Watkins, Jerry, Wang, Ju-Han Zoe, Campbell, Dean, Caston, Keanu, and McGhee, Macey (2025) Pristine Waters of Tasmania? An Analysis of Water Quality Governance Using a Polycentric Environmental Governance Framework. Society and Natural Resources. (In Press)

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Abstract

Tasmania, an island state in Australia, is renowned for its unspoiled natural environment. However, ongoing pollution in Tasmania’s rivers, estuaries, and coastal regions, driven mainly by primary industries, raises significant concerns. This pollution will likely worsen without more effective mitigation measures. In this study, we apply a polycentric environmental governance framework to critically examine Tasmania’s water quality challenges. The limited regulatory actions taken to address water pollution reflect an asymmetric power dynamic between major industry players and state-level governance bodies, potentially obstructing state-based regulatory reforms. Instead of relying upon state-level interventions, we argue that a national-level policy initiative could strengthen water quality governance in Tasmania and other Australian states and territories. Our findings also emphasize that the value of a polycentric governance framework lies in its capacity to uncover hidden obstacles and to address multi-scalar challenges, offering valuable policy insights at broader levels.

Item ID:	86832
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1521-0723
Copyright Information:	© 2025 the author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, llc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent
Date Deposited:	20 Aug 2025 01:43
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410406 Natural resource management @ 80% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4407 Policy and administration > 440704 Environment policy @ 20%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280111 Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences @ 100%
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