Abstract Among the specific evaluation questions developed by the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, one of them relates the improvement of governance. In an attempt to overcome the absence of indicators, the aim of this work is to contribute to the governance valuation process. Assuming that the Adaptive Co-Management approach offers an interesting theoretical framework, the Adaptive Co-Management capacity is adopted as a proxy measure of the quality of network governance. It has been investigated by means of three principles (collective action, social learning, resilience) and related indicators. The proposed methodology is subsequently tested through the evaluation of the local network governance of two case studies in the South of Italy.

The experiment presented is a concrete example of how to gather and mobilize relevant knowledge from local stakeholders to support local agencies in designing effective local strategies. The hypothetical introduction of a bio-based industry in some rural areas from south Italy is used as empirical case. The application of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) enabled small groups of participants to depict a clear structure of their knowledge. A fuzzy inference technique allowed to simulate the effects of several policy measures. The results consist of the identification of the preferred policy options according to the features of the local context.