The Environmental Governance and Global Development Research Team at the Wyss Academy for Nature (WA), in collaboration with the WA Hub Bern, led the study of the social network analysis of stakeholders in the Grosses Moos region in Switzerland. 

The report draws on 49 semi-structured interviews with representatives of distinct stakeholder groups, including farmers, NGOs, governmental bodies, and other service providers. The analysis relies on social network modelling and unsupervised text analysis approaches to improve our understanding of relationships among diverse stakeholders to identify entry points for more effective and inclusive governance that generates co-benefits for both nature and people. 

The findings reveal that the Grosses Moos social network is relatively dense, with many connections between diverse stakeholder groups. This suggests interventions may initially face barriers to entry into the network in practice but, once they do, “change” in the opinions and behaviors of any stakeholder can have far-reaching consequences. Farmers and governmental bodies are central stakeholder groups in the network and can be the drivers of systemic transformations. 

The WA Hub Bern, together with other implementation partners, to implement actions aimed at introducing positive systemic change. The project provides a promising foundation for strengthening inclusive and sustainable resource governance in the region. You can read more about the Grosses Moos social network in the publicly available report.