Identifying governance strategies that effectively support ecosystem services, resource sustainability, and biodiversity

Kenward, Robert E.; Whittingham, Mark J.; Arampatzis, Spyridon; Manos, Basil; Hahn, Thomas P.; Terry, Andrew; Simoncini, R.; Alcorn, Janis B.; Bastian, Olaf; Donlan, Michael; Elowe, K.; Franzén, Frida; Karácsonyi, Zoltán; Larsson, Markus; Manou, Dimitra; Navodaru, I.; Papadopoulou, Olympia; Papathanasiou, Jason; Raggamby, Anneke von; Sharp, Robin; Söderqvist, Tore; Soutukorva, Åsa; Vavrova, L.; Aebischer, Nicholas J.; Leader‐Williams, Nigel; Rutz, Christian

doi:10.1073/pnas.1007933108

Cited by 106 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Despite these limitations, our study advances our understanding of enabling conditions and use of ES knowledge and the elements that lead to an effective science-policy interface (11,35,51). Understanding the factors that tend to enhance the impact of ES knowledge is critical.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Policy impacts of ecosystem services knowledge

Posner

McKenzie

Ricketts

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

217

144

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Research about ecosystem services (ES) often aims to generate knowledge that influences policies and institutions for conservation and human development. However, we have limited understanding of how decision-makers use ES knowledge or what factors facilitate use. Here we address this gap and report on, to our knowledge, the first quantitative analysis of the factors and conditions that explain the policy impact of ES knowledge. We analyze a global sample of cases where similar ES knowledge was generated and applied to decision-making. We first test whether attributes of ES knowledge themselves predict different measures of impact on decisions. We find that legitimacy of knowledge is more often associated with impact than either the credibility or salience of the knowledge. We also examine whether predictor variables related to the science-to-policy process and the contextual conditions of a case are significant in predicting impact. Our findings indicate that, although many factors are important, attributes of the knowledge and aspects of the science-to-policy process that enhance legitimacy best explain the impact of ES science on decision-making. Our results are consistent with both theory and previous qualitative assessments in suggesting that the attributes and perceptions of scientific knowledge and process within which knowledge is coproduced are important determinants of whether that knowledge leads to action. ecosystem services | science policy interface | conservation | knowledge systems | boundary organizations T he ongoing loss of biological diversity and persistence of poverty have sparked interest in policies that protect, restore, and enhance ecosystem services (ES). In response, there has been a growth in ES research that aims to inform policies, incentives, and institutions on a large scale (1-3). Despite this goal, scientific knowledge about ES continues to have limited impact on policy and decisions (1, 4-7).The fact that most land-and resource-use policy decisions still do not take ES into account stems in part from an ineffective interface between ES science and policy, a need for scientists to better understand decision-making processes, and challenges in clarifying conflicting stakeholder values (8-11). In some cases, the science-policy interface is an important aspect of decisionmaking, but often the ES research and policy communities are disconnected from one another, with limited interactions, infrequent exchanges of information, and different objectives that hinder coordinated science and policy processes (12). Many scientists conduct ES research without fully considering how the knowledge they are producing might be used (5). If we want ES information to be incorporated into decisions, then we need to understand how and why decision-makers use certain kinds of information. We define "information" as a tangible, factual output of scientific research produced through specific ES analyses; "knowledge" as a body of information learned and conveyed through scientific and policy processes; ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To test H2 about which enabling conditions could best explain impact, we used an information theoretic approach (35). We first reduced the dataset by using principal components analysis (PCA) on predictor variables with a Spearman rank correlation coefficient ≥ 0.80 (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy impacts of ecosystem services knowledge

Posner

McKenzie

Ricketts

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

217

144

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“…The cross-cutting best practice themes of indigenous knowledge, leadership, and partnerships were also themes that emerged from a cross-scalar analysis of environmental governance in the Guiana Shield (Berardi et al 2015). Although good leadership and solidarity were identified as essential at the local level (Gruber 2010, 2011, Gutiérrez et al 2011, Kenward et al 2011, especially during times of variable pressures and resource scarcity, the extent to which leaders had autonomy and support in decision making was repeatedly questioned. This is in light of Guyana's poor record in governance, with the control of corruption, regulatory quality in the formulation and implementation of policies, and regulations permitting and promoting private sector development, such as in the resource extraction industries, particularly problematic (World Bank 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community owned solutions: identifying local best practices for social-ecological sustainability

Mistry¹,

Berardi²,

Tschirhart³

et al. 2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Policies and actions that come from higher scale structures, such as international bodies and national governments, are not always compatible with the realities and perspectives of smaller scale units including indigenous communities. Yet, it is at this local social-ecological scale that mechanisms and solutions for dealing with unpredictability and change can be increasingly seen emerging from across the world. Although there is a large body of knowledge specifying the conditions necessary to promote local governance of natural resources, there is a parallel need to develop practical methods for operationalizing the evaluation of local social-ecological systems. In this paper, we report on a systemic, participatory, and visual approach for engaging local communities in an exploration of their own social-ecological system. Working with indigenous communities of the North Rupununi, Guyana, this involved using participatory video and photography within a system viability framework to enable local participants to analyze their own situation by defining indicators of successful strategies that were meaningful to them. Participatory multicriteria analysis was then used to arrive at a short list of best practice strategies. We present six best practices and show how they are intimately linked through the themes of indigenous knowledge, local governance and values, and partnerships and networks. We highlight how developing shared narratives of community owned solutions can help communities to plan governance and management of land and resource systems, while reinforcing sustainable practices by discussing and showcasing them within communities, and by engendering a sense of pride in local solutions.

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“…Models are seductively easy to view as 'reductionist propositions [that]…consist in expressing the phenomenon to be explained in more fundamental terms' (Maturana 1988). This kind of interpretation is particularly appealing to policy-makers who wish to avoid the complex, valuebased nature of governance decisions (Lyons 2005), and is apparent in the development of misleadingly prescriptive 'one size fits all' governance strategies (Ballet et al 2007;Pannell 2008;Kenward et al 2011). Any given approach to modelling complex systems contains within it assumptions, often hidden, about the basic dynamics of these systems, and the consequences of these assumptions for understanding and management need to be carefully considered.…”

Section: Top-down Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A philosophical case for process-based modelling of land use change

Brown

Rounsevell

2016

Model. Earth Syst. Environ.

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Modelling is used to describe, explore and predict changes in land use and other human systems. 'Top-down' and 'bottom-up' modelling approaches are both popular, and each has important philosophical implications that correspond closely to major debates in social science. We outline some key contributions to these debates and argue that social processes such as those underlying land use decisions are fundamentally determined by individual intentionality, interacting with social norms of language, culture and institutions, rather than by general and predictable 'laws'. Therefore, bottom-up models that reflect these processes offer far more informative accounts of system development. However, prediction remains outside the scope of either approach, and methods of validation based on tests of historical predictive ability risk over-fitting to trends and underestimating uncertainties. We explore the implications of these arguments for model design and use, and for general understanding of such fundamentally complex, spontaneously evolving systems.

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Identifying governance strategies that effectively support ecosystem services, resource sustainability, and biodiversity

Cited by 106 publications

References 23 publications

Policy impacts of ecosystem services knowledge

Policy impacts of ecosystem services knowledge

Community owned solutions: identifying local best practices for social-ecological sustainability

A philosophical case for process-based modelling of land use change

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