Areas Of Natural Resource Management Research Articles

Evolving wildlife management cultures of governance through Indigenous Knowledges and perspectives

AbstractWithin governance agencies, academia, and communities alike, there are increasing calls to recognize the value and importance of culture within social‐ecological systems and to better implement Indigenous sciences in research, policy, and management. Efforts thus far have raised questions about the best ethical practices to do so. Engaging with plural worldviews and perspectives on their own terms reflects cultural evolutionary processes driving paradigm shifts in 3 fundamental areas of natural resource management: conceptualizations of natural resources and ecosystems, processes of public participation and governance, and relationships with Indigenous Peoples and communities with differing worldviews. We broadly describe evolution toward these paradigm shifts in fish and wildlife management. We then use 3 case studies to illustrate the ongoing cultural evolution of relationships between wildlife management and Indigenous practices within specific historical and social‐ecological contexts and reflect on common barriers to appropriately engaging with Indigenous paradigms and lifeways. Our case studies highlight 3 priorities that can assist the field of wildlife management in achieving the changes necessary to bridge incommensurable worldviews: acknowledging and reconciling historical legacies and their continued power dynamics as part of social‐ecological systems, establishing governance arrangements that move beyond attempts to extract cultural information from communities to integrate Indigenous Knowledges into dominant management paradigms, and engaging in critical reflexivity and reciprocal, accountable relationship building. Implementing these changes will take time and a commitment to processes that may initially feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar but have potential to be transformative. Ethical and culturally appropriate methods to include plural and multivocal perspectives and worldviews on their own terms are needed to transform wildlife management to achieve more effective and just management outcomes for all.

Rational nature management: problems and prospects of Ukraine in the global system of nature restoration activities

The paper is devoted to studying the current state of nature management in Ukraine, considering the key factors that create problems in the global system of natural reproduction in Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to identify the key place, problems, and prospects of national nature management in Ukraine compared with other countries of the world and to determine the prospects for developing nature management in the post-war recovery period. For the research, general scientific methods of cognition were used, particularly methods of induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, grouping, and systematization. The research results are based on the study of global environmental management ratings, including the environmental performance rating, the Happy Planet Index, the Global Green Economy Index, and the sustainable economic development assessment. The study of Ukraine's place among all countries in the world in terms of environmental management has highlighted a number of key problems, including deforestation, pollution, inefficient waste management, water use, etc. Furthermore, the report considers ways to improve natural resource management based on improving the natural resource management system and reducing corruption in all areas of natural resource management. The priority areas for the conservation and development of natural resources are the use of alternative, renewable energy sources, improvement of the processing industry, and introduction of modern standards and technologies for using natural resources. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of its use in the development of sustainable development strategies for the next periods.

Games and Fieldwork in Agriculture: A Systematic Review of the 21st Century in Economics and Social Science

Games are particularly relevant for field research in agriculture, where alternative experimental designs can be costly and unfeasible. Games are also popular for non-experimental purposes such as recreating learning experiences and facilitating dialogue with local communities. After a systematic review of the literature, we found that the volume of published studies employing coordination and cooperation games increased during the 2000–2020 period. In recent years, more attention has been given to the areas of natural resource management, conservation, and ecology, particularly in regions important to agricultural sustainability. Other games, such as trust and risk games, have come to be regarded as standards of artefactual and framed field experiments in agriculture. Regardless of their scope, most games’ results are subject to criticism for their internal and external validity. In particular, a significant portion of the games reviewed here reveal recruitment biases towards women and provide few opportunities for continued impact assessment. However, games’ validity should be judged on a case-by-case basis. Specific cultural aspects of games might reflect the real context, and generalizing games’ conclusions to different settings is often constrained by cost and utility. Overall, games in agriculture could benefit from more significant, frequent, and inclusive experiments and data—all possibilities offered by digital technology. Present-day physical distance restrictions may accelerate this shift. New technologies and engaging mediums to approach farmers might present a turning point for integrating experimental and non-experimental games for agriculture in the 21st century.

Legal regime for natural resource management in Mexico

The subject of this article is the legal regime for natural resource in the United Mexican States. The author examines the system and structure of government branches in the area natural resource management. Special attention is given to the questions of ownership of the subsoil, allocation of powers for their administration to the federation, and foreign investment to fuel and energy complex of Russia. The object of this research is the relations in the area of natural resource management in Mexico. The author describes the users of subsoil and the procedure of accessing natural resource management, addresses the questions of taxation with regards to usage of mineral deposits, traces the trends in Mexican natural resource law in part of regulating the development of strategic sites. The main conclusion consists in the statement that constitutional consolidation of ownership of the mineral resources along with natural resources, and the authority of their management allocated to the “center” in federate and confederate states meets rather national interests and ensures protection of economic grounds of the country, security and inviolability of the constitutional order. The scientific novelty of this work consists in demonstration to the audience of “cross-section of the side track of the Mexican tree of natural resource law". The “rings on a fresh cut” give an idea on the development of this branch of law, its current state, “vectors for expansion”, as well as possess substantial originality. The author suggests “nationalization of natural resource management” within the framework of its pursuit of factual Unitarianism, leaving de jure federalism as an opportunity for historical reunification with the lost territories.

Evaluation of the animal husbandry economy and meat consumption in the early and classical developmental phases of the Lusatian culture in Witów, site 1, Koszyce commune

Archaeological excavations conducted since 2002 in Witów, site 1, Koszyce commune have provided a large collection of animal bone remains. Analysis of this source category became the basis for evaluating the economic model in the early and classical developmental phases of the Lusatian settlement on this site. In both analyzed chronological periods, the basis for obtaining meat was animal husbandry. The dominant component in the analyzed collection is that of cattle bone remains, followed by sheep and goats as well as pigs in third place. Such species distribution indicates a plant cultivation/animal husbandry economy with a large share of pastoral traditions. One of the important areas of natural resource management was the collection of freshwater bivalves, which probably resulted from natural conditions. The low percentage of wild animal remains indicates that hunting played a marginal role in the sphere of economic activity of the communities analyzed. The lack of noticeable transformations in the domestic animals management system suggests that the economic model chosen in the early settlement phase turned out to be the most optimal strategy in relation to the environmental realities. A comparative analysis of the animal husbandry economy in Witów with other settlements of the Lusatian culture in Małopolska (Lesser Poland) and Śląsk (Silesia) showed some common trends. The obtained results indicate that apart from environmental pressure, cultural considerations and animal husbandry tradition to some extent determined the choice of the economic model.

When Public Officers Take the Lead in Collaborative Governance

Governments are investing considerable time and resources in the field of collaborative governance as it proliferates throughout many sectors, and how public officers choose to respond to these developments therefore becomes an important question. The increased public involvement that collaborative governance brings is often more costly than traditional forms of governance, while the outcomes are highly uncertain. For these reasons, it is important that collaborative governance is only used when really warranted, and the various forms that it can take should be carefully designed. In this study, we apply a typology of collaboration strategies to examine firstly, the circumstances under which leading officers at four county administrative boards in the Swedish mountain region decide to lead collaboration, and secondly what collaboration strategies they then apply. This study is based on 20 interviews with key officers, and 39 interviews with project leaders of public-private collaborations in the area of natural resource management in the region. We find that officers should take trust levels into account when designing collaboration strategies, not least the lack of official trust. Strategies are found to be not mutually exclusive but complementary, and officers employ several at the same time. Interestingly, the results of this study show that – somewhat counter-intuitively – distrust is a driver for officers to initiate collaboration, a conclusion which questions the common view that more trust unequivocally translates into more participation.

Quantification of Qualitative Data: A Case of Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Water Resource Management

Problem solving role of disciplines demands a focus on Natural Resource management, which in itself is amultidisciplinary effort. Remote Sensing and GIS technologies provide immense potential in natural resource management. But Natural Resource Management within the ambit of Geography is not only concerned with “where” but also with “why”. This why poses difficulty in quantification because “why” is inherent qualitative. This study comes out with the review of studies which tried to quantify the qualitative data in the area of natural resource management. With a focus on water resource management this study gives an insight into the potentials and problems of integration of social aspect with the spatial aspect.

Potential users’ perceptions of general purpose water accounting reports

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of potential users about water accounting reports prepared under Australian general purpose water accounting (GPWA), which applies financial accounting techniques to water and could be extended to other areas of natural resource management. In particular, the paper examines the extent to which users believe GPWA reports are useful and facilitate the discharge of accountability by water managers. Design/methodology/approach – As a theoretical lens the authors apply an extended version of Gray et al.’s (1996) accountability model. The authors utilise mixed method research design comprising a questionnaire administered to users with water-related interests and an analysis of public submissions to the Water Accounting Standards Board on the Exposure Draft of Australian Water Accounting Standard 1. Findings – Overall, users perceive the introduction of GPWA as useful and believe that the benefits will outweigh the costs. The adoption of a financial accounting approach in terms of accounting standards and prescribed methods for booking and disclosing water “transactions” was broadly supported. In terms of the main users of reports, there was some ambiguity but findings suggested that government agencies were likely to be the main users of GPWA. Users were also concerned about the degree of judgement required to determine the identity and boundaries of a “water report entity”. Perhaps the most controversial aspect related to accountability; while the Accountability Statement was broadly supported there was little consensus that GPWA collectively discharged the accountability of water managers. Taken collectively, these results suggest that GPWA may be more useful for improving management performance than accountability. Practical implications – The findings suggest that future iterations of the standard need to reconsider how accountability might be discharged through the production of GPWA. The broad support for GPWA suggests, however, that the financial accounting approach – and hence the accounting community – may also make a valuable contribution to other areas of natural resource accounting. Originality/value – This study contributes to the emerging but still limited literature on GPWA and the fundamentally different approach to natural resource accounting it represents. While some previous studies have examined potential users of GPWA none have done so after the standard has been fully developed, and no previous studies have adopted the mixed research design utilised in this study.

Perceptions of Australian marine protected area managers regarding the role, importance, and achievability of adaptation for managing the risks of climate change

The rapid development of adaptation as a mainstream strategy for managing the risks of climate change has led to the emergence of a broad range of adaptation policies and management strategies globally. However, the success of such policies or management interventions depends on the effective integration of new scientific research into the decision-making process. Ineffective communication between scientists and environmental decision makers represents one of the key barriers limiting the integration of science into the decision-making process in many areas of natural resource management. This can be overcome by understanding the perceptions of end users, so as to identify knowledge gaps and develop improved and targeted strategies for communication and engagement. We assessed what one group of environmental decision makers, Australian marine protected area (MPA) managers, viewed as the major risks associated with climate change, and their perceptions regarding the role, importance, and achievability of adaptation for managing these risks. We also assessed what these managers perceived as the role of science in managing the risks from climate change, and identified the factors that increased their trust in scientific information. We do so by quantitatively surveying 30 MPA managers across 3 Australian management agencies. We found that although MPA managers have a very strong awareness of the range and severity of risks posed by climate change, their understanding of adaptation as an option for managing these risks is less comprehensive. We also found that although MPA managers view science as a critical source of information for informing the decision-making process, it should be considered in context with other knowledge types such as community and cultural knowledge, and be impartial, evidence based, and pragmatic in outlining policy and management recommendations that are realistically achievable.

The Future of the Commons - Beyond Market Failure and Government Regulation

Traditional economic models of how to manage environmental problems relating to renewable natural resources, such as fisheries, have tended to recommend either government regulation or privatisation and the explicit definition of property rights.These traditional models ignore the practical reality of natural resource management. Many communities are able to spontaneously develop their own approaches to managing such common-pool resources. In the words of Mark Pennington: ‘[Professor Ostrom’s] book Governing the Commons is a superb testament to the understanding that can be gained when economists observe in close-up detail how people craft arrangements to solve problems in ways often beyond the imagination of textbook theorists.’In particular, communities are often able to find stable and effective ways to define the boundaries of a common-pool resource, define the rules for its use and effectively enforce those rules.The effective management of a natural resource often requires ‘polycentric’ systems of governance where various entities have some role in the process. Government may play a role in some circumstances, perhaps by providing information to resource users or by assisting enforcement processes through court systems.Elinor Ostrom’s work in this field, for which she won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2009, was grounded in the detailed empirical study of how communities managed common-pool resources in practice.It is essential that we avoid the ‘panacea problem.’ There is no correct way to manage common-pool resources that will always be effective. Different ways of managing resources will be appropriate in different contexts – for example within different cultures or where there are different physical characteristics of a natural resource.Nevertheless, there are principles that we can draw from the detailed study of the salient features of different cases to help us understand how different common-pool resources might be best managed; which rules systems and systems of organisation have the best chance of success or failure; and so on.Elinor Ostrom’s approach has been praised by the left, who often see it as being opposed to free-market privatisation initiatives. In fact, her approach sits firmly within the classical liberal tradition of political economy. She observes communities freely choosing their own mechanisms to manage natural resource problems without government coercion or planning.In developing a viable approach to the management of the commons, it is important, among other things, that a resource can be clearly defined and that the rules governing the use of the resource are adapted to local conditions. This suggests that rules imposed from outside, such as by government agencies, are unlikely to be successful.There are important areas of natural resource management where Elinor Ostrom’s ideas should be adopted to avoid environmental catastrophe. Perhaps the most obvious example relevant to the UK is in European Union fisheries policy. Here, there is one centralised model for the management of the resource that is applied right across the European Union, ignoring all the evidence about the failure of that approach.

Interactive simulations for promoting transdisciplinary understanding: a case study of the Western Cape fisheries, South Africa

Simulations have proven beneficial in enabling participants from various backgrounds to meaningfully engage in learning from experience. The aim of this paper is to investigate how interactive simulations can play a role in navigating the changes faced in a multi- stakeholder setting, characterised by users dependent on marine resources and an authorising institution. Relevant literature in the areas of simulation and gaming, change management, systems thinking, and complexity theory was examined. A qualitative research approach and purposive sampling were employed. Interviews were first conducted with diverse stakeholders in the Western Cape fisheries of South Africa to determine the issues. A simulation was thereafter designed. The main findings from this study indicate that simulation use illustrates how the various stakeholders in a system interact, and how their actions and decisions influence each other. The simulation may be used in other areas of natural resource management, as well as in other kinds of multi- stakeholder scenarios.Keywords: Simulation and gaming, Change management, Fisheries, Multi-stakeholder scenarios, Systems thinking, Complexity theoryDisciplines: Conflict Resolution, Leadership Studies, Management Studies, Natural Resource Management

Institutional Intervention in River Water Management: The Study of Yamuna River Sub-Basin in India

Water is a primary resource for several human activities, and rivers are a major source of water in several parts of India. Unfortunately, rivers also becoming a major sink of wastes that flow into them. River water management is an important area of natural resource management that crosses several disciplines, and, in order to be more effective, it requires public intervention through appropriate institution and an action plan approach. River water authority is normally set up for assuming the managerial function of river water administration (mostly at regional/ basin level), particularly with regard to the sharing/allocation of river water. The allocation of river water in itself is a contentious subject, especially when it flows through several states; a similar problem arises now with regard to its pollution across them.This paper makes an attempt to highlight the status of water of an inter-state river (river Yamuna), and discusses the need for establishing an exclusive administering agency for ensuring better river water quality and quantity. It first analyses the critical state of Yamuna river water resource in the past and the impending need for public intervention; the use of economic values of water as one of the guiding principles of prioritization and allocation of water to uses and jurisdictions is also discussed. It also takes stock of the performance of the implementation of Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) as an institutional approach towards river water management, and attempts to identify the alternate institutional arrangements and appropriate policy instruments for achieving the objectives within a broad management framework.

Participatory Approaches to Modelling for Improved Learning and Decision‐making in Natural Resource Governance: an Editorial

P ARTICIPATORY PROCESSES PLAY AN INCREASINGLY SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN NATURAL RESOURCE GOVERNANCE (Rauschmayer et al., 2009; Dietz and Stern, 2008; Stoll-Kleemann and Welp, 2006). Given such typical challenges as high levels of uncertainty about resources and their use, deep conflicts among stakeholders or serious deficits in rule implementation, the development of innovative ways of including stakeholders in managing resources such as fish stocks, forests or river basins continues to be an important field of research. Closer attention has been paid in the past decade in Europe and across the world to ways of opening up the field of modelling to stakeholder involvement (Hare et al., 2003; Ritzema et al., 2010; and Webler et al.). For a long time, this field had been considered an exclusive domain of ‘experts’ in formal representations of natural resources and their utilization. The increased attention to the potential that combining modelling techniques with participatory procedures may hold for improving or guiding natural resource governance needs to be seen against the background of the growing importance of models as tools for informing policies on the management of natural resources. In several areas of natural resource management, such as fisheries management or water quality management, the trend in the past decades has been to base management decisions to a greater extent on analytical attempts to model sequential, functional or even causal relationships between human interventions and natural responses. Moreover, in the modelling research community there is currently a trend towards producing ever more large and complex computer-based models. These highly complex models should not be seen as products of overambitious computer programmers. They are typically a response to demands from policy-makers and stakeholders to carry out more integrated assessments and to better account for uncertainties (Jakeman and Letcher, 2003; Refsgaard et al., 2005; Motos and Wilson, 2006). The continuing proliferation of what has been called ‘models for policy’ (Webler et al., pointing out the contrast with ‘models for science’) has stimulated a wider discussion of what could be appropriate ways to use such models in the governance process. One question central to this discussion is the possible role that stakeholders can play in model-supported resource governance. Against this backdrop, we organized an international expert workshop on ‘Participatory Modelling in Natural Resource Governance’ which took place in June 2009 in Haigerloch, Germany. The workshop was carried out within the FP7 research project JAKFISH (short for Judgement And Knowledge in Fisheries Including StakeHolders, 2008–2011; Pastoors et al., 2010). Its main objective was to collect experiences with using participatory modelling techniques in other areas of natural resource management and to build on them in the project’s attempt to develop and test such techniques in the field of fisheries (Dreyer and Renn, 2009). The papers in this special issue of Environmental Policy and Governance are drawn from this workshop.

River Water Management: Policy Making and Public Intervention for Conservation of Water Quality and Quantity

Water is a primary resource for several human activities, and rivers are a major source of water. River water management is an important area of natural resource management that crosses several disciplines. Effective river water management requires public intervention through appropriate policy and institution. This paper first discusses the rationale, strategies, valuation and principles of policy making in the context of river water management. Subsequently, the need for using this policymaking framework in the context of critical state of Yamuna river water resource is discussed. The paper emphasizes on a programmatic approach towards river water management using appropriate policy instruments for achieving the objectives.

Agent‐based modeling in ecological economics

Interconnected social and environmental systems are the domain of ecological economics, and models can be used to explore feedbacks and adaptations inherent in these systems. Agent-based modeling (ABM) represents autonomous entities, each with dynamic behavior and heterogeneous characteristics. Agents interact with each other and their environment, resulting in emergent outcomes at the macroscale that can be used to quantitatively analyze complex systems. ABM is contributing to research questions in ecological economics in the areas of natural resource management and land-use change, urban systems modeling, market dynamics, changes in consumer attitudes, innovation, and diffusion of technology and management practices, commons dilemmas and self-governance, and psychological aspects to human decision making and behavior change. Frontiers for ABM research in ecological economics involve advancing the empirical calibration and validation of models through mixed methods, including surveys, interviews, participatory modeling, and, notably, experimental economics to test specific decision-making hypotheses. Linking ABM with other modeling techniques at the level of emergent properties will further advance efforts to understand dynamics of social-environmental systems.

The power of participatory monitoring and evaluation: insights from south-west China

This article examines the capacity-building experiences of two research teams in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces in south-west China who used participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) to strengthen their development research, particularly in the area of natural-resource management (NRM). The authors describe their efforts to incorporate PM&E practices in their work. The process proved challenging, despite political and economic changes in China that aim to allow more space for local voice and decision-making power in the management of natural resources and other village affairs. Institutionalising PM&E has still a long way to go and will require more field practice, greater integration in the processes of organisational development, and stronger connections with agendas of political change.

Collaborative Stewardship of Arizona's Rangelands

C ollaboration has become a buzzword in natural resource management. But what does it mean, and how is it affecting what happens on the ground? To answer these questions, we studied collaborative partnerships on Arizona rangelands by 1) contacting resource management professionals to identify as many collaborative partnerships as we could and 2) surveying a selected subset of these collaboratives by telephone. Our objectives were to determine the extent of collaboration on Arizona rangelands, identify the types of collaboratives active in the state, and describe the roles they are playing in the management of Arizona's rangelands. Although we recognized that collaboration is a growing trend in the West, we were stunned when we identified > 100 collaborative partnerships on rangelands alone. We found that Arizona collaboratives are diverse in their purposes and participants and are involved in many facets of rangeland management. They play a significant role in many areas of natural resource management, especially monitoring. However, most groups view their major achievements (and challenges), as organizational development and community capacity building.

The practice of participatory research and gender analysis in natural resource management

Abstract Stakeholder participation is expected to improve the efficiency, equity, and sustainability of natural resource management research and development (R&D) projects by ensuring that research reflects users’ priorities, needs, capabilities, and constraints. Use of participatory methods and tools is growing rapidly; however, there is little systematic evidence about what participation actually means in practice, or about what difference it makes. Based on an inventory of 59 self‐described participatory R&D projects in the area of natural resource management, this article characterizes the typical project and analyzes how stakeholders are selected, how they participate in the research process, and what their involvement means for project costs and impacts. The results suggest that, while projects are generating a range of direct and indirect benefits for participants, more careful attention needs to be paid to achieving equitable impacts. Current practices may lag behind best practices in key areas, such as power sharing and participant selection, and may therefore be missing important contributions from women and other marginalized groups.

Geomorphological analysis for inventory of degraded lands in a river basin of basaltic terrain using remote sensing and GIS

In recent years, the use of remotely sensed data and Geographic Information System (GIS) applications has been found increasing in a wide range of resources inventory, mapping, analysis, monitoring and environmental management. Remote sensing data provides an opportunity for better observation and systematic analysis of terrain conditions following the synoptic and multi-spectral coverage. In the present study, the geomorphological analysis reveals that various denudational and depositional landforms have been analysed and mapped. The soil depth ranges from extremely shallow in isolated mounds to very deep in the pediplains. Based on the slope gradient, morphometry, soil depth, vegetation cover and image characteristics of standard FCC imagery of IRS-1D LISS-III data, four categories of eroded lands i.e., very severe, severe, moderate and nil to slight have been identified and mapped. The integrated analysis of slope, geomorphology and degraded lands layers in GIS revealed that the pediplains, rolling plains and subdued plateau are associated with very severe land degradation and accounts for 6.05%, 3.85% and 3.47% of total area respectively. The analysis of percentage of degraded lands at geomorphic sub unit level indicates that severe land degradation process is dominant in the dissected ridges, isolated mounds, escarpments and plateau spurs. The remote sensing data and GIS based detailed geomorphological and degraded lands analysis ensure better understanding of landform-eroded lands relationship and distribution to assess the status of land degradation at micro geomorphic unit for reclamation, geo-environmental planning and management. Similar study also helps in the areas of natural resource management, environmental planning and management, watershed management and hazards monitoring and mitigation.

Decision Analysis: A Method for Taking Uncertainties into Account in Risk-Based Decision Making

The assessment of human and ecological risks and associated risk-management decisions are characterized by only partial knowledge of the relevant systems. Typically, large variability and measurement errors in data create challenges for estimating risks and identifying appropriate management strategies. The formal quantitative method of decision analysis can help deal with these challenges because it takes uncertainties into account explicitly and quantitatively. In recent years, research in several areas of natural resource management has demonstrated that decision analysis can identify policies that are appropriate in the presence of uncertainties. More importantly, the resulting optimal decision is often different from the one that would have been chosen had the uncertainties not been taken into account quantitatively. However, challenges still exist to effective implementation of decision analysis.