This research is focused on the identification and enhanced understanding of systemic issues in general (e.g., economic, organizational, environmental) and human behavior in particular (e.g., participation, commitment, responsibility) leading to resource misallocation, over-exploitation, and unsustainable project outcomes (e.g., Yasuni, Ecuador). The approach used transcends conventional neoclassical welfare economics. Human behaviors, such as participation and commitment, and factors that influence and motivate those behaviors (e.g., economic, organizational, environmental) are central to any understanding of how to design for sustainable outcomes and for the mitigation/elimination of negative externalities. Research has shown that all organizations (formal or informal) make a conscious or unconscious choice between two organizational structures, (1) bureaucratic and, (2) participative-democratic. The effects of this choice on individual behaviors (goal-seeking vs. ideal-seeking), and the environmental management implications thereof, are profoundly different. A review of literature on projects conducted throughout the world correlates project effectiveness (i.e., success in meeting project objectives and maintaining the desired outcomes) and negative outcomes (i.e., failure to meet project objectives and maintain the desired outcomes, misallocation of resources and negative externalities) with specific types of project organizational structures.