scholarly journals Navigating Multiple Tensions for Engaged Praxis in a Complex Social-Ecological System

Land ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Cockburn ◽  
Carolyn Palmer ◽  
Harry Biggs ◽  
Eureta Rosenberg
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Management ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Realist Analysis ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Social Learning Processes

Innovative, pragmatic approaches are needed to support sustainable livelihoods and landscape management in complex social-ecological systems (CSES) such as river catchments. In the Tsitsa River Catchment, South Africa, researchers and natural resource managers have come together to apply such innovative approaches. Since CSES are characterised by uncertainty and surprise, understanding and managing them requires a commitment to reflexive praxis and transdisciplinarity. Accordingly, we facilitated a collective reflection and learning process in the project team to deepen our understanding of praxis in CSES. Our findings indicate that CSES thinking created an enabling framing. However, building new linkages among diverse actors to put CSES thinking into practice is challenging, since it requires the development of novel working relationships. Existing institutional structures, power dynamics, and ways of working impose significant constraints. A deeper critical realist analysis of our findings revealed a metaphor which explains why this work is challenging. In this metaphor, the Tsitsa Project team is navigating a bumpy terrain of dialectic tensions. These are tensions for example between natural science and social science, and between science and indigenous knowledge. Based on this metaphor, we suggest an expanding role for scientists and managers, and recommend transformative social learning processes to support teams navigating such bumpy terrains.

scholarly journals From the other side of the knowledge frontier: Indigenous knowledge, social–ecological relationships and new perspectives

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Muir ◽  
Deborah Rose ◽  
Phillip Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Ecological Relationships ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Natural Resource Managers

A river is like a mirror: it reflects the care given by people whose lives depend upon it. A scald on red ground or the slow death of a river reveals more than troubled ecological relationships – they are signs of broken social relationships. How people take care of social relationships and how they take care of ecological relationships are the same question. In this paper we emphasise the importance that Aboriginal people place on social relationships for good ecological relationships. In the past few decades natural resource managers have sought Indigenous knowledge relevant to Western ideas of environment, and in doing so, created distinctions between ‘ecological’ and ‘social’ knowledge – this is an artificial ‘white-fella’ separation. Additionally, Indigenous knowledge has been treated as if it were a static archive that need only be extracted and applied to resource development and planning. Instead it is dynamic, adaptive and contextual. As a consequence of compartmentalisation and the assumption of timelessness, the importance of social relationships in ecological relationships has been overlooked. Some research has explored similarities between Indigenous knowledge and the Western concept of adaptive management, and raised the possibility of synergy between them. We agree there are possible connections and opportunities for exchange and further learning between Indigenous knowledge and ecological resilience and adaptive management. However, Indigenous knowledge and Western science belong to different world views. An important task is to explore ways of grappling with this ontological challenge. We suggest a conceptual turn around that we believe could assist in opening a dialogue as well as creating a set of foundational principles for robust ecological and social relationships.

Examining the Specifics approach to identifying indicators of sustainable natural resource management in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia

2000 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Lautenschlager ◽  
Holly MacLeod ◽  
Chris Hollstedt ◽  
David Balsillie
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Local Range

Natural resource managers, environmental interest groups, and public agencies need identifiable, measurable indicators of sustainability based on meaningful fine-scale specifics that are appropriate for both fine and increasingly broader social/ecological scales. The "Identify the Specifics" framework, field tested in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, uses collective local expert knowledge to integrate and prioritize social/ecological concerns that become the foundation for both local and increasingly broader-scale indicators of sustainable management. Results to date suggest that: (1) local experts have valuable knowledge to contribute; (2) identified local indicators, once reviewed, can contribute to both local- and broader-scale indicators; (3) fewer than 10 indicators may provide an adequate foundation for assessing the sustainability of local range and forest management practices; and (4) local and broader-scale experts commonly identify different indicators because they have different knowledge bases, priorities, and responsibilities. Differences in the indicators identified among experts representing different scales may be minimized if indicators at broader scales are developed with knowledge of specifics from finer scales. The Specifics approach is presently being used across British Columbia to help identify knowledge gaps and related research and extension priorities. Key words: criteria and indicators, ecological concerns, extension, forest management, natural resources, priorities, range management, specifics, sustainability

Participatory Mapping in Browns Canyon National Monument, Colorado (USA)

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
John Harner ◽  
Lee Cerveny ◽  
Rebecca Gronewold
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Bureau Of Land Management ◽  
National Monument ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Us Forest Service ◽  
Natural Resource Managers

Natural resource managers need up-to-date information about how people interact with public lands and the meanings these places hold for use in planning and decision-making. This case study explains the use of public participatory Geographic Information System (GIS) to generate and analyze spatial patterns of the uses and values people hold for the Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado. Participants drew on maps and answered questions at both live community meetings and online sessions to develop a series of maps showing detailed responses to different types of resource uses and landscape values. Results can be disaggregated by interaction types, different meaningful values, respondent characteristics, seasonality, or frequency of visit. The study was a test for the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service, who jointly manage the monument as they prepare their land management plan. If the information generated is as helpful throughout the entire planning process as initial responses seem, this protocol could become a component of the Bureau’s planning tool kit.

Integration of Human/Social Dimensions into the Traditional European Model of Natural Resource Education and Management

2005 ◽  
Vol 156 (8) ◽  
pp. 264-268
Author(s):  
James J. Kennedy ◽  
Niels Elers Koch
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Western World ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Rural Ecosystem ◽  
Professional Roles And Responsibilities

The increasing diversity, complexity and dynamics of ecosystem values and uses over the last 50 years requires new ways for natural resource managers (foresters, wildlife biologists, etc.)to understand and relate to their professional roles and responsibilities in accommodating urban and rural ecosystem users, and managing the complimentary and conflicting interactions between them. Three stages in Western-world natural resources management are identified and analyzed, beginning with the (1) Traditional stage: natural resources first, foremost and forever, to (2) Transitional stage: natural resource management,for better or worse, involves people, to (3) Relationship stage: managing natural resources for valued people and ecosystem relationships. The impacts of these three perspectives on how natural resource managers view and respond to ecosystems,people and other life-forms is basic and can be profound.

Innovative performance of project teams: the role of organizational structure and knowledge-based dynamic capability

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Valio Dominguez Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Dynamic Capability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovative Performance ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge-based dynamic capability and organizational structure on team innovative performance in Brazilian industrial companies. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on data from a survey of 262 respondents from 65 companies in the Brazilian industrial sector with project teams and followed the partial least squares approach to model the structural equation that was used for data analysis. Findings The results of the study show that mechanical structures with a high degree of formalization and centralization have a negative impact on knowledge-based dynamic capability and integration has a positive relationship with dynamic capability. Moreover, the research shows that project team innovative performance is directly affected by knowledge generation and combination capability; however, knowledge acquisition/absorption does not interfere with project team innovative activity. Practical implications This study contributes to the managers of firms in the industrial sector by analyzing how the characteristics of organizational structure impact dynamic capability and project team innovative performance. The results of this study indicate that more mechanical structures have more difficulty in developing knowledge-based dynamic capability in the context of project teams. Originality/value This study advances the concept of knowledge-based dynamic capability from the firm level to the project team level. This study accesses a research gap that characterizes organizational structure as an antecedent of dynamic capability, analyzing the impact of organizational structure on the dimensions of dynamic capability and of the latter on project team innovative performance.

scholarly journals Transformation of Livelihood Institutions and the Organization of Punan Dayak Communities in Berau District, East Kalimantan

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dyah Ita Mardiyaningsih
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Institutional Transformation ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Subsistence Strategies ◽  
East Kalimantan ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Household Food ◽  
The Social

The social-ecological system of forests are changing with increasing modernity and has prompted the forest-dependent Dayak Punan community to adapt to the new conditions. In addition to changing livelihood structures, the institutional setting and social norms of subsistence strategies are also undergoing adaptation process. Therefore, the main question of this research is what institutional transformation are occuring of livelihoods in the Punan Dayak community as an adaptation to the modernity that entering the region where they live? A qualitative approach supported by quantitative data is used to obtain data and information in four Punan Dayak communities in Berau District, East Kalimantan. The level of dependence of Punan Dayak households on forests is declining, marked by increasing dominance of non-forest livelihood sources (i.e. wages and business). Institutions guiding the interaction between communities and the forest as a source of livelihoods, has also changed. In the four communities studied, the process of institutional transformation has produced four types of institutional organisations of subsistence vs. income dependent livelihoods, namely: subsistence-collective (livelihood activities to meet household food carried out in groups), subsistence-collective to commercial-contractual transition, commercial-collective (a livelihood activity aimed at earning money coordinated by the institution at the community level), and commercial-contractual (livelihood activities aimed at earning money/profits through formal working relationships individually or in groups).

Aquatic Stewardship Education in Theory and Practice

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
North America ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Stewardship Behavior

<i>Abstract</i>.—Contemporary definitions of aquatic resource stewardship are a specific expression of ethical themes that humankind has wrestled with for millennia. The foundations for a stewardship ethic can be secular or spiritual. Other chapter contributors discuss a range of the secular foundations (e.g., fishing, boating); we discuss the implications of stewardship ethics rooted in religious traditions. Some fisheries professionals recognize religious–cultural influences on aquatic stewardship, such as those seen in Native American or Asian immigrant communities. But fisheries professionals have commonly ignored mainline Judeo-Christian faith traditions as an ethical basis for aquatic stewardship behavior, despite the fact that those traditions inform ethical development for large numbers of people in North America and that denominations within those traditions have increasingly engaged in stewardship-based environmental education and advocacy. The proposition that religious values often form the basis for a stewardship ethic presents several challenges for fisheries professionals striving to foster stewardship behavior. However, a basic understanding of these religious foundations could contribute to an improved practice of stewardship education, through outreach to a new constituency—faith communities. To illustrate this point, we briefly summarize some of the sources for stewardship found in the biblical corpus. We offer three examples of how Christian stewardship principles are manifest in aquatic stewardship programs delivered by faith communities. Models of partnership between natural resource managers and local faith communities are emerging across North America. In revisiting the ethical bases of stewardship and identifying new opportunities for stewardship education partnerships, we hope to demonstrate one more means by which fisheries professionals can bridge from stewardship education in principle to an effective practice of stewardship education.

Mitigating Impacts of Natural Hazards on Fishery Ecosystems

2008 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
The North ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
North Fork ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Mount St Helens

<em>Abstract</em>—The North Fork Toutle River drains the northwest face of Mount St. Helens to the Cowlitz River, a major tributary of the Columbia River in southwestern Washington. In response to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a sediment retention structure (SRS) in the North Fork Toutle River watershed to reduce the transport of fine sediment to the lower Cowlitz and Columbia River systems. The SRS was built without fish passage facilities and currently presents a significant barrier to migrating adult salmonids. To facilitate passage of coho salmon <em>Oncorhynchus kisutch </em>and steelhead <em>O. mykiss </em>to the upper watershed, a fish collection facility (FCF) was constructed 1.5 km downstream of the SRS, where fish are currently captured and transported to tributaries upstream of the SRS. We used radio telemetry to evaluate the movement of adult coho salmon and steelhead in the North Fork Toutle River in 2005 and 2006. A total of 40 coho and 42 steelhead were released from four different release sites in varied proportions. Release sites included the FCF, the SRS, and Alder Creek and Hoffstadt Creek, both North Fork Toutle River tributaries upstream of the SRS. Results from this research effort suggest that (1) unlike adult coho, adult steelhead are able to ascend the SRS spillway; (2) upstream adult coho and steelhead passage through the sediment plain is possible but may be flow-dependent; (3) adult coho and steelhead released in Alder Creek and Hoffstadt Creek tend to remain within their respective release tributary; and (4) postspawn steelhead emigration is limited. Future research is required to adequately address factors that influence movement of adult coho and steelhead in the upper North Fork Toutle River. The information resulting from this collaborative effort is enabling natural resource managers to determine whether the SRS spillway is a barrier to anadromous fish, to refine existing trap and haul operations, or, if appropriate, to consider modifying the spillway to enable volitional passage by upstream-migrating fish.

Streams and Dreams and Cross-site Studies

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherri L. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Stream Temperature ◽  
Principal Investigator ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
University Of Oklahoma ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Long Term Ecological Research ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Heat Budgets ◽  
Postdoctoral Fellowship

The influence of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program on my science has been to broaden my scope through exposure to long-term research and to encourage me to explore major questions across biomes. Communication and outreach with natural resource managers and policy makers has given me insight into translation of science and shaped my research. Through my experiences in the LTER program, I began collaborations with stream ecologists and biogeochemists across sites, which expanded into a high-profile research project that spanned several decades. I encourage scientists to work at LTER sites because they are supportive science communities with a wealth of information to share. Currently, I am a co–principal investigator at the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest LTER project (AND) in Oregon and have been involved with LTER sites most of my professional life. In 1990, I began graduate research on freshwater shrimp responses to a hurricane at the Luquillo LTER site (LUQ) with Alan Covich, my PhD advisor at the University of Oklahoma. My involvement with LTER research expanded during my postdoctoral fellowship. Through the LTER All Scientists Meetings, I met Julia Jones and other researchers from AND. With their encouragement, I received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant in 1996 to examine stream temperature dynamics at AND. After several years at Oregon State University, I was hired by the US Forest Service (USFS) Pacific Northwest Research Station in 2001 as a USFS scientist for AND and became a co–principal investigator in 2002. I have had the benefit of being mentored for multiple years by Fred Swanson and have gradually assumed lead USFS responsibilities for AND. As a stream ecologist, I have studied basic questions and applied issues involving water quality, water quantity, and stream food webs, primarily in forested streams. My research at the LUQ site has examined responses of fresh water shrimp to disturbances and their role in ecosystem dynamics. At AND, my research exploring patterns and controls of stream temperature began as a theoretical landscape-scale question and expanded to examination of temperature responses to flow paths, calculations of heat budgets, and policy implications of forest management (Johnson and Jones 2000; Johnson 2004).

Advances in the Ocean Observing System in the Gulf of Maine: Technical Capabilities and Scientific Results

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal R. Pettigrew ◽  
C. Patrick Fikes ◽  
M. Kate Beard
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Remote Access ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
Salinity Anomaly ◽  
Natural Resource Managers ◽  
Scientific Results ◽  
The University ◽  
Ocean Observing

AbstractThe Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS), which began in 2008, includes the University of Maine’s comprehensive data buoy array in the Gulf of Maine (GoM). The University of Maine buoy system started in 2001 as part of the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS). The buoys provide a wide variety of oceanographic and marine meteorological data in real time to scientists, environmentalists, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard, educators, regional natural resource managers, the GoM fishing and maritime industries, and the general public. The GoM observing system is presently undergoing a redesign of the buoy control system to enhance remote access and reduce operational costs. The enhancements will allow remote trouble-shooting and reprogramming of the buoys and subsurface sensors. The system will also accommodate sensors from other research groups and allow them post-deployment control without assistance from our buoy group.Over the near-decade of operation, the system has revealed marked seasonal and interannual variability of the circulation and physical properties of the GoM. In the fall of 2004 to spring of 2005, Doppler currents measured an outflow of deep salty slope waters that suggest a regime shift in the inflow and outflow of transports through the Northeast Channel. During the same period, a salinity anomaly event lowered salinity throughout the GoM by roughly 2 psu by the winter of 2005. In following years, the previously unusual slope outflow and reduced salinity have often reoccurred.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document