This article proposes the re-contextualisation of ‘sustainable management of natural resources’ to ‘sustainable governance of natural resources,’ with social learning being the process by which this occurs. The discourse around management is viewed as being politically neutralising, whereas placing management within a space that encourages wider societal debate allows actors to deliberate and negotiate established norms, rules and power relations. Social learning is therefore a very specific process in which conditions are created that allow multiple actors and actor groups (and their associated knowledges) to interact in ways that are empowering and communicative and, significantly, to directly target norms, rules and power relations with a view of transformative change. A social learning approach is therefore also a process that emphasises communicative action, more so than strategic action. Case studies from diverse social, political and cultural contexts are used in this article to demonstrate this communicative action in practice, discussing opportunities and constraints.