Sports management in protected mountain areas. Sustainable development through collaborative network governance: a case study

This study aims to determine the effect of a collaborative network governance structure in the management of sports practice in protected mountain areas on the degree of sustainability of its territorial development. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the existing governance in the decision-making processes of four conflict situations generated by sports practice in two protected mountain areas, and the effects on the development dimensions of each case. The method used to collect the data were in-depth qualitative interviews with key stakeholders. To allow a comparison between cases, qualitative information was quantified by the definition of indices of indicators. Results show that a correlation exists between the index of collaborative network and that of sustainability; that means that the greater the degree of networking and collaboration between stakeholders, the higher the degree of sustainability of the development generated by the strategy of solutions adopted in each of the analysed cases.