Leveraging local environmental management in the scope of an administrative decentralization process: The case of Portuguese coastal municipalities

Administrative decentralization has been widely promoted as a pathway to more responsive and context-sensitive governance; however, its implications for local environmental management remain underexplored. This study examines how to leverage local environmental management in the context of administrative decentralization in Portugal, focusing on coastal municipalities. Our findings reveal that despite formal administrative decentralization reforms, central government retains strong control through uniform competence structures that disregard regional specificities, limiting municipalities' capacity for local environmental management. Municipalities exhibit a preference for maintenance and operational tasks over strategic planning roles, reflecting constrained autonomy and resource limitations. Drawing on these insights, we propose a conceptual framework for strengthening local environmental management under administrative decentralization, highlighting four critical factors: (i) institutional capacity (political, human, and technical resources); (ii) financial and political autonomy; (iii) multi-level and cross-sectoral collaboration; and (iv) local political willingness to act proactively. This framework offers practical guidance for designing context-sensitive, participatory approaches to environmental governance, contributing to both theoretical debates and policy implementation. Our study underscores the importance of capacity-building and sustained stakeholder engagement to ensure decentralization reforms translate into effective local environmental outcomes.