Browsing by Author "Rodriguez, Laura"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

The Role of NGOs in Mexican Small-Scale Fisheries: From Environmental Conservation to Multi-Scale Governance
(2013) Espinosa-Romero, María José; Rodriguez, Laura; Weaver, Amy Hudson; Villanueva, Cristina; Torre, Jorge
"Multi-scale governance has been widely recommended for effective marine resource management. This approach suggests critical collective decision-making and actions, coupling governance and ecological scales, co-production of knowledge, among other elements. Here, we examine what elements of multi-scale governance are present in Mexican fisheries management and the contribution of NGOs in promoting and implementing this scaling approach to smallscale fisheries management (SSF). We selected three ongoing SSF management processes for our analysis: 1) the establishment of fishing refugia in the Punta San Cosme to Punta Coyote Corridor; 2) implementation of catch shares in the Gulf curvina fishery; and 3) the development of the Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) for the swimming crab fishery. Through case study analysis we show that NGOs in the Gulf of California have moved beyond an environmental agenda and can significantly contribute to fisheries management processes by promoting and improving institutional scales representation, collective and cooperative management, coproduction of knowledge, information sharing, social learning as well as by fortifying the linkages between governance and ecological scales. We observed in all case studies that successful stakeholder collaboration for multi-scale governance will be more feasible to achieve when shared visions and clear procedures are present in management processes. Finally, this work provides a framework to evaluate attributes of multi-scale governance, which can applied to management processes elsewhere."
Scenario Analysis to Identify Viable Conservation Strategies in Paraguay’s Imperiled Atlantic Forest
(2011) Carlson, Matthew; Mitchell, Ross E.; Rodriguez, Laura
"A common challenge facing land use planning is assessment of the future performance of land use options. The challenge can be acute in developing regions where land use is expanding rapidly and funding and data needed for planning are scarce. To inform land use planning for a biosphere reserve located in Paraguays Atlantic forest region, a scenario analysis explored the relative merits of conventional and conservation agricultural practices, sustained yield forestry, and protection. Simulations compared them long-term impacts on land cover, biotic carbon, and income of the areas residents. Ecological and economic decline were projected under conventional practices. Protection and forestry scenarios achieved only small relative improvements to ecological indicators at the cost of reduced economic performance. By addressing the underlying issue of land degradation, conservation agriculture including no-tillage was the most successful land use strategy both ecologically and economically. Identification of conservation agriculture as the most promising land use strategy prioritizes issues that must be addressed to achieve sustainability, most importantly the provision of education and funding to smallholder farmers. We conclude that scenario analysis offers a flexible strategy to integrate available data for the purpose of informing land use planning in data-limited regions such as Paraguays Atlantic forest."