Abstract
Landscape stewardship is increasingly understood within the framing of complex social-ecological systems. To consider the implications of this, we focus on one of the key characteristics of complex social-ecological systems: they are relationally constituted, meaning that system characteristics emerge out of dynamic relations between system components. We focus on multi-actor collaboration as a key form of relationality in landscapes, seeking a more textured understanding of the social relations between landscape actors. We draw on a set of ‘gardening tools’ to analyse the boundary-crossing work of multi-actor collaboration. These tools comprise three key concepts: relational expertise, common knowledge, and relational agency. We apply the tools to two cases of landscape stewardship in South Africa: the Langkloof Region and the Tsitsa River catchment. These landscapes are characterised by economically, socio-culturally, and politically diverse groups of actors. Our analysis reveals that history and context strongly influence relational processes, that boundary-crossing work is indeed difficult, and that doing boundary-crossing work in smaller pockets within a landscape is helpful. The tools also helped to identify three key social-relational practices which lend a new perspective on boundary-crossing work: 1. belonging while differing, 2. growing together by interacting regularly and building common knowledge, and 3. learning and adapting together with humility and empathy.
Highlights
Landscape stewardship is gaining increasing traction as a way of bringing together a range of practices such as natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, climate change adaptation, and sustainable agriculture and livelihoods [1,2,3]
What Does It Mean to Take a Relational Approach in Landscape Stewardship and Sustainability Science?. What does it mean to take a relational approach to landscape stewardship and to sustainability science more broadly? Here we identify at least three implications of such a relational approach
For the remainder of this paper, we focus on this last implication of a relational approach to landscape stewardship, exploring theory developed in the field of education and organisational learning research to deepen our understanding of relationality in multi-actor collaboration for landscape stewardship
Summary
Landscape stewardship is gaining increasing traction as a way of bringing together a range of practices such as natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, climate change adaptation, and sustainable agriculture and livelihoods [1,2,3]. Land 2020, 9, 224 research, planning, policy, and practice towards more sustainable and equitable outcomes for the variety of actors interested in the landscape [2,4] In parallel to these shifts towards more integrated approaches for working in landscapes, we see a growing interest in social-ecological systems (SES) approaches in the field of sustainability science [5,6]. We use the gardening tools both for analytical purposes, and to support planning and facilitation of landscape stewardship practices These tools comprise three key concepts: relational expertise, relational agency, and common knowledge (Table 1), which are three specific dimensions of boundary-crossing
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