A Social Network Assessment of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park's Governance

This Working Paper corresponds to Deliverable 5.2 and reports in the social network analysis of the governance system arround the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Spain).

Inclusiveness and participation in protected area management is not only recognised as a challenge, particularly in National Parks, but it is also critical for the achievement of long term biodiversity conservation and respectful human-nature interactions, as has even been recognised in the development of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. However, this implies dealing with contrasting views and power relations that create conflict. To unravel the structure and characteristics of relationships between different stakeholders, also in conservation governance, Social Network Analysis has proven to be a useful tool. How do the structures of protected area networks influence landscape management governance processes? Which stakeholders play significant roles in the networks of interaction, information sharing, economic flows, and conflicts? How do different stakeholders group together in terms of their patterns of interactions? What are the differences between state administration and other actors in the roles they play within the networks? We address these questions in the context of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, a seemingly recent protected area nearby the largest city in Spain. Through the review of policy document, stakeholder mapping and interviews, we carry out a social network analysis. The results show a centralized structure in the interactions network of the Sierra de Guadarrama, dominated by state administrations and in combination of a decentralized and cohesive network of other actors, different from governmental bodies, that are distributed regionally in Madrid and Segovia. This last finding suggests that such a network has excellent potential for future collective initiatives because of the existing informal alliances between different actors and their regional distribution. Other actors in the SGNP, which are well connected and therefore hold the potential to act as bridges between different stakeholders are an environmental education centre and a tertiary sector association. On the other hand, our results reveal that the network of conflicts cannot be underestimated, so inclusive conservation in protected areas should include social mediation and mitigation measures.