Innovations in resource and environmental management

Abstract

Innovation currently is an obsession in business and government circles. For instance, the term 'innovation gap' has become a popular way of referring to the purported failure of some countries or sectors to 'keep up' with others in terms of the generation of scientific advances and new technologies. While innovations in science and technology are important, they are not the only kind that matter. Societies are confronted with a broad range of challenges that demand innovative solutions in areas as diverse as housing, health justice and the environment. Problems in these areas do not necessarily lend themselves to technological solutions. Often what are needed are innovations in policies, practices and social relations. In the context of resource and environmental management, the search for innovative solutions to old and new problems is never-ending. Geographers have contributed numerous innovative concepts, methods and approaches in areas diverse as floodplain management, environmental assessment and energy policy, to name just a few. In early 2001, the Canadian Association of Geographers' Environment and Resources Study Group invited contributions to a proposed special issue of this journal on the topic of 'Innovations in Resource and Environmental Management'. Potential contributors were asked to submit abstracts that addressed theoretical and/or practical innovations in Resource and Environmental Management'. Reflecting the breadth and depth of scholarship in geography in this area, 22 abstracts were submitted. The four papers in this issue chosen from that group present innovations relating to quite different topics while, at the same time, speaking to several shared themes. * Ben Bradshaw explores the capacity of communities to undertake resource management and economic development. * Harry Spaling examines innovations in environmental assessment of community-based projects in sub-Saharan Africa. * Paul Parker, Ian Rowlands and Daniel Scott write about an innovative approach to reducing residential energy use and carbon emissions. * Susan Dakin discusses new approaches to the problem of visual-resource assessment. Together, these papers highlight some of the innovative contributions that geographers are making in the field of resource and environments management. They are united by a focus on practical tools and approaches that are designed to produce positive changes in policy and practice. These include Bradshaw's evaluation of p decentralized, community-based management approaches, Spaling's use of assessment methodologies adapted from participatory rural appraisal, Parker and colleagues' use of the concept of 'sociotechnical' potential to reduce energy consumption and Dakin's participatory methodology for visual-resource assessment. Each of the papers frames these specific innovations in the context of broader conceptual or methodological issues. …