Towards a cooperative governance. Lessons learned from the only Italian “River, Lake, and Coastal” Contract

This paper is a contribution to a special issue of “Interdisciplinarity and governance in water landscapes” with a critical reflection on the “Marta-Bolsena-Tarquinia” River, Lake, and Coast Contract research experience in the Lazio Region. This Contract is the only one in Italy that covers three different water landscapes, from lake to coast (Lake Bolsena, the river Marta and the Tarquinia coastline), all in the same water basin. However, despite the ambitious premises, research shows how this Contract has partially failed. Indeed, the in-depth study offers a commentary not only to better understand what did not work in this River, Lake, and Coast Contract process, but also to suggest how to move on from a formal coalition, towards much more cooperative practices by reforming the redistribution of responsibilities, power, and knowledge.