Abstract
Eddy, B. G., B. Hearn, J. E. Luther, M. Van Zyll de Jong, W. Bowers, R. Parsons, D. Piercey, G. Strickland, and B. Wheeler. 2014. An information ecology approach to science–policy integration in adaptive management of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 19(3): 40. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06752-190340
Highlights
In recent years, significant attention has been given to challenges related to science and policy integration for organizations tasked with dealing with complex social-ecological issues (Rykiel 2002, Hearn et al 2008, Pollard et al 2008, Baehre et al 2011)
Part of the challenge is that many of these activities have come to mean the same thing (Slocombe and Hanna 2007), and this has led to the development of frameworks that encompass multiple issues under holistic constructs such as adaptive management (AM; Holling 1978), ecosystems-based management (EBM; Kappel et al 2006), or “place-based” strategies that focus on helping communities and regions adapt to multiple processes simultaneously (Rammel et al 2007, Harcourt 2010, O’Brien 2012)
We provide a brief overview of information ecology to set the context of its scope of application, to examine how it contrasts with information theory, and to highlight a number of gaps that need to be addressed to enable its application in science–policy integration and AM
Summary
Significant attention has been given to challenges related to science and policy integration for organizations tasked with dealing with complex social-ecological issues (Rykiel 2002, Hearn et al 2008, Pollard et al 2008, Baehre et al 2011). Complex adaptive systems theory provides a starting point, where human systems are viewed as interdependent and coevolutionary with natural systems (Patten et al 2002, Able and Stepp 2003, Szaro et al 2005, Kappel et al 2006, Rammel et al 2007, Gunderson 2010) Following this approach will require a more explicit incorporation of ecological principles in management and organizational frameworks to enable organizations to be more reflexive in responding to complex social-ecological problems (Biggs et al 2010, Folke et al 2010, O’Brien 2012). We close with a discussion of a number of salient issues that need to be kept in mind when applying this approach in practical settings, along with some additional theoretical speculations and suggestions for further research
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