Browsing by Author "Ruitenbeek, Jack"

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The Invisible Wand: Adaptive Co-management as an Emergent Strategy in Complex Bio-economic Systems
(2001) Ruitenbeek, Jack; Cartier, Cynthia
"This paper provides an economic perspective on concepts related to adaptive co-management (ACM). The discussion is cast within a formal generalised complex system (CS) framework. The authors explicitly explore the hypothesis of whether ACM can be regarded as an emergent strategy under specific conditions. The conditions draw a corollary from the well-known work of Adam Smith that describes 'self interest' as a forcing factor (the 'invisible hand) that lead to stability and efficiency in economic systems. The specific hypothesis is meant as an exploratory tool that permits the authors: (i) to develop in greater detail a formal definition of the elements of the system within a CS framework; (ii) to provide economic perspectives on the literature relating to ACM; (iii) to derive some related empirical lessons from that literature; (iv) to demonstrate the limitations of existing economic modelling and analytical constructs for addressing ACM issues; (v) to identify potential policy linkages; and (vi) to elaborate research implications."
Rational Exploitations: Economic Criteria & Indicators for Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests
(1998) Ruitenbeek, Jack; Cartier, Cynthia
"This paper has a very specific objective in mind: to develop economic criteria and indicators that relate to the sustainable management of tropical forests. In 1994, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) commenced a work program that would develop a comprehensive set of criteria and indicators (C&I); this set would help inform governments, producers and consumers about conditions in individual tropical forest stands. Work has already been completed in the areas of biodiversity indicators, social indicators, and planning and legal indicators, among others; CIFOR has itself field tested a slate of indicators that were selected from an 'experts' wish list of some 1100 indicators. This paper complements the current work program by covering the economic dimensions and issues associated with C&I design. The topics that must be covered to define economic indicators--especially those that are readily operationalized--are quite varied and broad. Existing C&I efforts, however, do not always reflect the breadth of experience that exists in the broader economic literature: much can still be learned from the more general economics literature. A key purpose of this paper, therefore, is to synthesize some of this non-literature, with a view to distilling some key lessons that are of relevance to C&I design within the forestry sector. In doing this, the paper covers topics ranging from economic history and the role that 'rationality' has played in economic decision-making, to modern procedures of resource valuation, to issues of uncertainty, taxation and wealth distribution. Findings in all of these areas, in the end, guide the selection of a recommended set of criteria and indicators."