Trends in Local Ecosystem Governance

Abstract

The physical and biological factors that together determine ecosystem structure and function will be subject to enormous pressures under future climate regimes. These pressures will impact ecosystem processes and services, ranging from impacts on biodiversity to loss of essential ecosystem benefits. Ecosystem management to maintain desired ecosystem conditions will become increasingly important. Existing governance structures are insufficient to provide the necessary guidance for these management efforts. The legal literature is increasingly focused on local ecosystem governance as a viable option to fill this governance gap. For example, increasing recognition of the value of ecosystem services to local communities has driven increased efforts to protect those services through local ecosystem initiatives. The local ecosystem governance scholarship is diffuse, making the literature difficult to access. Based on a review of the legal literature on local ecosystem governance over the last 20 years, this article marshals the theoretical arguments for and against local governance and identifies ongoing efforts to implement local ecosystem governance. The article also identifies both emerging challenges to local ecosystem governance and potential ways to address those challenges. From this review emerges actionable recommendations and critical research needs to improve local ecosystem governance.

Community champions of ecosystem services: The role of local agency in protecting Indonesian coral reefs

“…Congruently, social drivers such as poverty traps, migration, property rights and other power asymmetries that limit collective action play an important role in conservation and the resilient provision of ES (Robards et al, 2011). Increasing recognition of the value of ES to local communities has driven improved efforts to protect those services through local ecosystem initiatives (Tallis et al, 2008;Bork and Hirokawa, 2021). Community-based action to protect and enhance ES is also being increasingly recognized (Nelson et al, 2010;Krasny et al, 2014;Paudyal et al, 2017;Rakotomahazo et al, 2019).…”

Making PES work for Vietnam : A multi-scale policy analysis of payments for forest environmental services

“…First, I offer a multiple scale analysis from national level to community level that informs the effectiveness of ES governance systems, especially those considering the spatial scale implications of landscape management (Metzge et al 2020). Second, I apply a discursive institutional approach that allows us to understand perceptions of PFES actors in the context of institutional challenges that tend to favour rigorous ecosystem services policies which often separates those actors from ecosystem service beneficiaries (Bork & Hirokawa, 2021). This issue is important because the way actors/stakeholders understand and engage with the concept will have important implications for their practices, and importantly, expectations for what can be achieved (Martin-Ortega & Waylen, 2019;Kuswandoro et al, 2020).…”