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3 Pillars of a Food Revolution
(2010) Lappé, Anna
"As marketers learn to fake climate-friendly food, how do we spot the real thing? Anna Lappé says it's a question of values."
6 Ways to Start Sharing
(2010) Smith, Stephanie
"What do you do when you want to start sharing resources, but your communitys not into it?"
A. Wood, P. Stedman-Edwards, and J. Mang, editors. 2000. The Root Causes of Biodiversity Loss. World Wildlife Fund and Earthscan, London
(2000) Heemskerk, Marieke
"The Root Causes of Biodiversity Loss analyzes 10 case studies of biodiversity loss from Brazil, Cameroon, China, the Danube floodplain, India, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Vietnam. These cases were selected to represent specific ecosystem types, distinct sociopolitical contexts, or biodiversity hotspots. The scarcity of reliable ecological data and accurate government records motivated most research teams to develop descriptive, rather than quantitative, models of biodiversity loss. These models emphasize anthropogenic processes, marginalizing biophysical processes such as climate change or changes in lake salinity. The editors, Alexander Wood, Pamela Stedman-Edwards, and Johanna Mang, integrate the cases, identify commonalties, and extract lessons and global recommendations."
Acai Palm Management in the Amazon Estuary: Course for Conservation or Passage to Plantations?
(2004) Weinstein, Stephanie; Moegenburg, Susan
"In the late 1980s, the acai (Euterpe oleracea) fruit and palmito extraction system of eastern Amazonia was heralded as a promising alternative to deforestation that could simultaneously provide income to rural producers and protect forest integrity. We tested these claims in five communities located along a distance gradient from the largest regional market in Belem, Brazil. We evaluated the market accessibility and manage strategies of acai producers, and assessed the impacts of management on forest characteristics. In contrast to other NTFP systems, we found that distance to the major market is not a limiting factor for acai sales because throughout the region intermediaries are readily available to transport intensification of palm management, which results in the conversion of native floodplain forests into acai-dominated forests that closely resemble plantations. We conclude that the acai system is not typical of other NTFP and should not be regarded as a model for merging forest conservation with rural development. However, the increased demand for acai, especially from educated consumers, together with the ease of production and marketing, present an opportunity to develop the acai system into one in which both rural livelihoods and forest integrity are supported."
Accelerating Deforestation in the Congo Basin Can Pose Climate Risks: A Response to: Nasi. 2005. 'Potential Methodological Flaw in the Examination of the Effects of Logging'
(2005) Roy, Somnath Baidya; Walsh, Peter D.
A Response to: Nasi. 2005. 'Potential Methodological Flaw in the Examination of the Effects of Logging'
Acceptance, Rejection, and the Tightening Feedback Loop: A response to: Holling. 2001. 'Conservation Ecology, 2001: A Journal for Both Authors and Readers'
(2002) Tyson, Wayne
"Does Holling (2001) really mean to say that novel ideas are only rarely resisted or ignored? It seems to me that most, if not all, novel ideas are not only resisted and ignored but also vigorously opposed; this applies to 'small' ideas as well as 'large' ones."
Access and Resilience: Analyzing the Construction of Social Resilience to the Threat of Water Scarcity
(2006) Langridge, Ruth; Christian-Smith, Juliet; Lohse, Kathleen A.
"Resilience is a vital attribute that characterizes a system's capacity to cope with stress. Researchers have examined the measurement of resilience in ecosystems and in social-ecological systems, and the comparative vulnerability of social groups. Our paper refocuses attention on the processes and relations that create social resilience. Our central proposition is that the creation of social resilience is linked to a community's ability to access critical resources. We explore this proposition through an analysis of how community resilience to the stress of water scarcity is influenced by historically contingent mechanisms to gain, control, and maintain access to water. Access is defined broadly as the ability of a community to actually benefit from a resource, and includes a wider range of relations than those derived from property rights alone. We provide a framework for assessing the construction of social resilience and use it to examine, first, the different processes and relations that enabled four communities in northern California to acquire access to water, and second, how access contributed to their differential levels of resilience to potential water scarcity. Legal water rights are extremely difficult to alter, and given the variety of mechanisms that can generate access, our study suggests that strengthening and diversifying a range of structural and relational mechanisms to access water can enhance a community's resilience to water scarcity."
Access and Use of Forest Resources: Evidence from Common Property Forest Management in Swaziland
(2014) Martins, Curtis R.
"A major challenge facing Swaziland is how to maximise the use of forest resources while still maintaining their sustainability. Forest resources are being depleted and degraded due to poor access controls, inequities in land-tenure and user rights. The research was conducted using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework as the underlying scheme. The main objective of this study was to investigate access to and utilisation of forest resources in the selected chiefdoms in Mahlangatsha Inkundla. The survey methodology whose target population was from the two chiefdoms were household heads was adopted in this study (N = 185). Data were collected using questionnaires. Stratified random sampling technique which combined both stratification and randomization were used. Findings revealed that, access levels of households to forest resources were different. Whilst access to community forest resources was restricted, the natural forest resources were open to extraction by anyone. Institutional and community rules that are used to regulate access to forest resources lack effectiveness. Consequently, there are problems of deforestation, degradation, illegal harvesting, and lack of involvement by community members to manage forest resources. The study recommends that, local people should be educated about rules that regulate access to forest resources and common rules be set at the local level."
Access Regimes and Intellectual Property Rights: Exploring the Interface for Drug Research
(2005) Sampath, Padmashree Gehl
"Advancing the discussion on the interface between access regimes and intellectual property rights requires focus on questions of legal and institutional design at the national level, and calls for positioning of bioprospecting strategically within broader challenges in the area of intellectual property protection, drug R&D, and public health."
Access to Natural Resources for Whom? Aquaculture in Nam Dinh, Vietnam
(2003) Kleinen, John
"This article deals with the rapid coastal development in three districts of a province in northern Vietnam, Nam Dinh, which is undergoing rapid social and economic changes. Against the backdrop of the effects of global climatic change and large infrastructural works in upstream parts of the Red River delta, the main interest of this article is the history of the imposition of property rights in an area which was long time dominated by state policies towards the use of coastal resources. In this article I will deal exclusively with aquaculture in three coastal districts of Nam Dinh and look at the important changes that occurred over time in this region. A major conflict between state agencies and individuals or groups about the property transfer of coastal mud fields is analysed in order to discuss communal and open access forms of property rights in an area plagued by over-exploitation and resource degradation. The case enables the author to comment upon Hardin's model of the 'tragedy of the commons' and the relevance for a specific Vietnamese geographical and historical case."
Accessibility, Demography and Protection: Drivers of Forest Stability and Change at Multiple Scales in the Cauvery Basin, India
(2010) Lele, Nikhil; Nagendra, Harini; Southworth, Jane
"The Cauvery basin of Karnataka State encompasses a range of land cover types, from dense forest areas and plantations in the Western Ghats hills, to fertile agricultural lands in the river valley. Recent demographic changes, rapid economic development and urbanization have led to the conversion of vast stretches of forested land into plantations and permanent agriculture. We examine the human drivers of forest cover change between 2001 and 2006, using MODIS 250 m data at multiple spatial scales of nested administrative units i.e., districts and taluks. Population density does not emerge as a major driver of forest distribution or deforestation. Protected areas and landscape accessibility play a major role in driving the distribution of stable forest cover at different spatial scales. The availability of forested land for further clearing emerges as a major factor impacting the distribution of deforestation, with new deforestation taking place in regions with challenging topography. This research highlights the importance of using a regional approach to study land cover change, and indicates that the drivers of forest change may be very different in long settled landscapes, for which little is known in comparison to frontier forests."
Accessing Nature: Agrarian Change, Forest Laws and their Impact on an Adivasi Economy in Colonial India
(2009) Das Gupta, Sanjukta
"This article discusses how changing access to nature impacted an adivasi people, the Hos of Singhbhum. Without romanticizing the pre-British past, it may be argued that for the Hos of the time there had been dependence both on the forest and on cultivation, which had ensured them a minimum livelihood. This paper explores how their access to nature gradually diminished under colonial rule through the twin governmental policies of expansion of the agrarian frontier and restriction of the forests to the indigenous population. This led to the sedentarisation of the adivasis, further contributing towards agrarian expansion in India. However, this article argues that the extension of cultivation did not, however, benefit the Hos. Instead, the nature of the increase in acreage in Singhbhum, led to new agricultural practices, which, together with the restrictive forest laws and lack of new irrigation facilities, led to an agrarian crisis in the region, forcing the Hos to leave their lands and seek their fortunes elsewhere."
Accommodating Conflicting Interests in Forestry: Concepts Emerging from Pluralism
(1998) Anderson, Jon; Clément, Jean; Crowder, Loy Van
"Pluralism has longstanding philosophical and political roots even though the term is fairly recent. At its core, the concept of pluralism recognizes the inevitable existence of differing, often conflicting, positions on any question of substance, from politics to ecosystem management. Pluralism describes situations where distinct groups are actively autonomous and independent, but often interdependent, with legitimate claims and different positions on critical substantive issues. These differences are based on separate values, perceptions, objectives and knowledge. It describes the dynamic interplay between different ideologies, interests and organizations. When applied conceptually to forestry and rural development, pluralism may improve the understanding of certain organizational situations and improve the assessment and use of techniques and methods for sustainable forest management."
Accommodating the Challenges of Climate Change Adaptation and Governance in Conventional Risk Management: Adaptive Collaborative Risk Management (ACRM)
(2011) May, Bradley; Plummer, Ryan
"Risk management is a well established tool for climate change adaptation. It is facing new challenges with the end of climate stationarity and the need to meaningfully engage people in governance issues. The ways in which conventional approaches to risk management can respond to these challenges are explored. Conventional approaches to risk management are summarized, the manner in which they are being advanced as a tool for climate change adaptation is described, and emerging themes in risk management and climate change adaption are documented. It is argued that conventional risk management for climate change adaptation can benefit from the insights and experiences of adaptive co-management. A hybrid approach termed adaptive collaborative risk management is thus envisaged that enriches conventional risk management with the critical features of adaptive co-management, i.e., collaboration and adaptation. Adaptive Collaborative Risk Management overcomes some of the challenges with conventional risk management, builds upon and complements other approaches to community climate change adaptation, and innovatively addresses both technical and governance concerns in a single integrated process."
Accountable Representation and Power in Participatory and Decentralized Environmental Management
(1999) Ribot, Jesse C.
"Elected local government is the appropriate institution to entrust with representation of local populations in matters of public resource use. Decentralization and participation are both means of bringing a broader section of a given population into public decision-making processes - in a role of informing and/or controlling those processes."
Accumulo di Carbonio e Produttività delle Piantagioni Legnose (Kyoto forests) del Friuli Venezia Giulia
(2006) Alberti, Giorgio; Marelli, A.; Piovesana, D.; Peressotti, A.; Zerbi, G.; Gottardo, E.; Bidese, F.
"Carbon stocks and productivity in forest plantations (Kyoto forests) in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy). Aboveground biomass, increment and carbon stock in a 36 forest plantations chronosequence of different ages were quantified. Results have been extrapolated in time using the Richards model. Maximum carbon stock was measured in 23 years old plantations (37 tC ha-1) and annual carbon stock rate occurs at 9 years (3.4 tC ha-1 year-1). After this age it decreases to reach 0.40 tC ha-1 year-1 at 23 years after plantation."
Acesso à Agua Para Consumo Humano e Aspectos de Saúde Pública na Amazônia Legal
(2012) Giatti, Leandro Luiz; Cutolo, Silvana Audrá
"A região da Amazônia Legal no Brasil apresenta desafios quanto ao acesso à água para sua população, mesmo com grande abundância de recursos hídricos. Este estudo tem como objetivo explorar condicionantes de acesso à água para consumo humano, considerando aspectos ambientais, socioculturais e de infraestrutura. Para isso, analisam-se: a precária cobertura por saneamento básico na região, por meio de macroindicadores; e estudos de caso em distintas escalas espaciais: comunidade indígena; cidade de pequeno porte, comunidades ribeirinhas, e uma cidade de grande porte, Manaus, maior centro urbano da Amazônia Pan-Amazônica. Por fim, empreende-se uma discussão interdisciplinar sobre as dificuldades de acesso a água no âmbito da saúde pública, explorando a importância de aspectos que se manifestam de modo evidente nas escalas espaciais."
Achieving Social-Ecological Fit through Bottom-Up Collaborative Governance: An Empirical Investigation
(2015) Guerrero, Angela M.; Bodin, Örjan; McAllister, Ryan R. J.; Wilson, Kerrie A.
"Significant benefits can arise from collaborative forms of governance that foster self-organization and flexibility. Likewise, governance systems that fit with the extent and complexity of the system under management are considered essential to our ability to solve environmental problems. However, from an empirical perspective the fundamental question of whether self-organized (bottom-up) collaborative forms of governance are able to accomplish adequate fit is unresolved. We used new theory and methodological approaches underpinned by interdisciplinary network analysis to address this gap by investigating three governance challenges that relate to the problem of fit: shared management of ecological resources, management of interconnected ecological resources, and cross-scale management. We first identified a set of social-ecological network configurations that represent the hypothesized ways in which collaborative arrangements can contribute to addressing these challenges. Using social and ecological data from a large-scale biodiversity conservation initiative in Australia, we empirically determined how well the observed patterns of stakeholder interactions reflect these network configurations. We found that stakeholders collaborate to manage individual parcels of native vegetation, but not for the management of interconnected parcels. In addition, our data show that the collaborative arrangements enable management across different scales (local, regional, supraregional). Our study provides empirical support for the ability of collaborative forms of governance to address the problem of fit, but also suggests that in some cases the establishment of bottom-up collaborative arrangements would likely benefit from specific guidance to facilitate the establishment of collaborations that better align with the ways ecological resources are interconnected across the landscape. In our case study region, this would improve the capacity of stakeholders to detect both the intended and unintended off-site impacts of management actions. Our approach offers an avenue for empirical evaluations of collaborative governance so that preconditions for effectiveness of environmental programs can be enhanced."
Achieving Success under Pressure in the Conservation of Intensely Used Coastal Areas
(2013) Micheli, Fiorenza; Niccolini, Federico
"Understanding how biological conservation and socioeconomic development can be harmonized in social-ecological systems is at the core of sustainability science. We present the case of a Mediterranean marine protected area (MPA), the Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo MPA, that exhibits high ecological performance under intense pressure from fishing, tourism, and coastal development. This case study illustrates how socioeconomic development and significant conservation benefits can coexist, even in a challenging context. Based on this case study, we present a framework for what elements and interactions have determined the high ecological performance of this MPA, and highlight the key leverages that have enabled ecosystem recovery. In particular, the most critical elements underlying high performance were sufficient leadership and knowledge to identify a conservation vision and to catalyze some key actors in the implementation of this vision. Thus, success was ultimately determined by the ability of the leadership of the MPA to devise and implement an effective strategy, with the support and participation of key actors that were external to the MPA organization. The insights from this case study may be applicable to improving MPA management in other systems with similar characteristics, including high human pressures and the presence of an MPA authority."
The Action Cycle/Structural Context Framework: A Fisheries Application
(2015) Webster, D. G.
"There is a growing consensus that environmental governance is a wicked problem that requires understanding of the many linkages and feedbacks between human and natural systems. Here, I propose an action cycle/structural context (AC/SC) framework that is based on the concept of responsive governance, in which individuals and decision makers respond to problems rather than working to prevent them. By linking agency and structure, the AC/SC framework points out two key problems in the realm of environmental governance: the profit disconnect, whereby economic signals of environmental harm are dampened by endogenous or exogenous forces, and the power disconnect, whereby those who feel the costs of harm are politically marginalized and so have little influence to effect solutions. I apply this framework to fisheries to develop hypotheses regarding exclusionary and conservation-oriented responses under different power/profit dynamics. These expectations are tested in a historical case study of management of the lobster fishery in Maine. The analysis confirms the importance of profit/power dynamics and reveals that governance tends to go through effective and ineffective cycles in a management treadmill that can be driven by internal or external forces. The latter in particular are generally ignored in fisheries management but could ultimately undermine sustainability even in previously well-managed systems."
Actor, Interest and Conflict in Sustainable Mangrove Forest Management: A Case from Indonesia
(2014) Kustanti, Asihing; Nugroho, Bramasto; Kusmana, Cecep; Darusman, Dudung; Nurrochmat, Dodik; Krott, Max; Schusser, Carsten
"Mangrove forests in protected area are common pool resources (CPRs). Characteristics of the forest resource is very dynamic, i.e. exposed to abrasion can be lost and could form arise with widespread forest land toward to the ocean. This phenomenon occurs virtually all coastal in Indonesia. It meets difficulties in determining policy granting ownership rights. The purpose of this study is to identify the role of stakeholders. We used the history description in period of 1977--2004 and analyses on the actors, interests, and conflicts in sustainable mangrove forest management in period of 2005--2010. In this research, we used the case study on the mangrove forest whose characteristic is emerging land, and the people were aware of not cutting forest for the other functions. Lampung Mangrove Center was chosen as a purposive sampling. Involving stakeholders in achieving the common goal of mangrove forest management is accordance with their duties and functions between the three partite cooperation (local government, community, and University of Lampung). The appearance of potential conflict that caused the same powerful interests among stakeholders should discuss to set the rules agreed upon. Interest in education of mangrove forest biodiversity in terms of their effects on the sustainability of non-timber forest products and fuel wood to meet the community household energy needs to enhance by the University of Lampung. The regulation governing the use of only dry branch of mangrove and not mangrove trees cutting is an effort to preserve the mangrove forests."
Adapative Management and Trial-and-Error Learning: A Response to: Lee. 1999. 'Appraising Adaptive Management'
(2003) Stansfield, Brett
"I must congradulate Kai N. Lee (1999) on her paper 'Appraising Adaptive Management.' It brings many issues to the forefront of current research. With respect to question 2 ('When an adaptive management design is not feasible, is there experience to guide trial and error learning?'), I must stress here that I believe that adaptive management includes trial-and-error learning."
Adaptation and Sustainability in a Small Arctic Community: Results of an Agent-Based Simulation Model
(2004) Berman, Matthew; Nicolson, Craig; Kofinas, Gary P.; Tetlichi, Joe; Martin, Stephanie
"Climate warming and resource development could alter key Arctic ecosystem functions that support fish and wildlife resources harvested by local indigenous communities. A different set of global forces--government policies and tourism markets--increasingly directs local cash economies that communities use to support subsistence activities. Agent-based computational models (ABMs) contribute to an integrated assessment of community sustainability by simulating how people interact with each other and adapt to changing economic and environmental conditions. Relying on research and local knowledge to provide rules and parameters for individual and collective decision making, our ABM generates hypothetical social histories as adaptations to scenario-driven changes in environmental and economic conditions. The model generates projections for wage employment, cash income, subsistence harvests, and demographic change over four decades based on a set of user-defined scenarios for climate change, subsistence resources, development, and government spending. Model outcomes assess how scenarios associated with economic and climate change might affect the local economy, resource harvests, and the well-being of residents for the Western Arctic Canadian community of Old Crow, Yukon. The economic and demographic outcomes suggest implications for less quantifiable social and cultural changes. The model can serve as a discussion tool for a fuller exploration of community sustainability and adaptation issues."
Adaptation or Manipulation? Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies
(2012) Thomsen, Dana C.; Smith, Timothy F.; Keys, Noni
"Adaptation is a key feature of sustainable social–ecological systems. As societies traverse various temporal and spatial scales, they are exposed to differing contexts and precursors for adaptation. A cursory view of the response to these differing contexts and precursors suggests the particular ability of persistent societies to adapt to changing circumstances. Yet a closer examination into the meaning of adaptation and its relationship to concepts of resilience, vulnerability, and sustainability illustrates that, in many cases, societies actually manipulate their social–ecological contexts rather than adapt to them. It could be argued that manipulative behaviors are a subset of a broader suite of adaptive behaviors; however, this paper suggests that manipulative behaviors have fundamentally different intentions and outcomes. Specifically, adaptive behaviors are respectful of the intrinsic integrity of social–ecological systems and change is directed toward internal or self-regulating modification. By way of contrast, manipulative behaviors tend to disregard the integrity of social–ecological systems and focus on external change or manipulating the broader system with the aim of making self-regulation unnecessary. It is argued that adaptive behaviors represent long-term strategies for building resilience, whereas manipulative behaviors represent short-term strategies with uncertain consequences for resilience, vulnerability, and the sustainability of social–ecological systems. Of greatest significance; however, is that manipulative strategies have the potential to avoid authentic experiences of system dynamics, obscure valuable learning opportunities, create adverse path dependencies, and lessen the likelihood of effective adaptation in future contexts."
The Adaptation Policy Paradox: The Implementation Deficit of Policies Framed as Climate Change Adaptation
(2013) Dupuis, Johann; Knoepfel, Peter
"The implementation of adaptation policies suffers from barriers and limits; even though adaptation is now set on the political agendas of developed and developing countries, surprisingly few examples of concrete policy realizations are found in comparative assessments. We investigate how the framings of adaptation as a policy problem can relate to tractability issues in implementation. We distinguish three framings of adaptation: climate change adaptation (CCA), climate variability adaptation (CVA), and vulnerability-centered adaptation (VCA) that imply conflicting interpretations of the collective problem to be solved and the goals to be attained through policy solutions. Through the methodology of comparative case studies, we conduct an empirical analysis of three implementation processes in India and Switzerland, and examine how adaptation framings translate into formal policy design and concrete policy realizations. We find that, regardless of the adaptive capacity of the country where implementation takes place, the CCA framing meets more tractability issues than the VCA framing. Therefore, we discuss the paradox that the innovative and additional CCA types of policies, advocated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), are more likely to face a deficit in implementation according to our analysis."
Adaptation Strategies and Collective Dynamics of Extraction in Networked Commons of Bistable Resources
(2021) Schauf, Andrew; Oh, Poong
"When populations share common-pool resources (CPRs), individuals decide how much effort to invest towards resource extraction and how to allocate this effort among available resources. We investigate these dual aspects of individual choice in networked games where resources undergo regime shifts between discrete quality states (viable or depleted) depending on collective extraction levels. We study the patterns of extraction that emerge on various network types when agents are free to vary extraction from each CPR separately to maximize their short-term payoffs. Using these results as a basis for comparison, we then investigate how results are altered if agents fix one aspect of adaptation (magnitude or allocation) while letting the other vary. We consider two constrained adaptation strategies: uniform adaptation, whereby agents adjust their extraction levels from all CPRs by the same amount, and reallocation, whereby agents selectively shift effort from lower- to higher-quality resources. A preference for uniform adaptation increases collective wealth on degree-heterogeneous agent-resource networks. Further, low-degree agents retain preferences for these constrained strategies under reinforcement learning. Empirical studies have indicated that some CPR appropriators ignore—while others emphasize—allocation aspects of adaptation; our results demonstrate that structural patterns of resource access can determine which behavior is more advantageous."
Adaptation Technology: Benefits of Hydrological Services: Watershed Management in Semi-Arid Region of India
(2014) Khajuria, Anupam; Yoshikawa, Sayaka; Kanae, Shinjiro
"Watershed management consists of multifunctional activities to manage and address the increasing water resource problems. Ever increasing water demand and rapidly depleting water resources, it has become necessary to develop the adaptation options to recharge groundwater resources. A watershed is a special kind of Common Pool Resources (CPRs); an area is defined by hydrological linkages where optimal management requires coordinating the use of natural resources by public participation. Watershed developments have shown significant positive impacts on water table, perennially of water in wells and water availability especially in semi-arid regions. This paper describes direct and indirect impacts of the watershed activities and benefits of hydrological services dealing with watershed management with future prediction of net irrigation water supply. In the present work, we have also discussed the multiple impacts of watershed of CPRs for improving groundwater and surface water resources."
Adaptation to Aquatic Risks due to Climate Change in Pangnirtung, Nunavut
(2013) Giles, Audrey R.; Strachan, Shaelyn M.; Doucette, Michelle; Stadig, Gwenyth S.
"We use a vulnerability framework to examine how residents of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, perceive the risks of aquatic activities in the context of adaptation to a changing climate. Our findings suggest that community members identify climate change as increasing the risk of many aquatic activities and have adapted some practices accordingly. However, further adaptation to these changing risks is impeded by three main barriers: (1) financial constraints, (2) Inuit resistance to adopting what some consider Euro-Canadian water safety practices, and (3) issues with the design of flotation devices. Participants suggested the following practical changes: (1) make personal flotation devices, lifejackets, and floater suits available to all residents at local stores at a subsidized rate, or provide them free of charge through the community; (2) create water safety promotional items that feature locally developed messages in both Inuktitut and English; (3) include traditional knowledge in water safety campaigns; and (4) use the local pool to train residents in water safety. These changes would not only help residents adapt to changing risks, but also help incorporate climate considerations into policies and programs."
Adaptation to Climate Change: Legal Challenges for Protected Areas
(2009) Cliquet, An; Backes, Chris; Harris, Jim; Howsam, Peter
"The question is whether existing nature conservation legislation is sufficiently adapted to face the challenges of climate change. Will the current legal regime on protected areas suffice This article will conduct a preliminary research into EU nature conservation law on protected areas in order to answer this question. We will limit the analysis to EU nature conservation law. Other policies and legislation such as on energy, health, water, agriculture, forests, marine and coastal environments, which may contribute to resilient ecosystems, are not discussed as they are outside the scope of this contribution. The article is written from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is not intended as an in-depth legal technical analysis. We will start by discussing the scientific challenges we are facing (Section 2). We will look into EU nature conservation law on protected areas (Birds and Habitats Directives14) and see what possible bottlenecks exist in the legislation itself or in the implementation thereof (Section 3). In the future, a new way of thinking about nature conservation might be necessary. This is examined in Section 4 in which we briefly explore the idea of an Ecosystem Framework Directive. This idea may justify and need more investigation in the future."
Adaptations of a Yucatec Maya Multiple-Use Ecological Management Strategy to Ecotourism
(2008) Garcia-Frapolli, Eduardo; Toledo, Victor M.; Martinez-Alier, Joan
"Over the last 40 years, the Yucatan Peninsula has experienced the implementation and promotion of development programs that have economically and ecologically shaped this region of Mexico. Nowadays, tourist development has become the principal catalyst of social, economic, and ecological changes in the region. All these programs, which are based on a specialization rationale, have historically clashed with traditional Yucatec Maya management of natural resources. Using participant observation, informal and semi-structured interviews, and life-history interviews, we carried out an assessment of a Yucatec Maya natural resources management system implemented by three indigenous communities located within a natural protected area. The assessment, intended as an examination of the land-use practices and productive strategies currently implemented by households, was framed within an ecological economic approach to ecosystems appropriation. To examine the influence of tourism on the multiple-use strategy, we contrasted productive activities among households engaged primarily in ecotourism with those more oriented toward traditional agriculture. Results show that households from these communities allocated an annual average of 586 work days to implement a total of 15 activities in five different land-use units, and that those figures vary significantly in accordance with households productive strategy (agriculture oriented or service oriented). As the region is quickly becoming an important tourist destination and ecotourism is replacing many traditional activities, we discuss the need for a balance between traditional and alternative economic activities that will allow Yucatec Maya communities to diversify their economic options without compromising existing local management practices."
Adapting Adaptation: The English Eco-Town Initiative as Governance Process
(2014) Tomozeiu, Daniel; Joss, Simon
"Climate change adaptation and mitigation have become key policy drivers in the UK under its Climate Change Act of 2008. At the same time, urbanization has been high on the agenda, given the pressing need for substantial additional housing, particularly in southeast England. These twin policy objectives were brought together in the UK governments eco-town initiative for England launched in 2007, which has since resulted in four eco-town projects currently under development. We critically analyze the eco-town initiatives policy evolution and early planning phase from a multilevel governance perspective by focusing on the following two interrelated aspects: (1) the evolving governance structures and resulting dynamics arising from the development of the eco-town initiative at UK governmental level, and the subsequent partial devolution to local stakeholders, including local authorities and nongovernmental actors, under the new localism agenda; and (2) the effect of these governance dynamics on the conceptual and practical approach to adaptation through the emerging eco-town projects. As such, we problematize the impact of multilevel governance relations, and competing governance strategies and leadership, on shaping eco-town and related adaptation strategies and practice."
Adapting Human Well-being Frameworks for Ecosystem Service Assessments across Diverse Landscapes
(2014) Villamagna, Amy; Giesecke, Craig
"There is broad support for the notion that ecosystem services influence human well-being (HWB), however, the means to measure such an effect are elusive. Measures of HWB are commonly used within the fields of psychology, economics, and international development, but thus far have not been integrated fully into ecosystem service assessments. We examine the multidimensional nature of HWB and discuss the need for a robust framework that captures its complex relationship with ecosystem services. We review several well-known HWB indices and describe the adaptation of two frameworks--the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality of Life Index and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework--to evaluate county-level HWB within the Albemarle-Pamlico Basin (Virginia and North Carolina, USA) using a stakeholder-engaged approach. We present maps of HWB that illustrate the results of both frameworks, discuss the feedback from stakeholders that guided indicator and data selection, and examine the observed differences in HWB throughout the basin. We conclude with suggestions for enhancing the role of ecosystem services in HWB indices."
Adapting Prospective Structural Analysis to Strengthen Sustainable Management and Capacity Building in Community-Based Natural Resource Management Contexts
(2016) Delgado-Serrano, María del Mar; Vanwildemeersch, Pieter; Ortíz-Guerrero, Cesar E.; Escalante Semerena, Roberto; Rojas, Maria
"Local communities collectively managing common pool resources can play an important role in sustainable management, but they often lack the skills and context-specific tools required for such management. The complex dynamics of social-ecological systems (SES), the need for management capacities, and communities’ limited empowerment and participation skills present challenges for community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) strategies. We analyzed the applicability of prospective structural analysis (PSA), a strategic foresight tool, to support decision making and to foster sustainable management and capacity building in CBNRM contexts and the modifications necessary to use the tool in such contexts. By testing PSA in three SES in Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina, we gathered information regarding the potential of this tool and its adaptation requirements. The results suggest that the tool can be adapted to these contexts and contribute to fostering sustainable management and capacity building. It helped identify the systems’ dynamics, thus increasing the communities’ knowledge about their SES and informing the decision-making process. Additionally, it drove a learning process that both fostered empowerment and built participation skills. The process demanded both time and effort, and required external monitoring and facilitation, but community members could be trained to master it. Thus, we suggest that the PSA technique has the potential to strengthen CBNRM and that other initiatives could use it, but they must be aware of these requirements."
Adapting Science to Adaptive Managers: Spidergrams, Belief Models, and Multi-agent Systems Modeling
(2002) Lynam, Timothy; Bousquet, François; Le Page, Christophe; d'Aquino, Patrick; Barreteau, Olivier; Chinembiri, Frank; Mombeshora, Bright
"Two case studies are presented in which models were used as focal tools in problems associated with common-pool resource management in developing countries. In the first case study, based in Zimbabwe, Bayesian or Belief Networks were used in a project designed to enhance the adaptive management capacity of a community in a semiarid rangeland system. In the second case study, based in Senegal, multi-agent systems models were used in the context of role plays to communicate research findings to a community, as well as to explore policies for improved management of rangelands and arable lands over which herders and farmers were in conflict. "The paper provides examples of the use of computer-based modeling with stakeholders who had limited experience with computer systems and numerical analyses. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the major lessons learned from the two independent case studies. Perhaps the most important lesson was the development of a common understanding of a problem through the development of the models with key stakeholders. A second key lesson was the need for research to be adaptive if it were to benefit adaptive managers. Both case study situations required significant changes in project orientation as stakeholder needs were defined. Both case studies recognized the key role that research, and particularly the development of models, played in bring different actors together to formulate improved management strategies or policies. Participatory engagement with stakeholders is a time-consuming and relatively costly process in which, in the case studies, most of the costs were born by the research projects themselves. We raise the concern that these activities may not be widely replicable if such costs are not reduced or born by the stakeholders themselves."
Adapting the Social-Ecological System Framework for Urban Stormwater Management: The Case of Green Infrastructure Adoption
(2017) Flynn, Carli D.; Davidson, Cliff I.
"Stormwater management has long been a critical societal and environmental challenge for communities. An increasing number of municipalities are turning to novel approaches such as green infrastructure to develop more sustainable stormwater management systems. However, there is a need to better understand the technological decision-making processes that lead to specific outcomes within urban stormwater governance systems. We used the social-ecological system (SES) framework to build a classification system for identifying significant variables that influence urban stormwater governance decisions related to green infrastructure adoption. To adapt the framework, we relied on findings from observations at national stormwater meetings in combination with a systematic literature review on influential factors related to green infrastructure adoption. We discuss our revisions to the framework that helped us understand the decision by municipal governments to adopt green infrastructure. Remaining research needs and challenges are discussed regarding the development of an urban stormwater SES framework as a classification tool for knowledge accumulation and synthesis."
Adapting to Climate Change in the Southwest Yukon: Locally Identified Research and Monitoring Needs to Support Decision Making on Sustainable Forest Management
(2009) Ogden, Aynslie E.; Innes, John L.
"In a community-directed forest management context, research is needed that will help both the managers of forest resources and the community residents who set forest management directions to consider climate change in their decision making. Specific research needed in light of climate change to support implementation of the forest management plan for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory, southwest Yukon, was identified through 1) sessions with local forest practitioners and 2) a community climate change workshop. Local residents highlighted the importance of formalizing a monitoring network based on local knowledge as part of a broader adaptive management framework. They also wanted an important role in any discussion on adapting existing forest management plans, practices, and policies to incorporate climate change considerations. Forest practitioners expressed a need for research to identify forest management tactics that would enable them to achieve community-directed forest management objectives in light of climate change. Addressing these research needs will have benefits beyond just adapting forest management to climate change. Climate change is providing the impetus and a forum for discussing a broader issue: the need for a more comprehensive research and monitoring program to support the sustainable management of forest resources."
Adapting to Climate Change: Social-Ecological Resilience in a Canadian Western Arctic Community
(2002) Berkes, Fikret; Jolly, Dyanna
"Human adaptation remains an insufficiently studied part of the subject of climate change. This paper examines the questions of adaptation and change in terms of social-ecological resilience using lessons from a place-specific case study. The Inuvialuit people of the small community of Sachs Harbour in Canada's western Arctic have been tracking climate change throughout the 1990s. We analyze the adaptive capacity of this community to deal with climate change. Short-term responses to changes in land-based activities, which are identified as coping mechanisms, are one component of this adaptive capacity. The second component is related to cultural and ecological adaptations of the Inuvialuit for life in a highly variable and uncertain environment; these represent long-term adaptive strategies. These two types of strategies are, in fact, on a continuum in space and time. This study suggests new ways in which theory and practice can be combined by showing how societies may adapt to climate change at multiple scales. Switching species and adjusting the 'where, when, and how' of hunting are examples of shorter-term responses. On the other hand, adaptations such as flexibility in seasonal hunting patterns, traditional knowledge that allows the community to diversity hunting activities, networks for sharing food and other resources, and intercommunity trade are longer-term, culturally ingrained mechanisms. Individuals, households, and the community as a whole also provide feedback on their responses to change. Newly developing co-management institutions create additional linkages for feedback across different levels, enhancing the capacity for learning and self-organization of the local inhabitants and making it possible for them to transmit community concerns to regional, national, and international levels."
Adapting to Socioeconomic Developments by Changing Rules in the Governance of Common Property Pastures in the Swiss Alps
(2013) Baur, Ivo
"The common property meadows in the Swiss Alps have been managed by local self-organized governance systems since the Middle Ages, thus preventing their overuse. During the past century, socioeconomic developments, such as industrialization and rapid nonagricultural economic growth, have shifted employment opportunities from the agricultural sector towards the service sector. In the agricultural sector, this has led to less intensive use and maintenance of the meadows in the Alps and consequently to a reduction in biodiversity. We use the example of Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps to analyze how the governance system has adapted to these socioeconomic developments. We based our analysis on the Program in Institutional Analysis of Social-Ecological Systems (PIASES). We coded five statutes ranging in date from 1867 to 2003, and conducted interviews to investigate changes in the governance system. In so doing, we focused on changes in the operational rules that structure the focal interactions between the social system and the ecological system, namely harvesting level and investment activities. Our results show that the governance system has adapted to the socioeconomic changes (1) by creating an additional organizational subunit that allows appropriators to alter operational rules relatively autonomously, and (2) through changing several operational rules. We conclude by outlining the properties of the governance system that have allowed for constant harvesting levels and investment activities over time."
Adaptive Analysis of Locally Complex Systems in a Globally Complex World
(1999) Lynam, Timothy
"Zambezi Valley agro-ecosystems are environmentally, economically, and institutionally variable. This variability means that it is not possible to measure everything necessary to develop a predictive understanding of them. In particular, because people and their environments are constantly changing, what was measured yesterday may change by tomorrow. "Here, I describe elements of the approach that I have developed to address this problem. Called DAAWN, for Detail as and When Needed, the approach advocates an iterative and multiscaled methodology in which we first capture as broad an understanding of the system as possible and then use awareness developed at this scale to identify where to focus subsequent, more detailed, investigations. Because we cannot hope to measure or monitor everything in these complex and adaptive agro-ecosystems, the approach requires us to make judicious use of all available knowledge about the agro-ecosystem. The DAAWN approach is rooted in systems theory, but is tempered by systems and problems where boundaries are not clearly defined, where nonlinearities are the norm, and where structural and functional change is the order of the day. "I describe a few of the most important data collection tools and methods that were developed to record the knowledge of local people and to observe, monitor, and measure changes in their resources. Of particular importance is the tool that I call a 'spidergram.' This tool, which I used extensively with village informants, symbolizes the DAAWN approach and was a major stimulus for its development. Simulation models provide another very important tool; here, I offer some examples of spatially explicit, multi-agent models. Some key findings of the research on Zambezi Valley agro-ecosystems are also briefly presented."
Adaptive Capacity and Traps
(2008) Carpenter, Stephen; Brock, William A.
"Adaptive capacity is the ability of a living system, such as a social-ecological system, to adjust responses to changing internal demands and external drivers. Although adaptive capacity is a frequent topic of study in the resilience literature, there are few formal models. This paper introduces such a model and uses it to explore adaptive capacity by contrast with the opposite condition, or traps. In a social-ecological rigidity trap, strong self-reinforcing controls prevent the flexibility needed for adaptation. In the model, too much control erodes adaptive capacity and thereby increases the risk of catastrophic breakdown. In a social-ecological poverty trap, loose connections prevent the mobilization of ideas and resources to solve problems. In the model, too little control impedes the focus needed for adaptation. Fluctuations of internal demand or external shocks generate pulses of adaptive capacity, which may gain traction and pull the system out of the poverty trap. The model suggests some general properties of traps in social-ecological systems. It is general and flexible, so it can be used as a building block in more specific and detailed models of adaptive capacity for a particular region."
The Adaptive Co-Management Process: An Initial Synthesis of Representative Models and Influential Variables
(2009) Plummer, Ryan
"Collaborative and adaptive approaches to environmental management have captured the attention of administrators, resource users, and scholars. Adaptive co-management builds upon these approaches to create a novel governance strategy. This paper investigates the dynamics of the adaptive comanagement process and the variables that influence it. The investigation begins by summarizing analytical and causal models relevant to the adaptive co-management process. Variables that influence this process are then synthesized from diverse literatures, categorized as being exogenous or endogenous, and developed into respective analytical frameworks. In identifying commonalities among models of the adaptive comanagement process and discerning influential variables, this paper provides initial insights into understanding the dynamic social process of adaptive co-management. From these insights conjectures for future inquires are offered in the conclusion."
Adaptive Comanagement and Its Relationship to Environmental Governance
(2013) Plummer, Ryan; Armitage, Derek; de Loë, Rob C.
"We provide a systematic review of the adaptive comanagement (ACM) literature to (i) investigate how the concept of governance is considered and (ii) examine what insights ACM offers with reference to six key concerns in environmental governance literature: accountability and legitimacy; actors and roles; fit, interplay, and scale; adaptiveness, flexibility, and learning; evaluation and monitoring; and, knowledge. Findings from the systematic review uncover a complicated relationship with evidence of conceptual closeness as well as relational ambiguities. The findings also reveal several specific contributions from the ACM literature to each of the six key environmental governance concerns, including applied strategies for sharing power and responsibility and value of systems approaches in understanding problems of fit. More broadly, the research suggests a dissolving or fuzzy boundary between ACM and governance, with implications for understanding emerging approaches to navigate social-ecological system change. Future research opportunities may be found at the confluence of ACM and environmental governance scholarship, such as identifying ways to build adaptive capacity and encouraging the development of more flexible governance arrangements."
Adaptive Comanagement in the Venice Lagoon? An Analysis of Current Water and Environmental Management Practices and Prospects for Change
(2012) Munaretto, Stefania; Huitema, Dave
"Adaptive comanagement (ACM) is often suggested as a way of handling the modern challenges of environmental governance, which include uncertainty and complexity. ACM is a novel combination of the learning dimension of adaptive management and the linkage dimension of comanagement. As has been suggested, there is a need for more insight on enabling policy environments for ACM success and failure. Picking up on this agenda we provide a case study of the world famous Venice lagoon in Italy. We address the following questions: first, to what extent are four institutional prescriptions typically associated with ACM currently practiced in the Venice system? Second, to what extent is learning taking place in the Venice system? Third, how is learning related to the implementation or nonimplementation of the prescriptions of ACM in the Venice system? Our analysis is based on interviews with stakeholders, participatory observation, and archive data. This paper demonstrates that the prescriptions of ACM are hardly followed in the Venice lagoon, but some levels of cognitive learning do take place, albeit very much within established management paradigms. Normative and relational learning are much rarer and when they do occur, they seem to have a relatively opportunistic reason. We propose that in particular the low levels of collaboration, because the governance system was deliberately set up in a hierarchical and mono-centric way, and the limited possibilities for stakeholder participation are implicated in this finding because they cause low levels of social capital and an incapacity to handle disagreements and uncertainty very well."
Adaptive Comanagement: A Systematic Review and Analysis
(2012) Plummer, Ryan; Crona, Beatrice; Armitage, Derek; Olsson, Per; Tengö, Maria; Yudina, Olga
"This paper outlines the results of a systematic review of the literature on adaptive comanagement (ACM). Adaptive comanagement is an emergent governance approach for complex social–ecological systems that links the learning function of adaptive management (experimental and experiential) and the linking (vertically and horizontally) function of comanagement. Given the rapid growth of adaptive comanagement scholarship, there is value in a systematic analysis of how the concept is being conceptualized to elucidate agreement and discrepancies and to examine the challenges this presents for cross-case comparisons and the possibility of arriving at more generalizable insights. A synthesis-based methodology has been developed involving a comprehensive search and screening of academic databases and the internet. A detailed analysis of 108 documents was undertaken to characterize the state of the ACM literature, unpack the construct of ACM, and examine relationships among aspects of ACM based on accumulated experiences to date. The systematic review and analysis reveals imprecision, inconsistency, and confusion with the concept. Robust evidentiary insights into how the variables or components of ACM interrelate as well as relate to goals and outcomes are, therefore, presently not possible. These findings lead to the discussion of a series of challenges for ACM scholarship. Opportunities remain for ACM scholars to pursue theoretical development in rigorous ways that facilitate empirically based cross-site comparisons."
The Adaptive Decision-Making Process as a Tool for Integrated Natural Resource Management: Focus, Attitudes, and Approach
(2001) Lal, Padma; Lim-Applegate, Hazel; Scoccimarro, Michelle C.
"Integrated natural resource management (INRM) and its many closely related approaches are generally considered to be more effective than single-disciplinary approaches for managing the complex resource issues currently facing many countries. INRM approaches aim to integrate several disciplines and involve different stakeholders operating in their own subsystems across different spatial and temporal scales. These approaches focus on identifying management strategies for sustaining natural resource stocks and flows of goods and services as well as their underlying ecological processes. Changes in the behavior of consumers and producers and in the allocation of resources among uses, users, time, and space will be necessary to achieve sustainable development. To accomplish this, changes in focus, attitudes, and approaches to research and management will also be necessary. This paper argues that the key focus of INRM should not be the natural resource itself, but rather the interactions of humans with each other and with their natural environment, and the decisions they make about using and managing resources. Such decision-making processes aim to identify and implement action-oriented strategies and to apply economic and noneconomic instruments that motivate behavioral changes, allowing for different responses to various economic imperatives. This process should be guided by constructivist philosophy and supported by rigorous cross-disciplinary research and active stakeholder participation. It must be compatible with dialectic decision making to reflect the different views and objectives of the stakeholders, the presence of incomplete information, and, at times, the fact that researchers have only a poor understanding of the dynamics of subsystems and their interactions. There must also be iterative, regular monitoring and fine-tuning of the management strategies chosen. We prefer to call the entire process an adaptive decision-making process (ADMP). Here we propose a four-phase ADMP illustrated by projects in Fiji and Thailand, both of which are supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The role of research, researchers, and other stakeholders in the ADMP is also discussed."
Adaptive Ecosystem Management in the Pacific Northwest: A Case Study from Coastal Oregon
(2000) Gray, Andrew N.
"Adaptive ecosystem management has been adopted as a goal for decision making by several of the land management and regulatory agencies of the U.S. government. One of the first attempts to implement ecosystem management was undertaken on the federally managed forests of the Pacific Northwest in 1994. In addition to a network of reserve areas intended to restore habitat for late-successional terrestrial and aquatic species, 'adaptive management areas' (AMAs) were established. These AMAs were intended to be focal areas for implementing innovative methods of ecological conservation and restoration and meeting economic and social goals. This paper analyzes the primary ecological, social, and institutional issues of concern to one AMA in the Coast Range in northern Oregon. Based on existing knowledge, several divergent approaches are available that could meet ecological goals, but these approaches differ greatly in their social and economic implications. In particular, approaches that rely on the natural succession of the existing landscape or attempt to recreate historical patterns may not meet ecosystem goals for restoration as readily as an approach based on the active manipulation of existing structure and composition. In addition, institutions are still adjusting to recent changes in management priorities. Although some innovative projects have been developed, adaptive management in its most rigorous sense is still in its infancy. Indeed, functional social networks that support adaptive management may be required before policy and scientific innovations can be realized. The obstacles to adaptive management in this case are similar to those encountered by other efforts of this type, but the solutions will probably have to be local and idiosyncratic to be effective."
Adaptive Governance of the Baltic Sea: Lessons from Elsewhere
(2015) Valman, Matilda; Österblom, Henrik; Olsson, Per
"Governance of marine resources is increasingly characterized by integrated, cross sectoral and ecosystem based approaches. Such approaches require that existing governing bodies have an ability to adapt to ecosystem dynamics, while also providing transparent and legitimate outcomes. Here, we investigate how the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), the international governing body for the Baltic Sea, could improve its prospects for working with the ecosystem approach, drawing from the literature on adaptive governance. We construct an ideal type of adaptive governance to which we compare the way in which HELCOM is operating and relate these dynamics to two other international marine environment governance organizations, the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). We conclude that HELCOM deviates from an ideal type of adaptive governance in several ways but also that the other two case studies provide empirical support for potential ways in which HELCOM could improve its adaptive capacity. Key aspects where HELCOM could improve include increasing stakeholder participation – both in information sharing and decision making. Further, HELCOM need to develop evaluation mechanisms, secure compliance to improve adaptive capacity and organizational effectiveness, which entails the development of structures for conflict resolution. Finally, HELCOM need to increase communication and harmonization between different levels of authority."
Adaptive Governance of Water Resources Shared with Indigenous Peoples: The Role of Law
(2016) Cosens, Barbara; Chaffin, Brian C.
"Adaptive governance is an emergent phenomenon resulting from the interaction of locally driven collaborative efforts with a hierarchy of governmental regulation and management and is thought to be capable of navigating social−ecological change as society responds to the effects of climate change. The assertion of Native American water rights on highly developed water systems in North America has triggered governance innovations that resemble certain aspects of adaptive governance, and have emerged to accommodate the need for Indigenous water development and restoration of cultural and ecological resources. Similar innovations are observed in the assertion of Indigenous voices in Australia. This presents an opportunity to analyze the emergence of adaptive processes within complex legal systems. We explore the role of law in locally driven innovation in this context, concluding that any system of governance that requires greater flexibility will only be viewed as legitimate, and thus succeed, if attention is given not only to adaptive capacity, but also to aspects of good governance. Through examples of the assertion of Indigenous rights, we illustrate critical links between adaptive capacity in water management, good governance, and law."
Adaptive Management and Social Learning in Collaborative and Community-Based Monitoring: A Study of Five Community-Based Forestry Organizations in the western USA
(2008) Fernandez-Gimenez, Maria E.; Ballard, Heidi; Sturtevant, Victoria E.
"Collaborative and community-based monitoring are becoming more frequent, yet few studies have examined the process and outcomes of these monitoring approaches. We studied 18 collaborative or community-based ecological assessment or monitoring projects undertaken by five community-based forestry organizations (CBFs), to investigate the objectives, process, and outcomes of collaborative ecological monitoring by CBF organizations. We found that collaborative monitoring can lead to shared ecological understanding among diverse participants, build trust internally and credibility externally, foster social learning and community-building, and advance adaptive management. The CBFs experienced challenges in recruiting and sustaining community participation in monitoring, building needed technical capacity for monitoring, and communicating monitoring results back to the broader community. Our results suggest that involving diverse and sometimes adversarial interests at key points in the monitoring process can help resolve conflicts and advance social learning, while also strengthening the link between social and ecological systems by improving the information base for management and increasing collective awareness of the interdependence of human and natural forest communities."
Adaptive Management Fitness of Watersheds
(2012) Porzecanski, Ignacio; Saunders, Lynn V.; Brown, Mark T.
"Adaptive management (AM) promises to improve our ability to cope with the inherent uncertainties of managing complex dynamic systems such as watersheds. However, despite the increasing adherence and attempts at implementation, the AM approach is rarely successful in practice. A one-size-fits-all AM strategy fails because some watersheds are better positioned at the outset to succeed at AM than others. We introduce a diagnostic tool called the Index of Management Condition (IMC) and apply it to twelve diverse watersheds in order to determine their AM 'fitness'; that is, the degree to which favorable adaptive management conditions are in place in a watershed."
Adaptive Management of the Water Cycle on the Urban Fringe: Three Australian Case Studies
(1999) Gilmour, Alistair; Walkerden, Greg; Scandol, James
"Our group at Macquarie University has run three adaptive management projects in New South Wales, Australia. Their objectives were: (1) to evaluate water cycle management strategies to minimize impacts of urban development on water quality in the Hawkesbury-Nepean basin; (2) to evaluate development planning policies to minimize water quality impacts on a series of coastal lakes; and (3) to carry out a preliminary assessment of the potential impacts of greater recreational use of Sydney water catchments. "These projects are examined to evaluate the contribution of the adaptive management approach to water cycle management on the urban fringe in New South Wales. The role of the adaptive management approach in education, as a negotiation process, and in policy formulation and evaluation, is presented. The importance of community participation, the role of an 'institutional champion,' and the need to manage the lead-up phase and the postworkshop phase with as much attention to detail as the workshop phase is underlined. Proposed prerequisites for a successful adaptive management project are developed along these lines."
Adaptive Management Planning Projects as Conflict Resolution Processes
(2006) Walkerden, Greg
"Adaptive management planning projects use multiparty, multidisciplinary workshops and simulation modeling to facilitate dialogue, negotiation, and planning. However, they have been criticized as a poor medium for conflict resolution. Alternative processes from the conflict resolution tradition, e.g.,principled negotiation and sequenced negotiation, address uncertainty and biophysical constraints much less skillfully than does adaptive management. When we evaluate adaptive management planning using conflict resolution practice as a benchmark, we can design better planning procedures. Adaptive management planning procedures emerge that explore system structure, dynamics, and uncertainty, and that also provide a strong negotiation process, grounded in principled exploration of stakeholders' interests and needs. 'Crossing' procedures in this manner is a fertile way of developing new forms of professional practice."
Adaptive Water Governance: Assessing the Institutional Prescriptions of Adaptive (Co-)Management from a Governance Perspective and Defining a Research Agenda
(2009) Huitema, Dave; Mostert, Erik; Egas, Wouter; Moellenkamp, Sabine; Pahl-Wostl, Claudia; Yalcin, Resul
"This article assesses the institutional prescriptions of adaptive (co-)management based on a literature review of the (water) governance literature. The adaptive (co-)management literature contains four institutional prescriptions: collaboration in a polycentric governance system, public participation, an experimental approach to resource management, and management at the bioregional scale. These prescriptions largely resonate with the theoretical and empirical insights embedded in the (water) governance literature. However, this literature also predicts various problems. In particular, attention is called to the complexities associated with participation and collaboration, the difficulty of experimenting in a real-world setting, and the politicized nature of discussion on governance at the bioregional scale. We conclude this article by outlining a common research agenda that invites the collaborative efforts of adaptive (co-)management and governance scholars."
Adaptive Wetland Management in an Uncertain and Changing Arid Environment
(2014) Downard, Renekah; Endter-Wada, Joanna; Kettenring, Karin M.
"Wetlands in the arid western United States provide rare and critical migratory bird habitat and constitute a critical nexus within larger social-ecological systems (SES) where multiple changing land-use and water-use patterns meet. The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, USA, presents a case study of the ways that wetland managers have created adaptive management strategies that are responsive to the social and hydrological conditions of the agriculture-dominated SES within which they are located. Managers have acquired water rights and constructed infrastructure while cultivating collaborative relationships with other water users to increase the adaptive capacity of the region and decrease conflict. Historically, water management involved diversion and impoundment of water within wetland units timed around patterns of agricultural water needs. In the last 20 years, managers have learned from flood and drought events and developed a long-term adaptive management plan that specifies alternative management actions managers can choose each year based on habitat needs and projected water supply. Each alternative includes habitat goals and target wetland water depth. However, wetland management adapted to agricultural return-flow availability may prove insufficient as population growth and climate change alter patterns of land and water use. Future management will likely depend more on negotiation, collaboration, and learning from social developments within the SES than strictly focusing on water management within refuge boundaries. To face this problem, managers have worked to be included in negotiations with regional water users, a strategy that may prove instructive for other wetland managers in agriculture-dominated watersheds."
Adding Environment to the Collective Action Problem: Individuals, Civil Society, and the Mangrove-Fishery Commons in Ecuador
(2014) Beitl, Christine
"Research on the commons suggests a more robust understanding of human-resource interactions is needed to strengthen theories about collective action and sustainable governance. I combine ethnographic and fishery data to explore how resource characteristics and institutions influence people’s behavior toward common pool resources in coastal Ecuador. This comparative study of the commons at two levels (mangroves and the cockle fishery) highlights how trust, communication, and social obligation depend on social histories of resource systems and types of collective action problems, largely explaining why local institutions encourage individuals to uphold mangrove forest conservation but have little effect on cooperation in fisheries."
Addressing Conflicts of Interest in Public Private Partnerships
(2010) Omobowale, Emmanuel B.; Kuziw, Michael; Naylor, Melinda Treurnicht; Daar, Abdallah S.; Singer, Peter A.
"Based on our review of policies and interviews, we conclude that there exists a range of good practices including attention to accountability and governance, acknowledgement and disclosure, abstention and withdrawal, reporting and transparency, and independent monitoring. There appears to be a need for PPPs to interact closely and learn from each other on these parameters and to also place more emphasis on independent external monitoring of COIs as a means of strengthening their major social objectives on which their activities are largely predicated. We also recommend the establishment of a web based database, which would serve as a forum to discuss COI issues and how they can be resolved."
Addressing Surprise and Uncertain Futures in Marine Science, Marine Governance, and Society
(2016) Thrush, Simon F.; Lewis, Nick; Le Heron, Richard; Fisher, Karen T.; Lundquist, Carolyn J.; Hewitt, Judi
"On an increasingly populated planet, with decreasing biodiversity and limited new opportunities to tap unexploited natural resources, there is a clear need to adjust aspects of marine management and governance. Although sectarian management has succeeded in addressing and managing some important threats to marine ecosystems, unintended consequences are often associated with overlooking nonlinear interactions and cumulative impacts that increase the risk of surprises in social-ecological systems. In this paper, we begin to untangle science-governance-society (SGS) interdependencies in marine systems by considering how to recognize the risk of surprise in social and ecological dynamics. Equally important is drawing attention to our state of preparedness, adaptation, and timeliness of response in ecosystem governance and society, which involve fostering transformations away from rigid and nonintegrated structures of governance. More inclusive decision-making processes, deeper understanding of complexity, and colearning across SGS can help to build constructive solutions that are likely to benefit multiple stakeholders and build capacity to understand and respond to change."
Addressing the Social Impacts of Conservation: Lessons from Experience and Future Directions
(2009) Springer, Jenny
"The purpose of this paper is to briefly review some aspects of past experiences from the perspective of how they have sought to address social impacts, in order to identify limitations and lessons that can inform future practice. The paper concludes with recommendations on how conservation organizations can contribute to ensuring that social impacts are more equitably and effectively addressed, including through more in-depth social analysis, organizational policies, increased support for community-based approaches and policy-oriented partnerships."
Addressing Trade-offs: Experiences from Conservation and Development Initiatives in the Mkuze Wetlands, South Africa
(2009) Dahlberg, Annika; Burlando, Catie
"Present-day conservation policies generally include the aim to integrate biodiversity conservation and local development, and describe this as a win–win solution that can satisfy all interests. This is challenged by research claiming that many efforts fail to match practice to rhetoric. South Africa has made strong commitments to fulfill the dual goals of conservation and development, and the Simangaliso Wetland Park is promoted as an example of this. We explore present and potential outcomes of conservation and development interventions in a community bordering the Wetland Park through the perspective of different stakeholders, with the aim of uncovering opportunities and risks. In terms of improving local livelihoods as well as involvement in conservation, the success of the studied interventions varied. Local communities may accept restrictions on resource use as a result of realistic and fairly negotiated trade-offs, but if perceived as unjust and imposed from above, then mistrust and resistance will increase. In this area, collaboration between conservation organizations and the local community had improved, but still faced problems associated with unequal power relations, unrealistic expectations, and a lack of trust, transparency, and communication. As unsustainable efforts are a waste of funds and engagement, and may even become counterproductive, policy visions need to be matched by realistic allocations of staff, time, funds, and training. At the national and international level, the true cost of conservation has to be recognized and budgeted for if efforts at integrating conservation and development are to succeed."
Adequacy of the 1995 Antitrust Guidelines for IP Licensing: Commentaries from the 2002 FTC and DOJ Hearings
(2004) Hamilton, Clovia
"In October 2003, the FTC issued a report entitled 'To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy' focused on the patent law system. A second report by both agencies is forthcoming and will make similar recommendations for the antitrust law enforcement system. This article discusses whether the FTC has addressed the three common types of license misuse, that is, the refusal to grant intellectual property licenses; misconduct during industry standards setting; and the improper acquisition of broad intellectual property rights through patent settlement agreements involving patent pools, cross-licenses, and generic drug market entry. Generic drug entry has attracted a great deal of interest in light of the diversion of distribution from wholesalers to the multi-billion-dollar shadow market over the Internet, and the controversial Medicare Bill."

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