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Institutions and the Environment

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"Scholars have tended to recommend 'optimal' solutions for coping with open-access problems related to common-pool resources such as fisheries, forests and water systems. Examples exist of both successful and unsuccessful efforts to rely on private property, government property and community property. After briefly reviewing how the often-recommended solutions have worked in the field, I suggest that institutional theorists move from touting simple, optimal solutions to analysing adaptive, multi-level governance as related to complex, evolving resource systems." Copyright (c) 2008 The Author. Journal compilation (c) Institute of Economic Affairs 2008.

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... Although several works (e.g. Pahl-Wostl et al., 2007;2008;2013;Tran & Rodela, 2019) have highlighted the critical roles of formal and informal institutions in facilitating social learning with regards to resource management and following disaster shocks, their roles in translating such learning into collective action for enhancing resilience has remained largely underexplored (Haque et al., 2019;Zaman et al., 2022). Furthermore, while researchers have shown that social learning can reduce flood risks (Pahl-Wostl et al., 2013;Tran & Rodela, 2019), the roles of institutional settings in promoting learning practices, knowledge exchange, social interactions, and enhanced adaptive capacity at the local level are not well-understood. ...
... Here, institutions refer to rules, regulations, and norms that govern and regulate human behaviour or actions. Rules, regulations, and norms differ at the formal and informal institutional levels (Ostrom, 2008;Pahl-Wostl, 2009). Formal institutions imply legal structures, official or governmental procedures, and regulatory frameworks, while socially or traditionally shared rules, norms, and culture are informal institutions at the local level (Pahl-Wostl, 2009;Scott, 2001). ...
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Knowledge of social learning about flood hazards in the literature, especially regarding its transformation into collective action for risk reduction, is very limited. This study addresses these gaps by developing an integrated framework that describes how social learning is transformed into collective action-particularly the underlying components and processes-and then applying it to empirical case studies of two communities, (namely, St. Adolphe and St. Agathe) of the Rural Municipality of Ritchot, Manitoba, Canada. Primary data were collected during the summer months of 2022 using participatory research appraisal (PRA) tools (i.e. key informant interviews and oral histories), while secondary data were collected primarily via government and NGO sources. The findings revealed that a) the flood experience and related interactions among community members and local institutions produced unique and distinct types of social learning, and b) that local and multilevel institutions had helped to create learning platforms that facilitated the formation of strategies for collective action related to flood risk reduction. These processes resulted in single-and double-loop learning at the community level. Based on the findings of this work, we recommend that learning and reflection relating to community members' flood experiences be integrated into disaster risk reduction and management policies.
... Those decisions are prescribed and become predictable through various rules and procedures that have been codified by agencies and operating units. Such rules, referred to as institutions, are essentially humanly devised constraints that are often created through collective choice to achieve an agreed-upon goal (Ostrom, 2008). Institutions are the basic "rules of the game" that reduce uncertainties in human interactions and thus outcomes of such exchange (North, 1990). ...
... We took a step towards addressing this gap by focusing on rules, or institutions (sensu Ostrom, 2008). These institutions, whether formal rules delineated in official documents or unwritten informal rules understood and shared among group members, establish the guidelines for human interaction with one another and with physical entities. ...
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A useful theoretical lens that has emerged for understanding urban resilience is the four basic types of interdependencies in critical infrastructures: the physical, geographic, cyber, and logical types. This paper is motivated by a conceptual and methodological limitation—although logical interdependencies (where two infrastructures affect the state of each other via human decisions) are regarded as one of the basic types of interdependencies, the question of how to apply the notion and how to quantify logical relations remains under‐explored. To overcome this limitation, this study focuses on institutions (rules), for example, rules and planned tasks guiding human interactions with one another and infrastructure. Such rule‐mediated interactions, when linguistically expressed, have a syntactic form that can be translated into a network form. We provide a foundation to delineate these two forms to detect logical interdependence. Specifically, we propose an approach to quantify logical interdependence based on the idea that (1) there are certain network motifs indicating logical relations, (2) such network motifs can be discerned from the network form of rules, and that (3) the higher the frequency of these motifs between two infrastructures, the greater the extent of logical interdependency. We develop a set of such motifs and illustrate their usage using an example. We conclude by suggesting a revision to the original definition of logical interdependence. This rule‐focused approach is relevant to understanding human error in risk analysis of socio‐technical systems, as human error can be seen as deviations from constraints that lead to accidents.
... Communal or collective governance occurs when rural lands are managed as common goods (Table 1 -upper-left quadrant), that is, they present rivalry of use, but there are no formal institutions that support exclusion of social actors, such as state control or private ownership [86]. Communal or collective governance relies on social capital (trust, solidarity, reciprocity) as key elements for crafting and enforcing community level commitments regarding the use of common lands [87,88]. Smaller communities with stronger social bonds are more successful with long term conservation of Ecosystem Services and equitable sharing of benefits and burdens [24,86,89]. ...
... There is a remarkable difference between the latter and the former ones. Both communal and statecentered decision making occur in arenas [88,[100][101][102]. Despite the differences (informal/formal, direct participation/representation), both processes involve discussion and deliberation which considers not only the issue under dispute (land use and ecosystem services), but also other themes in the agenda of the community or the state arenas. ...
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Purpose of Review This perspective article is based on a non-exhaustive literature review of the fundamentals of economic appropriation institutions, as well as their associated governance typologies and ethical-normative guidelines. We also address potential convergences, complementarities and exchanges among Landscape Ecology, Ecological Economics and Political Ecology fields on their normative approaches regarding environmental resilience and social fairness in landscape appropriation processes. Recent Findings Landscape Ecology (LE) contributes, primarily, to the understanding of the relationship between spatial structure of habitat in the landscapes and their ecological processes. Indeed, LE presents a growing concern on the social and economic drivers of landscape changes, and assumes a key role for societal changes, by delivering landscape resilience parameters (as the minimum percentage of native vegetation) and also through active participation of scientists and practitioners in public and private decision-making arenas. Summary The effectiveness of the contributions of Landscape Ecology (LE) to public policies and to private strategies demands a clear understanding of the fundamentals of the multiple institutions and governance typologies for appropriation of goods and services. Institutions, in the sense of formal and informal rules and norms, are outcomes from decision-making arenas which constrain, among many other social relations, the land and ecosystem services appropriation in landscapes. The closer interaction with decision-making and institutional change processes, where the outcomes are laden by ethical-normative pre-analytical choices, demands from LE a careful reexamination on its ontological and epistemological assumptions. Departing from fundamental controversies regarding economic appropriation processes, this paper frames the main relations between basic institutions and the governance typologies for landscape appropriation, as well as their ethical-normative guidelines regarding environmental resilience and social fairness.
... We refer to institutions as the rules that people use when interacting within a wide variety of repetitive and structured situations at multiple levels of analysis (Ostrom, 2008). Individuals who regularly interact use rules, norms and strategies (or their absence) designed and enforced by government authorities, traditional authorities, or themselves. ...
... Within this context, rangelands and wildlife are a common pool resource. Without effective institutions to limit who can use highly valued, common-pool resources, they can be used unsustainably, potentially resulting in their destruction (Ostrom, 2008). Here we look at the institutions that have evolved to manage Enonkishu since the establishment of the conservancy. ...
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The recent call to halt biodiversity loss by protecting half the planet has been hotly contested because of the extent to which people might be excluded from these landscapes. It is clear that incorporating landscapes that implicitly work for indigenous people is vital to achieving any sustainable targets. We examine an attempt to balance the trade‐offs between conservation and development in Enonkishu Conservancy in the Maasai Mara, using a working landscape approach. Mobile livestock production strategies are theoretically consistent with wildlife‐based activities and can present a win‐win solution for both conservation and development. We explore the success and failings of Enonkishu's evolving attempts to achieve this: addressing the criticism of the conservation sector that it fails to learn from its mistakes. We found that Enonkishu has had considerable positive conservation outcomes, preventing the continued encroachment of farmland and maintaining and improving rangeland health relative to the surrounding area, while maintaining diverse and large populations of wildlife and livestock. The learning from certain ventures that failed, particularly on livestock, has created institutions and governance that, while still evolving, are more robust and relevant for conservancy members, by being fluid and inclusive. Practical implication: Diverse revenue streams (beyond tourism, including a residential estate, livestock venture and philanthropy) enabled Enonkishu to withstand the pressures of COVID‐19. Livestock is crucial for defining the vision of the conservancy, and the institutions and governance that underpin it.
... 97). Supplementing the conceptual apparatus regarding institutions in addition to the distinction between informal and formal ones (North, 1991;Ostrom, 2008), it is important to point out an additional division suggested, among others, by North together with Wallis and Weingast (2009, p. 56). They specify two types of institutions: institutions that restrict access to economic surplus and political life as well as inclusive institutions that provide actors with equal opportunities (North et al., 2009). ...
... 1. Classification of institutions based on the criterion of formality (formal/informal/intermediate) (cf. Dal Belo Leite et al., 2014;North, 1991;Ostrom, 2008). 2. Classification of institutions on the basis of the criterion of the sphere of impact (social/economic/political) (cf. ...
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In this paper, the author reviews the literature on institutions and their relations with agricultural economics. The aims of the article are to clarify the definition of an institution, indicate its relevance from the perspective of agricultural economics and propose a method of institution classification. Using the PRISMA method, 35 articles were selected out of 238 articles from the Web of Science database that met the established requirements (i.e. they were simultaneously related to institutions, economic performance and the agricultural sector). Based on the identified articles as well as the preliminary literature review it can be concluded that there is a lack of research that precisely defines institutions and examines the historical context at the same time. There are not many papers in which authors assess relations between institutions.
... In the emblematic cases of farmers' irrigation collective governance in California and Southeast Asia, the diversity of the local arrangements and the compliance with community-enforced rules (social capital-driven) were identified as a more parsimonious explanation for institutional and governance outcomes [41,43,57,58,59,60]. Ostrom [23,24,25,59], with others [28,48,61] accumulated evidence to propose a framework ( Figure 1) to explain institutional dynamics for commons' appropriation, distribution, and usage, as a synthesis of decades of empirical analysis (e.g., fishery in Maine [27], irrigation in California [62], and Southeast Asia [63], and many forests conservation cases [64]). ...
... The disputes are modulated by environmental, social, and economic endowments historically appropriated by agents and coalitions. The first literature review (orange box #1 in Figure 2) was non-exhaustive and captured Ostrom's main concepts and critical variables that we adapted, detailed, and deployed in this paper [22,[27][28][29]42,43,48,[57][58][59][60][61][62][69][70][71][72][73]. This immersion in her ideas aimed to clarify the origins and epistemological limits of the elements from the original IAD framework and ensure that the framework proposed here does not conflict with the author's core ideas. ...
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Reducing the dominance of fossil-based electricity generation is a crucial strategy to address climate change. However, drivers impacting sustainable energy transitions, such as the high costs associated with the petroleum industry and other socio-political influences, such as cartels and subsidies, can delay, halt, or even revert decisions favoring renewable energy sources. Most traditional economic models often fail to consider the social, institutional, and historical interrelated and recursive relationships in energy systems decisions and planning. In this paper, we explored the historical institutions' dynamics in the Nigerian electricity industry to ascertain how they have impacted energy infrastructure and governance choices. Using the Multidimensional Institutional Dynamics Analysis (MIDA), we built a historical narrative of the Nigerian electricity industry dynamics covering the: imperial period (1896-1960); early independence period (1961-1970); military regime period (1971-1985); first economic reforms period (1986-1999); and intensive privatization period (2000-2020). The MIDA presents the complex cross-scale interactions and the broad set of drivers influencing energy transitions over time in Nigeria. We identified the leading environmental, social, and economic variables and proposed a framework, considering the agent's interests, which point to critical aspects of institutional change in Nigeria for each period: Imperial dominance and coal, military dominance, public governance and hydroelectricity, and hybrid governance focused on natural gas expansion. The framework highlights the broader conditions that influence Nigerian electricity infrastructures and governance choices for each period and might be suitable for policymakers identifying favorable contexts for renewable deployment.
... The role of communities in safeguarding the coastal zones cannot take place in vacuum. The capacity enhancement [42][43][44] and empowerment of communities [37,45] are paramount to achieve collective action towards managing common resources. ...
... Ostrom shows that many of these systems can work quite well' (p, 320). Evidence of the workability of her approach has been examined in Nepal, the Philippines, the Los Angeles basin, India, Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Canada [43,[51][52][53]. See also Table 1. ...
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This paper aims to investigate the state of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), which is justified as a strategy for managing coastal resources with respect to increasing pressures from tourism, farming, climate change, urbanization, population growth, etc. In the case of island states, the impact of tourism and second-home development is paramount. The use of coastal areas as commons and ICZM as a governance strategy have been established for a long time; however, the implementation of ICZM has remained a challenge due to the forces of global mass tourism and unsustainable resource use in island states. This study focused on views of the coastal communities in North Cyprus, who are in constant interaction with coastal ecosystems for their livelihood. For the analytical purpose of the study, 251 survey questionnaires were administered to eight communities along the coastal areas. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistical analysis with a post hoc test. Socio-ecological systems (SES) and Ostrom’s collective action principles guided the study as the main theoretical frameworks. The study revealed that the ICZM strategy has been neglected and coastal communities are not invited to be involved in any form of ICZM. Furthermore, the study revealed the tourism development has been the major activity of the Anthropocene in coastal areas without a proactive coastal development strategy that is supposed to consider the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems. Practical and theoretical implications are also discussed.
... It is important to remember that there are other theories derived from TCE that are related to transaction costs and that complement the theoretical framework of NIE. In this scenario, studies on Property Rights and the role of contracts in the coordination of organizational arrangements, whose main author is Barzel (1997), stand out, and the institutional arrangements for a sustainable relationship between man and the environment, called by Ostrom (2008), the main author of the theory, of the common good. ...
... The authors' motivation lies in the analysis of collective units, rather than individual units. The study therefore focuses on the role of institutions for collective property rights, the current that is addressed by Ostrom (2008). In this sense, GIs are cited as an example of geographic area generating collective differentiation, while transaction costs are seen as the main barrier for smaller producers to participate in PES schemes. ...
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Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) is one of the most applied economic theories to studies of agrifood chains, especially for presenting approaches that analyze the role of institutions in the relationship between organizations, making it completely adherent to the concept of Coordination, vital in chain management. Agro-industrial chains have continuously experienced mechanisms to reduce information asymmetry between producer and final consumer, one of these mechanisms being Geographical Indications (GIs), certifications of origin based on geographic location. This work aims to identify the state-of-the-art of TCE in studies related to GIs, identifying how the topics related to theory are approached and whether or not there are literature gaps in this regard. A systematic literature review was made in two substantial scientific databases using Methodi Ordinatio. The results demonstrate a certain homogeneity of studies, which focuses on Coordination and Governance, as well as a low synergy between the themes. Future studies could enrich the academic literature by contemplating an opposite path to this homogeneousness, either by a) exploring how TCE can explain the development of GIs; b) investigating the opportunism between producers and association members; or c) studying the limited rationality of the links downstream the chain.
... Active common participation, social mobilization, and democratic influence are key features of urban commons . Urban commons are usually excludable for non-members, recognizing that it is only the local community or group of users that share, hold rights, and set the rules for how to manage their commons (Berkes, 1989;Ostrom, 2008). The exclusion of non-members can be important for sustaining the commons and avoiding the tragedy of the commons (Hardin, 1968). ...
... he great good place: Cafes, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts, and how they get you through the day. Paragon House.. Governing the commons. The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press.Ostrom, E. (2005). Understanding institutional diversity.Princeton University Press.Ostrom, E. (2008). The challenge of common pool resources. Environment, 50, 8-21.Ostrom, E., & Schlager, E. (1996). The formation of property rights. In S. Hanna, C. Folke, & K.-G. Mäler (Eds.), Rights to nature (pp. 127-156). Island Press. Pearsall, H., Gachuz, S., Rodriguez Sosa, M., Schmook, B., van der Wal, H., & Gracia, M. A. (2017). Urban community ...
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This thematic issue puts “urban commoning” centre stage. Urban commoning constitutes the practice of sharing urban resources (space, streets, energy, and more) through principles of inclusion and cooperation. Whilst generally defined as an autonomous, bottom‐up, and most of all cooperative practice, the sphere of the commons necessarily stands in inter‐ action with two other spheres: the state/city (“provision”) and the market (“competition”). Yet, the various interlinkages between the commons, the state/city, and the market are underexplored. Hence the rationale for this thematic issue: How does the relation between commons, states/cities, and markets play out in the urban realm? What are the possibilities and pitfalls of linking commons with states/cities and markets? In the first section of this editorial, we provide a substan‐ tiated introduction to the concept of the commons, its history, and its urban applications. In the second part, we give an overview of the issue’s contributions. Scholars, activists, and practitioners from the disciplines of urban studies, cultural studies, planning, sustainability, sociology, architecture, and philosophy delve into the uncharted territory between com‐ mons, states/cities, and markets, through case studies from the Global North and South. The first three articles delve into the politics of urban commoning while the last three articles illuminate the practice’s aesthetic dimension
... Drawing heavily on the work of Elinor Ostrom (1990) and the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi, 2010), a central tenet of FES's work is that the 'tragedy of the commons' (Hardin, 1968) is not inevitable. Indeed, there are many examples where local people have put in place governance mechanisms to manage common-pool resources effectively (Ostrom, 2008). ...
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Approximately, one-quarter of India’s land area comprises common-pool resources, e.g., pasture land, forests, and water bodies, upon which the livelihoods of over 300 million rural people depend. Despite their importance, these resources are subjected to encroachment and degradation, raising important questions about what can be done to promote their protection and restoration. Since 2001, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) has worked with over 7000 villages to secure their rights to the commons, while facilitating collective action and access to finance to promote their restoration. To evaluate the impact of FES’s intervention model, we compare prioritized common land areas in 24 intervention and 24 control villages located in two districts in the state of Rajasthan—Bhilwara and Pratapgarh. We employ Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to control for program placement bias while contrasting changes in key ecological indicators over time derived through remote sensing. Based on data collected through village surveys (n = 48), household surveys (n = 911), systematic biophysical data collection (n = 480), and remote sensing, we find evidence that the rollout of FES’s intervention model (a) was relatively greater in the intervention villages but below expectation; and (b) facilitated significant increases in tree cover and tree and shrub diversity, while significantly reducing encroachment, particularly in the intervention villages intervened before 2011. We further find that the institutional strengthening dimension of FES’s work is a plausible mechanism that gave rise to these effects.
... Using common-pool resource games and public good games to explore environmental resource management is not new in behavioral ecological economics (Cardenas, 2000;Ostrom, 2008;Calzolari et al., 2018;Gächter et al., 2022). However, while both frameworks have been employed in repeated (Schill and Rocha, 2023) or intergenerational (Fischer et al., 2004) settings, the concatenation of the two represents an element of novelty. ...
Article
The urgency of climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises has prompted international and national institutions to move beyond the prevention and mitigation of damages and to design policies aimed at promoting ecological restoration. In this paper, we address this emerging policy challenge by presenting experimental evidence on individuals' propensity to contribute to restoration activities. Specifically, our design links a common pool resource game to a public good game to investigate how previous resource exploitation influences restoration decisions. We find that history matters since subjects who participate in resource depletion show a different behavior as compared to subjects who are only called to restore it. Specifically, while the former are subject to behavioral lock-ins that influence the success of restoration, the latter are more prompt to restore the more the resource is depleted.
... Collapses do not happen from one day to the next, they are the result of multifactorial processes in which human decisions play a transcendental role. Over time, fishermen have generated detailed knowledge of their activity and environment, resulting from innumerable observations under changing environmental conditions; this knowledge governs their behavior (Johannes, 1993;Ostrom, 2000;Ostrom, 2008). During 2020, the fishermen perceived a population decrease of the octopus, which was attributed to abundant and anticipated rains. ...
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In the socio-ecological system of the Mayan octopus, climate change, natural variability and human decisions impact the dynamics and population structure of the octopus. Since fishing decisions have been made out of synchrony concerning the octopus’s natural response, the system’s sustainability is put at risk. Sustainability is a socially desirable, environmentally necessary, and economically viable goal; since it contributes positively to food security, ways, and lifestyles. The objective of this work is to deepen the study of the perception of the fishermen of Progreso, Yucatán regarding the interactions between the Mayan octopus, the variability in the environment, the governance system, and fishing decisions. It was developed from a qualitative and quantitative approach, and bonds of trust were created for a year adopting an ethnographic approach to deepen the use of language, feelings, and emotions. To obtain information, open and semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and documentary research were carried out. For the analysis and evaluation of perceptions and fishing decisions, a non-parametric test was used through the modeling of structural equations with Partial Least Squares (PLS). It was found that, although the quantity to be captured is strongly influenced by the market, the strong incidence of changes in the environment on capture decisions stands out among the results. The experiences and knowledge of the fishermen about the marine environment represent an opportunity to contribute to the process of evolution of the socio-ecological system of the Mayan octopus, towards the establishment of norms and agreements between the different actors and contribute to the construction of resilience and sustainability against the overexploitation and environmental variability.
... Collaboration (i.e., interdependence to solve a collective action problem; Lai 2011) between private landowners and wildlife agencies is required to accomplish endangered species conservation (ESC) goals on behalf of the public. In the United States, though private landowners own substantial proportions of endangered species habitat and tend to responsibly care for their land (i.e., environmental stewardship; Bennett et al. 2018;Messick and Serenari 2023), collaboration for ESC is often deficient because landowners may not perceive governmental agencies or institutional arrangements (Ostrom 2008) as legitimate (i.e., aligned with stakeholder perceptions of appropriateness and desirability; Dowling and Pfeffer 1975). Illegitimacy, which may underpin or be a function of value misalignment and asymmetrical power dynamics in ESC, can yield of creators accordingly and respond based on their reconstruction of the impression's meaning, a process dictated by an audience's socio-cultural and mental frames (Allen and Caillouet 1994;Foulger 2004;Vliegenthart and Van Zoonen 2011). ...
... Scholars such as Obeng-Odoom (2016) and de Soto (2000) have also questioned Ostrom's approach to governing CPRs, arguing that her work does not promote just access and is only based on the notion of jointness of access. In addition, Ostrom has repeatedly endorsed private property rights (see Ostrom 2008) and markets to govern CPRs with little regard to the state, and this has made CRPs closer to being a private good than being a common. ...
... The resulting system's diversity and flexibility embody the original SG concept as an adaptive, complex multi-level resilient resource system [196]. The hybrid grid, comprising substantial DES in MGs supported by larger-scale public grids, should evolve into a highly complex resilient system with strong adaptive capacity. ...
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This research is revealing that experts, worldwide, adhere to distinct, sometimes contradictory paradigms concerning Smart Grids. This will become a serious issue, as the incompatibility of paradigms may genuinely hamper the realization of SGs as self-healing complex adaptive systems, the original objective of the SG concept. The research design based on q method is briefly described in the article but is detailed, with an extensive explanation for the choice, described in a "Method" document in the 'supplementary material' and can also be found on this account on ResearchGate. In addition, the data and analysis results are also available, both as supplementary material on the publisher's website and on ResearchGate. Smart Grids are considered crucial for the transition of electricity grids towards achieving carbon neutrality. Initially, SGs were conceptualized as transformative technologies that would turn grids into complex resilient systems with high adaptive capacity, integrating renewables and leveraging flexibility in supply, storage, and demand, by integrating electricity supply with ICT. This exploratory Q-study aims to define and classify existing SG concepts as perceived by experts worldwide. The study reveals the presence of distinct paradigmatic views on SGs as social-technical systems. While certain paradigms coexist, others display contradictions and are mutually exclusive. Distinct SG-paradigms revolve around various elements such as:-the allocation of control over distributed energy systems;-the role of autonomous Microgrid communities;-demand response in distributed energy management systems as opposed to hierarchical centralized demand side management;-the empowerment of active end-users. The most fundamental contradictions arise in determining who holds control within future hybrid polycentric networks composed of interconnected microgrids, where electricity generation, consumption, and exchange occur at the grid's periphery rather than in a hierarchical and centralized manner. The paradigmatic contradictions pose a genuine risk of hindering the realization of SGs as self-healing complex adaptive systems, which was the original intention behind the SG-concept. This limitation jeopardizes the added value of SGs in mitigating climate change and might slow down the transition towards carbon neutral electricity grids.
... Изследванията на Остром с нейния децентрализиран подход към институционално решение на проблема с общите блага са в противовес с решенията в рамките на неокласическата икономическа теория и на политическата теория на централизацията (Ostrom, 1971;1990). Според Остром двата идеално-типични подходапазарен и държавен, предполагащи прехвърлянето на колективните права на собственост или към частни субекти, или към централизираното управление, не могат сами по себе си да предотвратят свръхексплоатацията или унищожаването на общите ресурси (Ostrom, 2008;2010a;вж. също Съботинова, 2019). ...
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Резюме: Елинор Остром променя начина на мислене за общите ресурси в икономиката. Предлаганият от нея институционален анализ показва, че групите могат да намерят решения на сложни проблеми, свързани с управлението на колективните блага. Тя демонстрира, че успешно колективно действие може да се организира и от равноправни рационални индивиди. Заедно със съпруга ѝ Винсент Остром се противопоставят на приватизацията, национализацията и централизираното административно управление на общите блага. Вместо това те насърчават полицентричното управление като решение за много общи ресурси. Подходът става известен като Блумингтънска школа по политическа икономия, същевременно бурно развиващо се направление в теорията на публичния избор. Abstract: Elinor Ostrom changed the way of thinking about common-pool resources in economics. She provided an institutional analysis that shows how groups can find solutions to complex problems for collective goods. Ostrom showed that collective action can work among rational individuals. She and her husband Vincent objected privatization, nationalization, and centralized government for governing the commons. Instead, they promoted polycentric governance as a solution for many common-pool resources. Her approach is known as the Bloomington School of Political Economy, a thriving direction in Public Choice Theory.
... Adicionalmente, en la gestión del gobierno de servicios y bienes comunes se requieren ciudadanos lúcidos para elaborar sistemas de gobernanza que tomen en cuenta múltiples comunidades de relaciones. Además, la existencia de múltiples centros de toma de decisiones en los sistemas de gobernanza contemporáneos está relacionada con el hecho que buena parte de los bienes esenciales de la vida en sociedades avanzadas los comparten comunidades de personas que viven en diversos contextos ecológicos (Ostrom, 2008;Merino, 2014). ...
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En las últimas décadas se observa en la literatura la creciente preocupación en cuanto al desafío que supone alimentar de forma sostenible a una población en continuo crecimiento. Se observa también un creciente consenso en cuanto a que los sistemas agroalimentarios, además de garantizar la seguridad alimentaria, deberán adoptar de métodos más eficaces y sostenibles de producción, ser más sostenibles e inclusivos y adaptarse al cambio climático. Esto es aún más trascendental para las ciudades, que concentran la mayor proporción de la población y en donde se consume más de 2/3 del total de agua y de energía. Bajo estas consideraciones se desarrolló un estudio exploratorio y de revisión, a partir de fuentes secundarias. El objetivo central fue estudiar una alternativa que ha emergido recientemente a nivel internacional: los sistemas alimentarios urbanos y su gobernanza, a partir de la revisión de algunos elementos teóricos y tendencias. Con base en esta revisión se discutió su viabilidad en el caso venezolano, examinando algunas experiencias recientes y considerando tanto los recursos actualmente disponibles como las principales barreras para su materialización a nivel nacional. También se discutió cómo podrían coadyuvar a la consecución de los Objetivos del Desarrollo Sostenible de Naciones Unidas, en particular, como espacios capaces de proveer alimentos sanos, de manera sostenible y que permitan mejorar los medios de vida de la población. Entre los principales recursos disponibles se identificaron la infraestructura de educación y formación en el área del país, junto con un marco jurídico-legal e institucional renovado y –en el papel– abiertamente proambientalista y orientado al ciudadano. Entre las limitaciones destacan: i) la creciente desforestación y quema de especies vegetales; ii) deterioro del servicio agua potable y su uso en la agricultura urbana; iii) la migración de la población, particularmente la de mayor formación académica y profesional; iv) el deterioro del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación y declive del financiamiento público a través de la LOCTI; v) opacidad y extemporaneidad de la información oficial; y vi) escasez de financiamiento para instalación y adecuación de desarrollos nuevos o existentes. El otro aspecto abordado fueron las dificultades para implementar un adecuado modelo de gobernanza, debido en parte a la creciente centralización de decisiones, pérdida de autoridad de los gobiernos locales y escasa interlocución y
... Lesson 7: Focus on the process as much as the outcome Stakeholder-engaged projects often aim to provide place-based solutions to resolve a collectively perceived problem, but the process of engagement and model development often yields benefits just as important as the solution itself. The process is typically ongoing and iterative (Ostrom 1994(Ostrom , 2008, and it is useful to have some assurance that processes of evaluation and implementation will continue over time for continual improvement . Applying the principles of co-construction through companion modeling (Etienne 2013) as part of such processes (Fig. 2) brings empowerment to stakeholders and becomes an instrument of capacity building for both the individual participants and collective action. ...
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Context Engaging stakeholders in research is needed for many of the sustainability challenges that landscape ecologists address. Involving stakeholders’ perspectives through narratives in participatory modeling fosters better understanding of the problem and evaluation of the acceptability of tradeoffs and creates buy-in for management actions. However, stakeholder-driven inputs often take the form of complex qualitative descriptions, rather than model-ready numerical or categorical inputs. Objectives Translating narratives into models, model parameters, or scenarios is essential for leveraging stakeholder knowledge and engagement. Drawing from varied experiences to identify lessons learned and pitfalls, we address the practice of translating narratives into models and using those narratives to interpret and communicate results. Methods We drew from seven participatory landscape ecology projects across North America to synthesize lessons for the inclusion of stakeholder narratives in modeling studies. Results We offer 8 lessons as practical guidance for other landscape ecologists to move the science beyond a unilateral focus on ecological systems and to maximize the benefits of landscape sustainability science. Conclusions These lessons are starting points, as real projects are complex, nuanced, and sometimes contradictory. Translating narratives into models is important for addressing complex sustainability challenges; we hope that these starting points are helpful to those foraying into this type of research.
... Adicionalmente, en la gestión del gobierno de servicios y bienes comunes se requieren ciudadanos lúcidos para elaborar sistemas de gobernanza que tomen en cuenta múltiples comunidades de relaciones. Además, la existencia de múltiples centros de toma de decisiones en los sistemas de gobernanza contemporáneos está relacionada con el hecho que buena parte de los bienes esenciales de la vida en sociedades avanzadas los comparten comunidades de personas que viven en diversos contextos ecológicos (Ostrom, 2008;Merino, 2014). ...
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This special section of Agroalimentaria Journal (Vol. 28, N° 55, July-December 2022), called in the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG), has ten articles and an interview with the FAO representative in Venezuela. Esta sección especial de Agroalimentaria (Vol. 28, N° 55, julio-diciembre 2022), con motivo de la Cumbre de Sistemas Alimentarios de 2021 en el marco de la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de las Naciones Unidas, incluye diez artículos y una entrevista al representante de la FAO en Venezuela.
... A primeira remete a contextos de populações tradicionais, onde a água é percebida como uma dádiva, não produzida por ninguém e sem dono, e consolidam sistemas de gestão apoiados na solidariedade em relação ao bem natural (Galizoni, 2005). Se o manejo comunitário não significa necessariamente uma gestão eficiente e igualitária (Ostrom, 2008), tem-se que as decisões para equilibrar o acesso social ao recurso e a sua disponibilidade estão a nível local. Assim, se diferenciam do modelo da PNRH devido ao poder de controle sobre o recurso ser da comunidade, e não de agentes externos (órgãos públicos e organizações da sociedade civil). ...
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A gestão de recursos naturais em propriedades rurais avança como um desafio no Brasil, uma vez que avança o domínio privado sobre o seu território e que as políticas ambientais não geram efeitos plenos sobre este domínio. Tal problemática é percebida no contexto do Sistema Cantareira, que garante a segurança hídrica de milhões de pessoas. Mobilizar o campo da análise institucional para compreender este contexto se mostra pioneiro e relevante para contribuir com futuras ações no sentido da conservação ambiental em terras privadas. Neste sentido, o objetivo do artigo é propor interpretações sobre a efetividade de instrumentos legais de gestão de recursos naturais que recaem sobre propriedades privadas rurais no contexto do Sistema Cantareira. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa a partir de dados secundários do contexto regional e uma pesquisa empírica com a realização de 94 entrevistas semiestruturadas junto a proprietários rurais. Identificou-se que decisões no âmbito privado representam uma dimensão crítica à efetividade dos instrumentos da política ambiental. Sustentadas por instituições informais, as lógicas tradicionais de exploração dos recursos naturais que visam a reprodução socioeconômica das famílias e o senso de direito de usufruto absoluto sobre a propriedade privada podem explicar resistências ao não cumprimento da legislação pelos proprietários rurais.
... Adicionalmente, en la gestión del gobierno de servicios y bienes comunes se requieren ciudadanos lúcidos para elaborar sistemas de gobernanza que tomen en cuenta múltiples comunidades de relaciones. Además, la existencia de múltiples centros de toma de decisiones en los sistemas de gobernanza contemporáneos está relacionada con el hecho que buena parte de los bienes esenciales de la vida en sociedades avanzadas los comparten comunidades de personas que viven en diversos contextos ecológicos (Ostrom, 2008;Merino, 2014). ...
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Urban food systems and their governance: A viable alternative for Venezuela in the UN sustainable food systems framework? In recent decades, there has been growing concern in the literature about the challenge of feeding sustainably. a continuously growing population. There is also a growing consensus that agri-food systems, in addition to ensuring food security, should adopt more efficient and sustainable production methods, be more sustainable and inclusive, and adapt to climate change. This is even more important for cities, which concentrate the largest proportion of the population and consume more than 2/3 of the total water and energy. In this scenario, based on secondary sources, an exploratory and review study was developed. It aimed to study an alternative that has recently emerged at the international level: urban food systems and their governance, based on a review of some theoretical elements and trends. Based on this review, the paper discussed its viability in the Venezuelan case, by examining some recent Venezuelan experiences and considering both the available resources and the major barriers to its materialization at the national level. It also discussed how they could contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, as spaces capable of providing healthy food, sustainably and that allow improving the livelihoods of the population. Among the primary resources available, the country's education and training infrastructure in the area was identified, together with a renewed legal and institutional framework that is – on paper – openly pro-environmentalist and citizen-oriented. Among the limitations were: i) increasing deforestation and burning of plant species; ii) deterioration of the drinking water service and its use in urban agriculture; iii) migration of the population, particularly those with higher academic and professional training; iv) deterioration of the National Science, Technology, and Innovation System and decline of public financing through the LOCTI; v) opacity and untimeliness of official information; and vi) scarcity of financing for installation and adaptation of new or existing developments. Another aspect addressed was the difficulties in implementing an adequate governance model, due in part to the growing centralization of government decisions, loss of authority of local governments, and limited dialogue and negotiation between the different levels of government, the private sector, and the communities. Key words: Sustainable food systems, urban agriculture, urban food systems, governance, resourcing, sustainable development goals, Venezuela
... Most of the ES can be seen as public goods or common-pool resources because of their nonexcludability and (non-)rivalry in consumption (Costanza et al., 2021;Kluvánková et al., 2019;Loft et al., 2015). It has been shown in many cases that neither private property regime and markets, nor state ownership are capable of effective and sustainable governance of such goods and services and that they can often be better governed as commons through collective institutions (Loft et al., 2015;Ostrom, 1990Ostrom, , 2008, in the case of, e.g., urban open spaces (Arvanitidis & Papagiannitsis, 2020), drylands (Stafford-Smith & Metternicht, 2021) or forests (Gatto & Bogataj, 2015;Kluvánková & Gežík, 2016). ...
... Collapses do not happen from one day to the next, they are the result of multifactorial processes in which human decisions play a transcendental role. Over time, fishermen have generated detailed knowledge of their activity and environment, resulting from innumerable observations under changing environmental conditions; this knowledge governs their behavior (Johannes, 1993;Ostrom, 2000;Ostrom, 2008). During 2020, the fishermen perceived a population decrease of the octopus, which was attributed to abundant and anticipated rains. ...
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In the socio-ecological system of the Mayan octopus, climate change, natural variability and human decisions impact the dynamics and population structure of the octopus. Since fishing decisions have been made out of synchrony concerning the octopus’s natural response, the system’s sustainability is put at risk. Sustainability is a socially desirable, environmentally necessary, and economically viable goal; since it contributes positively to food security, ways, and lifestyles. The objective of this work is to deepen the study of the perception of the fishermen of Progreso, Yucatán regarding the interactions between the Mayan octopus, the variability in the environment, the governance system, and fishing decisions. It was developed from a qualitative and quantitative approach, and bonds of trust were created for a year adopting an ethnographic approach to deepen the use of language, feelings, and emotions. To obtain information, open and semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and documentary research were carried out. For the analysis and evaluation of perceptions and fishing decisions, a non-parametric test was used through the modeling of structural equations with Partial Least Squares (PLS). It was found that, although the quantity to be captured is strongly influenced by the market, the strong incidence of changes in the environment on capture decisions stands out among the results. The experiences and knowledge of the fishermen about the marine environment represent an opportunity to contribute to the process of evolution of the socio-ecological system of the Mayan octopus, towards the establishment of norms and agreements between the different actors and contribute to the construction of resilience and sustainability against the overexploitation and environmental variability.
... Department of Interior, 2022;Wheeler et al., 2022). Each water problem, large and small, has been shaped by the basin's elaborate water institutions, i.e., its norms, laws, policies, and organizations that enable, constrain, and regulate alternative courses of action (National Research Council, 1968;Ingram et al., 1984;Ostrom, 2008;Easter and McCann, 2010). ...
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Complex water-stressed basins like the Colorado River in North America have multiple institutional levels of water management. Each institutional level is characterized by rules, organizations, and spatial jurisdictions that developed over decades to centuries to shape a dynamic multi-level system. After introducing the concept of institutional levels, and its relationship to geographic scales, this paper employs systematic bibliographic search methods to review their development in the Colorado River basin region. Results begin with the community level of water management from prehistoric Indian water cultures to early Hispanic water communities, 19th century water communities, and 20th century water organizations. Conflict among water communities shaped the state level of constitutional authority over water rights administration during the 19th century. Competition among states led in the 20th century to the interstate level of apportionment that often paralleled federal and tribal level water development policies, eventually leading to the international level of treaty relations between the U.S. and Mexico. This macro-historical geographic progression from institutions that were relatively small in size and early in time to those at higher levels and more recent in time offers insights into the multi-level institutional logic of the “law of the river” in the Colorado River basin region.
... This move toward considering multiple objectives requires the active involvement of various stakeholders, decentralization, and the creation of learning opportunities, both short-term and long-term (Sandström 2012). We use Sweden's adoption of EA for moose management to explore how this approach, which is largely based on institutional acceptance (e.g., Ostrom 2008), may be vulnerable because of the dependency on individual stakeholders' motivation to voluntarily engage in management. ...
Article
Collaborative governance regimes may be vulnerable because of dependency on stakeholders’ voluntary engagement and efforts. This study focuses on the Swedish moose management system, a multi-level collaborative governance regime inspired by the ecosystem approach. Self-determination theory is used to explore perceived prerequisites of basic needs for intrinsic motivation across sub-groups of stakeholder representatives who are engaged across different social-ecological contexts. Questionnaire data collected among representatives at two governance levels, moose management groups (n = 624) and moose management units (n = 979), were subjected to two-step cluster analysis. The analyses revealed two sub-groups of representatives, characterized by differences in species composition and land ownership structure: managers of multi-ungulate areas and managers of large-carnivore areas. In several respects, these groups significantly differed in how they perceived the prerequisites. This included prerequisites of perceived competence with regard to their need for knowledge of topics and usefulness of monitoring methods, perceived autonomy operationalized as possibilities to perform their tasks with sufficient time, resources, and support from their organizations, and perceived relatedness to different groups of actors. Further efforts should be made to understand the conditions required for representatives to energize and direct their behavior. The institutional system must better fit the needs of stakeholder representatives across various local contexts, otherwise the space for local voluntary engagement might be hampered.
... Effective engagement of multiple social actors in various aspects of MPA management is of paramount importance to ensure good governance and long-term conservation objectives (e.g., [25,12,58,59]. Appropriate coordination among relevant groups is necessary to achieve the sustainability of social-ecological systems at a national level and the achievement of their stated conservation objectives [60,61]. Our results revealed low engagement of GOs in management councils and/or law enforcement (despite the fact that most MPAs are under public administration), the virtual absence of universities from environmental education programs and the marginal role of local communities in the decision-making process, reflecting the difficulty in translating their perspective into integrated management actions. ...
Article
Effective implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) networks depends on social participation into management. In this study, a multilayered network analysis was used to understand patterns of social participation in MPA management in Brazil. To this end, managers were invited to answer an online questionnaire about interaction with social actors in 7 management activities. Engagement in management activities was represented as interactions between social actors and MPAs. Different types of management activity were represented as separate layers. All responding MPAs (n = 22) reported interactions with social actors, resulting in a network with 141 nodes connected by 182 edges. Governmental Organizations (GO) prevailed in surveillance and formal training activities, research was dominated by universities, monitoring activities were shared mainly by universities and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and community groups only had strong participation in environmental education activities. The network had low “edge loss” resilience with dependency on the participation of social actors in the management councils to maintain its current levels of connectivity. GOs that have important roles in the protection of terrestrial ecosystems have a restricted impact as higher-level coordinators of MPAs activities. Thus, the capacity building falls mainly on individual MPAs. Management councils are supposed to be the “town halls” where the different social sectors come together to discuss environmental problems in Brazil. However, some constraints must still exist, since only 51 % of Brazilian MPAs have legally instituted their councils. We suggest that their effective implementation, as ordered by law, is the best starting point to improve the dismal situation of Brazilian MPAs.
... The broad Yukon IA network is the unit of analysis, rather than focusing on specific projects, as the RPNM technique considers network actors to include institutions (the rules of interaction) alongside network members (individuals and organisations), both of which impact network function (Aligica, 2006;Bainbridge et al., 2011). We applied the following common elements of institutional mapping techniques: (1) the action arena, scale or coverage of the institutions; (2) the actors involved in the Yukon IA process between 2017 and 2019 and their roles at that time; (3) the nature of the connections and interactions between the different actors; and (4) the influence each actor has on the overall process (Bainbridge et al., 2011;Ostrom, 2008). ...
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Impact assessment (IA) involves complex interactions among societal actors with diverse knowledge systems and worldviews (ontological pluralism) that ideally combine to both define and support societal goals, such as sustainable development. An often acknowledged but rarely explored concept in these efforts is research capacity — the ability of a group to engage, produce, maintain and use knowledge — and associated implications for pluralistic process outcomes. This paper presents an embedded case study of the IA policy network in the Yukon Territory, Canada, to explore the various roles of research capacity in a well-established IA process where Indigenous and public representation are guaranteed, as is financial support for boundary spanning and knowledge brokering roles to support pluralism. Using Rapid Policy Network Mapping, we examine the formal and informal connections amongst IA policy actors and identify sources and flows of knowledge throughout the network. Results indicate that while research capacity is critical to well-functioning IA processes in the Yukon Territory, the ability of the IA policy network to source, disseminate and engage new knowledge is limited. Important boundary spanning ‘choke points’ can act as both facilitators and barriers, based on the capacity of the knowledge brokers occupying these spaces. The findings inform policy efforts to ensure inclusion and advance pluralism in IA processes.
... These property "rights" are one example of land governance institutions, or the formal and informal rules that structure a society's relationship to land, including through laws and norms (Ostrom, 2008). In settlercolonial contexts, property administration institutions have deep roots in the establishment of racial and ethnic hierarchies and exclusions, not only to land as a relation or means of production but also as a signifier of political power, agency, and citizenship. ...
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Agroecological transitions aim to redesign the structure of contemporary global food systems to improve food security, ecosystem health, community development, worker livelihoods, and social and ecological justice. A fundamental principle of agroecology is the responsible governance of land. Yet land—as a concept, resource, and territory—is heavily contested through processes of colonization, enclosure, commodification, and financialization. The governance of land and natural resources is also intimately tied to questions of power and privilege—Who governs land? Who benefits, and who is excluded? These questions presuppose an ontological understanding of land that can also be contested: What is land, what purpose(s) does it serve, and for whom? In this article, we review key concepts at the intersection of land governance and agroecology. We take a case study approach to highlight how tensions around ontologies of land mediate agroecological futures in 2 settler-colonial contexts: Brazil and Canada. We then explore how land governance for agroecology might be experienced and understood across different land governance institutions—including relational and community commons, private property regimes, and new forms of hybrid land relations that challenge land privatization. We discuss how these land regimes influence people, landscapes, and agroecological outcomes and conclude with a consideration of the access, equity, and justice implications of different land governance approaches for sustainable food systems.
... Drawing heavily on the work of Elinor Ostrom (1990) and the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi, 2010), a central tenant of FES's work is that the 'tragedy of the commons' (Hardin, 1968) is not inevitable. Indeed, there are many examples where local people have independently devised local governance institutions to manage common pool resources effectively (Ostrom, 2008). ...
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India has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of a larger quasi-experimental impact assessment, we assess the pandemic’s effects on household coping behavior in 80 villages spread across four districts and three states (n = 772). Half of these villages were targeted by a largescale common land restoration program spearheaded by an NGO, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). The other half are yet to be targeted but are statistically similar vis-à-vis FES’s village targeting criteria. Analyzing the results of a phone survey administered eight to ten months into the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, we find that the livelihood activities of households in both sets of villages were adversely impacted by COVID-19. Consequently, most households had to resort to various negative coping behaviors, e.g., distressed asset sales and reduced farm input expenditure. From the same mobile survey data, we construct a Livelihoods Coping Strategies Index (LCSI) and find that households in villages targeted by FES’s common land restoration initiative score 11.3% lower on this index on average, equating to a 4.5 percentage point difference. While modest, this statistically significant effect estimate (p < 0.05) is consistent across the four districts and robust to alterative model and outcome specifications. We find no empirical support that our observed effect was due to improved access to common pool resources or government social programs. Instead, we speculate that this effect may be driven by institutional factors, rather than economic, a proposition we will test in future work.
... Drawing heavily on the work of Elinor Ostrom (1990), the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi, 2010), and others, a central tenant of FES's work is that the 'tragedy of the commons' (Hardin, 1968) is not inevitable. Indeed, there are many examples where local people have independently devised local governance institutions to manage common pool resources effectively (Ostrom, 2008). FES's intervention model' (Figure 2) comprises three complementary core components, leading to two primary impacts-improved ecological health and more resilient livelihoods. ...
... Third, distributive justice and equity requires conservation agencies to move beyond standardised blueprints and 'one size fits all' solutions and develop context specific strategies for implementing conservation and benefit sharing with local communities (Ostrom 2008). In the case of countries like Tanzania, this would involve deliberative processes between the national and regional government administrators, conservation agencies, and local communities for appropriate allocation of operating funds, tourism infrastructure improvements, and equitable distribution of economic development benefits. ...
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Convivial conservation is presented as an anti-capitalist approach and alternative to current mainstream conservation as well as proposals for 'half-earth' and 'new conservation' approaches. This paper reviews these approaches and situates them in the global South conservation and development context. Using the Ruaha-Rungwa Ecosystem in Tanzania as a case study, it examines elements of the convivial conservation vision in relation to three critical conservation problems: path dependencies of state conservation agencies; heavy reliance on tourism revenue; and political interests in community conservation areas. The analysis draws on empirical data obtained from published studies and extensive field-based research by the first author in the study area. It demonstrates that while the convivial conservation approach may be considered a radical and plausible alternative to the 'half earth' and new conservation proposals, its implementation in the global South will remain challenging in the face of the existing conservation problems. The paper suggests a socio-ecological justice approach that complements the convivial conservation vision through a systemic incorporation of the rights and responsibilities of different conservation stakeholders from the perspective of procedural, recognition, distributive, and environmental justice.
... The paper's second significance for scholars of urban commoning is its theoretical contribution. As argued in the paper's theoretical exposé, commons scholars (see, e.g., Ostrom, 2008;Stavrides, 2015) continue to this day to quarrel over what kind of institutional framework would be most suitable if one is to organize commoning in a sustainable manner. Those working in the footsteps of Ostrom (which we will call "Ostrom's Approach of Institutional Design") are interested in the discovery and formulation of specific "design principles" (hence: rules of conduct) for sustainable commoning. ...
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The goal of this article is to revive and empirically expand the debate on institutional frameworks within commons scholarship. The paper's guiding question is: what kind of institutional framework allows for sustainable commoning in urban conditions? In order to answer this question, we invoke the case of Savings and Credit Associations, a form of financial commoning whereby participants lend each other money and decide, through deliberative sessions, how the money is to be shared. We mobilize data from three decades of ethnographic research in India and The Netherlands, in order to distill the institutional properties that have contributed to Savings and Credit Associations' sustainable existence. The paper's main claim will be that in Savings and Credit Associations' institutional frameworks, a pivotal precondition for sustainable commoning can be found: the combination of a socio-relational (low-scale, trust-based) approach with a reconsideration of the rules at given intervals. In conclusion, we also argue that it's precisely a socio-relational approach which may save commoning's emancipatory potential.
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Antarctica and the Southern Ocean (A&SO) has a unique environment that plays an important role in the Earth’s life-support systems. It has no indigenous human population but hosts around 5000 researchers and is visited by more than 100 000 tourists per year. In this paper, we describe the biophysical processes that create the region’s ecosystem services, outlining their related governance systems within the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), and show the global distribution of the ecosystem service beneficiaries. These services clearly support populations across the world but are endangered by anthropogenic activities, which the current place-based ATS is not empowered to control. We discuss whether it is possible to use insights from Elinor Ostrom’s work on managing the commons, including her eight core design principles and the idea of Common Asset Trusts, to better harness efforts to protect ALL of the region’s ecosystem services. We note that many existing arrangements associated with the ATS are already well-aligned with Ostrom’s design principles but need to be expanded to better protect the globally important ecosystem services produced by A&SO.
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Sustainability outcomes are influenced by the laws and configurations of natural and engineered systems as well as activities in socio-economic systems. An important subset of human activity is the creation and implementation of institutions, formal and informal rules shaping a wide range of human behavior. Understanding these rules and codifying them in computational models can provide important missing insights into why systems function the way they do (static) as well as the pace and structure of transitions required to improve sustainability (dynamic). Here, we conduct a comparative synthesis of three modeling approaches— integrated assessment modeling, engineering–economic optimization, and agent-based modeling—with underexplored potential to represent institutions. We first perform modeling experiments on climate mitigation systems that represent specific aspects of heterogeneous institutions, including formal policies and institutional coordination, and informal attitudes and norms. We find measurable but uneven aggregate impacts, while more politically meaningful distributional impacts are large across various actors. Our results show that omitting institutions can influence the costs of climate mitigation and miss opportunities to leverage institutional forces to speed up emissions reduction. These experiments allow us to explore the capacity of each modeling approach to represent insitutions and to lay out a vision for the next frontier of endogenizing institutional change in sustainability science models. To bridge the gap between modeling, theories, and empirical evidence on social institutions, this research agenda calls for joint efforts between sustainability modelers who wish to explore and incorporate institutional detail, and social scientists studying the socio-political and economic foundations for sustainability transitions.
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Sound water resource management is critical for Ethiopia to protect water bodies and wetlands as well as tap these resources for better socio-economic development. However, water resource management has faced challenges in Ethiopia. This article examines whether water resources could be better managed through an innovative way of integrating their management and administration with land administration in line with the principle of Integrated Water Resource Management and sustainable land management. Doctrinal analysis of laws pertaining to water and land management is applied to this end. Primary data collection methods were also applied through questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, and focus group discussion. The article discusses the general role of sustainable water resource management in the protection of the country’s water bodies and examines the critical gaps under the present fragmented natural resource management system. A conceptual framework is developed to highlight the relationship between the principle of sustainable water resource management and land management. The existing natural resource management in Ethiopia is unsustainable and hence it is argued that a land administration approach can enhance water resource management in an integrated, holistic, and sustainable fashion by focusing on Lake Tana Watershed.
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The governance model established in Chilean water law delegates responsibility for groundwater management to private water rights owners. The Copiapó aquifer in the Atacama Region, Chile, has problems of overexploitation resulting from intensive use of the resource. This is explained by the limited information on the water availability in the aquifer and the existence of legally granted water rights whose flows exceed the rate of natural recharge. In this context, water users formed Chile’s first groundwater users’ community in the Copiapó basin for the collective administration of the aquifer. Although this organization is regulated by Chilean water law, the way in which its members participate in decision-making processes and some self-management mechanisms that they have implemented are local institutional arrangements that go beyond the rules established in the Water Code, showing this organization to be an empirical case of institutional adaptation to the overdepletion of an aquifer. The local institutional arrangements include incorporating environmental protection objectives for aquifers and wetlands, establishing an institutional arrangement that guarantees the participation in the decision-making processes of different water uses and users, developing an internal management model that promotes temporary transfers of partial volumes of a water right and carrying out studies to improve water management
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Community-based and small-scale forestry enterprises (CSFEs) are heavily promoted as organizations for poverty reduction and deforestation. CSFEs are required to comply with formal laws, policies, and official programs, yet they also operate in informal spaces, with communities following traditional ways of managing their resources. Based on a case study of the Ampiyacu basin in the Peruvian Amazon, we analyzed how the interaction between formal and informal timber management systems has evolved over time, and how this interaction has affected tenure, forest management, forest monitoring, and timber commercialization. Using qualitative research methods, including interviews with key informants and community members, our findings show that formal and traditional systems interact in diverse, complex, and even contradictory ways. Informal community rules regulate timber use as much or more than the state and can be more effective because they are more diverse, flexible, and specific. Ultimately, this study seeks to contribute to a reflective debate on the recognition of local and Indigenous institutions, highlighting the importance of strengthening Indigenous peoples’ autonomy.
Chapter
This chapter focusses upon the relationship between governance, time and space and forms a basis for the later discussion on maritime and outer space governance and the constraints that make these considerations so difficult. It also provides a framework for the comparison of the two sectors from a governance perspective and how there exists considerable overlap in the way that governance is considered and could be developed further.Maritime governance is discussed in detail and the problems that affect its appropriate and measured application noting the inadequacies characterised by state-centrism, institutionalism, shipowner domination and the static nature of current approaches that do not reflect the nature of the sector. Models of maritime governance are outlined. Current approaches to outer space governance are then discussed and the (similar) inadequacies are outlined. In both sectors the role of jurisdictions, agencies, objectives and instruments is detailed. The role of the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and significant individual nation-states is also discussed. Issues including monopolies, competition, externalities, public goods, markets, infrastructure, needs, integration, coordination, votes, pressure groups, social issues, tradition, employment clustering and economic contribution are also detailed.
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This study proposes a systematic approach to detecting and analysing coordination and/or coordination failure in regional environments. Specifically, it proposes leveraging the logic of the coordination game known as the Stag Hunt to infer whether levels of cynicism, distrust, poor communication and a lack of leadership are anchoring a region in poverty and inhibiting the transition to a more solvent and competitive economy. An application to the Mahoning Valley region in the United States highlights the many benefits of this approach as well as opportunities for future research.
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Several studies have highlighted the benefit of implementing agroforestry for rural com- munities. From the perspective of socio-economic, agroforestry can potentially improve smallholders’ income, increase food security, promote gender equality and stimulate cultural activities in rural areas. Furthermore, agroforestry can enhance ecosystem service through improved soil structure, increased carbon sequestration and higher water retention. Despite having many advantages, the adoption of agroforestry among rural communities, particularly among smallholder farmers in developing countries remains limited. The absence of agroforestry in public policy causes little recognition of this system to tackle the climate crisis as well as to improve rural livelihood. This may be due to, among others, a less comprehensive evidence on impacts that simultaneously touch upon social, economic as well as environmental aspects of agroforestry on the community. This review gives a special emphasis on the current evidence depicting the characteristics of agroforestry adoption, its benefits and potential drawbacks, as well as challenges for the adoption in some developing countries. The outcomes might help related stakeholders to make appropriate decisions to improve rural livelihood
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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.
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Elinor Ostrom (2009 Nobel Economics Co-Laureate): "This book is simply a little gem. I have used it myself in my own graduate seminar. I have already written several colleagues with recommendations that they get the book immediately. So, I am not writing a rave book review and then not using the book myself. It is an amazing synthesis of earlier work as well as an excellent plan for future research in this challenging area of interest to environmental economists and policy analysts alike". Ecological Economics, 2007, vol. 62, pp. 759-760. Richard Norgaard, University of California, Berkeley: "Marshall has re-grafted economics to the philosophical roots of collaborative environmental management, given stakeholders a pragmatic economics for "bottom-up" conflict resolution and eliminated the need for "top-down" economic experts. Beautifully reasoned and wonderfully practical!' Allan Schmid, University Distinguished Professor, Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University: "If the potential of collaborative management is ever realized, it will owe a debt to this book. It provides a foundational economic theory of learning coming from complex adaptive systems thinking tested with field experience" Stephen Dovers, Australian National University: "Economic thought and emerging collaborative environmental governance are important areas of thought and application, but are mostly found at great distance from each other and very often in conflict. Marshall not only clearly demonstrates why this is so, he goes on to detail an alternative pathway that can strengthen both of these fields in both their theory and practice. This is a most impressive feat, and this is a book thoroughly deserving a very wide readership" Warren Musgrave, Emeritus Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of New England: "Marshall argues that mainstream economics, captive as it is of the prisoner's dilemma and the dangers of free-riding, is in a blind alley when it comes to contributing to constructive debate on governance of the commons. This is a significant book, which draws on the new institutional economics to indicate a productive way in which economists could contribute to thinking on common property natural resource management" Andrew Beer, 2007, Geographical Research 45(1): 109-110: "The review of the economics of collaborative resource management is the real contribution of the book, as Marshall expertly draws together a literature that is often confusing and inaccessible ... Academic staff and postgraduate students will benefit greatly from reading this text, as many of the insights offered by Marshall into economic theory can be applied to research domains other than resource management. For example, his discussion of adaptation and New Institutional Economics has resonances with any area of government policy, including my own research interest in regional development agencies." Alan Renwick, 2007, Journal of Agricultural Economics 58(2): 379-380: "The author is able to maintain a balance between promoting his vision and the real difficulties and obstacles faced in achieving this vision. This, I think, is a reflection of his practical experience and a strength of the book. ... The book is very useful and a must read for those involved at any level with the design and implementation of projects promoting collaborative work for environmental enhancement or protection." Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 52(2): 214-215: "The author presents an excellent consolidation of pertinent economic theory and a methodology by which economic analysis can be applied to achieving the aspirations and goals of collaborative environmental management … This book will be a valuable reference for both policy makers and scholars looking to advance and empirically test economy theory in this complex, yet highly relevant area" David Lewis Feldman, 2007, Human Ecology: "[This book] raises the level of discussion to another level, and thus constitutes significant contributions to the literature on collaborative management. .... [It] pushes the field beyond uncritical normative studies into more institutionally focused examinations of performance." E.G. Smith, 2007, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 122: 494-495: "The concepts of collaborative environmental management [discussed in the book] could be applied in other fields, such as rural development where 'top-down' decision making has been the norm ... Managers can use this material to evaluate their way of managing and explore how the concepts of collaborative environmental management could benefit the organization." Ingrid van Puten, 2006, Rural Society 16(1): 116-118: "Marshall's book is very accessible to non-economists and should be of great interest, particularly to those engaged in developing innovative but effective approaches to environmental management. But the book is equally important to practising economists who will be reminded how their thinking has been structured, resulting in the current management approaches, and, even more importantly, how these approaches can be extended to successfully include the collaborative vision underpinned by an evolving economic theory" Mark Sproule-Jones, V. K. Copps Professor, McMaster University: "A valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on voluntary collective action that demonstrates how processes can be designed to produce trust amongst stakeholders. Marshall anchors theory in the common property resource governance literature that has challenged orthodox economics for the last 25 years and offers the prospect of productive relationships between users, bureaucrats and funders" Backcover text: "Mainstream economics has a tight grip on public discourse, yet remains poorly equipped to comprehend the collaborative vision for managing environmental and resource commons. This ground-breaking book diagnoses the weaknesses of mainstream economics in analysing collaborative and other decentralized approaches to environmental management, and presents a unique operational approach to how collaborative environmental governance might be brought to fruition in a variety of contexts, whether in industrialized or developing countries. The result is a powerful, useful and badly needed approach to economics for collaborative environmental management of the commons."
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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
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Research on tropical forest cover change processes identifies myriad driving forces and demonstrates how change dynamics are non-linear and complex. Despite appreciation in the academic literature for the historical patterns and processes of deforestation, however, a simplistic, linear 'deforestation narrative' persists in the popular imagination. Concern arises when this narrative influences environmental policy and effective response to the tropical deforestation problem. Our main goals here are twofold: (1) to contribute to a nuanced history of forest change in southeastern Mexico; and (2) to explore the role of institutional development in reducing deforestation rates. Drawing on forest transition theory, we analyse the twentieth century forest histories of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula, the southern Yucatan Peninsula, and the Lacandon Rainforest. A deforestation narrative rightly dominates characterisations of the 1960-85 period in southeastern Mexico, but it falls short of accurately representing the complex processes of deforestation, forest recovery, and the development of sustainability-oriented grassroots institutions in the 1985-2003 period.
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Assessing the management effectiveness of a protected area system can enable policymakers to develop strategic, systemwide responses to pervasive management problems. The World Wide Fund for Nature International has developed the Rapid Assessment and Prioritization of Protected Area Management (RAPPAM) methodology. This article summarizes results from the implementation of the RAPPAM methodology in Bhutan, China, Russia, and South Africa. Five threats emerged warranting concerted policy effort: poaching, alien plants, tourism, logging, and encroachment. Similarly, five management issues emerged that influence protected area management effectiveness: funding, staffing, research and monitoring, resource inventories, and community relations. By identifying the most pressing issues in protected areas, an assessment of management effectiveness can be used to improve protected area management.
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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.
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Contends that programs of social reform are not effectively assessed. This article is a preliminary effort in examining the sources of this condition and designing ways of overcoming the difficulties. The political setting of program evaluation is also considered. It is concluded that trapped and experimental administrators are not threatened by a hard-headed analysis of the reform. For such, proper administrative decisions can lay the base for useful experimental or quasi-experimental analyses. Through the ideology of allocating scarce resources by lottery, through the use of staged innovation, and through the pilot project, true experiments with randomly assigned control groups can be achieved. If the reform must be introduced across the board, the interrupted time-series design is available. If there are similar units under independent administration, a control series design adds strength. If a scarce boon must be given to the most needy or to the most deserving, quantifying this need or merit makes possible the regression discontinuity analysis." (48 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The paper examines property regimes and common-pool resources. Using examples and case studies, the relative merits of private, community, and state-based rights are detailed. The insights from the case studies and an analysis of institution costs provide a tentative framework for understanding the role of the state in the governance of the commons.
Chapter
Globalization, population growth, and resource depletion are drawing increased attention to the importance of common resources such as forests, water resources, and fisheries. It is critical that these resources be governed in an equitable and sustainable way. The Commons in the New Millennium presents cutting-edge research in common property theory and provides an overview and progress report on common property research. The book analyzes new problems that owners, managers, policy makers, and analysts face in managing natural commons. It examines recent findings about the physical characteristics of the commons, their complexity and interconnectedness, and the role of social capital. It also provides empirical studies and suggestions for sustainable development. The topics discussed include the role of financial, political, and social capital in deforestation, community efforts to gain political influence in Indonesia, the Maine lobster industry, outcomes of the implementation of individual transferable quotas in New Zealand and Iceland fisheries, and design of multilateral emissions trading for regional air pollution and global warming.
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A conceptual and analytical framework for understanding economic institutions and institutional change. Markets are one of the most salient institutions produced by humans, and economists have traditionally analyzed the workings of the market mechanism. Recently, however, economists and others have begun to appreciate the many institution-related events and phenomena that have a significant impact on economic performance. Examples include the demise of the communist states, the emergence of Silicon Valley and e-commerce, the European currency unification, and the East Asian financial crises. In this book Masahiko Aoki uses modern game theory to develop a conceptual and analytical framework for understanding issues related to economic institutions. The wide-ranging discussion considers how institutions evolve, why their overall arrangements are robust and diverse across economies, and why they do or do not change in response to environmental factors such as technological progress, global market integration, and demographic change.
Chapter
When a transaction is concluded in the marketplace, two bundles of property rights are exchanged. A bundle of rights often attaches to a physical commodity or service, but it is the value of the rights that determines the value of what is exchanged. Questions addressed to the emergence and mix of the components of the bundle of rights are prior to those commonly asked by economists. Economists usually take the bundle of property rights as a datum and ask for an explanation of the forces determining the price and the number of units of a good to which these rights attach.
Book
Mexico leads the world in community management of forests for the commercial production of timber. Yet this success story is not widely known, even in Mexico, despite the fact that communities around the globe are increasingly involved in managing their own forest resources. To assess the achievements and shortcomings of Mexico's community forest management programs and to offer approaches that can be applied in other parts of the world, this book collects fourteen articles that explore community forest management from historical, policy, economic, ecological, sociological, and political perspectives. The contributors to this book are established researchers in the field, as well as many of the important actors in Mexico's nongovernmental organization sector. Some articles are case studies of community forest management programs in the states of Michoacán, Oaxaca, Durango, Quintana Roo, and Guerrero. Others provide broader historical and contemporary overviews of various aspects of community forest management. As a whole, this volume clearly establishes that the community forest sector in Mexico is large, diverse, and has achieved unusual maturity in doing what communities in the rest of the world are only beginning to explore: how to balance community income with forest conservation. In this process, Mexican communities are also managing for sustainable landscapes and livelihoods.
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The world's marine fisheries are in trouble, as a direct result of overfishing and the overcapacity of fishing fleets. Despite intensive management efforts, the problems still persist in many areas, resulting in many fisheries being neither sustainable nor profitable. Using bio-economic models of commercial fisheries, this book demonstrates that new management methods, based on individual or community catch quotas, are required to resolve the overfishing problem. Uncertainty about marine systems may be another factor contributing to overfishing. Methods of decision analysis and Bayesian inference are used to discuss risk management and the precautionary principle, arguing that extensive marine reserves may be the best way to protect fisheries, alongside a controlled catch quota system. This book will be of interest to environmental scientists, economists and fisheries managers, providing novel insights into many well-known but poorly understood aspects of fisheries management.
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This article analyses the socio-economic impact of community forestry policy implementation in the Middle Hills region of Nepal, drawing on various reports and the author's own observations. It shows that some households, especially poorer ones, have less access today to forest products for subsistence use and income than they had before the community forestry intervention, and that income from the forest is minor and realized only after a long time. The few income-generating activities that involve the poor and women have had little impact. The article thus draws attention to a need to reconsider the approach to community forestry in the light of its socio-economic objectives.
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In this landmark work, a Nobel Prize-winning economist develops a new way of understanding the process by which economies change. Douglass North inspired a revolution in economic history a generation ago by demonstrating that economic performance is determined largely by the kind and quality of institutions that support markets. As he showed in two now classic books that inspired the New Institutional Economics (today a subfield of economics), property rights and transaction costs are fundamental determinants. Here, North explains how different societies arrive at the institutional infrastructure that greatly determines their economic trajectories. North argues that economic change depends largely on "adaptive efficiency," a society's effectiveness in creating institutions that are productive, stable, fair, and broadly accepted--and, importantly, flexible enough to be changed or replaced in response to political and economic feedback. While adhering to his earlier definition of institutions as the formal and informal rules that constrain human economic behavior, he extends his analysis to explore the deeper determinants of how these rules evolve and how economies change. Drawing on recent work by psychologists, he identifies intentionality as the crucial variable and proceeds to demonstrate how intentionality emerges as the product of social learning and how it then shapes the economy's institutional foundations and thus its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances. Understanding the Process of Economic Changeaccounts not only for past institutional change but also for the diverse performance of present-day economies. This major work is therefore also an essential guide to improving the performance of developing countries.
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The institutional grammar introduced here is based on a view that institutions are enduring regularities of human action in situations structured by rules, norms, and shared strategies, as well as by the physical world. The rules, norms, and shared strategies are constituted and reconstituted by human interaction in frequently occurring or repetitive situations. The syntax of the grammar identifies components of institutions and sorts them into three types of institutional statements: rules, norms, and shared strategies. We introduce the grammar, outline methods for operationalizing the syntax, apply the syntax to an analysis of cooperation in collective dilemma situations, and discuss the pragmatics of the grammar for analyses of behavior within complex institutional settings.
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Institutional arrangements for managing overdrafted groundwater basins, and for allocating surface water flows, in the San Gabriel River watershed are 50 to 60 years old. In the ensuing half century, the watershed has been transformed by demographic, economic, and political changes. Periodic droughts, the discovery of major areas of groundwater contamination, and efforts to control storm-water runoff have added new physical challenges to the management regime as well. This paper describes the threats to water management arrangements in the San Gabriel River watershed, undertakes a preliminary analysis of how individuals and institutions have responded, and sets out an agenda for further research on the presence or absence, and the degree, of robustness in this complex social ecological system.
Book
The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the 'tragedy of the commons' argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.