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Thesis or Dissertation Setting Nets on Troubled Waters: Environment, Economics, and Autonomy among Nori Cultivating Households in a Japanese Fishing Cooperative(2003) Delaney, Alyne"Fishing Cooperative Association (FCA) members in Tohoku, Japan cultivate nori seaweed for the personal autonomy and quality of life this maritime-based occupation provides. However, their fishing territories are severely degraded, their occupational income is unpredictable, and their production expenses remain high. Given such uncertainties, more than 85% of the peak FCA nori growers population (1972) made the rational choice (in neoclassical economic terms) to quit nori cultivation. The remaining members made the rational choice (in substantivist terms), to continue this way of life in large part because it enables them to 'not lower their heads' and 'make decisions themselves.' This research, conducted in Shichigahama, Miyagi Prefecture over an 18-month period, employs ethnographic interviews, participant observation, archival research, and a demographic quantitative survey to examine nori growers and their lifestyle. "Research focused on FCA members' use of social ties to gain access to extra-community fishing territories. Since Japanese maritime resources are managed under a common property regime and are not open access, the degradation of fishing territories is problematic. Often, FCA members vote to sell their rights and quit fishing. In Shichigahama, remaining FCA members have instead opted to rent and barter for access to healthy fishing territories. This use of networks and social capital to make use of outsiders' fishing grounds shows a partiality for friendship and horizontal relationships over kinship and hierarchy in this segment of Japanese society. By 'helping one another out' with exchanges of fishing ground areas, FCA members are able to continue working on their own rather than resorting to wage labor and losing their autonomy. "Resource managers and common property theorists often cite Japan as a useful example for developing common property institutions elsewhere. Despite general success, however, Japan suffers from industrialization; this case study provides evidence of the negative impacts of pollution and eutrophication on FCA livelihoods. Yet, the Shichigahama experience also highlights the agency of locals in the management of natural resources. Showing flexibility as they use the informal means of social networking to cultivate nori, these FCA members epitomize the significance of personal autonomy in the lives of Japan's coastal communities."Thesis or Dissertation The Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Forest Resources and Institutions(1998) Schweik, Charles M."This study addresses a central puzzle facing the Human Dimensions of Global Change research community: How can we understand the influence of environmental policies on human behavior when little or no information is available on the condition of forest resources? This dissertation capitalized on new research tools, methods and approaches to overcome the 'no information about the resource' problem. Specifically, I combine (1)forest mensuration techniques, (2)Global Positioning Systems, (3)Geographic Information Systems (GIS), (4)spatial statistics, (5)remote sensing, and (6)institutional analysis to analyze forest vegetation patterns. I provide explanation of these patterns by considering the incentive structures driving human decision-making and activity and do this through two studies in very different empirical settings. "Both studies apply applicable theory related to human behavior and action. Both examine the incentive structures individuals face as they undertake daily activities related to forest resources. The first study, set in East Chitwan, Nepal, identifies spatial patterns in georeferenced forest inventory data and links these to patterns predicted by optimal foraging subject to institutional constraints. The second study compares forest management in one state and one national forest in Indiana, U.S.A. In this effort, I identify spatio-temporal patterns in the forest vegetation captured by a time series of Landsat multispectral images. The combination of natural forest regrowth and property manager actions in response to incentives and constraints explain these patterns. "Substantively, both studies identify change in forest resources associated with combinations of the physical, human community and institutional 'landscapes' in their regions. In both cases, geographic attributes of institutions (e.g. laws, rules) are found to influence the type and location of human actions. Methodologically, the two studies provide examples of how to control for natural influences carefully, and how to link theory on human behavior with spatial statistics, institutional analysis, GIS and remote sensing toward understanding human-environment relationships. By applying one of the two approaches outlined in the studies, a researcher can overcome the 'no information on forest condition' problem in any empirical context."Thesis or Dissertation Claiming Reindeer in Norway: Towards a Theory of the Dynamics of Property Regime Formation and Change(2005) Bergstrøm, Cassandra"The study focuses on the formation and change of property regimes with respect to the reindeer of Norway. The aims of the study are to use the Saami-reindeer nexus in Norway: to understand the emergence and change of property regimes; to identify sources of contradiction and conflict in the claims made on resources or goods; to explore how conflicts are played out - regulated or not, resolved or not - and the consequences of these processes; to examine the politics of property, including the role and impact of the politics of non-property issues and policies on property regimes; and to identify other factors that influence and affect property regimes, including unintended consequences of policies, and exogenous events including accidents."Thesis or Dissertation Polycentric Governance: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration(2015) Tarko, Vlad"The dissertation overviews and elaborates the concept of polycentricity, and applies it to two cases. Spontaneous order plays an important role in many non-market systems. But not all spontaneous orders are productive or sustainable. The concept of polycentricity aims to describe the productive subset of spontaneous orders, including both markets and non-market forms of organization. Broadly speaking, a polycentric system of governance is a collection of heterogeneous decision centers acting independently, but under a common system of rules and/or norms limiting negative externalities and free riding. The role of the overarching set of rules or norms is to assure that the spontaneous order is indeed productive and sustainable."Thesis or Dissertation River Landscapes and Land Use: Investigating Patterns and Relationships in Wales(2009) Heenan, Tom William"Policy is beginning to encourage the reversal of fragmentation of the British landscape, and there are many studies now looking at how best to connect habitat, and woodland habitat in particular. Rivers are believed to be important natural linkages in the landscape, and some studies highlight their current contribution to connectivity in Wales. Understanding the patterns of land use between and within rivers can help contribute to plans to increase connectivity, and help understand the implications of such plans. "This study utilised GIS data and software to examine land use patterns in Welsh river catchments, with reference to the longitudinal river slope (patterns between rivers) and the position within the river catchment (patterns within rivers). The cover of different land-uses was calculated from habitat data, and slope was calculated from elevation data. "The cover of 'semi-natural woodland', 'settlement' and 'agriculture' were all found to have a negative relationship to river slope. The reverse was found for 'plantation and felled woodland' and 'other semi-natural habitats' (which included grassland, heath and bog). Within-river, the patterns were much stronger but differed greatly between rivers. To better understand the processes occurring in the Welsh landscape future studies should look to additional landscape characteristics and to look further within rivers. Scale may also be important, as it is predicted that the size of the area examined around a river will have an effect on the relationship found, but it was outside the scope of this study to investigate such effects."Thesis or Dissertation All Hands on Deck: An Interactive Perspective on Complex Common-pool Resource Management Based on Case Studies in the Coastal Waters of the Isle of Wight (UK), Connemara (Ireland) and the Dutch Wadden Sea(1999) Steins, Nathalie A."This book is about the management of coastal resources. It is about fishermen, shellfish cultivators, salmon farmers, yachtsmen, cargo operators, nature conservationists, researchers, development agents and authorities. It is also about fish cages, fairways, birds, fishing vessels and 'vacuum cleaners'. In particular, the study is about collective action processes amongst multiple stakeholders in the coastal waters and how such processes are shaped in time and space as a result of interactions amongst such stakeholders (and non-human entities). "The study is the outcome of several research projects carried out while I was working at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom (February 1996 - August 1998). Some of the projects were driven by a purely academic interest in the collective management of natural resources. Others were part of consultancy work or programmes funded by the European Union. The thread of all these projects is the management of coastal resources that are used in common by multiple users for multiple types of use, and, more particularly, the problems associated with multiple-use and the users' strategies to deal with these problems through collective action."Thesis or Dissertation Indigenous Fish and Wildlife Co-management as an Opportunity to Support Inuit Well-being(2020) Snook, Jamie"Inuit in the Circumpolar North are closely tied to the lands, waters, and wildlife, which underpin livelihoods, food, cultural continuity, and well-being. Co-management institutions in Canada—arising from Inuit treaties—were created to increase the inclusion of Inuit voices and Inuit knowledge in recommendations about wildlife management. Co-management decisions have important implications for Inuit well-being; however, research has yet to explicitly explore how co-management decisions can enhance and impact Inuit well-being. Therefore, this dissertation research characterized how wildlife co-management impacts well-being in Inuit Nunangat. An Indigenous co-management-led research approach was used, which drew from decolonizing methodologies, boundary work theory, and community-based research principles. First, systematic critical review methods uncovered no publications that explicitly analysed co-management from a health or well-being lens; however, social determinants of health were implicit and prevalent in the literature. Responding to this research gap, data were then collected through conversational research interviews with co-management practitioners throughout Inuit Nunangat (n=21 interviews), and with Inuit in Nunatsiavut (n=21 interviews). Qualitative data were deductively and inductively analysed using a constant comparative method and thematic analysis. Co-management practitioners described how co-management institutions can act as boundary work organizations and how the social determinants of health could be integrated inside the shared space of co-management. Nunatsiavut Inuit underscored the importance of considering the determinants of health in co-management decision-making processes. For instance, Inuit explained how historic conservation management decisions had disrupted important connections among caribou and Inuit, particularly related to food, culture, and well-being; the socio-cultural and emotional impacts of the criminalization of an important cultural practice, as well as perceived inequities in wildlife conservation enforcement; and the frustration, anger, and hurt they experienced with not being heard or included in caribou management decisions. Similarly, Inuit reflected on how commercial fisheries remain a social struggle with multiple injustices, and identified opportunities for Inuit well-being indicators to be integrated into baseline monitoring and to measure progress. These results provide insights into experiences of historic and ongoing colonial wildlife management decisions, and highlight future directions for co-management initiatives—emphasising the health and well-being of Inuit and wildlife."Thesis or Dissertation Essays on Individual Behavior in Social Dilemma Environments: An Experimental Analysis(1993) Dudley, Dean"In this study, individual level behavior is investigated in the context of computer assisted voluntary contribution mechanism public good (VCM) provision experiments and common pool resource (CPR) appropriation experiments. Previous studies of these environments have concentrated on aggregate outcomes and have found, on average, aggregate outcomes fall between the predictions of the models based on privately rational agents and socially rational agents. "In the VCM provision experiments, 43% of the subjects behave consistently with a predictive model based on private rationality (Nash) and 21% of the subjects behave consistently with a predictive model based on social rationality. In the CPR appropriation experiments, 74% of the subjects behave consistently with a predictive model based on private rationality and 5% of the subjects behave consistently with a model based on social rationality. Both of these results help to explain why the aggregate outcomes fall between the privately and socially rational model predictions. The third essay investigates subject forecasting behavior in the CPR provision environment. Here, subjects tend to efficiently use scarce information revealed through lagged forecast error, but their forecasts are biased. This result is not consistent with rational expectations forecasts. Subject forecast behavior is better described by a Bayesian point estimate updating model iv with an updating weight approaching one on prior beliefs. This outcome is consistent with the observed failure of subjects to converge to an equilibrium outcome, in the CPR experiments."Thesis or Dissertation Neighborhood Health Centers: An Analysis of Collective Action(1992) Ray, Dixie Wiles"This dissertation examines the factors that contributed to successful collective action in establishing and operating neighborhood health centers in low resource urban areas. Persons involved with the health centers over a twenty year period were identified and focused in depth interviews conducted. Historic documents, including correspondence, reports, minutes and newspaper articles were reviewed. Explanation of collective action in the low resource neighborhoods required the integration resource mobilization theory with expansions of Olson's logic of collective action."Thesis or Dissertation Community-Based Conservation of the Callo de Hacha Fishery by the Comcáac Indians, Sonora, Mexico(2002) Basurto, Xavier"In recent times, fishery management scholars have suggested the need to develop a better suited small-scale fisheries management approach for developing countries, than the one offered by conventional Western fishery science. This alternative approach is based on the development of better resource access controls, community-based management, and an increased use of local traditional fishery knowledge. "In response, this research aimed to understand what are the most important social and ecological elements that contribute to the successful community-based management of the Seri Indians' callo de hacha (pen shell scallops) fishery. Toward this end, Seri controls over access to the fishery, as well as the integration of traditional ecological knowledge into local fishing practices were documented and analyzed. "Results showed that the success of this locally managed fishery originate from a good fit between well-defined property rights, locally designed institutions, and the natural system. "Outside fishers are allowed to fish in Seri waters on a regular basis, in exchange for benefits to the Seri. The integration of Seri communal worldview, fishing norms and beliefs, into local management rules, allows them to achieve low-cost monitoring and successful exclusion from their fishing grounds when necessary. Therefore, this case study suggests that absolute exclusion is not necessary to avoid overexploitation and the attainment of successful local management of coastal fishing resources. "Some of the most important Seri fishing practices that might be responsible for promoting resilience and sustainable use of the callo de hacha fishery are: multi-species management, existence of no-take fishing areas, and rotation of fishing grounds."