Collective Resource Management Research Articles

Urban Greening Management Arrangements between Municipalities and Citizens for Effective Climate Adaptation Pathways: Four Case Studies from The Netherlands

The transition towards nature-based cities has increasingly become a central focus in political–environmental agendas and urban design practices, aiming to enhance climate adaptation, urban biodiversity, spatial equilibrium, and social well-being as part of the ongoing socio-ecological urban transition process. Climate adaptation in cities is a complex problem and one of the main collective challenges for society, but the relationships between city managers and citizens as to urban green care still face many challenges. Parks design guided by technical-expert and globalised criteria; inflexibility from bureaucratic inertia; and citizens’ demands to participate in the urban green transition, sometimes without the necessary knowledge or time, are some of the challenges that require further research. In this study, we examine four long-lasting approaches to green-space management in four cities in the Netherlands, ranging from municipality-driven to community-driven management forms, and encompassing diverse spatial configurations of greenery within the urban fabric. Utilising the theoretical lens of the Social–Ecological Systems Framework, we employ a multiple-case-study approach and ethnographic fieldwork analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the norms, collective-choice rules, and social conventions embodied in each urban green management arrangement. The purpose of this research is applied, that is, to provide urban managers and decision-makers with a deeper understanding of drivers to promote effective collaborative management approaches, focusing on specific organisational rules that may contribute to more sustained planning and maintenance pathways for urban green spaces, regardless of changes in political leadership or significant external funding sources. The results of the investigated cases show that long-lasting collaborative management of forests and parks has established a set of collective-choice rules for resource transfer between municipalities and citizens, including non-monetary resources (such as pruning-training courses or guided tours that attract tourists and researchers). Additionally, these arrangements have been favoured by the existence of legal norms that enable co-ownership of the land, and monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms that offer a slightly different interpretation from the evidence identified so far in the scientific literature on collective resource management and organisational studies.

Firefly synchronicity and platform mound building by indigenous peoples of the Florida Peninsula, USA

ABSTRACT Although archaeologists often highlight the capacity of our field to identify broad-scale patterning in human societies, critiques of social evolution led many to focus on shorter-term, local histories. Drawing from a recent review of alternative models, we employ firefly synchronicity – the rhythmic coordination of flashing observed in some species of bioluminescent fireflies – as a model for understanding patterning in the timing of platform mound construction by Indigenous peoples of Tampa Bay, on the western coast of the Florida peninsula, USA. Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates and isotopic studies of oyster shells from three neighbouring sites reveals rhythmic coordination in the construction of platform mounds across the first millennium CE. We relate this patterning to interaction in seasonal and longer-term ritual cycles which may have facilitated collective management of zero-sum common property resources. Firefly synchronicity provides a useful model for identifying patterning in archaeological phenomena without much of the baggage of social evolution.

Using the institutional grammar to understand collective resource management in a heterogenous cooperative facing external shocks

AbstractWorker cooperatives in the gig economy can involve large and heterogeneous memberships, which makes them vulnerable to member opportunism depleting collective resources. External shocks may present another challenge for collective resource management. This raises the question of how heterogeneous cooperatives design rules to mitigate opportunistic behavior and whether these rules evolve in the face of external shocks. We study the case of Smart Belgium between 2017 and 2022, thereby covering the COVID‐19 pandemic and new cooperative legislation as external shocks. Building on the institutional grammar methodology, we analyze 412 rules of Smart. The findings indicate that external shocks with sudden resource scarcity do not necessarily motivate rule changes (COVID‐19) while external shocks without an effect on collective resources can motivate rule changes (national policy change). The study also shows what kind of rules heterogeneous cooperatives may design to mitigate opportunism.

How to unite local initiatives for a more sustainable global future

This article challenges the belief in high-tech solutions to solve socio-environmental crises, proposing a political vision beyond "green growth" and "ecomodernism.". It advocates for a commons-based technology framework, promoting collective resource management for sustainability. We thus introduce "cosmolocal" production, a configuration that strives to connect communities around shared resources and serve their needs while minimizing ecological impact. Despite acknowledged tensions, we contend that the cosmolocal framework could foster institutional and social change, aiming to address environmental degradation and wealth inequality. To support this contention on cosmolocal production's potential, we point to several successful examples from the open-source technology paradigm.

Collective Resource Management and Labor Quota Systems for Sustainable Natural Resource Management in Semi-Arid Ethiopia

Since the mid-1970s, natural resource management package programs have been implemented mainly in the northern Ethiopian Highlands (Amhara and Tigray regions), providing participants with food-for-work (FFW) supported by donor agencies. Meanwhile, the government has sporadically implemented such programs in the Ethiopian Lowlands, including the semi-arid Ethiopian Rift Valley (the study area). Local villagers took the initiative to manage various natural and life resources. In this study, the following factors were determined: (i) the type of village organization that manages common-pool resources (CPRs) and controls collective work, and (ii) the kind of institutional arrangements that should be implemented in participatory CPR management and small-scale village infrastructure development programs. These issues were investigated using mixed methods research, combining multivariate analyses, interviews, and field observation. The analyses were compared specifically with advanced participatory CPR management in Tigray, northern semi-arid Ethiopia. Tigray has an indigenous labor quota system (baito) and a collective grazing land management system (hizati) at the hamlet (qushet) level. Since 1991, the Tigray government has incorporated hamlets into the local administration system and supplied FFW and other incentives to participants with a high participation rate in the baito collective work. Those institutional arrangements helped reduce soil erosion rates and restore grass and tree biomass in the area. In the study area, user groups and youth and women’s associations were (and still are) institutionally fragile CPR organizations (e.g., no bylaws). In contrast, an iddir is a robust CPR organization at the hamlet (gott) level having a labor quota system (iddir system) and funds. The requirements for sustainable participatory rural development in the two regions of semi-arid Ethiopia are, first, to institutionalize a local administration system that links the district, village, and hamlet; and second, to use various incentives provided by donor agencies to strengthen their indigenous labor quota systems.

Promoting sustainable fisheries and aquaculture – Enabling policies, innovation and challenges for achieving sustainable blue economies in Ambon, Maluku Province, Indonesia

Sustainable blue economies have become a priority policy for coastal and island countries. It is also the case for Indonesia as it is an archipelago country endowed with a wide-spreading ocean. It must be sustained by key guiding policy principles such as environmental conservation, sustainable management of natural resources, and livelihood improvement. These policy objectives must be pursued in an integrated and coherent manner. Yet, Indonesia faces multiple governance challenges to achieve such goals. Multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral collaborations are indispensable. Innovation is also needed for policy development, technological advancement, and social partnership. Capacity development is a policy imperative at the local, sub-national, and national levels. International partnership is also important to promote transboundary and sub-regional ecosystem-based and collective marine resource management in the context of achieving sustainable blue economies particularly, through sustainable fisheries and eliminating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Multifaceted and interdisciplinary approaches need to be reinforced to overcome composite challenges.

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The Role Analysis of the Physical Environment, Socio-Economic, and the Urgency of Tat Tvam Asi in Collective Resource Management Multicultural Subak

This study aims to determine the effect of the role of the physical environment, socio-economics and the urgency of governance on the management of multicultural subak collective resources. The type of research is quantitative. The sampling technique used was a random sampling technique determined by the slovin formula—data collection techniques in distributing questionnaires and measured using a Likert scale. The study was conducted in Subak spread across the province of Bali by adhering to multiculturalism, and the sample used in the study was 170. Data or statistical analysis techniques in the study were considered using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with WarpPLS 5.0 software modelling. The results show that the role of the physical environment does not have a significant effect on the management of the multicultural subak collective resources. In contrast, socio-economics and the urgency of governance significantly affect the management of the multicultural subak collective resources. This research focuses on multicultural subak, which contains the concept of Tri Hita Karana, which includes Parhyangan, Pawongan and Palemahan and Tat Tvam Asi is an embodiment of love for all beings. These two concepts link the subak organisation to continue to manage spiritually-based collective resources.

Ethical Values in a Post-Industrial Economy: The Case of the Organic Farmers’ Market in Granada (Spain)

The importance of the collective management of immaterial resources is a key variable in the valorisation of products in a post-industrial economy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how, in post-industrial economies, it is possible to devise alternative forms of mediation between producers and consumers, such as organic farmers' markets, to curb the appropriation of rent by transnational and/or local business elites from the value created by immaterial resources. More specifically, we analyse those aspects of the collective management of ethical values that, in the case of organic farmers' markets, can be a strategic source of competitive advantage for local producers. In this paper, the Ecomercado de Granada is studied as an example of mediation between production and consumption in a post-industrial economy.

Climate change-induced livelihood adaptive strategies and perceptions of forest-dependent communities: The case of Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Many South African rural communities depend directly or indirectly on natural forests to meet their livelihoods. Climate change can alter many of the mutual relationships between rural communities and natural resources (forests) by posing a variety of new challenges to these resources, agriculture, biodiversity, rural livelihoods and food (in) security. This study aimed to assess how forest-dependent rural communities perceive climate change and how that perception and other socio-economic factors affect their adaptation. In doing so, it identifies the barriers and enablers to adaptation in response to changes in the community forest status that threaten their livelihoods. The study employed a multinomial logit (MNL) model to analyse how socio-economic and institutional factors influence their choices among the alternative livelihood strategies. The study reveals that factors such as the capacity of community forests to support rural community livelihoods, awareness of community members about the change in temperature and rainfall, and the trend in the availability of natural forest products play important roles in enhancing adaptation capabilities. In addition, households with better knowledge about the trend in temperature and rainfall and also those endowed with human capital are less likely to create pressure on natural forests. Taking forests and their services as impure public goods, the study recommends the need for public-private partnerships (between local municipalities/government and/or non-government entities and the private sector) to invest in building institutions that improve community forest governance, capacity empowerment on collective management of common-pool resources, and creating employment and livelihood opportunities to forest-dependent rural communities.

Strong Village Leadership vs. Government Investment: Reflections on a Community Reconstruction Case in Southwest China

In post-socialist China, the village’s collective management over community farmland, forestry, and other resources has been greatly undermined since China’s reform and opening up in the early 1980s. The subsequent rural-urban migration has further dismantled rural communities. Efforts have been made to revitalise the countryside, yet little success has been achieved. This paper closely examines one community reconstruction case that experienced two development stages: village committee-led internal development based on collective management of community resources, and tourism development externally subsidised by the government. Unsuccessful as it is, the case shows the vital role of collective resource management in comparison to external subsidies and investment in community reconstruction. It also suggests that a strong community leadership can initiate the process of community reconstruction, but a lack of mobilisation and participation of community members creates underlying issues that threaten its sustainability.

Monte compartido, monte dividido. Apropiación y gestión de un paisaje de montaña: Los seles de la sierra de Hernio (País Vasco), siglos XIV-XIX

Mountain landscapes reflect the interaction between human groups and their environment. This relation relies on social practices aimed at the appropriation and management of mountain resources, like agriculture, forestry, and husbandry. This paper proposes a reconsideration of mountain landscapes in the Atlantic sector of the Basque Country as highly anthropized spaces, defined by a constant intersection of social actors and practices. The combined study of documentary sources, toponymy and a surficial archaeological survey allows for the recognition of different historical processes. These are linked to collective management of mountain resources, arbitration as a mean of conflict resolution, or regulation of diverse and complementary land uses. All this has permitted to partially overcome the apparent illegibility of a highly diversified and fragmented landscape.

Questioning Mountain Rural Commons in Changing Alpine Regions. An Exploratory Study in Trentino, Italy

Most of rural resources in the Italian mountain territories, such as forests, pastures, huts, mountain paths, have historically been governed through collective organizations and institutions that have guaranteed the balance between productive activities and environmental protection. These systems can be framed according to the literature on commons. Although the model of collective resource management is still strongly rooted in the Alpine region, socioeconomic changes underway call into question the way resources are conceived, used and managed by communities and the very concept of community as a reference for a collective resource. Few studies have focused on the transformation and adaptation of commons to the changes taking place, such as the progressive penetration of global economic and demographic megatrends at the local level, with the aim of decoding the new tension between community needs and societal needs. By referring to the concepts of resilience and transformability of social-ecological systems, this paper aims to reflect on the impact of the socioeconomic transformations underway in mountain rural regions, to search for new approaches for the conceptualization of commons and to investigate how commons can be transformed in order to make them resilient and more socially inclusive. For that, an extensive literature review and an exploratory fieldwork using a case study approach have been performed. The paper´s results are exploratory, from which working hypotheses have been derived to be explored in further studies. These hypotheses relate to socio-economic and cultural practices as well as approaches that would enable the re-embedding of the commons in the economy and society undergoing change.

Applying Elinor Ostrom's Design Principles to Guide Co-Design in Health(care) Improvement: A Case Study with Citizens Returning to the Community from Jail in Los Angeles County.

Introduction:Increased interest in collaborative and inclusive approaches to healthcare improvement makes revisiting Elinor Ostrom’s ‘design principles’ for enabling collective management of common pool resources (CPR) in polycentric systems a timely endeavour.Theory and method:Ostrom proposed a generalisable set of eight core design principles for the efficacy of groups. To consider the utility of Ostrom’s principles for the planning, delivery, and evaluation of future health(care) improvement we retrospectively apply them to a recent co-design project.Results:Three distinct aspects of co-design were identified through consideration of the principles. These related to: (1) understanding and mapping the system (2) upholding democratic values and (3) regulating participation. Within these aspects four of Ostrom’s eight principles were inherently observed. Consideration of the remaining four principles could have enhanced the systemic impact of the co-design process.Discussion:Reconceptualising co-design through the lens of CPR offers new insights into the successful system-wide application of such approaches for the purpose of health(care) improvement.Conclusion:The eight design principles – and the relationships between them – form a heuristic that can support the planning, delivery, and evaluation of future healthcare improvement projects adopting co-design. They may help to address questions of how to scale up and embed such approaches as self-sustaining in wider systems.

Can living labs offer a pathway to support local agri-food sustainability transitions?

Living labs are defined as both an approach and an arena for supporting experimentation in natural settings with a wide range of actors. In this article we explore the potential and limits of living labs for analysing and supporting the local transition of agri-food systems. We base on a bibliometric analysis and insights from our transdisciplinary research team’s experience with agroecological transition. It appears that living labs informed mainly by strategic managerial and user-centric approaches benefiting the dissemination of (technological) innovation, require certain changes in order to address sustainable development issues. Citizen-centred living lab approaches are better suited to increase capacity building and empowerment through action, iterative learning, and capitalization of experience. Faced with the specific issues of local agri-food system transition, we propose to (re)-introduce the notion of “commons” in order to support the collective territorial management of both material resources (food, environment) and immaterial resources (values, ideas).

No forest, no dispute: the rights-based approach to creating an enabling environment for participatory forest management based on a case from Madhupur Sal Forest, Bangladesh

This study explored whether and how the duty-bearer applied a rights-based approach (RBA) in the context of long-running disputes in Madhupur Sal Forest, Bangladesh to transform conflicts into solutions for collective management of forest resources. Using a case study design, we applied a timeline method and semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect data. The grounded theory approach was used to reconstruct the experiences of tribal forest dwellers, and identify the common themes of RBA. The study revealed that neglecting the rights of the forest dwellers led to ineffective policies and programs and, subsequently, to long-running conflicts. In order to sustain collaboration, it is necessary to integrate rights-based discussions with desired recognition, promises, instruction, and welfare provision, considering freedom, security, need for information, and delegating responsibilities. The study provides insights into how forest duty-bearers should consider the broader perspective of RBA in order to sustain their initiatives and achieve the conservation goal.

Determinants of successful collective management of forest resources: Evidence from Kenyan Community Forest Associations

The collective participation of local communities in the management and utilization of forest resources is now widely accepted as a possible solution to the failure of centralized, top-down approaches to forest conservation. Under such initiatives, communities in Kenya have organized themselves into Community Forest Associations (CFAs). Despite the proliferation of CFAs, forest conservation outcomes have been mixed. Little is known about the factors that influence the success of collective action in forest conservation. Using data from 518 households and 22 CFAs within the Mau forest conservancy, this study employed regression techniques to analyze factors that influence household participation in CFA activities. Further, the study investigated the determinants of successful collective action, as measured by the percentage of forest cover and the number of reported cases of vandalism of forest resources. The relationship between household participation and success of collective action was also established. Collective action is more successful where household participation is high, the associations are initiated by the communities themselves, the associations interact frequently with government departments, and the forest cover is low, among other factors. The factors that influence the level of household participation are also identified.

Change, Collective Action, and Cultural Resilience in Páramo Management in Ecuador

This study examines how agricultural frontier expansion and grazing practices develop in the páramos under communal tenure in the northern Ecuadorian Andes and how rules to control them emerge within communal governance. We approach these questions through the lens of collective action and cultural resilience, to understand the evolution of communal governance. We analyze a case study of the Comité de Páramo Ñukanchik Urku, a multicommunal organization created in the 1990s for collective resource management. We use the analytical framework of social–ecological systems (SES) to approach changes of the agricultural frontiers and grazing activities as conservation outcomes resulting from changes in resource units, actors, and governance structures. Through a mixed-method approach combining air photo analysis (years 1956, 1993, and 2008) and qualitative research, we examine spatial patterns of settlement and agricultural frontier expansion, historical grazing practices, and the main elements of current collective páramo management. Our results indicate that: (1) the demarcation of an agreed agricultural frontier as a territorial landmark is a response aiming to control the increase of crops and dwellings at higher elevations, and to limit grazing activities; (2) the authority's legitimation of the Committee and its Board is crucial to develop rules and to enforce them; and (3) legitimation is achieved through conservation knowledge and autonomous decisions to control páramos considered a communal territory. A broader comprehension of the context and history of cultural change is needed to understand the emergence of communal governance of páramos. Cultural-political dimensions are key to the cultural resilience of social systems in SES and to strengthening rules and institutional diversity to manage the commons in Andean communities.

Robust Bidding Strategy and Profit Allocation for Cooperative DSR Aggregators With Correlated Wind Power Generation

Aggregation is an effective way of collective management of demand-side resources (DSRs). As an independent entity in electricity market, DSR aggregator can participate in both the energy and ancillary services markets. The DSR aggregator's optimal bidding strategy is subject to market price uncertainties and resource variability. In this paper, spatial correlation of wind power generation is considered in developing a robust DSR bidding strategy which takes into account individual and cooperative aggregators. The proposed model is transformed into and solved as a mixed integer second order cone programming (MISOCP) problem. The Aumann–Shapley procedure is applied in this paper to allocate the payoff among cooperative DSR aggregators considering potential uncertainties. By replacing binary variables with their optimal values, the original MISOCP is transformed into a second order cone programming (SOCP) problem and Lagrange multipliers are employed for the implantation of a discrete Aumann–Shapley procedure. Case studies verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed bidding model and payoff allocation procedure.

Pest management: Reconciling farming practices and natural regulations

Stimulation of ecological processes of natural pest regulation is a promising avenue for inventing new crop protection models, and reducing the dependence of agricultural systems on pesticides. Here, we review and discuss this emerging approach for the development of agroecological management of insect pests, and necessary bridges between agronomy, ecology, and social sciences. Ecological regulation can be harnessed through better knowledge of the life system of pest populations, interactions with trophic resources and natural enemies in agroecosystems, and incorporation of both cultivated and uncultivated habitats in the landscape as the framework to analyse ecological processes. Harnessing these regulation processes also entails taking into consideration the perception of local stakeholders in a participative approach to collective management of resources and innovation processes. The approach that we propose for improved management of crop pests consists in reconciling (i) action on the environment through biodiversity-friendly farming practices and technical innovations, and (ii) action on the landscape to stimulate the ecological processes involved in natural pest regulation. This approach entails a fundamental shift in the contours of action, from a conventional, often individual and independent approach of systematic or symptomatic interventions at a field scale, to collective organisation and management of ecosystem services at a territory scale, also including ecological, economic and social dimensions.