A dynamic management framework for socio-ecological system stewardship: A case study for the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Abstract

An effective and efficient stewardship of natural resources requires consistency across all decision-informing approaches and components involved, i.e., managerial, governmental, political, and legal. To achieve this consistency, these elements must be aligned under an overarching management goal that is consistent with current and well-accepted knowledge. In this article, we investigate the adoption by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management of an environmental resilience-centered system that manages for resilience of marine ecological resources and its associated social elements. Although the framework is generally tailored for this Bureau, it could also be adapted to other federal or non-federal organizations. This paper presents a dynamic framework that regards change as an inherent element of the socio-ecological system in which management structures, e.g., federal agencies, are embedded. The overall functioning of the management framework being considered seeks to mimic and anticipate environmental change in line with well-accepted elements of resilience-thinking. We also investigate the goal of using management for resilience as a platform to enhance socio-ecological sustainability by setting specific performance metrics embedded in pre-defined and desired social and/or ecological scenarios. Dynamic management frameworks that couple social and ecological systems as described in this paper can facilitate the efficient and effective utilization of resources, reduce uncertainty for decision and policy makers, and lead to more defensible decisions on resources.

A Multifaceted Approach to Advance Oil Spill Modeling and Physical Oceanographic Research at the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

“…Looking forward, it is important to anticipate and prepare for seafloor instability events, as well as to systematically use research findings and monitoring networks to manage the socio-ecological system on the U.S. OCS [115]. Future work will require improving model parametrizations and increasing surveys in areas prone to the presence of powerful gravity currents.…”

Recipes for a Flourishing Arctic, In: Whither the Arctic Ocean? Research, Knowledge Needs and Development en Route to the New Arctic (Ed. Paul Wassmann), Fundación BBVA, Madrid, Spain, p. 75-86.

“…Although not written to address current changes, untapped legal concepts in existing legislation could come to bear fruit in future management initiatives. Along these lines, it has been suggested (Auad et al 2018b) to re-interpret the concept of "harmony" in the National Environmental Policy Act of the United States. Many others have advocated for reflexive legislation (Orts 1994;Garmestani, Allen and Benson 2013) as an effective way to handle socio-ecological issues commonly characterized by dynamic and non-linear behaviors .…”

“…For an increased probability of success, these tools would need to be selected for each case and scale, and based on the uncertainty of the problem and the controllability of the outcomes in question. Along these lines, it has been concluded (Auad et al 2018b) that a combination of adaptive management and an iterative scenarios method are the best approaches to inform decisions at small and large scales, respectively. While their particular analysis focused on a specific organization regulating offshore energy, other cases might also need to consider supplementary factors, such as clarity of objectives.…”

Better Together: The Uses of Ecological and Socio-Economic Indicators With End-to-End Models in Marine Ecosystem Based Management

“…This is not surprising, since measures of well-being have been difficult to quantify (e.g., cultural attachment, job satisfaction, health, and safety) even despite the establishment of specific limits on pollutant concentrations in coastal communities. Recently, however, there has been development of socio-economic indicators that track patterns of community vulnerability and well-being, further elucidating some of the complexity of the human dimension of EBM (Bowen and Riley, 2003;Pollnac et al, 2015;Colburn et al, 2016;Auad et al, 2018). These indicators embedded in end-to-end models will add nuance to the more conventional management considerations (e.g., total allowable catches to commercial fisheries, recreational fishing opportunities) by incorporating patterns of human behavior and overall community health.…”