Challenges and perspectives in addressing socioenvironmental conflicts through public participation in a subnational government. Lessons learned and experiences in the state of Jalisco, Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the experience in the construction of a strategy for for addressing socioenvironmental conflicts in the context of a subnational government, taking as a reference the state of Jalisco, Mexico, based on a theoretical and methodological discussion of the concept of conflict and its implications for public administration, environmental and natural resource management, as well as the conditions of crisis, social and productive transformations that the state has gone through in recent years, which have had implications on the environmental balance, the degradation and loss of ecosystems, and on the ways of life, realization and organization of people, localities and collectives. From this, the instrumental and operational bases behind the strategy of attention to socioenvironmental conflicts are recounted, based on the construction of a participatory governance network, and the results of its implementation during the period 2018-2024 are reconstructed, pointing out the need to strengthen the institutional strategy implemented for greater transparency and programmatic traceability, as well as for the construction of environmental and restorative justice in the state, based on the reparation of damages and the restitution of rights.