| Publisher: American Fisheries Society
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Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
Journal Prestige (SJR): 0.4  Citation Impact (citeScore): 1 Number of Followers: 7  Subscription journalISSN (Print) 0899-7659 - ISSN (Online) 1548-8667 Published by American Fisheries Society  [4 journals]
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- Technology in support of nature-based solutions requires understanding
everyday experiences-
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Authors: Li, J; Nassauer, J.
Abstract: Nature-based solutions that incorporate “smart” technologies to enhance ecosystem services delivery may change the way people experience urban nature in their everyday lives. We lay out a conceptual basis for considering such changes and their social impacts. Cities are increasingly recognized as complex social-ecological-technological systems in which sustainability and climate resilience require environmental function to be paired with innovative technology. Smart technologies for real-time monitoring and autonomous operation promise innovations in urban landscape management. However, this promise can be fully realized only with adequate consideration of social impacts. Drawing on literature in landscape studies, environmental psychology, behavioral economics, public health, and aesthetics, we initiate a discussion connecting everyday experiences of urban nature with the social impacts of smart nature-based solutions and with local communities’ support for their implementation. We describe what makes pleasant everyday experiences of urban nature and their related well-being benefits and social and cultural values, and we elucidate how these experiences depend on perceivable landscape characteristics that are only sometimes directly linked to environmental functions. Then, based on this literature, we speculate about how adopting smart technologies to manage nature-based solutions may noticeably change the landscape in novel ways and have unintended negative impacts on everyday experiences of urban nature. We illustrate this with an example: smart stormwater management of retention ponds. We conclude that the risk of degraded everyday experiences of nature must be considered and addressed in the development of smart nature-based solutions. If pleasant everyday experiences are ensured through appropriate design, smart nature-based solutions may not only realize societal co-benefits, but also gain acceptance and continued support from the public for the whole set of ecosystem services they deliver.
PubDate: Fri, 03 Dec 2021 13:19:07 EST
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- Land-use changes associated with large-scale land transactions in Ethiopia
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Authors: Williams, T. G; Trush, S. A, Sullivan, J. A, Liao, C, Chesterman, N, Agrawal, A, Guikema, S. D, Brown, D. G.
Abstract: Large-scale land transactions (LSLTs) can precipitate dramatic changes in land systems. Ethiopia has experienced one of the largest amounts of LSLTs in Africa, yet their effects on local land systems are poorly understood. In this study, we quantify the direct and indirect land use and land cover (LULC) changes associated with LSLTs at eight socio-environmentally diverse sites in central and western Ethiopia. To estimate these effects, we employ a novel, two-stage counterfactual analysis. We first use a region-growing procedure to identify a “control” site with comparable landscape-level characteristics to each LSLT. Then, we sample and reweight points within each control site to further improve covariate balance. This two-stage approach both controls for potential confounding factors at multiple spatial levels and reduces the costs of extensive LULC data classification. Our results show that the majority of the reported transacted area (62%) remained unconverted to large-scale agriculture. Most of the land that was developed into large-scale agriculture displaced smallholder agriculture (53%), followed by conversion of woodland/shrubland (35%) and forest (9%). Beyond their boundaries, LSLTs indirectly influenced rates of smallholder agricultural expansion and abandonment, pointing to site dependence in how LSLTs affect adjacent land systems. In particular, the low prevalence of forest within and around these LSLTs underscores a need to move beyond measures of deforestation as proxies for LSLT effects on land systems. Our two-stage approach shows promise as an efficient method for generating robust counterfactuals and thereby LULC change estimates in systems lacking wall-to-wall LULC data.
PubDate: Fri, 26 Nov 2021 14:38:05 EST
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- State of Alaska's salmon and people: introduction to a special
feature-
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Authors: Westley, P. A. H; Black, J. C, Carothers, C, Ringer, D.
PubDate: Fri, 26 Nov 2021 09:19:09 EST
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- Failing to plan is planning to fail: lessons learned from a small-scale
scenario planning process with marginalized fishers from South
Africa’s southern Cape-
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Authors: Gammage, L. C; Jarre, A, Mather, C.
Abstract: Scenario-planning, a management tool used for addressing challenges in complex and uncertain social-ecological systems (SES), offers a helpful way to facilitate responses to complex change by stakeholders at all scales of the SES. This is facilitated through imagining possible futures in pursuit of a pre-determined and common goal. Environmental variability, together with a failure to recognize the integrated nature of marine SES, are two drivers of change that have contributed to the depletion of ocean resources and stressed fishing communities, including in the southern Benguela system off South Africa’s west and south coasts. Here, we present a scenario planning process, informed by transformative scenario planning, conducted with the community of fishers from the town of Melkhoutfontein in the southern Cape region. Together with the fishers, we developed four stories of the future of Melkhoutfontein within the context of an overarching theoretical approach to support the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF). These stories incorporate scenarios on key driving forces identified by participants, complemented by key driving forces identified through a related process using problem structuring tools. The stories contrast situations with (no) access to fishing rights and (un-)favorable economics. They are backdropped by two potential future ecosystem types (warm temperate versus subtropical) and knowledge acquired from strategic planning at the national scale. We discuss the insights gained from the scenario-building process, emphasizing lessons learned from this small-scale process with marginalized fishers and how this may contribute to the over-arching scenario-based approach.
PubDate: Thu, 25 Nov 2021 12:09:14 EST
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- A framework for ecosystem resilience in policy and practice: DECCA
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Authors: Sanderson Bellamy, A; Latham, J, Spode, S, Ayling, S, Thomas, R, Lindenbaum, K.
Abstract: Ecosystem resilience is increasingly considered within political responses to environmental problems, and is a key element of recent environmental legislation in Wales. The actual mechanisms of ecosystem resilience are complex, making it difficult, from a management perspective, to meaningfully describe or report on them for ecosystems at a national scale. For this reason, the legislation and associated policies in Wales have taken a pragmatic approach, using environmental attributes that have previously been causally linked with ecosystem resilience as a framework for description and reporting. These attributes are diversity, extent, condition, connectivity, and adaptability, and are referred to as "DECCA". The framework has proved useful and influential, and provides a novel example of how established and relatively simple scientific principles can inform and put into practice legislation about complex environmental systems; the Welsh case serves as the first example of a national government implementing resilience policy. However, the attributes remain proxies for actual resilience, and there are knowledge gaps for converting theory to practice. These include fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanisms of resilience and related concepts such as environmental tipping points, and methodological issues such as how resilience can be quantified and confidently reported on. There is a need to develop a research framework for addressing these issues, linked to policy cycles to ensure new evidence and understanding are appropriately interpreted and adopted.
PubDate: Thu, 25 Nov 2021 10:01:00 EST
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- From fAIrplay to climate wars: making climate change scenarios more
dynamic, creative, and integrative-
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Authors: Pereira, L. M; Morrow, D. R, Aquila, V, Beckage, B, Beckbesinger, S, Beukes, L, Buck, H. J, Carlson, C. J, Geden, O, Jones, A. P, Keller, D. P, Mach, K. J, Mashigo, M, Moreno-Cruz, J. B, Visioni, D, Nicholson, S, Trisos, C. H.
Abstract: Understanding possible climate futures that include carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation modification (SRM) requires thinking not just about staying within the remaining carbon budget, but also about politics and people. However, despite growing interest in CDR and SRM, scenarios focused on these potential responses to climate change tend to exclude feedbacks between social and climate systems (a criticism applicable to climate change scenarios more generally). We adapted the Manoa Mash-Up method to generate scenarios for CDR and SRM that were more integrative, creative, and dynamic. The method was modified to identify important branching points in which different choices in how to respond to climate change (feedbacks between climate and social dynamics) lead to a plurality of climate futures. An interdisciplinary group of participants imagined distant futures in which SRM or CDR develop into a major social-environmental force. Groups received other "seeds" of change, such as Universal Basic Income or China's Belt and Road Initiative, and surprises, such as permafrost collapse that grew to influence the course of events to 2100. Groups developed narratives describing pathways to the future and identified bifurcation points to generate families of branching scenarios. Four climate-social dynamics were identified: motivation to mitigate, moral hazard, social unrest, and trust in institutions. These dynamics could orient toward better or worse outcomes with SRM and CDR deployment (and mitigation and adaptation responses more generally) but are typically excluded from existing climate change scenarios. The importance of these dynamics could be tested through the inclusion of social-environmental feedbacks into integrated assessment models (IAM) exploring climate futures. We offer a step-by-step guide to the modified Manoa Mash-up method to generate more integrative, creative, and dynamic scenarios; reflect on broader implications of using this method for generating more dynamic scenarios for climate change research and policy; and provide examples of using the scenarios in climate policy communication, including a choose-your-own adventure game called Survive the Century (https://survivethecentury.net/), which was played by over 15,000 people in the first 2 weeks of launching.
PubDate: Thu, 25 Nov 2021 08:48:13 EST
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- Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning,
adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture-
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Authors: Luj?n Soto, R; Cu?llar Padilla, M, Rivera M?ndez, M, Pinto-Correia, T, Boix-Fayos, C, De Vente, J.
Abstract: The advanced state of land degradation worldwide urges the large-scale adoption of sustainable land management (SLM). Social learning is considered an important precondition for the adoption of innovative and contextualized SLM. Involving farmers and researchers in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) of innovative SLM such as regenerative agriculture is expected to enable social learning. Although there is a growing body of literature asserting the achievement of social learning through participatory processes, social learning has been loosely defined, sparsely assessed, and only partially covered when measured. Here, we assess how PM&E of regenerative agriculture, involving local farmers and researchers in southeast Spain, enabled social learning, effectively increasing knowledge exchange and shared understanding of regenerative agriculture effects among participating farmers. We measured whether social learning occurred by covering its social-cognitive (perceptions) and social-relational (social networks) dimensions, and discussed the potential of PM&E to foster SLM adoption and out-scaling. We used fuzzy cognitive mapping and social network analysis as graphical semiquantitative methods to assess changes in farmers’ perceptions and shared fluxes of information on regenerative agriculture over approximately three years. Our results show that PM&E enabled social learning among participating farmers, who strengthened and enlarged their social networks for information sharing and presented a more complex and broader shared understanding of regenerative agriculture effects and benefits than pre PM&E. We argue that PM&E thereby creates crucial preconditions for SLM adoption and out-scaling. Our findings are relevant for the design of PM&E processes, living labs, and landscape restoration initiatives that aim to support farmers’ adoption and out-scaling of innovative and contextualized SLM.
PubDate: Thu, 18 Nov 2021 07:15:58 EST
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- Converting monospecific into mixed forests: stakeholders’ views on
ecosystem services in the Black Forest Region-
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Authors: Almeida, I; R?sch, C, Saha, S.
Abstract: Converting monospecific into mixed forests can increase forests’ resilience against climate change-related extreme events such as droughts and storms. This insight is especially true when the tree species help each other, such as the fir in low mountain regions like the Black Forest, which improves the water supply of the beech through the hydraulic lift. However, the climate change adaptation strategy “mixed forests” impacts ecosystem services (ES) provided by these forests. Although the supply of ES is biophysically well-assessed, there is little knowledge about society’s views on ES, neither in terms of supply nor preferences. We aim to close this gap by investigating which ES are prioritized in mixed and monospecific forests of fir and beech at the Black Forest region. We analyzed whether differences depend on the type of forest and the stakeholders’ respective interests, and their potential benefits from these services. Making stakeholders’ perceptions explicit can facilitate their reflection, enhance knowledge-based and participatory decision making, and realize sustainable forest management strategies. We performed semi-structured interviews and conducted qualitative data analyses with MAXQDA software to investigate the rationale behind stakeholders’ perceptions of forests ecosystem services. Our results indicate that despite individual heterogeneities in the perceived importance of ES, there was broad agreement that mixed beech-fir forests are superior for providing recreation, water retention, and biodiversity among the cultural, regulating, and supporting ES. Although a minority of stakeholders preferred fir forests to provide timber yield, mixed beech-fir forests are preferred by most of the stakeholders in the long term. This preference is mainly due to the higher adaptation capacity of mixed forests toward climate change impacts and higher flexibility to market demands. We conjecture that there may be public support to convert monospecific to mixed forests in the region of the Black Forest as an effective adaptation strategy for the sustainable supply of ES in the future.
PubDate: Thu, 18 Nov 2021 06:31:29 EST
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- An integrated livelihoods and well-being framework to understand
northeastern Colorado ranchers' adaptive strategies-
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Authors: Bruno, J. E; Fernandez-Gimenez, M. E, Balgopal, M. M.
Abstract: As rangeland-based livestock systems experience social and ecological change, producers make increasingly complex livelihood decisions for improved or sustained well-being. Understanding these decisions requires more holistic frameworks that capture livelihood decision-making pathways and associated human well-being outcomes so that support systems reflect producers’ needs. Here, we present the empirical foundation for an integrated livelihoods and well-being framework with the potential to address these gaps in the theory and practice of rangeland sustainability. We applied an iterative methodology using both inductive and deductive coding to analyze participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 32 rangeland-based livestock producers in northeastern Colorado, U.S. In our inductive coding, seven factors emerged as inputs for producers’ livelihood strategies: financial (e.g., income), natural (e.g., land), social (e.g., community), human (e.g., labor), physical (e.g., infrastructure), political (e.g., access to policy makers), and cultural (e.g., way of life). Livestock producers described a dynamic process of interrelating these input factors to develop three primary livelihood strategies to avoid migration out of agriculture: contraction, expansion, and diversification of their operations. Through these livelihood strategies, producers increase or maintain their material (i.e., “what you have”), relational (i.e., “what you can do with what you have”), and subjective (i.e., “how you feel”) well-being. Our results show that producers vary in access to cultural and political factors and emphasize the ubiquitous role of diversification as a livelihood strategy. Livestock producers’ varying decision-making approaches emphasize the need for outreach and extension grounded in producers’ lived experiences. This study offers a framework that researchers can use to integrate the emotional sphere into a social-ecological system framing (i.e., social-ecological-emotional systems). Moreover, practitioners can apply this framework to design human-centered support systems for livestock producers in the western U.S. and beyond.
PubDate: Tue, 16 Nov 2021 13:52:32 EST
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- Multi-secular and regional trends of aquatic biodiversity in European
Early Modern paintings: toward an ecological and historical significance-
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Authors: Tribot, A; Faget, D, Villesseche, H, Richard, T, Changeux, T.
Abstract: Works of art are testimonies to past civilizations and biodiversity, and provide fundamental information for guiding current conservation programs. The success of such programs requires an understanding of the reference state of ecosystems, which is rarely known because current references are in perpetual slippage toward the acceptance of degraded states. For this reason, international organizations are regularly alerted to the fact that fish and aquatic resources are threatened, signaling a major challenge for our societies. In this article we aim to enrich the historical and ecological knowledge of aquatic resources in Western Europe (Atlantic, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea) by analyzing the taxonomic composition of aquatic biodiversity as represented in Early Modern paintings, using the statistical tools of numerical ecology. The geographic and temporal variations of the biodiversity represented in these paintings are interpreted according to environmental and human pressures, which we differentiate between using technical and socio-cultural “sieves.” Our results highlight the natural and anthropic factors that shape the spatial and temporal variations of the aquatic species depicted. These species belong to significantly different periods and regions, with a convergence between the origin of the paintings and the biogeographic area of the species. We show an overall decrease over time of represented taxa, and particularly of continental and freshwater species. We discuss the results in the light of previous works of historical ecology, archeology, history, and biology. Finally, we discuss the relevance and potential future contributions of the method developed herein to better understand the past reference state of aquatic socio-ecosystems.
PubDate: Fri, 12 Nov 2021 17:58:41 EST
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- Situating Indigenous knowledge for resilience in fire-dependent
social-ecological systems-
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Authors: Copes-Gerbitz, K; Hagerman, S. M, Daniels, L. D.
Abstract: With the growing challenge of addressing modern fire risk, land managers and researchers are increasingly looking to Indigenous knowledge as a primary source of information for enabling resilience of fire-dependent social-ecological systems (SES). Although this is an important step forward for recognizing the contribution of Indigenous peoples to fire-dependent landscapes, current SES research in fire contexts views knowledge as detached from power, reflecting a critique in SES resilience research more broadly. Integrating Indigenous knowledge into dominant colonial management paradigms (such as “command and control” management of fire) without attention to these power asymmetries will lead to inequitable solutions to modern wildfire challenges. To address this gap, we employ the concept of situated resilience—which views knowledge as a process contextualized within power dynamics—to a case study of a fire-dependent SES in the traditional territory of the T'exelc (Williams Lake First Nation), in the land now known as British Columbia, Canada. Through a “collaborative experiment” research design that incorporated iterative, long-term, ethical research relationships guiding knowledge co-production in forest walks, we engaged with T'exelc Elders, archaeologists, and forest managers to explore the context of Indigenous fire knowledge and situate Indigenous definitions of resilience in future forest management. Results indicate that for the T'exelc, the intentional use of fire to support their livelihoods was lost due to colonialism. This colonial context disrupted place-based, intergenerational knowledge transmission and resulted in forest management devoid of respect. However, employing the concept of situated resilience moved us beyond a preoccupation with the content of fire knowledge toward actively shifting the colonial context in which T'exelc knowledge was embedded. Through our collaborative experiment, and the trust built among T'exelc Elders, archaeologists, and forest managers, future forest management will more directly work to restore intergenerational knowledge exchange and respect and situate Indigenous-led resilience to modern wildfire challenges.
PubDate: Fri, 12 Nov 2021 17:12:00 EST
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- Capturing practitioners' "how-to" knowledge in the form of
recommendations for more effective planning of collaborative adaptive
management projects-
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Authors: Berkley, J; Beratan, K. K.
Abstract: Adaptive management (AM) and collaborative adaptive management (CAM) are concepts that are roughly three decades old, but a gap remains between theory and practice; these promising approaches largely remain more academic exercise than practical tool. Experienced practitioners report some success in applying CAM principles. Their “how-to” knowledge could be invaluable to other practitioners, but such knowledge is seldom recorded and distributed. We present results of a pilot project exploring the value and feasibility of capturing this experiential knowledge and deriving useful recommendations for more effective planning and implementation of CAM processes. We interviewed 10 practitioners from diverse backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews centered on open-ended questions that encouraged reflective narrative about experiences with a particular project. The projects described ranged widely in size and management focus. We identified 10 themes from the recommendations. The most stressed recommendation was that “getting the people part right” should be the priority consideration when setting up a CAM project. Actively engaging with communities from the very start is essential for developing practical solutions. Communities need to view the project as being consistent with community values and benefitting those communities. Supporting people with leadership qualities who are passionately supportive of the project is important for converting plans to action. Relationship- and capacity-building efforts that encourage productive interactions are essential for developing working relationships that enable implementation and long-term cooperation. Projects should be structured to take advantage of partners’ particular strengths and available resources; effective and timely actions are achieved most easily at smaller scales but need to be coordinated within the context of larger issues. Great value can be obtained by simply moving away from formal implementation of AM toward actions to improve the management system’s capacity to achieve success. Additional studies of smaller scale projects could provide useful information about effective approaches to capacity building.
PubDate: Fri, 05 Nov 2021 12:53:27 EDT
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- Integrated and innovative scenario approaches for sustainable development
planning in The Bahamas-
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Authors: Wyatt, K. H; Arkema, K. K, Wells-Moultrie, S, Silver, J. M, Lashley, B, Thomas, A, Kuiper, J. J, Guerry, A. D, Ruckelshaus, M.
Abstract: Using alternative future scenarios in development planning supports the integration of diverse perspectives and the joint consideration of the needs of humans and nature. Here, we report on the use of scenarios as an integral part of a two-year sustainable development planning process for Andros Island, The Bahamas. We combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to link stakeholder visions of the future of their island with quantitative assessments of the likely impacts of those visions on future conditions. We highlight knowledge gains for scenarios in three key areas: (1) inclusion of participatory mapping as both a mechanism for eliciting stakeholder knowledge and aspirations, and as an input for risk assessment; (2) participation of a transdisciplinary team to guide the scenario creation process and enable better understanding of the range of stakeholder visions and values; and (3) use of cumulative risk assessment as a framework to bring together quantitative and qualitative information and provide objective comparisons between alternatives. We convened over 560 people in 35 meetings and worked with 13 government ministries to create and compare four alternative scenarios consisting of storylines and maps of habitat risk of degradation. We found that one scenario, featuring intensive development, would pose the greatest risk to habitats and worked together to understand which activities could lead to such a future and what interventions could be taken to help avoid it. Ultimately, our collaborative process yielded objective comparisons between alternative future scenarios, incorporated diverse visions and values of stakeholders into the island-wide master plan, and informed investments in the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems and infrastructure critical for the livelihoods of island communities. This process can serve as an example for scientists and practitioners worldwide seeking to use scenarios to inform sustainable development planning.
PubDate: Fri, 05 Nov 2021 06:19:14 EDT
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- Toward an ecology of disasters: a primer for the pursuit of ecological
research on disasters-
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Authors: Gibson, N. L; Green, E. A, Herrera-R, G. A, Love, S. J, Turner, S. C, Weatherton, M, Faidiga, A. S, Luo, A. R, Ngoh, M. L, Shershen, E, Yoon, H, Blum, M. J.
Abstract: Ecologists are increasingly becoming interested in disasters, reflecting growing recognition that disasters can present exceptional opportunities to advance fundamental knowledge and appreciation for how ecological research can aid affected communities. Attempts to achieve both objectives can, however, create fractious tensions that result in unfavorable opinions about ecologists and diminish the perceived value of ecological research. Here we outline the merits and perils of “disaster ecology.” We first examine how ecologists have engaged in the disaster cycle, focusing on trends in training and education, research funding, and the prevalence of community engagement in ecological research. We illustrate the global asymmetries in educational opportunities, how funding of opportunistic pursuits can engender discord, and how the discipline has not yet widely embraced approaches that foster community engagement. We then provide a prospectus for improving best practices to advance knowledge and support humanitarian missions. Pathways toward improvement and innovation begin with taking steps to increase interdisciplinary coursework and trainings that prepare ecologists to work with first responders and stakeholders. Expanding the base of funding sources and supporting research spanning the disaster cycle would foster broader integration of ecological expertise into decision making. Greater adoption of community-engaged research approaches also would better address community and stakeholder concerns as well as strengthen the discipline by broadening representation and participation.
PubDate: Thu, 04 Nov 2021 20:09:47 EDT
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- Applying community-based and Indigenous research methodologies: lessons
learned from the Nuxalk Sputc Project-
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Authors: Beveridge, R; Moody, M. F, Pauly, B, Murray, G, Darimont, C. T.
Abstract: In the face of ecological depletion on a global scale, Indigenous knowledges, priorities, and perspectives are increasingly applied in community and academic research intended to inform social-ecological decision making. Many academic researchers and decision makers have learned to solicit Indigenous knowledges using community-based research methods and participatory processes. However, Indigenous scholars and leaders are increasingly moving beyond these standard practices to apply Indigenous methodologies, engaging local epistemologies, and culturally relevant methods to produce respectful research outcomes in support of local priorities. We share experiences and learning from the Nuxalk Sputc (eulachon) Project to illustrate how an Indigenous research process was developed and applied by the Nuxalk Nation’s Stewardship Office in Bella Coola, British Columbia (Nuxalk territory). This project documented, interpreted, articulated, and represented Nuxalk knowledge about eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) using an iterative, community-driven process informed by Nuxalk protocols and knowledge systems. We begin by detailing the project process, including project initiation, decision making, and community engagement processes, and methods of knowledge documentation, interpretation, articulation, representation, and sharing. Demonstrating that the Sputc Project’s distinctly Nuxalk approach was key to its success, we discuss how engaging Nuxalk knowledges influenced our process from conception to completion, resulting in an emergent methodology that prioritized relational accountability, locally grounded methods of knowledge documentation and interpretation, respectful representation, and reflexivity. Based on our experience with the Sputc Project, we distinguish between Indigenous and community-based methodologies, both in terms of their epistemological foundations and their orientation to the goals of decolonization and resurgence. We suggest that by considering and valuing Indigenous methodologies, researchers and decision makers can move toward authentically and respectfully engaging Indigenous knowledge and priorities, and ultimately, toward supporting Indigenous production, interpretation, articulation, and representation of knowledge in a contemporary context.
PubDate: Thu, 04 Nov 2021 19:34:49 EDT
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- Participatory scenario planning and framing of social-ecological systems:
an analysis of policy formulation processes in Rwanda and Tanzania-
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Authors: Rutting, L; Vervoort, J. M, Mees, H, Driessen, P. P. J.
Abstract: Governance of social-ecological systems (SES) involves multiple stakeholders with different perspectives on the system and associated problems, and different ways to value and use the system. This has implications for decision making because this diversity of interests and framings may cause conflicts between stakeholders and/or marginalization of certain groups. In general, the literature agrees that strategically considered stakeholder participation is key to well-informed and legitimate SES governance and to alleviate differences and conflicts between stakeholders. Because SES represent uncertain, complex governance contexts, methodologies that address complexity and future uncertainty are needed. In this regard, participatory scenario planning is widely regarded as a useful tool. However, little explicit analysis exists about its role in framing. We therefore analyzed two scenario-guided policy formulation cases to assess how and to what extent it contributes to system and problem framing. We developed an analytical framework building on critical systems and resilience scholarship: the questions of “resilience of what, to what, for whom and over what timeframe'” are important framing dimensions. As such, we used them as the basis for our framework. We analyzed two scenario-guided policy formulation processes in East Africa, facilitated by the CGIAR’s Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. We found that participatory scenario planning significantly contributes to system and problem framing and can add to efficacy, legitimacy, and analytical rigor of planning processes through involving a diverse range of stakeholders in strategic dialogues about futures. Our results also highlight its potential to make the political dimension of policy and broader SES governance processes more explicitly visible by addressing the “for whom'” dimension. We recommend designing novel participatory scenario approaches that explicitly use insights from critical system theory, incorporating questions of who decides how the system and problems are framed, who should benefit, and whose knowledge is used.
PubDate: Thu, 04 Nov 2021 09:40:19 EDT
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- Assessing the learning process in transdisciplinary research through a
novel analytical approach-
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Authors: Mascarenhas, A; Langemeyer, J, Haase, D, Borgstr?m, S, Andersson, E.
Abstract: Inter- and transdisciplinary research projects bring with them both challenges and opportunities for learning among all stakeholders involved. This is a particularly relevant aspect in social-ecological research projects, which deal with complex real-world systems and wicked problems involving various stakeholders’ interests, needs, and views, while demanding expertise from a wide range of disciplines. Despite its importance in such research efforts, the learning process is often not the primary focus of investigation and therefore the knowledge about it remains limited. Here, we put forward an analytical framework that was developed to assess the learning process of both the research team and other participating stakeholders within the scope of an international transdisciplinary project dealing with urban green and blue infrastructure. The framework is structured around five dimensions of the learning process: “Why learn'” (the purpose of knowledge generation and sharing); “What to learn about'” (the types of knowledge involved); “Who to learn with'” (the actors involved); “How to learn'” (the methods and tools used); 'When to learn'' (the timing of different stages). We developed an interview protocol to operationalize the framework and tested our approach through interviews with project researchers. Based on our empirical results, we draw main lessons learned that can inform other transdisciplinary projects. These include capitalizing on what already exists, addressing trade-offs inherent to different types of knowledge, fostering inter- and transdisciplinarity, engaging stakeholders, supporting a learning environment and fostering reflexivity. Besides the empirical insights and the lessons we present, the main contribution of this research lies in the analytical framework we developed, accompanied by a protocol to apply it in practice. The framework can capture the learning process taking place in transdisciplinary research more comprehensively than similar existing frameworks. The five intertwined dimensions it covers are essential to understand and plan such learning processes.
PubDate: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 12:36:33 EDT
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- Why do large-scale agricultural investments induce different
socio-economic, food security, and environmental impacts' Evidence from
Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique-
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Authors: Oberlack, C; Giger, M, Anseeuw, W, Adelle, C, Bourblanc, M, Burnod, P, Eckert, S, Fitawek, W, Fouilleux, E, Hendriks, S. L, Kiteme, B, Masola, L, Mawoko, Z, Mercandalli, S, Reys, A, Da Silva, M, Van der Laan, M, Zaehringer, J. G, Messerli, P.
Abstract: Large-scale agricultural investments (LAIs) transform land use systems worldwide. There is, however, limited understanding about how the common global drivers of land use change induce different forms of agricultural investment and produce different impacts on the ground. This article provides a cross-country comparative analysis of how differences in business models, land use changes, and governance systems explain differences in socio-economic, food security, and environmental impacts of LAIs in Kenya, Madagascar, and Mozambique. It brings together results on these aspects generated in the AFGROLAND project that collected data in a multi-method approach via household surveys, business model surveys, semi-structured household interviews, life-cycle assessments of farm production, analysis of remote-sensing data, key informant interviews, and document analysis. For the present project synthesis, we combined a collaborative expert workshop with a comparative analysis of 16 LAIs. The results show that the LAIs follow four distinctive impact patterns, ranging from widespread adverse impacts to moderate impacts. Results demonstrate how the following conditions influence how the global drivers of land use change translate into different LAIs and different impacts on the ground: labor intensity, prior land use, utilization of land, farm size, type of production, experience in local agriculture, land tenure security, accountability of state and local elites, the mobilization capacity of civil society, expansion of resource frontiers, agricultural intensification, and indirect land use change. The results indicate that commercial agriculture can be a component in sustainable development strategies under certain conditions, but that these strategies will fail without substantial, sustained increases in the economic viability and inclusiveness of smallholder agriculture, land tenure security, agro-ecological land management, and support for broader patterns of endogenous agrarian transformation.
PubDate: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 10:24:30 EDT
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- Retaining multi-functionality in a rapidly changing urban landscape:
insights from a participatory, resilience thinking process in Stockholm,
Sweden-
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Authors: Borgstr?m, S; Andersson, E, Bj?rklund, T.
Abstract: Urban social-ecological resilience research has focused on conceptual explorations, while less attention has been paid to how resilience thinking in practice may inform urban development. Using the rapidly urbanizing landscape in Stockholm as a case, we explore the urban specifics of resilience thinking practice and thereby contribute to the development of knowledge and practice of social-ecological resilience thinking generally. The study addresses an urban wicked problem: how to ensure that people continue to have access to the means necessary to realize benefits from green blue infrastructure, when the city is changing and governance is fragmented. Drawing on insights from the design and implementation of a participatory dialogue process, we outline methodological adaptations to a resilience informed system exploration, to better accommodate the complexity of urban systems. The participatory process included three phases: basic system understanding, dealing with change over time, and identifying alternative ways forward. Different knowledge elicitation and deliberation methods were deployed within workshops, surveys, and interviews, and were paralleled by a thorough reflexive analysis of process outcomes. The main discussion points are stakeholder participation, the role of discourses, identities and mandates, agency, and adaptive capacity, and alternative strategies for dealing with change. Deep knowledge of the complexities of urban land use and governance requires the involvement of diverse stakeholders. Handling this diversity poses a challenge for process design: combining the ambition of an inclusive process and the need to be relevant with the use of bridging concepts increases the risk of reducing the level of complexity of the deliberative process. There is also a risk of participation bias, where stakeholders knowledgeable about the green blue infrastructure are easier to engage compared to stakeholders with knowledge about drivers of change and urban governance, which will influence the system understanding and envisioned alternative pathways for taking action.
PubDate: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 08:37:34 EDT
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- Mapping mental barriers that prevent the use of neighborhood green spaces
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Authors: Haase, D; Wolff, M, Schumacher, N.
Abstract: In comparison to the study of green space use, the study of its non-use or rejection is greatly understudied. Neighborhood managers and members of local gardening initiatives of Halle-Newtown, Germany, state that residents ignore local green-blue infrastructure (GBI) for recreational use. Halle-Newtown is a former showcase, large prefabricated socialist housing estate that is now facing an increase of households deprived in multiple ways. We are interested in the question of why people of Halle-Newtown refuse to use local GBI. In order to uncover potential barriers to the enjoyment of the ecosystem service benefits of local GBI, we have chosen the method of mental mapping to explore place attachment in Halle-Newtown. In summer 2018, about 100 residents of Halle-Newtown described the places they prefer when relaxing from a stressful and hot summer day. The results were surprising. Local GBI, be it created in socialist times or recently, was completely absent from their mental maps. Instead, people would overcome longer distances and cover higher costs to reach central green spaces. Tacit knowledge, namely the untold general rejection of the entire neighborhood by the residents, was found to be the deeper reason behind non-use of GBI and missing place attachment. The results uncovered that both neighborhood neglect and the multi-scalar character of urban recreational ideas/behavior are factors that help us to understand non-use of urban GBI, two key insights for urban planning.
PubDate: Mon, 25 Oct 2021 12:31:52 EDT
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