBRefID":43053,"SerRR":"Journal of Environmental Management. Academic Press: London; New York.  ISSN 0301-4797; e-ISSN 1095-8630","StandardTitleSer":"Journal of Environmental Management","ISSN":"0301-4797","AbbrevSer":"J. Environ. Manage.","StandardTitleMon":null,"StartPage":null,"Pages":null,"ToPubliDate":null,"BRefBibLvlCode":"S","SerNotes":null},"monrec":null,"serrec":null,"relations":null,"relationsRev":null,"addrec":null,"othpubs":null,"ownerships":null,"authors":[{"AutName":"Arroyave","Firstname":"Lina Ortiz","Initials":"L.O.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":435178,"AutID":616043,"OrderNr":1,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"Lopes","Firstname":"Rita","Initials":"R.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":435178,"AutID":522908,"OrderNr":2,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null},{"AutName":"Santos","Firstname":"Rui","Initials":"R.","Affiliation":null,"Discriminator":null,"CorporateFlag":0,"BEntID":435178,"AutID":51300,"OrderNr":3,"DegrID":null,"EditorFlag":0,"CorrespFlag":0,"IllustratorFlag":0,"ReviserFlag":0,"TranslatorFlag":0,"InsAcronym":null,"InsFSN":null,"ORCID":null,"PersID":null,"InsID":null}],"mapdetails":null,"datasets":null,"monographs":null,"monparts":null,"serparts":null,"BEntOpen":null,"BEntPrivate":null,"availability":[{"BInstID":419002,"LibID":36,"BRefID":437347,"EmbargoDate":null,"FullEmbargoDate":null,"PhysMedID":16,"hasOCRd":1,"ShelfLocCode":"419002","RFID":null,"PaidValue":null,"Medium":"Server","Description":"VLIZ Open Access","Acronym":"VLIZ","Library":"Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee","DutchTerm":"Open access","URL":null,"ClassifID":53,"Classification":"Open access","ReqLink":null,"ClassifTypID":1,"URLLocation":"https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/","SubDir":null,"InternalReq":0,"LoggedInReq":0,"Disclaimer":null,"DutchDisclaimer":null,"FileFormat":".pdf","FileDescr":"pdf","InsPub":1,"InsID":36,"FileFormID":6,"LendableFlag":null,"PublicFlag":1,"orderLib":"A","Notes":null,"AccConID":null,"AccessConstraint":null,"LicURL":null}],"litstyles":null,"thespers":null,"arch2discl":null,"SERpubls":[{"PublName":"Academic Press","City":"London; New York"}],"MONpubls":null,"pictures":[],"thestermsPath":null,"thestermsASFA":null,"taxtermsASFA":null,"geotermsASFA":null,"collections":[{"Collection":"VLIZ Acknowledged Publications","ShortName":"VLIZ ackn"}],"conf":null,"proj":null,"Physdatasets":null,"spcols":{"941":{"SpName":"LifeWatch Species Information Backbone","SpColID":941,"ParSpColID":39,"TopParID":39,"ShortName":"LifeWatch Species Information Backbone","URLLocation":null,"LibID":36,"OpenRepoFlag":null,"SpTypID":null,"TopParIDNotWebsite":39,"SpColPath":"VLIZ ackn/LifeWatch Species Information Backbone"},"793":{"SpName":"Marine Regions acknowledged","SpColID":793,"ParSpColID":941,"TopParID":39,"ShortName":"Marine Regions ackn","URLLocation":null,"LibID":36,"OpenRepoFlag":null,"SpTypID":null,"TopParIDNotWebsite":39,"SpColPath":"VLIZ ackn/LifeWatch Species Information Backbone/Marine Regions ackn"},"39":{"SpName":"VLIZ Acknowledged Publications","SpColID":39,"ParSpColID":null,"TopParID":null,"ShortName":"VLIZ ackn","URLLocation":null,"LibID":36,"OpenRepoFlag":null,"SpTypID":null,"TopParIDNotWebsite":null,"SpColPath":"VLIZ ackn"}},"doi":null,"publs":null,"serparttypes":null,"monauthors":null,"MParts":null,"SParts":null,"hLibs":null,"langs":[{"BEntID":435178,"AbstractFlag":0,"LangID":15,"LangCode":"en","Lang":"English","DutchTerm":"Engels","LangCodeExtended":"eng"},{"BEntID":435178,"AbstractFlag":1,"LangID":15,"LangCode":"en","Lang":"English","DutchTerm":"Engels","LangCodeExtended":"eng"}],"urls":[{"URL":"https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052","externalID":"10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127052","URLTypeCode":"DOI","URLID":156103,"URLTypID":13,"URLType":"DOI","URLPrefix":"http://dx.doi.org/"}],"thesterms":null,"taxterms":null,"geoterms":null,"othterms":null,"asfacodes":null,"asfa2codes":null,"thestermsFRIS":null,"taxtermsFRIS":null,"geotermsFRIS":null,"othtermsFRIS":null,"resmessage":"","complete":1,"sessions":{"newSesName":"Chisala, Chilekwa, C.","newSesDate":{"date":"2026-01-22 09:04:18.147000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe/Brussels"},"updSesName":"Chisala, Chilekwa, C.","updSesDate":{"date":"2026-01-22 09:04:18.147000","timezone_type":3,"timezone":"Europe/Brussels"}}}