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Abstract The need for stakeholder participation in natural resource management is widely acknowledged. Many have noted that real‐life processes fall short of theoretical ideals in the literature, but less attention is given to understanding if and how participation may produce positive outcomes within these imperfect processes. For example, policies prescribing specific goals and statutory timelines are potentially in tension with goals for stakeholder participation, but the implications of this tension are not well understood. We studied this tension in order to inform future participatory natural resource management. We used qualitative inductive analysis of river basin management planning in Scotland to explore to the extent to which benefits of participation were possible under prescribed conditions, and how prescribed constraints influenced the processes of participation. Participation was constrained by the prescribed targets and timeline. However, participants in advisory groups challenged assumptions and provided additional information, leading to a more balanced analysis of pressures and a more collaborative approach to potential solutions. Overall, their interaction and inputs produced a mix of substantive and instrumental benefits to the process. More attention is needed to understand if and how such benefits would be realized from other processes, but our findings support the value of encouraging participation in natural resource management, even when that participation is constrained. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Waylen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.