Complexity and challenges of long-term environmental governance

Underdal, Arild

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.02.005

Cited by 181 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Understanding of complex systems is not well developed (e. g., Underdal 2010) and is likely to remain so into the foreseeable future (Owens 2010), therefore, the actual direct and indirect consequences (i.e., predictability) of adaptation and manipulation initiatives remain difficult to determine over the extended time scales required by sustainability. Certainly, complexity is inherent when dealing with a range of sustainability challenges; nevertheless, examining the intended focus of actions (i.e., who or what adapts) can help in understanding the potential for a range of both positive and negative system impacts.…”

Section: Manipulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation or Manipulation? Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies

Thomsen¹,

Smith²,

Keys³

2012

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. Adaptation is a key feature of sustainable social-ecological systems. As societies traverse various temporal and spatial scales, they are exposed to differing contexts and precursors for adaptation. A cursory view of the response to these differing contexts and precursors suggests the particular ability of persistent societies to adapt to changing circumstances. Yet a closer examination into the meaning of adaptation and its relationship to concepts of resilience, vulnerability, and sustainability illustrates that, in many cases, societies actually manipulate their social-ecological contexts rather than adapt to them. It could be argued that manipulative behaviors are a subset of a broader suite of adaptive behaviors; however, this paper suggests that manipulative behaviors have fundamentally different intentions and outcomes. Specifically, adaptive behaviors are respectful of the intrinsic integrity of social-ecological systems and change is directed toward internal or self-regulating modification. By way of contrast, manipulative behaviors tend to disregard the integrity of social-ecological systems and focus on external change or manipulating the broader system with the aim of making self-regulation unnecessary. It is argued that adaptive behaviors represent long-term strategies for building resilience, whereas manipulative behaviors represent short-term strategies with uncertain consequences for resilience, vulnerability, and the sustainability of social-ecological systems. Of greatest significance; however, is that manipulative strategies have the potential to avoid authentic experiences of system dynamics, obscure valuable learning opportunities, create adverse path dependencies, and lessen the likelihood of effective adaptation in future contexts.

show abstract

Section: Manipulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation or Manipulation? Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies

Thomsen¹,

Smith²,

Keys³

2012

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Even with significant reforms, fisheries are hard to manage in the best of circumstances; multiple drivers coalesce in and around fishing villages, producing highly complex, uncertain consequences (Pitcher and Lam 2010;Underdal 2010). Governance arrangements need to respond to an ever-changing resource base and "roving bandit" traders (Berkes et al 2006), in addition to adapting to both the common-pool nature of capture fisheries and the owner-operated nature of small-scale aquaculture (Chuenpagdee et al 2008).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life, Fish and Mangroves : Resource Governance in Coastal Cambodia

Marschke¹

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resource governance in coastal Cambodia Governance SeriesGovernance is the process of effective coordination whereby an organization or a system guides itself when resources, power, and information are widely distributed. Studying governance means probing the pattern of rights and obligations that underpins organizations and social systems, understanding how they coordinate their parallel activities and maintain their coherence, exploring the sources of dysfunction, and suggesting ways to redesign organizations whose governance is in need of repair.The series welcomes a range of contributions-from conceptual and theoretical reflections, ethnographic and case studies, and proceedings of conferences and symposia, to works of a very practical nature-that deal with problems or issues on the governance front. The series publishes works both in French and in English.

show abstract

“…This means that neither the decision makers nor those who will be affected by the decisions are constants in our equation: Our political decision maker who decides the direction we take today in climate politics (e.g., over the funding of research programs on stratospheric aerosols) is not necessarily the one who will be affected by this direction, nor the one who is going to decide over the strategies in the future (e.g., over a possible deployment of the stratospheric aerosol method in case of a climate emergency). Thus, the dynamics of the situation give rise to questions concerning, for example, intergenerational justice and the question what the preferences of future generations might look like [36][37][38].…”

Section: Dynamics As a Characteristic Of A Ce Related Complex Decisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with the uncertainties of climate engineering: Warnings from a psychological complex problem solving perspective

Amelung¹,

Funke²

2013

Technology in Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tDecision-makers in the context of climate politics are confronted with considerable uncertainties due to the complexities inherent in the relevant natural and social systems. Nonetheless, pressure on decision-makers to find solutions to dangerous climate change is rising due to the inertia in the climate system. Considering these pressures, technological options (climate engineering) have been proposed to counteract the effects of climatic change. However, introducing options that bear their own scientific uncertainties means further adding to the complexity of the situation. By adopting the psychological perspective of complex problem solving research, we analyze one frequently neglected source of uncertainty with regard to climate engineering: errors of the political problemsolver in his interaction with the situational demands of complex problems. More specifically, we examine the psychological sources for human error that are common in dealing with the uncertainties implied in this type of problem. We will conclude from the complex problem solving perspective that a consideration of climate engineering in the context of climate change can provide a dangerous illusion of controllability.

show abstract

Complexity and challenges of long-term environmental governance

Cited by 181 publications

References 33 publications

Adaptation or Manipulation? Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies

Adaptation or Manipulation? Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies

Life, Fish and Mangroves : Resource Governance in Coastal Cambodia

Dealing with the uncertainties of climate engineering: Warnings from a psychological complex problem solving perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About