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Abstract: As a group of social scientists supporting a large, national, multi-site project dedicated to studying ecosystem services in natural resource production landscapes, we were tasked with co-hosting kick-off workshops at multiple locations. When, due to project design and the Covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to reshape our plans for these workshops and hold them online, we ended up changing our objectives. This redesign resulted in a new focus for our team—on the process of stakeholder and rightsholder engagement in environmental and sustainability research rather than the content of the workshops. Drawing on participant observation, surveys, and our professional experience, this perspective highlights lessons learned about organizing virtual stakeholder workshops to support landscape governance research and practice. We note that procedures followed for initiating stakeholder and rightsholder recruitment and engagement depend on the convenors’ goals, although when multiple research teams are involved, the goals need to be negotiated. Further, more important than the robustness of engagement strategies is flexibility, feasibility, managing expectations—and keeping things simple. PubDate: 2023-03-08
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Abstract: Transitioning to a sustainable energy production system is an integral component of mitigating climate change impacts. Increasing renewable energy development—such as large-scale wind farms—is a vital part of this transition. Wind energy development is often controversial due to local pushback to the proposed installations. This phenomenon of local opposition is characterized as Not-In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY). Here, we used Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System (SES) framework to conduct a structured analysis of anti-wind energy development narratives associated with the failed Wind Catcher Project in the south-central region of the United States of America (USA). Our findings indicate that local values and perceptions of social and economic resources are the most critical factors explaining opposition to wind energy development, with little weight placed on environmental concerns. The wind farm, turbines, and associated transmission lines were seen as a threat to people’s way of life and their perception of place. In addition, past experiences with volatile energy prices caused distrust of long-term projections on cost savings. Our analysis suggests that new energy development projects must include open discussions with local stakeholders, more thoughtful consideration of opposing arguments and concerns, and acknowledgment of local place attachment to avoid pushback. PubDate: 2023-03-03
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Abstract: China has experienced significant increase in antibiotic pollution in recent years due to increased production and consumption of antibiotics aimed at improving population health and promoting livestock growth. Antibiotic use in China is higher than the international average possibly due to widespread (mis)use in animal husbandry. Increasing levels of antibiotic pollution threaten the humans’ health and the environment, thus requires major policy changes and scientific efforts to mitigate the threat of antibiotic pollution. Antibiotics even disrupt the microbial ecosystem in the environment and the human microbiome. In an attempt to control antibiotics abuse, the Chinese government has issued a series of policies and regulations in the last few years. Given the ongoing prevalence of antibiotics pollution, it is crucial that not only government officials and policymakers, but also scientists and society as a whole, take steps to address the issue. PubDate: 2023-03-01
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: While public engagement is a legal (and moral) requirement in many countries, good engagement is hard to do. Bad public engagement is too often the norm, often ending in court cases or protests. While government and industry proponents often do not see public engagement as important, in turn practitioners often assume it can be done “on the fly” to comply with the law. We argue that the appropriate role of community engagement, building relationships and ownership of initiatives within communities, is neglected and its promise of improved community-Industry/government relations overlooked. Recently, there has been a resurgence in the creation of engagement tools enabling effective discussion and progress on shared agendas. Unfortunately, as many do not understand or practice engagement ethically, these tools and the deepening understanding of public engagement is underutilized. Our answer to this challenge is to teach university courses that explicitly focus on how to do good public engagement, the importance of many different approaches and the requirement to implement custom supports. Many of our examples are drawn from the authors’ own engagement practice and experiences. We try to teach students, through our own example, a willingness to be a different sort of practitioner: making a difference in the world. We stress that public engagement is key to increased civic engagement and democracy. In this article, we use personal and professional reflection to examine the need for good practice, our own understanding of it and how we teach good engagement practices at a Canadian university, including developing an innovative practice. PubDate: 2023-02-14
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Abstract: Range exclosures have been used as a tool to restore degraded communal grazing lands in Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia. Although there seems to be ecological evidence of success in rehabilitation of degraded rangelands in Tigray, there is unclear translation of these achievements into socio-economic benefits. It was hypothesized that this could be partly attributed to poor governance of the range exclosures occasioned by low participation and weak rules. This paper tried to characterize the exclosure governance system in Tigray Region of Northern Ethiopia to understand the key and interconnected exclosure governance elements of public participation and rules at the grass-roots level. Tanqua-Abergele located in the lowlands of Tigray was systematically selected from districts under Sustainable Land Management Programmes (SLMP). Five Tabias were selected from the district for the governance study. Data was collected from 331 surveyed households, 43 Key Informants and 72 Focus Groups. The results of binary logit regression showed that public engagement in exclosure governance was determined by gender, age, training in SLMP, Tabia and administrative role (p < 0.05). Participation of local community during exclosure selection varied significantly with respondents’ administrative roles (p = 0.026), age group (p = 0.001), SLMP training (p < 0.001), and gender (p = 0.007). The main challenges reported to undermine sustainability of the exclosure programme were illegal grazing and encroachment of exclosures. Communities were not adequately involved in decisions on establishment, formulation of bylaws, and benefit distribution. This has led to incidences of forceful access to resources within exclosures, often resulting in conflicts among guards and community members. Institutionalizing exclosure management at village level is necessary to provide ownership and responsibility to the communities and for the sustainability of the rangeland rehabilitation programme. PubDate: 2023-02-14
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Abstract: By 2050, solar energy is expected to provide 45 percent of the electricity consumed in the USA. Most of this solar electricity is expected to come from utility-scale solar projects that each cover anywhere from 10 to thousands of hectares. In all, solar panels could cover as many as four million hectares. Where those panels would be located is uncertain, but predictions are that most of these solar projects would likely occur on agricultural land. Several opportunities and obstacles exist for solar development. The USA has abundant farmland to support solar projects, and the federal government is offering attractive investment tax credits for solar developers over the following 12 years. Yet there is a critical need to expand transmission lines and upgrade the electrical grid to connect new solar projects. Moreover, local governments currently hold the power to decide whether to allow large solar projects, and, if so, where and at what size. Agrivoltaics, which combine in-ground solar panels with the growing of crops, pollinators, and livestock, offer some potential for producing both food and solar electricity. How these many opportunities and obstacles play out will determine the pace and extent of utility-scale solar deployment in the USA. PubDate: 2023-02-09
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Abstract: Boundary spanners are individuals able to reach across organizational borders to build relationships and interconnections to help better manage complex problems. What is not clear, however, are the skills that allow boundary spanners to cross diverse scales, sectors, and organizations. To address this gap, we use a qualitative case study approach to examine evidence for how boundary spanning skills are implemented in the context of stakeholder engagement for addressing water challenges in agricultural settings. We employ a hybrid deductive-inductive thematic analysis approach to examine interview data collected with 25 stakeholder participants as well as direct observation of engagement behavior. Interview instruments were designed to elicit responses related to six deductively derived skills of boundary spanning: relationship builder, authentic leadership, trustworthiness, autonomy, perspective-taking, and effective science communication. Our inductive analysis identified evidence for three additional boundary spanning skills. Our study finds that some boundary spanning skills were exhibited more than others, and their frequency of use varied throughout the engagement process, and certain skills were used interchangeably. This research provides guidance on what boundary spanning looks like in action, and thus provides guidance on identifying and enhancing these skills in stakeholder engagement for water resource management. PubDate: 2023-01-25
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Abstract: For nearly all the most urgent issues confronting humanity today, there is neither consensus about how to address them nor clarity on how tackling them might further compound existing inequality, erode democratic capacities and accelerate environmental decline. Urgent issues of climate change, rapid urbanization and public health are teeming with wicked problems. Even so, their prospective solutions may nevertheless exacerbate these problems and bring about new ones. Taming any one of these wicked problems with planning and public policy tools presumes making decisions on ethical questions such as what to tame and what to ignore, who or what to prioritize in the solution, or conversely, who or what should bear the costs and risks, and how to strike a balance between uncertain benefits and probable harms. Despite the saliency of ethics in the formulation of wicked problems and how they are tamed, the ethics of wicked problems has remained woefully under-developed ever since (Rittel and Webber, Policy Sci 4:155–169, 1973) publication nearly five decades ago. In this article, each of the ten properties of the wicked problem, following their original sequence, will be examined in relation to ethics. What is the moral significance of each of these properties' How does explicating their moral content advance present understanding of wicked problems' And how might this study of ten properties in relation to ethics enable planners to avoid moral blindspots and pitfalls that often accompany wicked problems' Finally, how can the ethics of wicked problems aspire new planning ideals' PubDate: 2023-01-18
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Abstract: Citizen science (CS) can foster transformative impact for science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. To unleash this impact, a clearer understanding of its current status and challenges for its development is needed. Using quantitative indicators developed in a collaborative stakeholder process, our study provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of CS in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our online survey with 340 responses focused on CS impact through (1) scientific practices, (2) participant learning and empowerment, and (3) socio-political processes. With regard to scientific impact, we found that data quality control is an established component of CS practice, while publication of CS data and results has not yet been achieved by all project coordinators (55%). Key benefits for citizen scientists were the experience of collective impact (“making a difference together with others”) as well as gaining new knowledge. For the citizen scientists’ learning outcomes, different forms of social learning, such as systematic feedback or personal mentoring, were essential. While the majority of respondents attributed an important value to CS for decision-making, only few were confident that CS data were indeed utilized as evidence by decision-makers. Based on these results, we recommend (1) that project coordinators and researchers strengthen scientific impact by fostering data management and publications, (2) that project coordinators and citizen scientists enhance participant impact by promoting social learning opportunities and (3) that project initiators and CS networks foster socio-political impact through early engagement with decision-makers and alignment with ongoing policy processes. In this way, CS can evolve its transformative impact. PubDate: 2023-01-12 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00136-4
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Abstract: Urban green spaces (UGS) are often promoted as a pathway to achieving urban sustainability. In relation to climate change impacts, they offer both mitigating and adaptive pathways for cities. Yet, increasing UGS is set against other development needs that confront cities of the Global South. This can result in a prioritization conundrum in urban planning processes. Using data from a questionnaire administered to 400 residents of the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana, this paper examines residents’ awareness and priorities of UGS for conflicting rationalities and explains how this can engender a prioritization conundrum. The study finds conflicts in residents’ rationalities of UGS, manifesting as residents’ low prioritization of UGS despite their experiences of climate change impacts and awareness of UGS benefits including its role in tackling climate change impacts. Here, the prioritization conundrum concerns how to account for residents’ awareness and priorities in urban planning and plan for goals that residents do not consider a priority. Such a conundrum can derail efforts to use UGS to tackle climate change impacts. Hence, to navigate the prioritization conundrum, this paper emphasizes co-benefits to adduce two implications. First, effective mainstreaming of UGS co-benefits into urban planning is imperative, which can be achieved by harmonizing residents’ priorities with climate change goals during plan preparation for the Kumasi Metropolis and actively engaging residents in UGS planning. Secondly, traversing the prioritization conundrum is dependent on the capacity to effectively mainstream UGS co-benefits in urban planning—without which planning for UGS to tackle climate change impacts can be hindered. PubDate: 2022-12-27 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00135-5
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Abstract: An assessment and monitoring of tourism impacts coupled with community perception have emerged as a vital tool for ensuring the sustainability of mountain tourism destinations in recent years. The present study aims to explore the indigenous community’s perspectives on tourism impacts and their participation in the process of tourism development at Doodhpathri, an emerging tourist resort in Jammu and Kashmir, India. A non-probability convenience sampling method based on 344 questionnaires has been used to accomplish the research objectives. Inferential statistics and factor analysis were employed to analyze the collected data. Our assessment reveals that in general, tourism is viewed as a development industry. Its positives are better perceived than its negatives, given that it generates employment prospects, boosts household income, improves the image of the area, and raises the indigenous community’s standard of living. However, a substantial portion of the population living in the area perceives tourism activities as the cause of multiple environmental and biophysical issues, such as increased waste generation leading to pollution and water quality deterioration. On the whole, most of the residents were positive about future tourism development and optimistic about tourism management practices. However, the area has recently observed a voluminous influx of both local and foreign tourists, which necessitates the formulation of a sustainable tourism planning strategy. PubDate: 2022-12-01 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00134-6
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Abstract: Community gardens represent vacant lots in urban areas with public or private land ownership that community members use primarily for urban agriculture. This research studies community gardens in Austin, Texas (USA), with the focus on: (1) approaches taken to govern community gardens and (2) socio-ecological outcomes of gardening associated with the implemented models of governance. Social outcomes are represented by the level of gardeners’ satisfaction and perceptions of their success. Environmental outcomes represent ecological services provided by gardens as green spaces and expressed through net primary productivity (NPP), which measures carbon sequestration. This paper argues that these types of outcomes in community gardens are codependent and affect each other, and the governance approach determines what forms this interdependence takes. This study employs Ostrom’s socio-ecological systems (SES) framework that reflects both social and natural aspects of community gardening and explains the connection between the governance approaches, gardeners’ perception of their success, and changes in carbon sequestration. This paper uses a mixed-methods approach with key informant interviews with managers of community gardens yielding both qualitative and quantitative data. Remote sensing analysis is applied to calculate the amount of biomass for the carbon sequestration model using remote sensing imagery from the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) and Planet Inc. The analysis reveals that the highest measurements of the social and ecological performance in community gardens in Austin are associated with ‘bottom-up’ governance structures where community members are in charge of decision-making and management. PubDate: 2022-11-11 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00133-7
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Abstract: This autobiographical reflection traces my work in land suitability analysis and plan-making. The suitability practice has resulted in two rating systems: the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Land Evaluation and Site Assessment System and Green Business Certification Inc.’s SITES Rating System. Plans have been made for US counties, cities, and towns; Italian provinces; regions and watersheds; and university campuses. My practice is grounded in human ecology. I have attempted to address the issues people face with an especial focus on environmental quality and social equity. Examples of work from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, and Texas in the United States as well as Italy and Mexico are noted. I explore how reflection, often with collaborators and students, has informed my practice and how it can help advance the fields of planning and landscape architecture. PubDate: 2022-11-07 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00130-w
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Abstract: Role-play simulations are often used in education, communication, and social science research as an instrument for experiential learning, skill development, and more recently for policy negotiation and problem-solving. RPS is a dynamic experiential activity in which multiple parties play specific roles to simulate real-life negotiations or problem-solving situations. RPS aims to create a safe forum where participants can discuss policy scenarios, make decisions, and strengthen two-way communication and collective problem-solving. This research contributes to recent research investigating the contribution of RPS as an educational tool to foster collaborative learning, empathy, and trust. We conducted two RPS workshops related to a payment for hydrological services program in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. We engaged stakeholders to discuss PHS program design alternatives and make decisions on the features that may be best for achieving PHS social and environmental goals. We use a mixed-methods approach, analyzing data from surveys, debriefings, and interviews. Our findings support using RPS as a tool to foster collaborative learning. The t test analysis shows statistically significant changes in participants’ viewpoints about their overall knowledge of PHS programs and improved understanding and empathy toward other stakeholders’ interests and concerns. Findings also support a positive shift in how participants perceived the role of PHS program administrators. We discuss the broader implications of these results and provide recommendations for future research on integrating a science-policy interface in the context of PHS programs. PubDate: 2022-10-21 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00131-9
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Abstract: Dxwdəw refers to the Black-Green Rivers confluences that made the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, USA, prior to the 1910s. Significant industrial activity and human-made diversions to these rivers caused heavy pollution and eliminated 97% of historic wetlands, forever altering the historic river systems, salmon runs and human and aquatic health. Today the Green-Duwamish River and Duwamish Estuary are an industrial and commercial corridor, albeit also a site of cultural significance and fishing rights for urban Indigenous and Coast Salish tribes, and home and workplace to diverse urban populations of sustenance fishers, immigrants and refugees, communities of color, and low-income neighborhoods. Using a socio-ecological and environmental justice perspective within a nature-based solution, the Duwamish Floating Wetlands Project designed and piloted four constructed floating wetland structures for two years on the Duwamish River and researched their feasibility to provide habitat for out-migrating juvenile salmon. A multi-pronged community team (community leaders, liaisons, stewards and scientists) worked alongside academics and professionals. This paper showcases the formulation and adaptation of a two-year citizen/community science program integrated into the project. We outline the frameworks, approach, outcomes, and lessons-learned of the community science and outreach program, and compiled these in a list of guidelines to provide practitioner, researcher and community insight into the value and necessity of prioritizing environmental justice, racial equity, and ecosystem needs in nature-based solutions. PubDate: 2022-10-20 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00123-9
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Abstract: Many land-grant universities are examining approaches to community engagement to better align with the US land-grant mission of knowledge democratization. With a growing majority of the United States’ population living in urbanized spaces, it is a societal imperative for university engagement initiatives to devise strategies for engaging people on the complexity of urban issues central to individual and community wellbeing. Effective urban engagement demands collaboration and strong relationships with urban organizations and residents to co-create approaches to urban concerns. Through narrative-based inquiry, we explore urban engagements within Penn State Extension (PSE) across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (USA). PSE, located administratively in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is charged with carrying out Penn State’s land-grant commitment to serve Pennsylvania’s citizens through community engagement and nonformal education in the agricultural and food, human, and social sciences. We examine extension educator and faculty practices, program development, community engagements, and experiences, and those of community stakeholders. This work draws upon democratic methods to uncover the undergirding philosophies of engagement within PSE and how communities experience those engagements. This project offers an entry-point to longer-term applied research to develop a broadly applicable theory and praxis of translational research, engagement, and change privileging urban community resilience. PubDate: 2022-10-12 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00126-6
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Abstract: Freshwater ecosystems are among the most degraded on the planet and there is strong evidence that freshwater biodiversity is in precipitous decline. To that end, there is urgent need to conserve and restore freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity in order to ensure that freshwaters continue to yield diverse ecosystem services. Although there is some scientific uncertainty about how to do so, there is recognition that practitioners play a particularly important role. Practitioners work on the front line with a focus on implementing various environmental interventions and therefore can bridge the gap between knowledge and action in a unique way given their extensive experience in the field. Yet, practitioners do not know it all, nor do they have access or time to keep up-to-date on the growing scientific evidence base. Ecopracticology (i.e., the study of socio-ecological practice and the ensuing body of knowledge) is, therefore, a useful construct for thinking about the ways in which different disciplinary domains and ways of knowing to intersect to generate or refine knowledge and evidence needed to implement actions that benefit people and the environment. Ecopracticology is inherently grounded in that most practitioners are environmental stewards who deliver solutions alone and/or in partnership with diverse stakeholders and rightsholders. Ecopracticology, therefore, represents both the challenge and opportunity for addressing the freshwater biodiversity crisis. Here we consider what ecopracticology has to offer, and strategies for realizing the pathways that enable knowledge exchange and implementation for on-the-ground/in-the-water practitioner actions benefitting conservation and restoration of freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. If this concept is embraced and practitioners are supported and championed, there is potential for rapid advances that are desperately needed to conserve and restore freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. PubDate: 2022-10-03 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00129-3
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Abstract: University–community partnerships can play an important role in this green infrastructure (GI) maintenance issue and provide a valuable mechanism to support socio-ecological practice to address complex urban water issues and build urban resilience. In this Perspective Essay, we draw from our experience in a university–community partnership to create a Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) Maintenance Protocol for the City of Tucson in Arizona, USA, through a collaborative, participatory dialogue process. We build upon our earlier work in the planning, design, implementation, and monitoring of green infrastructure efforts to tease out key lessons to inform university–community partnerships to support socio-ecological practice. In doing so, we explore our earlier three lessons for university–community partnerships including understanding and valuing the socio-ecological context; investing, and reinvesting, in the collaborative process; and embracing a diverse set of roles for universities. In reflecting on these lessons, we offer two additional lessons that speak to the importance of investing and engaging in equity, even when a university–community partnership seemingly appears not to be focused on justice issues, and the value in strengthening networks to maintain and further collaboration. These lessons can inform other university–community partnerships around the world to better support socio-ecological practice, expand access to GI in disadvantaged communities, and heighten urban resilience. PubDate: 2022-10-03 DOI: 10.1007/s42532-022-00127-5
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
