Design Principles for Robustness of Institutions in Social-Ecological Systems

Abstract

"What makes social-ecological systems robust? In this paper we look at the institutional configuration that affect the interactions between resource, resource users, public infrastructure providers and public infrastructure. The framework we propose helps us to identify potential vulnerable parts of a social-ecological system to internal disturbances. Especially the tensions between resource users and public infrastructure providers are key in potential robustness of the social-ecological system. Design principles originally developed for robust common-pool resource institutions seem to be a good starting point for the development of design principles for more general social-ecological systems."