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5 - Creating incentives for increased public engagement in ecosystem management through urban commons
- from Part I - Adapting local institutions, networks, leadership and learning
- Edited by Emily Boyd, University of Reading, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Adapting Institutions
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- 05 November 2011
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- 27 October 2011, pp 101-124
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Summary
The ‘commoners’ of the past are the ‘stakeholders’ of the present and future.
Bonnie J. McCay (2000)Introduction
Over half the world’s population currently lives in urban areas; by 2030, nearly five billion people are expected to live in cities (Ash et al. 2008). Between 2010 and 2030, the amount of the built mass on the earth is predicted to double, creating ever-greater demands on the services that nearby and distant ecosystems provide (Grimm et al. 2008). With a greater proportion of humans living in metropolitan areas, urban ecosystems will experience increased land-use and land-cover change. Currently, urbanisation endangers more species and is more geographically ubiquitous than any other human activity; urban sprawl is rapidly transforming critical habitats of global value, such as the Atlantic Forest Region of Brazil, the Cape of South Africa and coastal Central America (Elmqvist et al. 2008). Urbanisation leads not only to increased homogenisation of fauna and flora (McKinney 2002) but also to an impoverished biology in metropolitan areas, which arguably serves as a constant reminder of the presumed unimportance of biodiversity and so may contribute to ‘environmental generational amnesia’ among the greater public (Miller 2005).
To gain the much-needed broad-based public support for a sustainable use of ecosystems, both within and outside cities, the places where people live and work need to offer opportunities for meaningful interactions with functioning ecosystems (Rosenzweig 2003, Miller 2005, Andersson et al. 2007, Colding 2007). In this respect, and to help mitigate the growing disconnection of urban residents from nature (Pyle 1978, 1993), the dynamics of property rights determining human relationships to land can have powerful ramifications and be worthy of scholarly analysis to provide propositions about both the manner in which land ownership in cities evolves (Webster 2003) and its potential outcomes, such as the provision of the ecosystem services critical to human well-being (Daily 1997, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). It is increasingly recognised that today’s institutions match current changes in ecosystems and their dynamics poorly (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, Folke et al. 2007).
Part III - Social-ecological learning and adaptation
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Book:
- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 187-188
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Summary
Introduction
Given that some level of uncertainty always exists in complex systems, decision makers need to continuously monitor and integrate appropriate ecological, social, and economic information into management. Such adaptive management, whereby policy making is seen as an iterative experiment, acknowledges uncertainty, rather than assuming it away. Carrying out adaptive management requires a great deal of information to provide feedback to the manager regarding the consequences of the policy experiment. In addition to some of the conventional kinds of ecological and economic data, adaptive management requires qualitative information in the form of feedback from the social–ecological system to indicate the direction in which management should proceed.
Where does the information for adaptive management come from? Some of it comes from conventional science and social science, but some of it can also come from the knowledge held by the resource users themselves. Many local and traditional knowledge systems are characterized by the use of local ecological knowledge to interpret and respond to environmental feedback to guide the direction of resource management. These local management systems have something in common with adaptive management – they emphasize feedback learning and address uncertainty that is intrinsic to all systems. How do we access and use local and traditional knowledge, and what kinds of arrangements are necessary to bring together the full spectrum of knowledge pertinent to a problem?
Part II - Building resilience in local management systems
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 115-115
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Summary
In dealing with multiple-scale systems, a useful place to start is local management systems. In the development of common property theory in the 1980s and the 1990s, the local or the community level received by far the greatest part of research attention. This was not because the local level was necessarily perceived as the most important scale of organization, but because social–ecological systems at this level provided a ‘laboratory’ in which principles can be generated, before they can be tested in the real world of external drivers and cross-scale interactions.
When analyzing resilience, again it makes sense to address the local level and build linkages to other scales. This approach helps simplify the analysis of change and the response to change. For example, it is easier to deal with the response and adaptation to one kind of perturbation (e.g., major hurricane), than to a perturbation complicated by an external driver (e.g., the collapse of commodity markets that previously supported an agricultural society). Also, it is easier to deal with the comparison, for example, of two local–regional forest management systems subject to the same forces of social and economic change over a period of time, than a larger system that may have come under other stresses as well. Resilience thinking helps the researcher to look beyond the static analysis of social systems and ecological systems, and to ask instead questions regarding the adaptive capacity of societies and their institutions.
Contents
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp v-vi
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Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
- Building Resilience for Complexity and Change
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, Johan Colding, Carl Folke
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- Published online:
- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002
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In the effort towards sustainability, it has become increasingly important to develop conceptual frames to understand the dynamics of social and ecological systems. Drawing on complex systems theory, this book investigates how human societies deal with change in linked social-ecological systems, and build capacity to adapt to change. The concept of resilience is central in this context. Resilient social-ecological systems have the potential to sustain development by responding to and shaping change in a manner that does not lead to loss of future options. Resilient systems also provide capacity for renewal and innovation in the face of rapid transformation and crisis. The term navigating in the title is meant to capture this dynamic process. Case studies and examples from several geographic areas, cultures and resource types are included, merging forefront research from natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities into a common framework for new insights on sustainability.
Frontmatter
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp i-iv
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Preface
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp xi-xii
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Summary
It is evident that the dominant worldview in resource and environmental management of ‘systems in equilibrium’ is incompatible with observations of the complex dynamics of social and ecological systems. In the effort towards sustainability, it has become increasingly important to develop new conceptual frames to understand these dynamics. The framework underlying the book is complex systems theory, with the explicit objective of examining ways of building social–ecological resilience to enhance the capacity to deal with complexity and change. In particular, we look for effective ways of analyzing the phenomenon of change and how to respond to change in a manner that does not lead to loss of future options. The 14 chapters of the volume investigate how human societies deal with change in coupled social–ecological systems and build capacity to adapt to change. The term navigating in the title of the book is meant to capture this dynamic process.
It is an edited volume, but it is different from most edited volumes. We have used a common framework for the syntheses and the case-study analyses of a diversity of resource management systems. The chapters, written by scholars from several disciplines, have been developed on the basis of the common framework. The Introduction presents the framework and direction of the volume followed by four major sections: perspectives on resilience; building resilience in local management systems; social–ecological learning and adaptation; and cross-scale institutional response to change.
14 - Synthesis: building resilience and adaptive capacity in social–ecological systems
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- By Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 352-387
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Summary
Introduction
A weekly magazine on business development issued an analysis of Madonna, the pop star, and raised the question ‘How come Madonna has been at the very top in pop music for more than 20 years, in a sector characterized by so much rapid change?’ A few decades ago, successful companies developed their brand around stability and security. To stay in business this is no longer sufficient, according to the magazine. You must add change, renewal, and variation as well. However, change, renewal, and variation by themselves will seldom lead to success and survival. To be effective, a context of experience, history, remembrance, and trust, to act within, is required. Changing, renewing, and diversifying within such a foundation of stability and maintaining high quality have been the recipe for success and survival of Madonna, and for rock stars such as Neil Young and U2. It requires an active adaptation to change, not only responding to change, but also creating and shaping it. In the same spirit, Sven-Göran Eriksson, coach of several soccer teams in Europe, claimed that it is the wrong strategy not to change a winning team. A winning team will always need a certain amount, but not too much, of renewal to be sustained as a winning team. Sustaining a winning team requires a context for renewal, or ‘framed creativity,’ borrowing from the language of the advertiser.
Part IV - Cross-scale institutional response to change
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Book:
- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
- Published online:
- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 269-270
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Summary
Introduction
The chapters in Part II of this volume explored how resilience thinking helps ask questions regarding the adaptive capacity of institutions to deal with change. The chapters in Part III added the dimension of learning in adaptive management and co-management. The chapters in Part IV now turn to the topic of cross-scale interactions. In most of the cases in this volume, and in most cases in real life, there are external drivers, factors that impact local management systems. In an age of globalization, governance has become cross-scale. There is a need to analyze management institutions at more than one level, with attention to interactions across scale from the local level up. What used to be local management now has regional, national, and often international dimensions, leading to the emergence of new players with new power relationships. How can we approach the understanding of cross-scale relationships, and how do these relationships relate to resilience and sustainability?
Systems theory reminds us that a key factor for response is the presence of effective and tight feedback mechanisms or a coupling of stimulus and response in space and time. For example, it is relatively easy to get a neighborhood association to act on a problem. But as problems become broader in scale (e.g., the global greenhouse effect), the feedback loops become looser and the motivation to act becomes weaker. Incentives can be created by tightening cost/benefit feedback loops, for example by assigning property rights.
7 - Living with disturbance: building resilience in social–ecological systems
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- By Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Thomas Elmqvist, Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden, Per Olsson, Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 163-186
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Summary
Introduction
Disturbances such as fire, cyclones, and pest outbreaks create variation in natural systems and ecosystem renewal that may be important for the maintenance of biological diversity. Many natural disturbances are inherent in the internal dynamics of ecosystems, and often set the timing of ecosystem renewal processes fundamental for maintaining resilience in ecosystems (Holling et al., 1995).
By disturbance we mean ‘any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem community or population structure and changes resources, substrate availability, or the physical environment’ (White and Pickett, 1985: 7). We distinguish between abiotic and biotic disturbances. Abiotic disturbances are those where the direct cause of disturbance is generated by nonbiotic agents. Examples include fires, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, flooding, and drought. Examples of biotic disturbances include insect and pest attacks, predators, invasion of exotic species, and the grazing and browsing of herbivores.
Conventional resource management, based on economic production targets, commonly seeks to reduce natural variation in target resources, because fluctuations impose problems for the industry dependent on the resource (Holling and Meffe, 1996). Control of resource stock variability and flows can be achieved in a number of ways. For instance, by increasing financial investments in technologies for harvesting, a modern fishing industry can invest in larger fleets and more effective gear in order to maintain an even flow of production. Maintenance of high and even flows of monoculture crops in large-scale agriculture may be achieved by investing in various energy inputs, such as insecticides, pesticides, and irrigation.
1 - Introduction
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 1-30
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Summary
Building capacity to adapt to change: the context
A common perspective until recently was that our problem-solving abilities have been improving over the years. In the area of resource and environmental management, for example, there was a great deal of faith in our growing scientific understanding of ecosystems, our bag of increasingly sophisticated tools and technologies, and the application of market mechanisms to problems such as air pollution control and fishery management through individually allocated quotas. However, the experience over the last few decades does not support such optimism (e.g., Clark and Munn, 1986; Ludwig, Hilborn, and Walters, 1993; Gunderson, Holling, and Light, 1995). Many of our resource and environmental problems are proving resistant to solutions. A gap has developed between environmental problems and our lagging ability to solve them. This is coming at a time when the Earth has become an increasingly human-dominated system. Many of the changes in the biosphere, including the modification of landscapes, loss of biodiversity and, according to some, climate change, are driven by human activities. Furthermore, changes are occurring at an increasingly faster rate than previously experienced in human history.
There is an emerging consensus regarding the need to look for broader approaches and solutions, not only with resource and environmental issues but along a wide front of societal problems. A survey of senior American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) scientists revealed an intriguing insight.
Index
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 388-393
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List of contributors
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp vii-x
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Part I - Perspectives on resilience
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Book:
- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp 31-32
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Summary
Introduction
A number of volumes have stressed the practical difficulties in attempting to manage ecosystems. The multiple scales of variables, cross-scale connections, and nonlinear interactions generate complex dynamics. Systems of people and nature go through dynamic phases of development, described in resilience theory through the heuristic model of the adaptive renewal cycle. Relatively long periods with little change alternate with short periods of collapse and reorganization in this cycle. During these periods of renewal, resilience can be enhanced or lost, depending on such factors as diversity, redundancy, and memory in the system.
Conventional resource and environmental management is ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of these complexities. Textbook management largely ignores the scale issue, and cross-scale and nonlinear interactions. Adaptive renewal cycles have not normally been part of management thinking, and little attention is paid to the crucial short periods of collapse and reorganization. Diversity has received a great deal of attention from the point of view of the conservation of biological diversity. However, the recognition of functional diversity in adaptive renewal cycles and of its role in the long-term maintenance of ecosystems is relatively recent. Social and cultural diversity, in the form of diversity of knowledge for renewal and reorganization, is also a relatively unexplored area. Redundancy, as distinct from diversity, is important in its own right. Like diversity, redundancy has both ecological and social components, as in institutional redundancy.
These areas require a closer look than that provided in the introduction chapter.
Acknowledgements
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- By Fikret Berkes, Professor Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment, Stockholm University; Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Folke, Director of the Centre for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM), and a Professor in the Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, Sweden; Professor at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden
- Edited by Fikret Berkes, University of Manitoba, Canada, Johan Colding, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Carl Folke, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm
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- Book:
- Navigating Social-Ecological Systems
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- 13 August 2009
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- 17 October 2002, pp xiii-xiv
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