Abstract:
To cope with the increasing complexities of environmental challenges, innovative
models of governance that are capable of greater flexibility, speed and adaptability
have emerged. Following international trends, new collaborative partnerships
varying greatly in form and purpose have developed over the last 15 years. The
Western Cape Province, world renowned for the Cape Floristic Region and one
of the world’s 25 most threatened biodiversity hotspots, has also experienced a
proliferation of ‘collaboratives’. In an effort to contribute to the knowledge and
understanding of building social capital and institutional capacity in these types
of governance settings, this article focuses on the evolution of one of the more
successful of these new forms – the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve – from an
organisational learning perspective before reflecting on the question of whether
the concepts of social capital and organisational learning are useful to explain its
apparent success. Although the findings are inconclusive, a sufficient number of
pointers have emerged from the exploration of the case study to warrant further
research on the role of social learning and social capital as explanations of why
particular collaboratives seem to be more successful in achieving desirable
outcomes than others.
