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Community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) is increasingly perceived as a bottom-up alternative approach to the traditional top-down rational model of local environmental conservation planning. Although many studies have discussed the effectiveness of these two models in environmental planning, little research has been done to empirically determine the influence of these two principles on local environmental conservation planning. This study analyses 54 cities' local environmental conservation plans to quantitatively measure the conceptual plan components, then uses regression models to detect the factors influencing local environmental conservation plan quality. Descriptive results indicate that local plans have a relatively low awareness of strategic-level conservation items, a medium level of analysis for regional conservation items, and a high level of community-based conservation efforts. Regression results further highlight that the governance capacity has significant influence on local environmental conservation plan quality; however, the community-based participation capacity was not statistically significant.

There is an increasing demand for environmental leadership in the planning process. In collaborative planning models, planners have a distinct role as a bridge between citizens, politicians, and scientists. However, there is limited research evaluating the leadership role of planners in the process of creating high quality environmental plans for local jurisdictions. This study proposes and tests a conceptual model with measurable indicators of planners' use of leadership to facilitate the creation of plans that can benefit the environment. This paper examined two distinct roles for planners: as an information source and as a facilitator. The descriptive results suggest that planners are exercising limited environmental leadership in local land use planning. The explanatory results highlight that the key to improve planners' leadership abilities lies with increasing planning capacity. Several policy recommendations are provided to improve planner's use of leadership processes in environmental planning and management.