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Participatory approaches have been incorporated in decision‐making to strengthen the involvement of social actors in natural resource management and governance. This paradigm shift is permeating the development of Natura 2000 in Europe. However, the implementation of participatory approaches is at an early stage and still contested. To assess the scope of these participatory approaches, this article: (1) reviews the role of participatory approaches in Natura 2000, (2) develops a common framework to evaluate such participatory processes, (3) applies this framework to a pilot case study and (4) based on the lessons learned, provides guidance for future developments. Although the relatively small sample of participants signals caution, the study shows that ensuring an open dialogue among the social actors served to enhance understanding of the various interests and facilitated the identification of areas for …