Sites of Integration in a Contested Landscape

In recent decades we have witnessed a diversification of rural communities, where the agricultural sector has had to increasingly compete with other interests and demands on rural land. Land management agencies have recognised that in order to resolve sustainability dilemmas, it is important to bring the diverse stakeholders together to negotiate the sustainable use of land and natural resources. Such collaborative approaches can only be effective if there is some sense of integration between various stakeholders. This paper explores how integration among diverse stakeholders can be facilitated in a way that accommodates and embraces diversity. It does this through an investigation of a project implemented by the Victorian state government that aimed to involve a diversity of stakeholders in the land management process.