ArticleLiterature Review
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

The recognition of complexity and uncertainty in natural resource management has lead to the development of a wealth of conceptual frameworks aimed at integrated assessment and complex systems monitoring. Relatively less attention has however been given to methodological approaches that might facilitate learning as part of the monitoring process. This paper reviews the monitoring literature relevant to adaptive co-management, with a focus on the synergies between existing monitoring frameworks, collaborative monitoring approaches and social learning. The paper discusses the role of monitoring in environmental management in general, and the challenges posed by scale and complexity when monitoring in adaptive co-management. Existing conceptual frameworks for monitoring relevant to adaptive co-management are reviewed, as are lessons from experiences with collaborative monitoring. The paper concludes by offering a methodological approach to monitoring that actively seeks to engender reflexive learning as a means to deal with uncertainty in natural resource management.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.

... Among other benefits include increasing ecological literacy of stakeholders, building trust and support, and reversing the trend of top-down and centralised planning and decision-making which has often led to adverse ecological outcomes [6], [15], [16]. On the other hand, a well-designed and appropriately applied M&E plan informs managers and stakeholders about the efficacy of management actions in relation to their management objectives, resource status and trends, and emergence of diverse issues in the development of each of the stages of the AM approach [1], [17]- [19]. With this information, M&E helps to increase transparency and accountability as well as determine the accuracy of predictive models [1], [17]. ...
... On the other hand, a well-designed and appropriately applied M&E plan informs managers and stakeholders about the efficacy of management actions in relation to their management objectives, resource status and trends, and emergence of diverse issues in the development of each of the stages of the AM approach [1], [17]- [19]. With this information, M&E helps to increase transparency and accountability as well as determine the accuracy of predictive models [1], [17]. Both stakeholder engagement and M&E have the power to facilitate learning, reduce uncertainty and improve decision-making over time. ...
... The stakeholder engagement activities in which the SBEADMR AM matches best practices or successful AM applications are numerous and they include: (1) using stakeholder assessment reports [63]; (2) using a stakeholders' advisory group [48]; (3) policy periodically to stakeholders using 'layman terms' [48]; (5) using multiple digital information channels to engage stakeholders [64]; (6) informing promptly about changes in funding [48]; (7) bringing managers and stakeholders together to evaluate new information [65]; (8) developing shared goals and measurable objectives [65]; (9) empowering stakeholders by providing them with access to be heard, legitimate standing, and opportunity to influence [46]; (10) using highly skilled facilitation [66], [67]; (11) engaged stakeholders in the planning phase and offering opportunities for stakeholder participation early and throughout the AM implementation cycle [18], [48], [67]; (12) giving stakeholders the technical capacity to engage meaningfully [67]; (13) the scope, management alternatives and objectives were identified in collaboration with stakeholder groups [18]; (14) communicating stakeholder roles and responsibilities clearly [15], [18]; (15) using traditional in-person consultations with stakeholders (e.g., meetings, workshops, etc.) [68]; (16) using field trips [69]; (17) involving citizens in M&E [5]; (18) incorporating scientists committed to transparency by attending meetings and field trips regularly and are well-versed in sharing complex scientific information to a general audience (e.g., university professors) [70]; (19) using well-defined joint fact-finding protocols [71]; (20) integrating participatory modelling exercises [72]- [74]; (21) produced a Memoranda of Understanding [42]; (22) allowing for stakeholders to assist in the design of collaborative processes [49]; (23) clear objectives for the participatory process was agreed upon by stakeholders at the outset [67]; (24) developed a chartering document that provides details on the timing and sequence of actions and who is responsible for those actions using 'will/shall' language (e.g., Appendix E of the SBEADMR EIS) [42]; (25) using small group activities (e.g., poster board sessions) [15]; (26) using a wide variety of involvement methods [15]; (27) encouraging participation (e.g., public announcements for meeting via social media and newspapers) [18]; and (28) embracing shared learning [65]. ...
... Status quo bias is one of the major contributors to poor decision making in resource management (Gregory and Keeney, 2002), and there is evidence for it in the design of monitoring programs. Designers of new monitoring programs often show a reluctance to try new approaches, possibly as a result of adherence to traditions-either consciously or subconsciously-or lack of time and other resources to creatively re-imagine "what could be" as opposed to "what is" (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;Waylen and Blackstock, 2017). Research has shown that the more complex the alternatives to the status quo, the more difficult it is for decision-makers to understand and justify alternative choices, increasing the tendency to choose the status quo (Hammond et al., 1998). ...
... Second, to ensure monitoring is relevant to policies and plans, and to ensure key uncertainties are identified and reduced using credible methods, scientists and managers must collaborate to set monitoring objectives. (Allen and Gunderson, 2011;Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;Waylen and Blackstock, 2017). Third, the processes by which monitoring objectives were set, and the outcomes of those processes, need to be transparently documented and discussed. ...
... Collaborative objective-setting involving environmental managers and scientists has been touted as a means of improving the credibility, relevance and legitimacy (sensu Cash et al., 2003) of environmental monitoring programs (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;Waylen et al., 2019), but well-documented examples of such collaborative processes are rare. One could suggest that the increased legitimacy that comes with collaborative design is particularly important when status quo bias may be a barrier to better programs. ...
Article
Monitoring for adaptive management (AM) involves collection of data with the aim of reducing uncertainty about links between human pressures (e.g. water abstraction from rivers), consequent stressors (e.g. low river flows) and environmental state (e.g. biodiversity). ‘Surveillance monitoring’ involves documenting trends in state, without the aim of understanding relationships between state, stressors, and pressures. Critics have highlighted that surveillance monitoring dominates monitoring investments but is not supporting AM. Decision-makers continue to be disappointed by monitoring data that are unsuitable for AM, yet designers of monitoring programs tend to make decisions that reinforce rather than reimagine the status quo. We argue that a structured, collaborative approach to objective-setting is required to break the status quo. We collaborated with regional management authorities to develop monitoring objectives and implementation strategies to support AM of New Zealand's rivers. Our collaborative approach discouraged ‘failure fearing’ and encouraged reimagining ‘what could be’ as opposed to ‘what is.’ Seventeen monitoring objectives were identified based on the AM requirements of national policy and regional authorities. Several objectives—particularly those arising from national policy—stretch the limits of what environmental science can currently provide. There were also strong trade-offs among objectives. We offer practical implementation strategies for overcoming the technical challenges of, and reducing trade-offs among, monitoring objectives. These strategies point to a monitoring program that contrasts strongly with one aimed at surveillance. Monitoring for AM is more complex than monitoring for surveillance, so strong leadership is required for successful implementation.
... Conceptual models and frameworks assist in multidisciplinary analysis and attempt to make sense of complex and dynamic systems (Fisher et al. 2013). Conceptual models have rarely been put into practice (Cundill and Fabricius 2009) and therefore assumptions are made that assigning value to ecosystems and in particular ecosystem services will ensure their protection and conservation due to their monetary value (ercureMc and Meyer 2014). Selection and design of a framework depends on the questions asked, data available and scale (Mouchet et al. 2014). ...
... Adaptive co-management is suggested for resilience (Olsson et al. 2004). For managers to be able to make effective decisions there needs to be monitoring and on-going learning (Cundill and Fabricius 2009). Cundill and Fabricius (2009) proposed a framework to review social learning as an approach for monitoring socio-ecological systems towards adaptive management. ...
... For managers to be able to make effective decisions there needs to be monitoring and on-going learning (Cundill and Fabricius 2009). Cundill and Fabricius (2009) proposed a framework to review social learning as an approach for monitoring socio-ecological systems towards adaptive management. One of the reasons for referring to this model is that the model allows for resource management to cope with uncertainties and learn rather than just dealing with problems (Cundill and Fabricius 2009). ...
Thesis
Full-text available
Marine, coastal and ocean development has gained impetus around the globe and in particular along Africa’s coastal states. A socio-ecological systems framework approach was adopted to explore marine and coastal socio-ecological systems in Algoa Bay, situated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa a Bay with a rich history steeped in culture and diversity. Phytoplankton biodiversity was determined for the Bay to characterise aspects of the marine environment in Algoa Bay. The policy landscape for South Africa was also analysed to characterise the governance landscape and identify if the policies, legislation and frameworks adopted and applied would support socio-ecological systems thinking and support equitable development of marine and coastal resources. Positives raised by manager are the general positive attitude and proenvironmental value system. To understand how people within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality value the marine and coastal environment, their knowledge of phytoplankton and services provided, governance knowledge, attitudes towards the future of the socioenvironment landscape and value positions that would identify pro-environmental behaviour of the communities surveyed. Loss of marine and coastal environments and services would be a direct threat to spiritual and cultural practices and beliefs of the amaXhosa. Further access was a driving theme in this study and therefore development and conservation efforts need to heed the value and importance of having access to the marine and coastal environment, not only for sustaining livelihoods but for religious and leisure experiences. 8 Size fractionated biomass was determined to describe the contribution of different cell size assemblages to the overall productivity of Algoa Bay. The analysis showed a general dominance of microplankton cell sizes with the picoplankton not contributing much towards the overall biomass of the period analysed. Cell size of the phytoplankton species provides an indication of the environmental changes, together with contribution towards biomass. Species that bloom also change the productivity of the system, for example a diatom bloom will increase productivity more so than a dinoflagellate bloom. Cell size will influence response of phytoplankton to environmental changes and how phytoplankton adapts physiologically to stressors such as climate change. However in the context of studies linking biodiversity to a socio-ecological framework, size fractionated data is not required and overall productivity and diversity of the system is better suited for this type of study. The direct link between the ecological and social data is the application of the information for management of the ecosystem and as an early warning system. The information learnt from the managers and community also highlights the need for a shared approach to gathering knowledge and learning about the world around us.
... In this research I view environmental governance through a systems lens, which means seeing the world as a complexity of interacting elements. A complex system is dynamic and ever-changing (Levy, 2000;Berkes et al., 2003, in Cundill & Fabricius, 2009du Toit et al., 2004) and cannot be seen as having a stable state. The state of the system is continually fluctuating within domains of attraction and shifting from one domain into others (Scheffer et al., 2001;Gunderson & Pritchard, 2002;Carpenter, 2003;. ...
... As an alternative perspective, complex adaptive systems theory (Holland, 1995;Kauffman, 1996) is focused on understanding and coping with the multiple variables which cannot be seen in isolation, as they are unable to perform their function alone. Complex social-ecological systems are characterized as transcending temporal and spatial scales (Gunderson & Holling, 2002; and are dynamic (Levy, 2000;Berkes et al., 2003, in Cundill & Fabricius, 2009du Toit et al., 2004) . ...
... General theoretical and synthesis work on resilience theory has also been done by and Walker et al. (2004). Berkes et al. (2003), in Cundill and Fabricius (2009), focused on how humans from a variety of cultural backgrounds have adapted to ecosystem changes, thereby influencing the resilience of the system. Gunderson et al. (2006) concentrated on how resilience, adaptability and transformability play out in lake and wetland systems. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
Democratic environmental governance in complex systems requires an adaptive management approach involving a diversity of stakeholders in collaborative learning and decision-making. The decisions are value-laden, and local municipalities are struggling to reconcile the diversity of values, and balance varied and diverse social and ecological needs, for sustainability. Social learning has emerged as a promising approach but the challenge lies in effective implementation, practice and assessment of social learning. This thesis explored public participation practices in environmental governance in the Knysna Municipality and went on to develop a social learning procedural model for public participation, as well as assessment criteria for monitoring social learning processes. The model and criteria provide a foundation and the tools needed to operationalise social learning for adaptive management in environmental governance in complex systems.
... Receipt of sugar reward was not dependent upon the number of additional presses between reinforcement. A more recent study has incorporated differential reinforcement schedules, which systematically increase the time intervals between sucrose reinforcements to quantify impulsive responding for sucrose solutions [90]; however, the findings failed to demonstrate increased lever pressing across sucrose-reinforced sessions as compared to control (i.e. water) sessions. ...
... Importantly, the data collected during the monitoring phase should facilitate learning about the system and its responses, to facilitate future decision-making. 90 Evaluation for adaptive management is no different from traditional program evaluation, except that it should address the range of concerns that stakeholders identify as priorities. In certain adaptive management approaches that use complex modeling and multicriteria decision analysis, 91 more complex evaluation methods that use Bayesian statistics are often employed, 75,92,93 but this need not be the case for more relatively straightforward management processes. ...
Presentation
Full-text available
Whether you smelt it, mine it, burn it, breathe it, or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction. Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing earthly disease that is characterized by compulsive seeking and use of earth products, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because humankind changes the earth—they change its structure and how it works. Soft Sickness is a one day workshop hosted by the research project Shift Register (http://shiftregister.info/) exploring the signs, symptoms, circulations, exchanges, consumptions, dependencies, and management implicit in the multifarious and pathological dependence on the earth which is now named by that word “Anthropocene”. Earthly addictions produce quantified-earth self-portraiture, GIS co-dependencies, and all other variants of planetary narcissism. Earth-scale sensor systems and media networks, swathing the planet in information about itself, are unveiled with media from on- and off-planet earth science field-stations and reflections thereupon. Dependencies bring anxieties about the impending doom of resource dearths to come. During the workshop, participants and invited guests will discuss, map, extract, ingest and excrete relations of local earth manifested in Finsbury Park in North London. We will gather psycho-active dew, imagine tales for the mole people, bake bread for crows, and make the earthworlds flesh.
... For many rural communities in the developing world, change is occurring at an unprecedented rate, resulting in increasing uncertainty for their livelihoods (Scoones et al., 2007;Leach, 2008). Whilst the effects of drivers of change such as population growth and modernisation are already evident (Armitage and Johnson, 2006;Curry et al., 2012;Butler et al., 2014a), extreme climate change may only emerge later this century (Stafford Smith et al., 2011). Hence in many regions there is an 'adaptation window' of approximately three decades in which to build the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities and other stakeholders to face potentially drastic change, but also high levels of uncertainty (Butler et al., 2014a). ...
... In future, more nuanced methods (e.g. Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;van Epp and Garside, 2014) should be applied within workshops to track learning and the activities or debates responsible. These could also be applied after workshops to follow subsequent learning , and to generate further reflection and action amongst participants (Butler et al., 2015b(Butler et al., , 2016b. ...
Article
Full-text available
Few studies have examined how to mainstream future climate change uncertainty into decision-making for poverty alleviation in developing countries. With potentially drastic climate change emerging later this century, there is an imperative to develop planning tools which can enable vulnerable rural communities to proactively build adaptive capacity and 'leap-frog' the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using an example from Indonesia, we present a novel participatory approach to achieve this. We applied scenario planning to operationalise four adaptation pathways principles: (1) consideration of climate change as a component of multi-scale social-ecological systems; (2) recognition of stakeholders' competing values, goals and knowledge through co-learning; (3) coordination of responses across multiple decision-making levels; and (4) identification of strategies which are 'no regrets', incremental (tackling proximate drivers of community vulnerability) and transformative (tackling systemic drivers). Workshops with stakehold-ers from different administrative levels identified drivers of change, an aspirational vision and explorative scenarios for livelihoods in 2090, and utilised normative back-casting to design no regrets adaptation strategies needed to achieve the vision. The resulting 'tapes-try' of strategies were predominantly incremental, and targeted conventional development needs. Few directly addressed current or possible future climate change impacts. A minority was transformative, and higher level stakeholders identified proportionately more transformative strategies than local level stakeholders. Whilst the vast majority of strategies were no regrets, some were potentially mal-adaptive, particularly for coastal areas and infrastructure. There were few examples of transformative innovations that could generate a step-change in linked human and environmental outcomes, hence leap-frogging the SDGs. We conclude that whilst effective at integrating future uncertainties into community development planning, our approach should place greater emphasis on analysing and addressing systemic drivers through extended learning cycles. Crown
... The third domain of co-innovation, dynamic monitoring and evaluation, focused on which and how project results were produced, and used the results reflectively to establish whether project actors still agreed on project directions. Such use of monitoring has been referred to as formative evaluation (Blackstock et al., 2007;Wigboldus et al., 2016) and has been recognised as essential for sustainability transitions (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;Fazey et al., 2018;Hegger et al., 2012;Pahl-Wostl, 2009). In addition, the projects mobilised resources for accountability evaluation as part of obligatory financial and technical reporting to donors. ...
... Monitoring and evaluation were found to have provided insights for learning within and across the governance levels. Other studies also point out the importance of learning for systemic change (Coutts et al., 2017;Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;Pahl-Wostl, 2009;van de Kerkhof and Wieczorek, 2005). Qualitative indicators that were part of PIPA, RMA or pragmatically gleaned elsewhere, such as the Most Significant Change stories (Davies and Dart, 2005) collected in EULACIAS, provided material for reflection, connection and trust building. ...
Article
Full-text available
Context Despite a wealth of analytical knowledge on factors and processes that operate to slow down or impede sustainability transitions in various sectors of society, design-oriented researchers face a lack of guidance on the ‘how to’ question for developing knowledge to support sustainability changes. From 2007, we crafted co-innovation as an approach for governance and management of change-oriented projects, combining three domains; a complex adaptive systems perspective, a social learning setting, and dynamic monitoring and evaluation. Objective This paper sets out to describe the co-innovation approach and draw lessons from its application in projects on ecological intensification in Uruguay and the European Union. Methods We used an analytical framework for evaluating sustainability transition experiments, which considers project features that provide insights into the contribution to sustainability transformations by project outputs, outcomes, processes and inputs, and their interactions. Empirical information on 6 cases from 3 projects was collected through in-depth interviews with former project staff, group discussion, and project documentation. This enabled a reflexive evaluation of co-innovation. Results and conclusions Outputs showed substantial variation among the cases despite a similar approach to project governance and management. More significant contributions to sustainability transitions were associated with in-depth project preparation, a focus at the farm-level instead of the crop or field level, connections during the project's lifetime with regional innovation system actors, and frequent facilitated interactions among project actors to reflect on results, wider system implications, and project direction. We discuss the results in relation to the three domains of co-innovation. To enhance the role of projects in destabilizing currently unsustainable systems we highlight: reconsidering the role of projects as a business model; stimulating institutional learning from previous change-oriented projects; and making funding more adaptive to evolving project needs. Significance With most of the budget for agricultural research-for-change spent through projects, how projects are conducted is a critical determinant of the rate of sustainability transitions. Effective disruption of unsustainable practices through project interventions requires rethinking linear cause-effect relations to include project governance and management approaches based on complex adaptive systems thinking, social learning settings, and monitoring geared to adaptation and learning.
... Decreasing though still present citizen versus professional control refers to collaborative projects, in which citizens perform data or sample analysis and may help with study design, data interpretation, and results dissemination. It is collaborative and co-created projects that are increasingly promoted as the pathway to achieving the many potential benefits of citizen science (Buytaert et al., 2014;Cundill & Fabricius, 2009;Haklay, 2013). Lower on the scale of citizen control are contributory projects, which are designed by scientists while members of the public primarily contribute data. ...
... Human capital represents "the skills and abilities of people to develop and enhance their resources and to access outside resources and bodies of knowledge in order to increase their understanding, identify promising practices, and to access data for communitybuilding" (Emery & Flora, 2006). Social capital refers to the networks, shared values, understandings, and trust in society that enable individuals and groups to act together to pursue shared objectives (Cundill & Fabricius, 2009). Political capital is the ability to influence regulations and reflects access to power. ...
Article
Full-text available
Citizen science is proliferating in the water sciences with increasing public involvement in monitoring water resources, climate variables, water quality, and in mapping and modeling exercises. In addition to the well‐reported scientific benefits of such projects, in particular solving data scarcity issues, it is common to extol the benefits for participants, for example, increased knowledge and empowerment. We reviewed 549 publications concerning citizen science applications in the water sciences to examine personal benefits and motivations, and wider community benefits. The potential benefits of involvement were often simply listed without explanation or investigation. Studies that investigated whether or not participants and communities actually benefitted from involvement, or experienced negative impacts, were uncommon, especially in the Global South. Assuming certain benefits will be experienced can be fallacious as in some cases the intended benefits were either not achieved or in fact had negative impacts. Identified benefits are described and we reveal that more consideration should be given to how these benefits interrelate and how they build community capitals to foster their realization in citizen science water projects. Additionally, we describe identified negative impacts showing they were seldom considered though they may not be uncommon and should be borne in mind when implementing citizen science. Given the time and effort commitment made by citizen scientists for the benefit of research, there is a need for further study of participants and communities involved in citizen science applications to water, particularly in low‐income regions, to ensure both researchers and communities are benefitting. This article is categorized under: Human Water > Human Water
... Given the need to generate processes and experiences for socioecological learning, participatory monitoring can be an important learning source, not only facilitating the understanding of socioecological systems but also fostering social arrangements that influence decision-making (Cundill and Fabricius 2009;Armitage et al. 2009). Citizen participation and enrollment in monitoring processes have a long tradition of involving individuals or groups with no scientific training in the design and implementation of scientific research or environmental monitoring (Fernández-Giménez et al. 2008). ...
... The process encourages negotiation among actors since it derives from reflection, aids in concept clarification, and helps define common objectives (Abbot and Guijt 1998;Van der Werf and Petit 2002). Selecting indicators as a negotiating means is essential since decision-makers as stakeholders have specific needs, compromises and expectations that may differ, which in turn determines to a great extent the time and effort they are willing to invest in the planning and execution of monitoring efforts (Guijt 1999;Cundill and Fabricius 2009). Therefore, the participatory selection of indicators as part of the co-learning process can aid in the clarification of concepts and for achieving consensual objectives. ...
Article
Full-text available
Information that is generated through the inclusion of different knowledge sources as a process of intensive negotiation, and mutual learning, is essential for adaptive co-management. To determine if participatory monitoring is fostering social learning and contributing to adaptive co-management, we propose a process of selection and assessment of environmental learning objectives and indicators. We draw from a case study regarding natural resources participatory monitoring in Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico. To guide the selection of indicators of advances in learning, we used the environmental citizenship framework. This framework considers the ecological knowledge and scientific tools acquired through the process, as well as the social, cultural and ethical capacities achieved that are useful for environmental management. The use of this framework helped orient the process towards attributes sought as important for community researchers, as well as to pay attention to the interactions between external actors and community researchers within the collaborative research effort. Most indicators selected corresponded to those related to natural resources management, yet indicators were also selected to measure progress regarding communication abilities among community members, their organization and critical attitudes. Differences in expectations between external actors and community researchers, have to do with distinct needs and realities, as well as with the recent history of the community. The adaptive process resulted in an important tool for helping all participants, manage different visions during the process, as well as obtain consensus on concepts and constantly redefining activities as need in the process.
... In today's complex systems, the social mechanisms identified by Ostrom such as self-organisation, democratic participation and horizontal accountability under nested institutions are important, but insufficient to prevent the impending tragedy of the commons (Dietz et al., 2003). In fact, in most cases, the system's actors (including policy-makers and scientists) have only a partial understanding of the real dynamics of the system (Cundill & Fabricius, 2009;Plummer et al., 2012). Therefore, the adaptive co-management approach suggests that fighting environmental and social uncertainty is the most important strategy to pursuit SES resilience, that is, SES's sustained capability to (re)generate valuable common resources. ...
... A multi-level approach to knowledge management that links groups, organisations, institutions, networks, and communities could leverage the emerging power of big data and pervasive digitalisation for the common good. This approach is not intended to replace traditional firm-level knowledge management practices, but to enrich and integrate them into system-level, "smart," and possibly participatory data flows (Cundill & Fabricius, 2009;Estrella, 2000;Nam & Pardo, 2011) that may multiply the usefulness of organisational learning and knowledge management practices. Note 1. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study argues that the common good, besides organizational performance, should be the final goal of organizational learning. However, the organisational learning literature lacks conceptual tools that allow scholars to understand and measure the common good at the ecosystem level as a final goal of organisational learning. Further, the literature has not yet investigated the specific organisational capabilities that are key to pursuing the common good, and lacks conceptual tools to explain the dynamics linking organisational learning, organisational performance, and the common good. We illustrate how these gaps can be addressed by cross-fertilising the literature on organisational knowledge with other viable and intertwining research streams—namely, literature on the commons, adaptive co-management and organisational fields. We argue that the resulting model of organisational learning paves the way for interesting innovations in theory and practice.
... Therefore, it can also serve as a valuable concept with regard to the transition towards low-carbon energy systems. However, many definitions of social learning exist so far [26][27][28][29]. In this paper, the definition of Reed et al. [24] is applied who state that "social learning may be defined as a change in understanding that goes beyond the individual to become situated within wider social units […] through social interactions between actors within social networks." ...
... Thereby, ideas, experiences, and knowledge are shared among participants [25]. This transforms into a higher awareness for related issues and can eventually lead to appropriate action [28]. An outcome, for example, could be more sustainable patterns of behavior [24]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract The current transition towards low-carbon energy systems does not only involve changes in technologies but is also shaped by changes in the rules and regulations (i.e., the institutions) that govern energy systems. Institutional change can be influenced by changes in core values—normative principles such as affordability, security of supply, and sustainability. Analyzing this influence, however, has been hindered by the absence of a structured framework that highlights the role of values in institutional change processes. This paper presents an interdisciplinary framework explicating how values influence institutional change in the case of the energy transition. We build on a dynamic framework for institutional change that combines the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework with the concept of social learning. This basic analytical framework is expanded by conceptualizations of values in moral philosophy, institutional economics, and social psychology. Our framework offers researchers and policy makers an analytical tool to identify how values are embedded in infrastructure and existing regulation and how values shape communities and behavior. It explains how value controversies can trigger social learning processes that eventually can result in structural change. Thus, this framework allows analyzing institutional change over time as well as comparing change patterns across spatial and temporal contexts.
... Consistency and accuracy of coding was achieved, and the intrusion of bias limited, through application of the techniques of thorough repetitive reading, constant comparison and questioning by the first two authors (Charmaz Corbin and Strauss 2015;Creswell 2014;Glaser and Strauss 1967). Constant comparison involves examining data both within and between documents, in this case the interview transcripts, to group together data that are conceptually similar. ...
Article
Full-text available
For a long time, ecological monitoring across Australia has utilised a wide variety of different methodologies resulting in data that is difficult to analyse across place or time. In response to these limitations, a new systematic approach to ecological monitoring has been developed in collaboration between the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network and the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water - the Ecological Monitoring System Australia (EMSA). A qualitative approach involving focus groups and semi-structured interviews was undertaken to review perceptions of the introduction of the EMSA protocols amongst Natural Resource Management practitioners and other key stakeholders. We found that environmental management stakeholders recognise there will be many advantages from the standardisation of ecological monitoring. However, key concerns emerged regarding the capacity needed to implement the standard protocols, the utility of the resultant data for regional projects, and the scope for adaptive co-management under the EMSA. Stakeholders emphasised the need for autonomy and flexibility, so their participation in protocol development can facilitate regional adoption of the standards. Respondents’ concerns about a perceived lack of genuine consultation and acknowledgement of feedback revealed the importance of clear communication at all stages of an environmental management project aiming to standardise practices. Our findings indicate that reflexivity will be vital to address the complexity involved in standardisation of ecological monitoring. Formal processes of social learning will need to be integrated into environmental management approaches to account for the increasing complexity of socio-ecological systems as they are challenged by global change.
... Others stress the importance of concentrating on a single outcome at a time because it improves accuracy and consistency (d' Estree and Colby 2000). Although numerous frameworks have been proposed, the majority of which incorporate process and outcome variables as assessors (Innes and Booher 1999, Conley and Leverington et al. 2008, Ostrom 2009, Cundill and Fabricius 2009, Izurieta et al. 2011, Smedstad and Gosnell 2013, Plummer et al. 2014, Stöhr et al. 2014, Whaley and Weatherhead 2014, Trimble et al. 2015, Kovács et al. 2021, we use three criteria in this article to evaluate the effectiveness of co-management practice of the Sundarbans, namely setting, process, and outcome-based criteria. This framework advocates a sequence of procedures that encompass identifying the goals to be achieved, conceptualizing or envisioning possible contexts, implementing what is feasible, and subsequently evaluating and appraising that pragmatic encounter. ...
... Others stress the importance of concentrating on a single outcome at a time because it improves accuracy and consistency (d' Estree and Colby 2000). Although numerous frameworks have been proposed, the majority of which incorporate process and outcome variables as assessors (Innes and Booher 1999, Conley and Leverington et al. 2008, Ostrom 2009, Cundill and Fabricius 2009, Izurieta et al. 2011, Smedstad and Gosnell 2013, Plummer et al. 2014, Stöhr et al. 2014, Whaley and Weatherhead 2014, Trimble et al. 2015, Kovács et al. 2021, we use three criteria in this article to evaluate the effectiveness of co-management practice of the Sundarbans, namely setting, process, and outcome-based criteria. This framework advocates a sequence of procedures that encompass identifying the goals to be achieved, conceptualizing or envisioning possible contexts, implementing what is feasible, and subsequently evaluating and appraising that pragmatic encounter. ...
Article
Full-text available
The relatively rapid expansion of protected areas (PAs) has outpaced their effective governance, monitoring, and evaluation processes, resulting in a knowledge gap, particularly in relation to the impact and efficacy of co-managed protected areas in conserving biodiversity globally. Bangladesh, like numerous other nations, is expanding its existing co-management model to incorporate additional PAs while simultaneously making only limited modifications to the management of these protected areas. Evaluations, however, are relatively rare throughout the world, including Bangladesh, despite their potential to improve PA quality and effectiveness. The purpose of this article is to examine current co-management practices at two sites in Bangladesh's Sundarbans to identify significant challenges and the efficacy of co-management initiatives through the establishment of a novel evaluative framework. The primary empirical data collection methods included key informant interviews, stakeholder consultation in focus group discussions, and uncontrolled personal observation. Despite significant progress in terms of policy and legislative reforms, many issues remained unattended, such as a goal of balancing conservation and development, increasing locals' say in decision making, access to resources, and establishing strong institutions. This addition is believed to aid in reconciling the local community and the government. We also need to give more weight to such things as accounting and transparency, income diversification, and showing respect for preexisting social norms. The problems raised in this article are thought to be significant in bridging the gap between management plans and actual management of PAs, not just in Bangladesh but also in other regions of the world that use co-management to achieve sustainability.
... Lambin et al. (2003) looked at the ecological causes of the late-classical cultural system's collapse (Allen and Barnes, 1985). Most often, population increase, poverty, and the spread of agriculture are the key factors that encourage deforestation in the short term, while wood harvesting and export exacerbate it over time (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;Armitage et al., 2009) the complexity of social ecological systems and their capacity to adapt and respond to change are explored through several research methodologies (Warner, 1995;Gilmour, 2003;Bannister and Nair, 2003;Viswanath et al., 2000). Numerous household characteristics, biophysical, and socioeconomic factors are known to affect smallholder farmers' decisions about on-farm tree management and wood output (Leemans et al., 2003). ...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that a variety of socioeconomic factors have an impact on the district Sherani due to overall forest degradation. Because in the study area there is a very low level of literacy, most people are not aware that deforestation that contributes to a number of issues, including soil erosion and flooding, which in turn trigger other natural phenomena and specifically the destruction of natural resources. According to findings of this research, poverty is a widespread issue. The statistics show that the population has very low income along with the other associated variables. In this context, we developed a well structure questionnaire and collect primary data from it and through descriptive analysis while collecting data from core area. Despite the fact that many individuals go to urban places to work, such as Dubai and the Arab Emirate. Further, statistics and reports show that the government has made a little advancement in the area’s growth in a few successive years. They don’t have any clear guidelines for protecting the forest in the Sherani district. The people are using the forest resource to meet their energy needs due to lack of facilities. People keep a large number of livestock that are grazed year-round on forest and range terrain. These animals harm the local regeneration as well as the local land cover. The proposed Hypothesis shows that the significant relationship between Dependent and Independent variables i.e. Forest Degradation and Socio-Economic Factors.
... Although this is likely to be insufficient for directly repairing trust in governance agencies, reducing the need to rely on them to keep communities safe should reduce the need for certainty within that relationship, potentially allowing that relationship to move into a state of ambivalence. Research on collaborative monitoring may, therefore, be relevant here (e.g., Cundil and Fabricius 2009) as these approaches are likely to be helpful in regulating distrust as part of a two-stage process of trust repair (Gillespie and Dietz 2009). More relevantly, however, these approaches may help to reduce the reliance on a rightly distrusted agency by explicitly disempowering it in favor of elevating communities in collaborative decision-making processes (Stern et al. 2021). ...
... Institutional Arrangements: Effectively co-managed and coproduced initiatives tend to have better defined institutional arrangements for learning [47,48], enabling programs embed designs of customized evaluative frameworks consisting of contextually developed measures and indicators [37,[49][50][51]. The information processing architecture thus created, adds to the collective knowledge of actors and multi-dimensionally informs decisions [40,52,53]. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Sustainability of any transition is contingent on both the processes and outcomes. To measure if a particular program or project is sustainable, a heterogenous set of methods and indicators are required to evaluate processes and outcomes at the same time. In this paper, we characterize the parameters of programmatic evaluation and propose a sustainability tracking roadmap for bioenergy conversions. Drawing from the state of scholarship on triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability, multi-dimensional systems view of sustainability transitions and bioenergy, the breadth of sustainability questions are framed. Comparing to a selection of commonly used measurement and evaluation approaches, including several of those funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a profile of coverage for sustainability issues is generated. We find that nearly all of the current approaches focus mostly on planetary or regional-scale questions and on project-efficiency metrics. A significant gap exists in capturing intermediate-scale phenomenon and social dynamics of interventions. This creates blind spots in capturing justice, equity, and economic futures at local scales. The proposed sustainability tracking roadmap offer a mixed-methods heuristic to design and implement a suite of indicators and data processes for TBL accounting. Operational questions of integrating evaluation with planning, data use and production, and stakeholder roles and capacities are discussed.
... Reliable information and training helps non-experts to build capacity and confidence so they can engage effectively in dialogue. This should include dealing with unwelcome information (corruption, political interference and linkages) and participatory monitoring in controversial policy issues: a "safe space" for frank dispute without press interference (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009). ...
... Participatory monitoring tools are available and these, coupled with local and traditional knowledge and involvement of knowledge holders, could be a valuable lever to avoid unsustainable wild resource use practices. 19 Monitoring can be further strengthened through use of appropriate technologies (e.g. smartphone apps), community engagement and citizen science, an area where South Africa has good experience and expertise. ...
Article
Full-text available
A recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed how the sustainable use of wild species benefits people and nature, and which policies work best to prevent unsustainable exploitation. In the context of an accelerating and alarming biodiversity crisis, the assessment findings have important implications for South Africa, a megadiverse country with a population that relies extensively on the use of wild species for food, energy, medicine, and income, amongst many other purposes. This Commentary reflects on implications of the IPBES assessment for South Africa, drawing on insights from local contributing authors.
... This enables the research team to have more control over QA/QC through various, often strict, sample processing protocols. Nonetheless, there has been suggestions that the path forward to fully realise the full benefits of community science is to adopt a more collaborative approach (Buytaert et al. 2014;Cundill and Fabricius 2009;Haklay 2013). This approach for community science in freshwater microplastic research empowers the Table 1. ...
Article
Full-text available
A community science project in the Ottawa River Watershed in Canada interacted with an existing volunteer base to collect sediment from 68 locations in the watershed over approximately 750 km. Ninety-one percent of the distributed kits were returned with 42 volunteers taking part in the project. After analysis, particle concentrations were relatively low compared to previous freshwater microplastic sediment research, with contributing factors including (but not limited to) the large size of the watershed, a lower population base compared to other researched freshwater watersheds, the relative size and discharge of the Ottawa River and the large seasonal fluxes experienced in the river basin. Utilising community science for sampling large freshwater watersheds demonstrated its advantages in the research, especially spatially. However, careful consideration to research design and implementation is essential for community science projects examining microplastics in freshwater sediments. Research teams should ensure they are responsible for strict quality assurance and quality control protocols, especially in the laboratory with sample preparation and processing. Nonetheless, community science is potentially an extremely useful approach for researchers to use for microplastic sampling projects over large spatial areas.
... Planning approaches stress fostering reflection and multiloop learning, which can activate and improve implementation by allowing decision makers to be more open to and ready for serendipitous opportunities (Wollenberg et al. 2007;Cundill and Fabricius 2009;Aragón et al. 2010). ...
Article
Full-text available
Rapidly changing global environmental contexts require thinking differently about climate adaptation projects to achieve faster positive systemic change. Adaptation theory and practice have begun to focus on change agents, people who can help catalyse this change, but it is poorly understood why some people are better able to influence positive systemic change or how climate adaptation projects cultivate and assist them in doing so. This paper synthesises insights on good practice for intervention design and implementation from a wide range of intervention literature domains, including health, education and international development. It identifies a distilled set of individual and collective change agent characteristics and competencies, grouped into five interconnecting themes: values, learning approaches, efficacy, roles and entrepreneurial tendencies. Nine core competencies are identified as important for enabling change, clustered into three themes: being good with people, learning or mastery skills, and adaptation competencies. The review also collates insights about how best to cultivate an agent’s capacity for catalysing change, with a particular focus on the potential for enabling climate adaptation through research for development. Initial insights suggest that capacity building needs to be more than developing new technical knowledge and skills; it should also focus on developing the necessary competencies for enabling change in intervention teams and potential change agents. These insights provide the basis for testing what combinations of change agent characteristics and competencies are most effective in different contexts, improving project and program design to cultivate change agents, and achieving systemic change.
... Conservation practitioners routinely make complex decisions, balancing the interests of diverse actors with uncertain tradeoffs between multiple priorities (Ausden & Walsh, 2020;McShane et al., 2011). Numerous factors inform these choices, including practitioners' personal experiences, knowledge, and values, as well as evidence, funding constraints, stakeholder interests, legislation, and other considerations (Cundill & Fabricius, 2009;Pascual et al., 2021). For instance, practitioners' attitudes toward trophy hunting as a conservation tool are likely to be partly informed by their ethical stance. ...
Article
Full-text available
When deciding how to conserve biodiversity, practitioners navigate diverse missions, sometimes conflicting approaches, and uncertain trade‐offs. These choices are based not only on evidence, funders’ priorities, stakeholders’ interests, and policies, but also on practitioners’ personal experiences, backgrounds, and values. Calls for greater reflexivity—an individual or group's ability to examine themselves in relation to their actions and interactions with others—have appeared in the conservation science literature. But what role does reflexivity play in conservation practice? We explored how self‐reflection can shape how individuals and groups conserve nature. To provide examples of reflexivity in conservation practice, we conducted a year‐long series of workshop discussions and online exchanges. During these, we examined cases from the peer‐reviewed and gray literature, our own experiences, and conversations with 10 experts. Reflexivity among practitioners spanned individual and collective levels and informal and formal settings. Reflexivity also encompassed diverse themes, including practitioners’ values, emotional struggles, social identities, training, cultural backgrounds, and experiences of success and failure. Reflexive processes also have limitations, dangers, and costs. Informal and institutionalized reflexivity requires allocation of limited time and resources, can be hard to put into practice, and alone cannot solve conservation challenges. Yet, when intentionally undertaken, reflexive processes might be integrated into adaptive management cycles at multiple points, helping conservation practitioners better reach their goals. Reflexivity could also play a more transformative role in conservation by motivating practitioners to reevaluate their goals and methods entirely. Reflexivity might help the conservation movement imagine and thus work toward a better world for wildlife, people, and the conservation sector itself.
... Categories of obstacles are as identified in the thematic analysis (Appendix S1 in the supplemental information online). See also [4,12,[14][15][16]20,22,25,[51][52][53][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71]73,[97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110]. Icons by N. Style, F. Brönnimann, Visual world, B. Mania, C. Pyper, Suliyanto, and Verry from NounProject.com. ...
Article
Full-text available
Adaptive management (AM) is widely promoted to improve management of natural resources, yet its implementation is challenging. We show that obstacles to the implementation of AM are related not only to the AM process per se but also to external factors such as ecosystem properties and governance systems. To overcome obstacles, there is a need to build capacities within the AM process by ensuring adequate resources, management tools, collaboration, and learning. Additionally, building capacities in the legal and institutional frames can enable the necessary flexibility in the governance system. Furthermore, in systems experiencing profound changes in wildlife populations, building such capacities may be even more critical as more flexibility will be needed to cope with increased uncertainty and changed environmental conditions.
... First, the primary focus of the workshop was to create a decision prototype that identifies critical uncertainties as the first step in establishing an adaptive management framework for a highly imperiled species with critical uncertainties regarding the causes of decline. The adaptive management framework we are developing shows great promise to serve as a platform for increased communication, coordination of monitoring and experiments, and transparency in decisionmaking while systematically reducing uncertainty (Cundill & Fabricius, 2009;Sunderland et al., 2009). Second, both the rapid prototyping process and hypothesis prioritization using QVoI were co-produced with a large, diverse community in a participatory setting to promote transparency, trust, and buy-in. ...
Article
Full-text available
Natural resource management decisions are often made in the face of uncertainty. The question for the decision maker is whether the uncertainty is an impediment to the decision and, if so, whether it is worth reducing uncertainty before or while implementing actions. Value of information (VoI) methods are decision analytical tools to evaluate the benefit to the decision maker of resolving uncertainty. These methods, however, require quantitative predictions of the outcomes as a function of management alternatives and uncertainty, in which predictions which may not be available at early stages of decision prototyping. Here we describe the first participatory application of a new qualitative approach to VoI in an adaptive management workshop for Atlantic Coast eastern black rail populations. The eastern black rail is a small, cryptic marsh bird that was recently listed as federally threatened, with extremely little demographic data available. Workshop participants developed conceptual models and nine hypotheses related to the effects of habitat management alternatives on black rail demography. Here, we describe the qualitative VoI framework, how it was implemented in the workshop, and the analysis outcomes, and describe the benefits of qualitative VoI in the context of adaptive management and co‐production of conservation science.
... Both groups have heterogeneous characteristics in terms of interests and priorities, which require better exchange and coordination to improve the local management of ES. We agree that the learning process is effective if it is collaborative [61], which means that scientists, water decision-makers, civil society and local water users must be involved. A long-term vision is also needed, which can withstand the impact of short-term politics and objectives [62]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Freshwater ecosystems deliver an extensive range of ecosystem services (ESs), which are the benefits people obtain from their interaction with nature. Increasing pressure on water resources threatens the sustainable supply of water-related ecosystem services, especially in arid regions, as is the case for the Drâa Valley located in southern Morocco. With the long-term objective of contributing to a sustainable supply of important ecosystem services in the Drâa Valley, this paper analyzes stakeholder perceptions of water-related ecosystem services (WESs). To assess the different perceptions of WES, 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the inhabitants of three oases in the middle of Drâa Valley, as well as 12 other interviews with key government officials. Based on our interviews, we reflect on two of the policy-relevant generic principles proposed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre for enhancing the resilience of WESs. Our results reveal similarities in perceptions of WES among stakeholder groups regarding provisioning services but marked differences regarding regulating and cultural services. The analysis suggests that these differences stem from stakeholders’ different roles and activities in the area. In addition, socio-demographic, biophysical, and spatial aspects also shape how WESs are perceived in the area. Learning about similarities in WES perceptions can help build common ground among stakeholders. The recognition of differences can also assist in balancing the different needs and interests of these groups. ESs perception assessment can contribute to strengthened stakeholder knowledge of the categories of ESs and provide a common ground for participating in ES-related decision making, hence enhancing resilience in social-ecological systems.
... By creating a learning and feedback mechanism amongst stakeholders, participatory evaluation can re-kindle the adaptive and reflexive component of ACM (Cundill and Fabricius 2009, 2010, Berkeley 2013, and if repeated over time can galvanise leaders to tackle flagging progress (Butler et al. 2015a). Our ex-post participatory evaluation may have achieved this, but its influence on the process is not considered here. ...
Article
Full-text available
Mainstreaming climate change and future uncertainty into rural development planning in developing countries is a pressing challenge. By taking a complex systems approach to decision-making, the adaptation pathways construct provides useful principles. However, there are no examples of how to operationalise adaptation pathways in developing countries, or how to evaluate the process. This paper describes a 4 year governance experiment in Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Indonesia, which applied adaptive co-management (ACM) as a governance approach to 'prime' a transformation to adaptation pathways-based development planning. The project's Theory of Change (ToC) consisted of three causally-linked phases which mirrored the evolutionary stages of ACM: priming stakeholders, enabling policies and programs, and implementing adaptation. The first phase established a trans-disciplinary research team to act as facilitators and brokers, a multi-stakeholder planning process demonstrating adaptation pathways practice, and tri-alling of 'no regrets' adaptation strategies in case study sub-districts. A participatory evaluation method was designed to test the ToC's assumptions and measure ACM outcomes. Stakeholder interviews at the project's closure indicated that through ACM, stakeholders had been successfully primed: leaders emerged, trust, cross-scale social networks and knowledge integration grew, communities were empowered, and innovative adaptation strategies were developed and tested. However, there was limited evidence of institutional change to existing planning processes. This was attributed to the absence of policy windows due to ineffective and insufficient time for political engagement, and the fluid institutional environment caused by a national decentralisation policy. To enhance the priming of adaptation pathways into development planning under these conditions, three recommendations are made: (1) provide long term support for emergent leaders and brokers to become 'policy entrepreneurs' who can capitalise on policy windows when they appear, (2) establish and support local livelihood innovation niches as 'bridgeheads' for ACM, and (3) maintain participatory evaluation amongst primary stakeholders to rekindle ACM.
... 1. Institutional arrangements, leadership, policies, and legislation that promote an enabling environment (e.g., incentives) (Armitage et al., 2009;Berkes, 2009); 2. A focus on "learning by doing" through experimentation, monitoring and evaluation in a specific setting (Armitage et al., 2008(Armitage et al., , 2009Berkes, 2009;Cundill and Fabricius, 2009), which requires appropriate participation and capacity building processes; 3. Collaborative dynamics between different types of stakeholders that share resources, rights and responsibilities at multiple levels and scales (Ruitenbeek and Cartier, 2001;Armitage et al., 2009;Berkes, 2009); 4. Continuity through cyclical and iterative assessment processes (Plummer, 2009). ...
Article
Full-text available
The Galapagos archipelago represents an insular system with finite natural resources, a growing population, and an economy heavily weighted on tourism that leaves it vulnerable to shocks, such as the Covid-19 crisis. This work proposes an alternative scenario developed through creating intersections between water-energy-food (WEF) nexus and adaptive co-management (ACM) approaches to resource management. This framework allows the identification of novel synergies that are applied to the analysis of Galapagos as case study. Within this approach, qualitative analysis is applied to data collected via a set of interviews with local stakeholders (including community, business, third sector, and government actors) to evaluate (i) how a deeper understanding of community perceptions and needs can help to identify pathways toward more sustainable development in line with conservation goals, (ii) what governance frameworks should be implemented to promote community-based resource management and resilience, and (iii) what role education and capacitation can play in supporting alternative forms of economic activity. The research suggests that the implementation of an integrated WEF-ACM framework for resource management in Galapagos could promote resilience by opening a space for deliberation and conflict resolution between legitimate stakeholders, thus supporting more effective and balanced participative governance. The current Covid-19 crisis has led to the emergence of alternative forms of community collaboration that demonstrate the potential for a more economically diverse and more sustainable future. By placing different sources of knowledge on a level platform in such a framework, greater community ownership of resource management and conservation goals could be achieved. The incorporation of an ACM approach within the management of WEF resources would also allow Galapagueños to determine their own vision of a future sustainable socio-ecosystem, based on optimising system outcomes by co-identifying the trade-offs and synergies between the interrelated resource sectors, but requires a transformation in institutional culture.
... Para que un marco de gestión posea capacidades adaptativas, se necesitan relaciones de largo plazo y esfuerzos de colaboración entre las partes interesadas (Jakeman, 2009), así como el establecimiento de procesos de monitoreo del ecosistema por parte de los actores responsables (ej.: operadores de BJT, DOC). El monitoreo y su correspondiente evaluación mejoran el proceso de toma de decisiones al aumentar la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas, reducir el riesgo y la incertidumbre y fomentar el aprendizaje (Cundill y Fabricius, 2009), esencial para el desarrollo de la capacidad de adaptación. ...
Article
Full-text available
Esta investigación exploratoria examina un interesante conflicto entre stakeholders por el uso de bienes o recursos de uso común para el turismo. Metodológicamente el análisis se basa en un estudio de caso con un enfoque cualitativo, que consigna entrevistas semiestructuradas, observación participante y análisis de documentos relevantes relacionados con el caso. Desde que en el año 2008 operadores externos a la comunidad comenzaron a ofrecer experiencias de buceo en jaula con tiburones en Stewart Island, Nueva Zelanda, la comunidad local ha presentado una fuerte oposición hacia esta actividad, especialmente por parte de los buzos comerciales que trabajan en estas aguas extrayendo abalones. Ellos piensan que la alimentación de tiburones por parte de los operadores turísticos podría afectar el comportamiento de estos depredadores, poniendo en peligro no solo su medio de subsistencia, sino también sus vidas. La presente investigación busca describir, caracterizar y analizar el conflicto dado, identificando los aspectos clave que podrían estar dificultando su solución. Para esto, el conflicto es estudiado utilizando el enfoque de gestión llamado Co-gestión Adaptativa. Se utilizó este enfoque como paradigma de análisis debido a que ha probado ser una eficiente herramienta para solucionar conflictos basados en el uso de recursos de uso común, especialmente porque permite a las partes involucradas aprender de las otras, permitiéndoles lidiar con problemas de gestión cada vez más complejos a través de la generación de procedimientos que permiten solucionar conflictos presentes y futuros de una manera eficiente. El análisis del conflicto muestra la ausencia de esfuerzos de ambas partes para intentar alcanzar una solución debido a las fuertes posiciones antagonistas, siendo la falta de confianza un obstáculo clave para la colaboración. Además, se evidencia la falta de un liderazgo que guíe a las partes hacia un entendimiento. Este caso ofrece una interesante oportunidad para observar la complejidad de los sistemas socio-ecológicos como una fuente de recursos de uso común.
... Collaborative adaptive management (CAM) is one such process where management activities are conceived as learning opportunities from which to gather and analyze data and observations on management effects, interpret results, and evaluate the need for and type of subsequent management adjustments (Allen and Garmestani, 2015). Essential to adaptive management success is a monitoring strategy identifying restoration goals, metrics, and methods of evaluation (Lyons et al., 2008;Cundill and Fabricius, 2009;DeLuca et al., 2010;Davis et al., 2015). ...
Article
Full-text available
In response to large, severe wildfires across the western US, federal initiatives have been enacted to increase the pace, scale, and quality of ecological restoration in fire dependent forests. To address uncertainty and controversy in agreement among specific restoration prescriptions on national forest land, several initiatives adopt a collaborative adaptive management (CAM) strategy wherein monitoring data can inform stakeholder input into future management actions. It is unclear, however, how such approaches may change restoration outcomes. Here we assess the extent to which CAM strategies impact restoration outcomes that were implemented as part of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) in ponderosa pine-dominated forests of the Colorado Front Range. We assessed stand-level desired conditions across 24 projects over a 7-year period to determine how restoration treatments contribute to desired conditions, and compared treatment outcomes over implementation time to assess whether the CAM processes contribute towards treatments better approximating restoration. We found that restoration treatments improve aspects of forest structure related to stand density. However, meeting objectives related to forest composition and horizontal structural complexity goals were not met. Additionally, CAM processes were effective at improving outcomes related to forest density over implementation time, but novel tools and approaches may be required so that outcomes related to forest composition and horizontal structural complexity are more congruent with restoration objectives. Evaluating the success and challenges of CAM provides insight to improve collaborative and large-scale restoration.
... Collaborative monitoring can extend the combination process beyond the research and planning stages and provide another powerful means of maintaining trust and participation through implementation (Cundill & Fabricius, 2009;Fernandez-Gimenez, Ballard, & Sturtevant, 2008). Managing ecosystems inevitably involves considerable uncertainty. ...
Article
Full-text available
The limited application of science to environmental management has been termed the “science‐management knowledge gap.” This gap is widely assumed to be a consequence of inefficient knowledge transfer from science to application. However, this metaphor misrepresents knowledge as a “thing” that can be readily exchanged in complex systems, rather than a “process of relating” that involves negotiation and dialogue among stakeholders. We advocate for development of a more explicit alternative model of knowledge creation founded on Nonaka's Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, which emphasizes how knowledge is converted into more usable forms through socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization within “learning spaces.” Effective learning spaces require sufficient trust to enable open, honest, and receptive interactions among stakeholders. We advocate that greater emphasis on knowledge conversions within effectively designed learning spaces will accelerate development of actionable knowledge beyond that of existing models.
... The users are willing to pay for the operation and maintenance of the resource system Islam et al. (2019) Awareness of users All the resource users are aware of the resource system, its operation and maintenance rules and the activities of the committee that is responsible for resource management Cundill and Fabricius (2009) Dynamic leadership Leadership is closely familiar with the changing external governance environment, has frequent interactions with resource users and regular contact with local traditional leaders Baland and Platteau (1996), Lobo et al. (2016) Supportive external environment ...
Article
Full-text available
In this article, we link NGO-supplied drinking water infrastructure projects with collective action development approaches. Although governing local, shared drinking water systems (DWS) requires users to act collectively, users rarely organize such collective action successfully by themselves. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are therefore frequently called upon to support local communities to set up or consolidate the kind of local collective action required for governing DWSs. However, the effectiveness of such forms of NGO support remains unclear. Therefore, this paper attempts to assess the form and impact of this kind of NGO support. Combining insights gained from theory on institutions for collective action in the context of shared resource systems, we develop a set of requirements presumed necessary for guaranteeing both day-today and long-term collective action among local shared DWS users. We apply this framework to empirically explore if, how and why NGO support targets these requirements, and whether this support influences users' capacity for collective action. To this end we examine 11 cases where NGOs have worked with users of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) systems in Bangladesh. We collected data through focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews with local leaders, NGO officials, and project staff, and by reviewing project documentation. We find that NGO support favors long-term requirements over the requirements for day-today collective action. NGO activities seem based on applying standard approaches to training and awareness raising, and less on empowering users to craft their own solutions. A case for a lasting impact of NGO support on any of the requirements is hard to make. Our results imply that when attempting to organize effective and long-lasting forms of collective action among the users of shared resource systems, both NGOs and commissioners of projects need to engage more explicitly in learning what works and what doesn't.
... Growing thinking and planning competencies within agents is particularly important in adaptation interventions, as initiating systemic changes to highly inert systems is difficult to justify politically or economically and is often delayed (Wise et al 2019). These planning approaches stress fostering reflection and multi-loop learning (see Figure 8) which can activate and improve implementation as they allow decision makers to be more open to, and ready for, serendipity or windows of opportunity to arise (Wollenberg et al., 2007, Cundill and Fabricius, 2009, Aragón et al., 2010. While many R4D adaptation interventions seek impact through new policy or governance options, these often occur beyond the life of the project. ...
Thesis
Full-text available
Billions of dollars are channelled into interventions every year aiming to lift people out of poverty. While there has been much progress towards this goal new challenges are emerging, and old issues are becoming more complex due to the accelerated rate of change associated with globalisation, climate and environmental degradation and technological advances. Positive systemic change requires rethinking interventions and the roles that actors play in these interventions. Some people, or groups of people, are better able to enact change than others, with growing evidence that the success of interventions is often due to particular individuals or groups involved. These change agents occur across all cultures and domains, and have varying roles, resources, networks and world views. The literature identifies key change agent characteristics associated with values, purpose and concepts associated with mastery and entrepreneurism. However, there is little mentioned about the role change agents play in research for development interventions, particularly interventions focused on helping people and communities adapt to global change. Or how research for development projects can best support and enable these individuals and groups, such as what are the types of competencies, resources and knowledge needed to enact lasting change in adaptation projects. This research sought to illuminate the necessary and sufficient set of change agent characteristics and competencies using four project case studies, two in Vietnam and two in Indonesia, which allowed for comparisons within and across countries. If agents were critical for systemic change, evidence of change needs to established first. Projects were evaluated at three time intervals, using a mixed methods approach. Potential change agents were identified through the evaluation, then interviewed to gain a better understanding of their personal change drivers, as well as establishing what, if anything, the project did to help them. Three types of change agents were identified, pre-existing or strong change agents, as well as emerging and prospective change agents. The strong and emerging change agents felt that project activities and outputs including knowledge, networks and capacity building had helped them to enact change. The stronger change agents had values that were already aligned to the project goals and a deep seated sense of purpose including self-mastery traits, and they had developed networks, which were strengthened and broadened by the projects. For those identified as prospective change agents, the projects had lit a spark, but further development and opportunity was needed to enable these people to emerge as change agents. This research suggests that there are cultural differences about how agents perceive the future and their role in shaping it, although some characteristics were shared across agents regardless of context. These characteristics included a sense of personal responsibility and purpose and the importance of learning in their lives. R4D adaptation projects help grow all change agent capacities and competencies. Although, like the characteristics, stronger change agents already had many of the competencies, particularly good interpersonal skills and a focus on learning. The R4D projects helped expand change agent knowledge and competencies through building systems thinking, integration, and critical thinking skills. This research suggests that knowledge and resources are important, however, capacity building is more than technical, it is the development of a set of core competencies that are more important for creating change. Implications are that people matter, and that genuine relationships are needed between researchers, partners and practitioners. Catalytic change requires capacities, a shared normative purpose, reflexivity, cross-scale networks, and windows of opportunity.
... Participatory approaches to monitoring sustainability are particularly important in developing countries, where engagement in the design and execution of monitoring programs by local stakeholders may empower them to better manage their own resources (Haider et al. 2015). Moreover, a participatory approach can also encourage a culture of learning, which is paramount to the success of adaptive management (Cundill and Fabricius 2009). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
The TEEBAgriFood ‘Scientific and Economic Foundations’ report addresses the core theoretical issues and controversies underpinning the evaluation of the nexus between the agri-food sector, biodiversity and ecosystem services and externalities including human health impacts from agriculture on a global scale. It argues the need for a ‘systems thinking‘ approach, draws out issues related to health, nutrition, equity and livelihoods, presents a Framework for evaluation and describes how it can be applied, and identifies theories and pathways for transformational change.
... Attention is directed at the tangible (i.e. easily measurable results) and intangible (i.e., results such as ideas or actions) nature of outcomes from collaboration (e.g., see Innes and Booher 1999;Plummer and Armitage 2007;Cundill and Fabricius 2009). In considering the Bold values highlight the scores which show the relative prominence of qualities or outcomes in scholarship based on the systematic mapping review. ...
Article
Full-text available
Collaboration has taken centre stage in addressing complex environmental issues and yet several voids are evident in our understanding of it. A systematic mapping review was conducted to synthesize knowledge about the inner workings of collaboration (qualities, outcomes, and their relationship(s)) in environmental management and governance scholarship. Eighty-five scholarly works were included in the review and the analysis revealed 27 qualities, 20 outcomes, and 104 relationships. The frequency and magnitude of each were established through multiple rounds of coding, surfacing their relative prominence in the literature. Collaborative qualities with the greatest prominence included trust building, social learning, dialogue, and active involvement; the most prominent outcomes included social learning and social capital. Descriptive analyses illuminated myriad relationships among collaborative qualities to achieve outcomes, and emphasized the role of collaborative qualities of lesser scholarly attention on achieving outcomes. Findings offer insight for individuals engaging in collaboration and for future work aiming to further explore collaboration.
... Most importantly, these arrangements must also be capable of responding to dynamic changes in economic, social and environmental conditions at particular times and places as rapidly as these changes occur. To achieve rapid adaptation, authority appears to be best left with the local users/managers since they are more familiar to the local context and directly face the immediate changes or problems (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009), but these authorities need to be nested within robust system-wide structures. ...
Article
In many places irrigation systems rely on robust governance for continued existence. Elinor Ostrom listed design principles that should achieve robust governance, but doubted that any list could be both necessary and sufficient to result in robust governance. To date, this assumption has never been formally tested. We conduct a meta-analysis and ultimately evaluate 62 case studies via fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify necessary/sufficient conditions for robust irrigation system governance. We identify four necessary conditions and seven configurations sufficient for robust governance. Further, we identify a union of conditions that, when absent, are likely to result in system failure.
... Especially when information is limited, knowledge fragmented, and outcomes of specific decisions are uncertain, individual decision-maker cognitive abilities and how they share knowledge and learn assume a prominent role (Cundill and Fabricius 2009;Polasky et al. 2011;Cundill et al. 2015;Freeman et al. 2016;Baggio et al. 2019). Given the challenges of relying exclusively on individual learning to solve complex problems, decision-makers often need to rely on social learning and knowledge/strategy (Isaac et al. 2007;Baird et al. 2016). ...
Article
Full-text available
Ecological fragmentation coupled with changes in climate affects the viability of species and is likely to pose a serious threat for maintaining biodiversity, especially as biodiversity often depends on species ability to migrate between different ecological areas spanning multiple sociopolitical jurisdictions. To reduce the risk to biodiversity, there is a need for connected, interjurisdictional landscape management plans at regional levels. It is a key to identify how decision-makers collaborate and share knowledge, learn, and ultimately make decisions affecting species coexistence. Here, we present a model that mimics multiple political jurisdictions making decisions affecting species migration across a landscape. This management and species movement can be between nations, between public and private landowners, or any other scale of interjurisdictional management in between. The model we present here has direct application to the decisions that managers make regularly and draws upon anecdotal evidence from real-world case studies such as the removal of fences in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park in southern Africa, and cooperation to solve regional environmental dilemmas in Arizona between neighbors. Our results highlight the importance of social learning and networks and matching the scale of sociopolitical and ecological processes in order to reduce biodiversity loss. Further, we find that close-knit decision-makers, especially when learning/imitating management strategies the same way, are detrimental to countering biodiversity loss. Finally, our results indicate the importance of allowing decision-makers to have room for experimental, individual learning to broaden the set of management strategies existing within a system to reduce biodiversity loss.
... The users are willing to pay for the operation and maintenance of the resource system Islam et al. (2019) Awareness of users All the resource users are aware of the resource system, its operation and maintenance rules and the activities of the committee that is responsible for resource management Cundill and Fabricius (2009) Dynamic leadership Leadership is closely familiar with the changing external governance environment, has frequent interactions with resource users and regular contact with local traditional leaders Baland and Platteau (1996), Lobo et al. (2016) Supportive external environment ...
... Secondly, adaptive management bridges different perspectives amongst scientific disciplines; and thirdly, adaptive management seeks to close the gap between knowledge and action. The growing emphasis on participatory learning through adaptive management in the literature reflects a shift away from expertbased teaching, which characterises traditional environmental management and agricultural extension activities, toward community-based transformative learning (Cundill and Fabricius 2009). Transformative learning occurs when values that underpin institutions and decision-making are questioned (Keen et al. 2005). ...
Article
Full-text available
Managing rivers and sharing their benefits is largely dependent on stakeholder values and knowledge, expressed through policy, governance and institutions. Adaptive management is essentially a social learning process, which can provide a tool to navigate the ‘wickedness’ of contemporary social-ecological challenges. This research applied an interpretive, qualitative approach to examine government intentions for adaptive management, as expressed in water policy documents, and practitioner experiences of learning through adaptive management in a case study of water management in the Lachlan catchment, Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Data were created from content analysis of government water policy documents and interviews with key water managing and policy stakeholders. Interview participants attached divergent meanings to the concept of adaptive management. Five different ‘styles’ of adaptive management were found to coexist in the Lachlan catchment, which were associated with different levels of learning. While some learning was ad hoc, there was also promising evidence of more active adaptive management of environmental flows, which was resulting in higher-level learning. The findings highlight a disconnect between how adaptive management is understood in the academic literature, by practitioners, and how it is portrayed in Australian water policy, which is restricting opportunities for higher-level learning. Transformative learning was found to occur in response to crisis, rather than being linked to an intentional learning process.
... The theoretical roots of adaptive governance can be traced back to ecological theories of adaptive management (Gunderson and Light 2007) and the concept has been influenced by co-management theory (Cundill and Fabricius 2009) and social theories of collaboration (Djalante, Holley, and Thomalla 2011). Adaptive governance theory initially emerged as an analytical tool in natural resource management (Karpouzoglou, Dewulf, and Clark 2016) as a way to better understand and manage common pool resources (Dietz, Ostrom, and Stern 2003). ...
Article
Bushfires are a global climate change challenge and a critical disaster issue for Australia. Adaptive governance has emerged as a model to address socio-ecological issues such as disasters. This paper discusses four principles of adaptive governance: polycentric institutions, collaboration, social learning, and reflexivity and examines how these are reflected in the policy and practice of bushfire management in the South West of Australia. Findings demonstrate that current disaster policy discourse, which influences bushfire management, increasingly advocates for principles associated with adaptive governance. However, a case study on the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River found that the extent to which these principles translate into bushfire management practice is largely influenced by interpretive worldview policy frames. The paper suggests that governance for bushfire management could become more adaptive in its approach by incorporating more collaborative management activities, deliberative policy processes and reflexive practice.
... Muller, 2009;Crawford and Cooke-Davies, 2007). By adopting these governance mechanisms, management decision making will be improved, transparency and accountability will be increased, risk and uncertainty will be reduced, learning will be fostered, and the ways will be enhanced in which projects are implemented (Cundill and Fabricius, 2009). ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Project governance has been linked to project success because top management support is necessary for projects to succeed. However, top managers are time poor and it is not clear which project governance mechanisms are effective for project success. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue and identify project governance mechanisms that correlate with success. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study. A theoretical model of project governance was developed and tested with secondary industry data gathered from 51 global organisations and 66,817 responses. Findings The results found five project governance mechanisms (Vision, Change, Sponsor, KPI and Monitor) significantly correlate with project success and are effective at different stages in the project lifecycle. Originality/value Earlier research has found a relationship between project governance and project success but it has not been specific enough to guide top managers in practice. This is the first research to take this next step and identify project governance mechanisms that correlate with project success. One finding of this research that has particular value is the identification of when in the project lifecycle a particular governance mechanism is most effective.
Article
Full-text available
This study falls under the category of development research, with the goal of creating an international class guide model focused on sustainable development to raise students’ environmental consciousness. The management of foreign class activities in the Faculty of Education is not ideal and still facing challenges, according to the field. The challenges are as follows: 1) students’ limited awareness of the global warming issue; 2) ineffective English communication; 3) students’ inadequate preparation for participating in activity programs overseas; 4) the execution of international activities has not proceeded optimally; and 5) ineffective evaluation activities. R&D (research and development) is a research methodology that is used in this method to carry out product testing, development, and research based on needs analysis. This study findings indicate that 88.5% of the development results in the form of worldwide training recommendations that can be implemented internationally. The model elements, content suitability, constructs, language, practicality, and writing organization are all demonstrated by the results of a questionnaire given to experts and model users; the model, with an average score of 82.8%, is highly valid for use in the Faculty of Education at Universitas Negeri Surabaya.
Article
Rapid sea level rise (SLR) represents a novel threat to mangroves, which could adapt through vertical accretion or landward expansion. Depending on tidal conditions and stressors, managers will likely have to intervene to enhance the adaptive capacity of mangroves. However, managers must be aware of, understand, and anticipate the risks of SLR-induced habitat degradation to plan adaptive measures, which must be supported by administrative resources, political will, and stakeholder engagement. Here, we studied how cognitive, experiential, and organizational factors influence risk awareness and adaptive management capacity of communal and state-based managers. In telephone-based interviews, the risk perception of 60 community-based and 23 governmental mangrove managers in Thailand was assessed to gain insights into their awareness and understanding of SLR risks, current management practices and adaptive measures, and the extent of their collaboration and stakeholder engagement. The findings show that most managers acknowledge the presence of SLR (72%) but perceived the adaptive capacity of mangroves as sufficiently high and the risk of SLR-induced degradation as minimal (63%), regardless of their affiliation. However, few respondents (18%) were aware that SLR would prolong hydroperiods and increase waterlogging stress of mangrove trees. The survey also revealed organization-specific biases. State officials cited a high level of uncertainty due to limited research and monitoring preventing them from planning adaptive measures. Community managers relied on their past experiences of mangrove recovery following disturbances, which might be unsuitable for informing management decisions in response to the novel threat of SLR. These findings indicate a lack of knowledge and guidelines for understanding and addressing SLR impacts. Additionally, there was an observed optimism bias among community managers, where past successful recoveries led to an overestimation of mangroves' adaptive capacity. Knowledge transfer and awareness-raising among mangrove resource stakeholders are critical for developing adaptation measures.
Chapter
Change agents have a set of characteristics, competencies, and networks (represented by the nested circles in Fig. 3.1) and are situated within a broader intervention context (square dot box). R4D projects work with agents to develop new knowledge, networks and capacity, enabling pathways and opportunities for change, navigating barriers, aiming to create an anticipated change in the agents and the system of interest (dashed circles).
Chapter
In a period of global transition, this chapter discusses emerging management practices in the context of natural resources management in international business. In the past decades, the co-management concept and practice have been of increasing interest to scholars in ecology management and marine environment management. In the late 1980s, the Swedish management style began to be explicitly debated with scholarly interest, particularly in the services industry after observing successful business practices. The literature on the co-management of natural resources and the Swedish management style in multinational enterprises point promisingly towards parallel management strategies applied in distinctly different working environments and contexts. Based on empirical data, this chapter's objective is to highlight and distill from natural resources co-management and the Swedish management style a shared management best-practice approach in working contexts that have multiple actors and stakeholders who hold multicentric agendas.
Thesis
Full-text available
Disagreements over wild species and the management of natural resources are inevitable. However, they often serve as proxies for less visible, deep-rooted social and political conflicts that occur between multiple groups of human actors. Such issues can considerably hinder the objectives of conservation and sustainable environmental management, by damaging relationships and trust among stakeholders, influencing their perceptions of the situation and shaping their actions towards the species and/or its management. However, a common problem is that these more complex dimensions go unacknowledged and unaddressed. The seemingly intractable nature of such situations, combined with a limited understanding of the deeper-seated issues that cause them, often causes practitioners to favour short term technical or legislative approaches to conflict management that focus primarily on alleviating the negative impacts of species on humans, or vice versa. Yet a growing body of literature suggests that failure to recognise and confront these underlying socio-political elements only causes conflicts to persist and worsen. In Scotland, a current long-standing conflict exists around the interests of raptor conservation and driven grouse shooting. The situation is highly contentious; actors have become polarised and arguments over key issues, such as the illegal killing of raptor species, are embedded within wider socio-political issues that consider land ownership, governance, and positions of authority. Despite multiple technical and legislative measures, evidence suggests the illegal killing of raptors is ongoing and the fractured relationships among stakeholders have stalled efforts at negotiation and collaboration. However, little scholarly work has studied these relationships and the issues that shape them. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of stakeholder interactions, and the deeper-rooted social and political elements that influence how stakeholders perceive the situation and one another. To do so, I take a social science perspective, drawing on theoretical frames and methodologies from several disciplines to provide an in-depth examination of aspects of a conservation conflict that, up until now, have received relatively little attention. In a more global context, this thesis contributes to the burgeoning literature relating to the social and political dimensions of conservation conflicts. Although the scope of research into the human dimensions of conservation has expanded substantially in the last decade, there remains significant gaps in our knowledge of such situations. One such gap relates to the perspectives of conservationists, or species 'advocates'. Previous research has largely focussed on the views of stakeholders who are seemingly opposed to the objectives of conservation. However if conservation conflicts are to be understood as inherently socio-political issues among people - with strongly-held, often divergent views and values - then we cannot ignore conservation advocates as influential actors, with integral roles within the conflict that must also be understood. The research presented therefore investigates a diverse array of perspectives, ranging from those of actors with predominantly conservation interests, to those more orientated towards field sports and rural land use. The second concerns the exploration of the different levels of actors involved in conservation conflicts; the differences and interactions within and between the institutional, national level and regional, local stakeholders. This thesis therefore focuses on the inter- and intra-group dynamics among these levels, and is split into two parts. Chapters 2 & 3 investigate the conflict at a national level, using discourse analysis to examine the interactions between non-governmental organisations and state bodies. A critical finding is that institutional level actors contest discursively, communicating often divergent interpretations of key issues and scientific research to advance their own position. Chapters 4 & 5 then explore the relationships and narratives of local-level stakeholders through semi-structured interviews, and explore the connections between this and the institutional level. Analysis revealed themes of power, representation, and trust that influenced inter- and intra-group dynamics. An important finding was that local stakeholders often felt powerless and under-represented in decision making processes, suggesting that institutionalised discourses - which did not necessarily reflect local perspectives - were dominating discussions surrounding conflict management and preventing constructive dialogue. Chapters 5 & 6 discuss the implications of our findings for conflict management and use this understanding to make suggestions of strategies that are of higher relevance to the important socio-political dimensions of conflicts, and are better aligned with the perspectives and needs of local stakeholders. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that a major barrier to the management of raptor-grouse conflict concerns the relationships of the actors involved - particularly those between actors at the national and local levels. I therefore suggest that multiple management interventions at different levels are required as part of a longer-term, evolutionary process, aiming to develop a better environment in which to hold discussions about not just raptors, but wider issues of land ownership and governance in Scotland. These findings are then placed in a more global context, with suggestions made as to how a broader perspective orientated towards the relationships among actors may be translated to different conservation conflicts in other parts of the world.
Article
Social-ecological system (SES) promoting sustainable management of natural resources in common ownership are steered by a complex governance system that includes regulations through laws and policies, and management by administrative authorities operating across multi-level institutional structures that, in turn, are shaped by stakeholder interests. In addition, the long-term progress of natural resource management not only relies upon the existence of a well-structured and functional governance system, but needs that system to adaptably facilitate sustainable resource management in line with current knowledge and best practices. In this research we mapped the administrative structure that steers rangeland management in Iceland and undertook a critical analysis of the governance system´s structure and functions to examine if agricultural and environmental policy targets have facilitated improved rangeland management practices. A survey, based on a questionnaire distributed to selected public sector employees and sheep farmers, was used to gauge the participants: a) attitude towards rangeland management practices, b) perception of the level of collaboration and state support for rangeland restoration and c) views on current agricultural and environmental policies on rangeland management. The results strongly indicate that neither the current administrative structure nor the governance process itself have significantly facilitated expected attitude changes within the agricultural sector or among local authorities. Furthermore, it has neither facilitated significant attitude nor behavioral changes among sheep farmers aimed at improved rangeland management, in line with current government agricultural and environmental policy targets. Our key findings support previous research that shows the governance system for rangeland management in Iceland as structurally limited and suffering from weak vertically and horizontally integration. Furthermore, our findings clearly reveal the need for improved governance for rangeland management and the need for increased levels of knowledge application within the system.
Article
Full-text available
The empirical evidence in the papers in this special issue identifies pervasive and difficult cross-scale and cross-level interactions in managing the environment. The complexity of these interactions and the fact that both scholarship and management have only recently begun to address this complexity have provided the impetus for us to present one synthesis of scale and cross-scale dynamics. In doing so, we draw from multiple cases, multiple disciplines, and multiple perspectives. In this synthesis paper, and in the accompanying cases, we hypothesize that the dynamics of cross-scale and cross-level interactions are affected by the interplay between institutions at multiple levels and scales. We suggest that the advent of co-management structures and conscious boundary management that includes knowledge co-production, mediation, translation, and negotiation across scale-related boundaries may facilitate solutions to complex problems that decision makers have historically been unable to solve.
Article
Full-text available
Periodic monitoring of the status of natural resources is fundamental to generating adequate information for planning and policy-making for their sustainable management. This paper provides an overview of the concepts, issues and challenges that planners and policy makers face in designing natural resource monitoring systems and using their outcomes in the formulation of policies and intervention programs. It begins with a discussion of a new conceptual framework for monitoring based on resource management domains (RMDs), which defines monitoring units based on resource problems and potential policy interventions. This is followed by a description of steps necessary for effectively implementing a monitoring system and possible flows and use of information in decision-making. Finally, the paper identifies issues relevant to the design of natural resource monitoring systems, and future challenges facing governments, academic institutions, and donor agencies. The paper concludes that a monitoring system which is simple, user-driven, based on existing institutional structures, and has the commitment of decision makers for using the information in policy design and program development is more likely to be successful.
Article
Full-text available
In this article, we look at the evolving collaborative natural resource management movement in the United States and discuss current calls to evaluate it. We then explore approaches researchers have used to evaluate both specific efforts and the broader movement. Evaluative criteria developed thus far by several researchers show commonalities as well as differences. We argue that evaluation approaches will necessarily vary with the evaluation's intent, the type of collaborative effort being evaluated, and the values of the evaluator. Evaluators need to consider and make explicit their standards for comparison, criteria, and methods in order to clarify the nature of an evaluation and facilitate the synthesis of findings.
Article
Full-text available
The purpose is to provoke discussion by exploring and elaborating the concept of sustainable livelihoods. It is based normatively on the ideas of capability, equity, and sustainability, each of which is both end and means. In the 21st century livelihoods will be needed by perhaps two or three times the present human population. A livelihood comprises people, their capabilities and their means of living, including food, income and assets. A livelihood is environmentally sustainable when it maintains or enhances the local and global assets on which livelihoods depend, and has net beneficial effects on other livelihoods. A livelihood is socially sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks, and provide for future generations. Current and conventional analysis both undervalues future livelihoods and is pessimistic. Ways can be sought to multiply livelihoods by increasing resource-use intensity and the diversity and complexity of small-farming livelihood systems, and by small- scale economic synergy. The objective of sustainable livelihoods for all provides a focus for anticipating the 21st century, and points to priorities for policy and research. -from Authors
Article
Full-text available
Even unmanaged ecosystems are characterized by combinations of stability and instability and by unexpected shifts in behavior from both internal and external causes. That is even more true of ecosystems managed for the production of food or fiber. Data are sparse, knowledge of processes limited, and the act of management changes the system being managed. Surprise and change is inevitable. Here we review methods to develop, screen, and evaluate alternatives in a process where management itself becomes partner with science by designing probes that produce updated understanding as well as economic product.
Article
Full-text available
The empirical evidence in the papers in this special issue identifies pervasive and difficult cross-scale and cross-level interactions in managing the environment. The complexity of these interactions and the fact that both scholarship and management,have only recently begun to address this complexity have provided the impetus for us to present one synthesis of scale and cross-scale dynamics. In doing so, we draw from multiple cases, multiple disciplines, and multiple perspectives. In this synthesis paper, and in the accompanying cases, we hypothesize that the dynamics of cross-scale and cross-level interactions are affected by the interplay between institutions at multiple levels and scales. We suggest that the advent of co-management structures and conscious boundary management that includes knowledge co-production, mediation, translation, and negotiation across scale-related boundaries may facilitate solutions to complex problems that decision makers have historically been unable to solve. Key Words: scale; level; cross-scale dynamics; boundary,organization; co-management
Article
Full-text available
Adaptive management has the potential to make environmental management more democratic through the involvement of different stakeholders. In this article, we examine three case studies at different scales that followed adaptive management processes, critically reflecting upon the role of stakeholder participation in each case. Specifically, we examine at which stages different types of stakeholders can play key roles and the ways that each might be involved. We show that a range of participatory mechanisms can be employed at different stages of the adaptive cycle, and can work together to create conditions for social learning and favorable outcomes for diverse stakeholders. This analysis highlights the need for greater reflection on case study research in order to further refine participatory processes within adaptive management. This should not only address the shortcomings and successes of adaptive management as a form of democratic environmental governance, but should also unpack the links between science, institutions, knowledge, and power.
Article
Full-text available
"We analyze the emergence of an adaptive co-management system for wetland landscape governance in southern Sweden, a process where unconnected management by several actors in the landscape was mobilized, renewed, and reconfigured into ecosystem management within about a decade. Our analysis highlights the social mechanisms behind the transformation toward ecosystem management. The self-organizing process was triggered by perceived threats among members of various local stewardship associations and local government to the area's cultural and ecological values. These threats challenged the development of ecosystem services in the area. We show how one individual, a key leader, played an instrumental role in directing change and transforming governance. The transformation involved three phases: 1) preparing the system for change, 2) seizing a window of opportunity, and 3) building social-ecological resilience of the new desired state. This local policy entrepreneur initiated trust-building dialogue, mobilized social networks with actors across scales, and started processes for coordinating people, information flows and ongoing activities, and for compiling and generating knowledge, understanding, and management practices of ecosystem dynamics. Understanding, collaborative learning, and creating public awareness were part of the process. A comprehensive framework was developed with a shared vision and goals that presented conservation as development, turned problems into possibilities, and contributed to a shift in perception among key actors regarding the values of the wetland landscape. A window of opportunity at the political level opened, which made it possible to transform the governance system toward a trajectory of ecosystem management. The transformation involved establishing a new municipal organization, the Ecomuseum Kristianstads Vattenrike (EKV). This flexible organization serves as a bridge between local actors and governmental bodies and is essential to the adaptive governance of the wetland landscape. It is also critical in navigating the larger sociopolitical and economic environment for resilience of the new social-ecological system. We conclude that social transformation is essential to move from a less desired trajectory to one where the capacity to manage ecosystems sustainably for human well-being is strengthened. Adaptability among actors is needed to reinforce and sustain the desired social-ecological state and make it resilient to future change and unpredictable events."
Article
Full-text available
Since the mid-1990s, numerous methodologies have been developed to assess the management effectiveness of protected areas, many tailored to particular regions or habitats. Recognizing the need for a generic approach, the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) developed an evaluation framework allowing specific evaluation methodologies to be designed within a consistent overall approach. Twenty-seven assessment methodologies were analyzed in relation to this framework. Two types of data were identified: quantitative data derived from monitoring and qualitative data derived from scoring by managers and stakeholders. The distinction between methodologies based on data types reflects different approaches to assessing management. Few methodologies assess all the WCPA framework elements. More useful information for adaptive management will come from addressing all six elements. The framework can be used to adapt existing methodologies or to design new, more comprehensive methodologies for evaluation, using quantitative monitoring data, qualitative scoring data, or a combination of both.
Article
Full-text available
Namibia's Community Based Natural Resource Management program is a joint venture between government, national non-governmental organisations and rural communities. A component of the program involves communities in monitoring various aspects of their conservancy, ranging from wildlife numbers, through economic returns, to patrolling records and infringements of the rules. A main feature of community monitoring is the Event Book System, which differs from conventional monitoring in that the community dictates what needs to be monitored, and scientists only facilitate the design process and conservancy members undertake all data analysis. The system has been adopted with good results by more than 30 communal conservancies in Namibia, covering almost seven million ha, and is now also being piloted in six national parks. Continued emphasis is needed on enhancing community interpretation and use of data for active adaptive management, particularly where conservancy leaders are transient due to the democratic nature of local organizations. Moreover, because the system is driven by local priorities, it does not cover all aspects of a comprehensive biodiversity monitoring programme. Where society deems other biodiversity values worth monitoring, conservancies must either be willingly persuaded to act on this, or external systems must be established to cater for these needs. If a community already has a monitoring system of its own, a win–win solution might be for the community to be sub-contracted to undertake these ȁ8external modules' on behalf of national agencies.
Article
Full-text available
Building resilience in integrated human and nature systems or social–ecological systems (SES) is key for sustainability. Therefore, developing ways of assessing resilience is of practical as well as theoretical significance. We approached the issue by focusing on the local level and using five lagoon systems from various parts of the world for illustration. We used a framework based on four categories of factors for building resilience: (1) learning to live with change and uncertainty; (2) nurturing diversity for reorganization and renewal; (3) combining different kinds of knowledge; and (4) creating opportunity for self-organization. Under each category, the cases generated a number of items for building resilience, and potential surrogates of resilience, that is, variables through which the persistence of SES emerging through change can be assessed. The following factors were robust across all five lagoon SES cases: learning from crisis, responding to change, nurturing ecological memory, monitoring the environment, and building capacity for self-organization and conflict management.
Article
Full-text available
Monitoring by local community managers tightens the adaptive management cycle by linking management more closely with its evaluation, so management actions become more responsive to the field situation. Local community volunteers, usually fishers, managing coral reef protected areas in the Philippines used simple methods (e.g. snorkeling fish visual census) to periodically monitor and evaluate reef protection together with professional marine biologists. Except for estimates of hard coral, data collected by local volunteers were not significantly correlated with data collected by biologists (specifically abundance estimates of sand, major reef fish carnivores, and fish herbivores). Community-collected fish data generally have higher variance and show higher abundances than biologist-collected data. Nonetheless, though the data was less precise, the locally based monitoring identified or confirmed the need for management actions that were generic in nature (e.g. stronger enforcement, organizational strengthening, etc.). The locally based monitoring also encouraged cooperation among stakeholders and prompted a management response. Little time and financing is required after initial establishment and replication has been increasing. However, sustainability depends upon the communities’ perceived added-value of undertaking the monitoring and input from a paid and/or more committed local person (e.g. government) who occasionally conducts monitoring himself/herself and supervises the community monitoring. Management impact depends heavily upon good integration with active management interventions outside the monitoring effort per se
Article
Full-text available
Monitoring of biodiversity and resource use by professional scientists is often costly and hard to sustain, especially in developing countries, where financial resources are limited. Moreover, such monitoring can be logistically and technically difficult and is often perceived to be irrelevant by resource managers and the local communities. Alternatives are emerging, carried out at a local scale and by individuals with little formal education. The methods adopted span a spectrum, from participatory monitoring where aims and objectives are defined by the community, to ranger-based monitoring in protected areas. What distinguishes these approaches is that local people or local government staff are directly involved in data collection and (in most instances) analysis. In this issue of Biodiversity and Conservation, 15 case studies examine whether these new approaches can address the limitations of professional monitoring in developing countries. The case studies evaluate ongoing locally-based monitoring schemes involving more than 1500 community members in 13 countries. The papers are based on a symposium held in Denmark in April 2004 (www. monitoringmatters.org). Here, we review how the case studies shed light on the following key issues concerning locally-based methods: cost, sustainability, their ability to detect true local or larger-scale trends, their links to management decisions and action, and the empowerment of local constituencies. Locally-based monitoring appears to be consistently cheap relative to the costs of management and of professional monitoring, even though the start-up costs can be high. Most local monitoring schemes are still young and thus their chances of being sustained over the longer term are not yet certain. However, we believe their chances of surviving are better than many professional schemes, particularly when they are institutionalised within existing management structures, and linked to the delivery of ecosystem goods or services to local communities. When properly designed, local schemes yield locally relevant results that can be as reliable as those derived from professional monitoring. Many management decisions emanate from local schemes. The decisions appear to be taken promptly, in response to immediate threats to the environment, and often lead to community-based actions to protect habitats, species or the local flow of ecosystem benefits; however, few local schemes have so far led to actions beyond the local scale. Locally-based monitoring schemes often reinforce existing community-based resource management systems and lead to change in the attitude of locals towards more environmentally sustainable resource management. Locally-derived data have considerable unexplored potential to elucidate global patterns of change in the status of populations and habitats, the services they provide, and the threats they face, but more effort is needed to develop effective modalities for feeding locally-derived data up to national and international levels.
Article
Full-text available
Monitoring of fog capture and bird communities helped to build social capital for conservation at Loma Alta, Ecuador and encouraged the local community to protect 3000hectares of tropical forest. Data collected during monitoring were used to facilitate action and cooperation at local, regional, national, and international levels for conservation of biodiversity in western Ecuador, including the designation of an Important Bird Area in the region. Through involvement with the monitoring efforts, local people became more aware of the value of ecosystem services, learned about local birds and their conservation status, became familiar with ecotourism, and began to include conservation of biodiversity with sustainable development planning in their community. The context of monitoring, the objectives and participants, field methods, impacts in terms of conservation action, and the costs and benefits of the two monitoring initiatives are described.
Article
Full-text available
This paper examines how a biodiversity monitoring system based on data collected by protected area staff and local communities was established and maintained in Xe Pian national protected area, Laos. Monitoring activities commenced with project support in 1998. Protected area staff, district forestry staff and villagers continued the monitoring work after 2001 when the external advisers left. More than 2500 records of wildlife, natural resource use and threats to the protected area were collected by villagers and protected area staff, mainly through use of patrols, village discussions and village logbooks. The management interventions that followed the monitoring activities were a reaction to immediate threats or perceived trends in biodiversity rather than to trends revealed by analyses of the collected data. Patrols and village discussions came to a virtual standstill when external funding ceased, probably because of lack of supporting national policies. The annual running cost of the monitoring system was only about US$ 4000 or 0.02 per ha of forest habitat.
Article
Full-text available
Deliberate progress towards the goal of long-term sustainability depends on understanding the dynamics of linked social and ecological systems. The concept of social-ecological resilience holds promise for interdisciplinary syntheses. Resilience is a multifaceted concept that as yet has not been directly operationalized, particularly in systems for which our ignorance is such that detailed, parameter-rich simulation models are difficult to develop. We present an exploratory framework as a step towards the operationalization of resilience for empirical studies. We equate resilience with the ability of a system to maintain its identity, where system identity is defined as a property of key components and relationships (networks) and their continuity through space and time. Innovation and memory are also fundamental to understanding identity and resilience. By parsing our systems into the elements that we subjectively consider essential to identity, we obtain a small set of specific focal variables that reflect changes in identity. By assessing the potential for changes in identity under specified drivers and perturbations, in combination with a scenario-based approach to considering alternative futures, we obtain a surrogate measure of the current resilience of our study system as the likelihood of a change in system identity under clearly specified conditions, assumptions, drivers and perturbations. Although the details of individual case studies differ, the concept of identity provides a level of generality that can be used to compare measure of resilience across cases. Our approach will also yield insights into the mechanisms of change and the potential consequences of different policy and management decisions, providing a level of decision support for each case study area.
Article
Full-text available
Participatory ecological monitoring is a realistic and effective approach in wetlands such as Alaotra, Madagascar, where important biodiversity is found in an area with high human population density. Since 2001, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, government technical services, regional non-governmental organisations and local communities have collected data on key species, such as waterbirds, a locally endemic lemur and useful natural resources. The monitoring was linked with environmental quizzes and an inter-village competition, which helped raise interest in the monitoring and publicise results. The monitoring has assisted wetland management by guiding amendments to and increasing respect for the regional fishing convention, raising awareness, catalysing marsh management transfer to communities and stimulating collaboration and good governance. The sustainability of the monitoring scheme and the usefulness of the data for detecting trends and guiding local managements are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
Declared in 1995, the 34,400km2 Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park is the first protected area in South America co-managed by an indigenous organization, the Capitanía del Alto y Bajo Isoso (CABI). In 1997, based on historical occupation by the Isoseño-Guaraní over the past 300years, CABI formally demanded a 19,000km2 `Tierra Comunitaria de Orígen' (TCO) that adjoins, but does not overlap, the national park. The creation of TCOs and the co-administration of protected areas are elements of decentralization processes in Bolivia, whereby the management of land and natural resources is devolving to departmental and municipal levels of government. This paper examines biodiversity monitoring in the context of a community wildlife management program developed with CABI. Hunter self-monitoring (100–150 hunters per month) combined with monthly activity records for potential hunters (7637 observed hunter-months) permit estimations of total offtakes of subsistence game species for 1996–2003, as well as catch-per-unit-effort over the same time period. These data show considerable fluctuations from year to year and no declining trends that would suggest over-hunting. Monitoring populations of multiple game species can be relatively expensive, even with the voluntary support of hunters, considering data collection and analysis, as well as presentation and discussion through community meetings. At the same time, monitoring does not provide highly accurate assessments of short-term changes in wildlife resources. However, relatively simple participatory methods are important for generating information on long-term trends and for creating a context for community discussion of formal wildlife management.
Article
Full-text available
Both conservationists and harvesters may be willing to contribute to participatory monitoring of exploited species. However, this can be costly and stakeholders need to choose whether monitoring programs or other alternatives, such as a moratorium or unmonitored exploitation, meet their objectives most efficiently. We discuss when, and how much, stakeholders may be willing to contribute to monitoring of exploited resources. We predict that communities’ contributions will usually be much less than the annual value of the harvest, and will be affected by their dependency upon it; their discount rate; its cultural importance, vulnerability to overexploitation and amenability to monitoring. ‘Efficient’ conservationists’ willingness to contribute should be similar to that of communities’, since monitoring and management programs must compete with compensated moratoria. The combined willingness to contribute of both stakeholder groups will usually be much less than twice the annual revenue from the resource. Applying this framework to a case-study of crayfish harvesting in Madagascar, we find that the total willingness to contribute to monitoring is likely to be insufficient to support conventional monitoring efforts. We conclude that conservation planners must be realistic about what stakeholders are willing to contribute to monitoring programmes and consider low cost methods or negotiated moratoria.
Article
Full-text available
Resilience theory offers a framework for understanding the dynamics of complex systems. However, operationalizing resilience theory to develop and test empirical hypotheses can be difficult. We present a method in which simple systems models are used as a framework to identify resilience surrogates for case studies. The process of constructing a systems model for a particular case offers a path for identifying important variables related to system resilience, including the slowly-changing variables and thresholds that often are keys to understanding the resilience of a system. We develop a four-step process for identifying resilience surrogates through development of systems models. Because systems model development is often a difficult step, we summarize four basic existing systems models and give examples of how each may be used to identify resilience surrogates. The construction and analysis of simple systems models provides a useful basis for guiding and directing the selection of surrogate variables that will offer appropriate empirical measures of resilience.
Article
The concept of resilience has evolved considerably since Holling's (1973) seminal paper. Different interpretations of what is meant by resilience, however, cause confusion. Resilience of a system needs to be considered in terms of the attributes that govern the system's dynamics. Three related attributes of social-ecological systems (SESs) determine their future trajectories: resilience, adaptability, and transformability. Resilience (the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks) has four components-latitude, resistance, precariousness, and panarchy-most readily portrayed using the metaphor of a stability landscape. Adaptability is the capacity of actors in the system to influence resilience (in a SES, essentially to manage it). There are four general ways in which this can be done, corresponding to the four aspects of resilience. Transformability is the capacity to create a fundamentally new system when ecological, economic, or social structures make the existing system untenable. The implications of this interpretation of SES dynamics for sustainability science include changing the focus from seeking optimal states and the determinants of maximum sustainable yield (the MSY paradigm), to resilience analysis, adaptive resource management, and adaptive governance.
Article
The first book to critically examine how monitoring can be an effective tool in participatory resource management, Negotiated Learning draws on the first-hand experiences of researchers and development professionals in eleven countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. Collective monitoring shifts the emphasis of development and conservation professionals from externally defined programs to a locally relevant process. It focuses on community participation in the selection of the indicators to be monitored as well as community participation in the learning and application of knowledge from the data that is collected. As with other aspects of collaborative management, collaborative monitoring emphasizes building local capacity so that communities can gradually assume full responsibility for the management of their resources. The cases in Negotiated Learning highlight best practices, but stress that collaborative monitoring is a relatively new area of theory and practice. The cases focus on four themes: the challenge of data-driven monitoring in forest systems that supply multiple products and serve diverse functions and stakeholders; the importance of building upon existing dialogue and learning systems; the need to better understand social and political differences among local users and other stakeholders; and the need to ensure the continuing adaptiveness of monitoring systems.
Article
Future changes in climate pose significant challenges for society, not the least of which is how best to adapt to observed and potential future impacts of these changes to which the world is already committed. Adaptation is a dynamic social process: the ability of societies to adapt is determined, in part, by the ability to act collectively. This article reviews emerging perspectives on collective action and social capital and argues that insights from these areas inform the nature of adaptive capacity and normative prescriptions of policies of adaptation. Specifically, social capital is increasingly understood within economics to have public and private elements, both of which are based on trust, reputation, and reciprocal action. The public-good aspects of particular forms of social capital are pertinent elements of adaptive capacity in interacting with natural capital and in relation to the performance of institutions that cope with the risks of changes in climate. Case studies are presented of present-day collective action for coping with extremes in weather in coastal areas in Southeast Asia and of community-based coastal management in the Caribbean. These cases demonstrate the importance of social capital framing both the public and private institutions of resource management that build resilience in the face of the risks of changes in climate. These cases illustrate, by analogy, the nature of adaptation processes and collective action in adapting to future changes in climate.
Article
Consensus building and other forms of collaborative planning are increasingly used for dealing with social and political fragmentation, shared power, and conflicting values. The authors contend that to evaluate this emergent set of practices, a new framework is required modeled on a view of self-organizing, complex adaptive systems rather than on a mechanical Newtonian world. Consensus building processes are not only about producing agreements and plans but also about experimentation, learning, change, and building shared meaning. This article, based on our empirical research and practice in a wide range of consensus building cases, proposes that consensus building processes be evaluated in the light of principles of complexity science and communicative rationality, which are both congruent with professional practice. It offers principles for evaluation and a set of process and outcome criteria.
Chapter
... As only low local engagement was achieved, a more limited learning outcome resulted, and ... Collaborative Learning: Bridging Scales and Interests 117 coastal resource management in the Pacific ... Without partnerships across scales, national and local levels begin to operate in ...