Common Natural Resources Research Articles

Podejście oparte na teorii gier w ekonomicznej współpracy dla zrównoważonego rozwoju: optymizacja South Pars – North Dome Field pomiędzy Iranem a Katarem

Cooperation between countries in the exploitation of common natural resources such as oil and gas contributes to the optimization of resources, prevention of unsustainable extraction, promotion of long-term resource sustainability, strengthening diplomatic relations, and promoting peace, playing a significant role in the economic growth of countries. This research presents a modeling of the extraction of interested countries from a common resource using triangular distribution and game theory approach. The modeling is designed based on the share of the parties in the common resource and the extraction capability (in terms of the sanction factor). The results indicate that the extraction level of each country from the common resource depends on both the share of the interested parties and the level of sanction imposed on them. Moreover, if a sanction is imposed on one or both countries, a portion of the resources will not be extracted. Among the most important results, we can point out that only if the amount of sanctions is very severe, then the extraction of resources for Iran has no economic justification.

Reduction in Public Forest Productivity (The Common Natural Resource Capital) of the Country- Its Negative Effects on Livelihood Potential of Forest; A Case Study from Jharkhand

Reduction in Public Forest Productivity (The Common Natural Resource Capital) of the Country- Its Negative Effects on Livelihood Potential of Forest; A Case Study from Jharkhand

Market Economy and Norms of Grassland Utilization in Mongolia

As market economies develop, traditional social norms regarding common pool natural resource utilization can change. This study estimates how social norms of nomadic herders’ communities, trust among the community’s members, and individual social preferences (i.e., other-regarding behavior), such as altruism and willingness to pay for conservation, change with market integration and urbanization in Mongolia. This study reveals that market integration is positively correlated with altruism in communities. Urbanization, measured by proximity to an urban area, is negatively correlated with trust and willingness to pay for grassland use fees. These social preferences and trust are positively correlated with social norms regarding sustainable grassland utilization. This suggests that market integration indirectly contributes to natural resource conservation, while urbanization has a negative impact. Sustainable development requires policy programs that build mutual cooperation and improve individual awareness of grassland conservation.

Undermining by Mining? Deep Seabed Mining in Light of International Marine Environmental Law

Some forty years ago, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS) created an unusual regime for states to collectively manage common natural resources on the international seabed beyond national jurisdiction (known as “the Area”) through the International Seabed Authority (ISA). In the intervening years, scientists have increasingly been warning about the serious environmental risks of mining seabed minerals. At this pivotal point in time, when states are negotiating whether or not to allow seabed mining, this essay explores the risk of undermining by mining, that is, contravening international marine environmental law and the obligations and responsibilities of states thereunder by allowing commercial mining activities to commence. We argue that allowing seabed mining in the Area at this juncture, when so much about the deep ocean remains unknown, would risk frustrating a host of measures, achievements, and progress to enhance marine environmental protection, particularly in areas beyond national jurisdiction. We begin with an overview of the ISA and its work to date, before discussing potential interactions between seabed mining and marine environmental law and policies, with a particular focus on the new ocean biodiversity agreement. We conclude by urging states to take cognizance of their overarching duty to protect and preserve the marine environment and ensure that all decisions taken with respect to seabed mining are consistent with their obligations and responsibilities under international law.

Natural Antioxidants of the Underutilized and Neglected Plant Species of Asia and South America

Background: Plants have played an essential role in the search for new compounds for the most diverse therapeutic purposes. Recently, more attention has been paid to natural antioxidants because of the possible insecurity of synthetic antioxidants. Objective: The review is aimed at summarizing the most important and common natural antioxidants and their resources from medicinal plants. Methods: The research was performed using data bases of PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Taylor and Francis, etc. to search for all collected scientific publications. Results: The most important medicinal plants with antioxidant activities in Iran are Artemisia, berberry fruit, borage, calendula, coriander, cumin, green tea, hawthorn, jujube, pomegranate, rose, rosemary, black zira, tea, and thyme. Important traditional medicinal plants with antioxidant activities in China are Asparagus, bindii, blueberries, camellia, Chinese bayberry, Chinese bitter melon, Chinese cabbage, Chinese cherry, Chinese jujube, Chinese olive, pomegranate, Chinese rose tea, Chinese toon, Chinese watermelon, black tea, knotweed, Chinese quince, Chinese rhubarb, sumac, wolfberry, dendrobium, drumstick tree, Fiscus species, ginger, ginkgo, goji berry, grape, Jerusalem thorn, kiwifruit seed oil, and liquorice root. Anacardium occidentale L., Ananas comosus (L.) Merril, Baccharis trimera (Less) DC., Carapa guianensis Aubl., Casearia sylvestris Sw., Cordia verbenacea DC., Croton lechleri Müll. Arg., and Eugenia uniflora L. are the main medicinal plants with antioxidant activities in Brazil. Conclusion: Antioxidants are those molecules that are involved in the scavenging of these reactive species causing oxidative stress and are defined as those substances which could prevent the oxidation of the substrate at low concentrations. The main derived exogenous natural antioxidants are derived from medicinal plants, fruits, foods, flowers, and traditional herbal medicines in different parts of the world

Combining Ecological and Socio-Environmental Data and Networks to Achieve Sustainability

Combining Ecological and Socio-Environmental Data and Networks to Achieve Sustainability

The Most Important Medicinal Herbs and Plants in Traditional Chinese and Iranian Medicinal Sciences with Antioxidant Activities

Abstract: The review is aimed at summarizing the most important and common natural antioxidants and their resources from traditional Irani and Chinese medicinal sciences. The most important medicinal plants with antioxidant activities in Iran are Artemisia, berberry fruit, borage, calendula, coriander, cumin, green tea, hawthorn, jujube, pomegranate, rose, rosemary, black zira, tea, and thyme. Important traditional medicinal plants with antioxidant activities in China are Asparagus, bindii, blueberries, camellia, Chinese bayberry, Chinese bitter melon, Chinese cabbage, Chinese cherry, Chinese jujube, Chinese olive, pomegranate, Chinese rose tea, Chinese toon, Chinese watermelon, black tea, knotweed, Chinese quince, Chinese rhubarb, sumac, wolfberry, dendrobium, drumstick tree, Fiscus species, ginger, ginkgo, goji berry, grape, Jerusalem thorn, kiwifruit seed oil, and licorice root. The present review article highlights the most important medicinal plants which have been used in Iran and China as traditional herbal medicines for hundreds of years due to their tremendous antioxidant activities.

Effective Information Infrastructures for Collaborative Organizing: The Case of Maasai Mara

This study focuses on how collaborative organizing is achieved in a natural-resource commons, organized as an actor-oriented structure. In a framed field experiment, teams of Maasai livestock owners played a board game related to sustainable usage and preservation of a commons (in this case, grazing areas). We examine team decisions over time and draw inferences about the difference between two information infrastructures: one that enables learning about the ecosystem and one that enables shared situational awareness. We also examine the effectiveness of these information infrastructures in obtaining sustainable usage and preservation of a commons, finding that participants who are subjected to an information infrastructure that enables shared situational awareness are more effective than those subjected to an information infrastructure that only enables learning about the ecosystem. This, we argue, is because shared situational awareness enables members to address their interdependencies related to both task and knowledge interdependence. In other words, without shared situational awareness, they are less efficient at coordinating their actions, despite sharing collaborative values. Based on our findings, we argue that actor-oriented structures should be designed to include information infrastructures that specifically address members’ interdependencies.Funding: This work was financially supported by the Interacting Minds Centre (IMC).Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1642 .

Environmental Justice and Impact of Palm Oil Plantation Expansion on Inland Fisheries: Case study on the Wetlands of the Middle Mahakam Area inIndonesia

The recent development of social inclusion issues has enabled the dissemination of environmental justice to improve the livelihood of rural communities. In contrast, as a major stakeholder in wetland areas, the palm oil industry accelerates the distribution of inequality issues in inland fisheries. To balance the interest of multilevel stakeholders through successful environmental justice and natural resource management in the wetland area, this case study identified the aspects of environmental justice associated with the issues of localities and land conversion to palm oil plantations in the Middle Mahakam Area, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Several in-depth interviews were conducted in this study using a semi-structured questionnaire and participant observations. The expansion of palm oil plantations evidently contributed to the environmental impact, primarily deteriorating the water quality of the area. This phenomenon was found to have a negative influence on the income of fishers, which potentially caused conflicts among the stakeholders. Fishers themselves also contributed to destructive fishing because of the misperception of common natural resources and economic reasons. Moreover, the local government considers the palm oil industry as an income generator rather than an actor in environmental degradation. Additionally, environmental justice has generally relied on the grievances and complaints of the fishers for the management of the local environment and fisheries. Therefore, distribution, procedure, and recognition of justice significantly contributed to these interrelated issues in the Middle Mahakam Area.

Mine or ours? Neural basis of the exploitation of common-pool resources.

Why do people often exhaust unregulated common (shared) natural resources but manage to preserve similar private resources? To answer this question, in this study we combine a neurobiological, economic and cognitive modeling approach. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging on 50 participants, we show that a sharp decrease of common and private resources is associated with deactivation of the ventral striatum, a brain region involved in the valuation of outcomes. Across individuals, when facing a common resource, ventral striatal activity is anticorrelated with resource preservation (less harvesting), whereas with private resources the opposite pattern is observed. This indicates that neural value signals distinctly modulate behavior in response to the depletion of common vs private resources. Computational modeling suggested that overharvesting of common resources was facilitated by the modulatory effect of social comparison on value signals. These results provide an explanation of people’s tendency to over-exploit unregulated common natural resources.

Local Rural Holidays of Russian Peasants as a System of Sacred Communication (based on the materials of the Nizhny Novgorod region)

Introduction. The article proposes a worldview approach for typologizing local religious holidays of the rural population of the Nizhny Novgorod region, in which they are considered as a system of communication between the human collective and the divine. Results. The life of the Russian peasant was built up in a constant dialogue with the divine, the mediators of this dialogue were the patron saints of the community, communication with whom was carried out through local holidays established in their honor. Various forms of celebration correlated in the worldview of Russian peasants with different reasons for turning to the patron saints, which allowed the author to distinguish two types of local religious holidays that differ in their functions: petition holidays and thanksgiving holidays. Discussion and Conclusion. The system of local religious holidays was not only an accessible mechanism of religious practices for Russian peasants, but also a traditional way of life support. The holidays of supplication and the holidays of thanksgiving, complementing each other in a number of functions, were closely connected with the life of the peasant community. The former was responsible for earthly goods and united people using common natural resources in religious communication, the latter ensured the spiritual kinship of members of tribal groups united in a single veneration of their patron saint. Every significant event in the secular and spiritual life of the peasant world found its expression in the local holiday calendar.

The Role of Social Capital in Collective Action: The Case Study of Natural Resource Management

The main objective of this study is to examine the role of social capital on collective action in natural resource management. Based on investigating a series of updated theoretical and empirical evidences on the role of social capital in collective action, mainly in natural resource management areas, the following common key findings are worth drawn: Examined literatures generally indicated that natural resources need protection from destructive actions of people to achieve sustainable development. Thus far, communities have shown in the past and increasingly today that they can collaborate for long-term resource management. Social capital variables like heterogeneity index, bridging and linking social capital, civic engagement, cooperative norms, limited numbers of participants and formalized groups are found to be very significant and positively affecting collective action for community’s achieving sustainable natural resource development. Particularly, indicated that the aforementioned variables are playing a fundamental role in reducing transaction cost of exchange like reducing cost of enforcing rules and information asymmetry; and improve local authority performance by pooling them in the networks. This study is also aimed to review varies literatures to investigate whether there is positive relation between social capital and collective environmental action.Most study used model estimation of social capital variables in collective action revealed that the higher the social capital level, the more likely individual is willing to contribute in collective action to protect the natural resource. Results also found that individuals with higher degree of social capital are more likely to participate in collective actions because they can access more information, develop linkages and engage in decision making processes. Similarly, based on the findings, most literature also showed that in formalized groups, social capital is high, and people have the confidence to invest in collective activities in achieving their common natural resource goals. Keywords: Social capital and collective action DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-19-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

Unpicking the Inter-relationships Between Off-Farm Livelihood Diversification, Household Characteristics, and Farm Management in the Rural Andes

Rural households across the world are increasingly turning to off-farm sources of income to complement or replace farm income. A better understanding of these livelihood adaptations, their consequences, and the processes behind them will facilitate more effective rural development policies and projects. The objective of this research was to examine how off-farm income influences rural livelihoods, elucidate factors that determine different livelihood strategies, as well as understand how these livelihood strategies are associated with different approaches to farm management. Using data from 588 Rural Household Multi-Indicator Surveys (RHoMIS) in three rural Andean regions in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, we identified a typology of farming household livelihood strategies, and assessed the differences among these household types with regard to household and farm level characteristics, and farm management. We found that among the household types that incorporated off-farm income into their livelihood strategies, there were significant differences in approaches to farm management. Specifically, we observed an increased use of industrialized farming techniques among one household type, a deintensification, or a stepping-out of farming activities in another household type, and a tendency toward livestock specialization in the other household type. Moreover, our findings revealed that household level characteristics (age and education level of head(s) of household, and household composition) played an important role in mediating which type of livelihood strategy the households employed. For example, “stepping-out” households generally had younger and more educated household heads. Location-specific factors such as access to markets, irrigation, and off-farm employment opportunities were also likely to be highly influential in terms of which pathways farming households adopted as their livelihood strategy. We conclude that rural development programmes and projects must be driven by the rural communities themselves taking into account this heterogeneity in household characteristics and livelihoods and engaging in the already advanced conversations around different approaches to farming and the conservation of common natural resources.

A critical policy study on why introducing resource rent taxation in Norwegian salmon aquaculture failed

In Norway, the world’s leader in salmon farming, the aquaculture industry has become a profitable business. Drawing on critical policy studies, this paper analyzes a recent proposal to introduce resource rent taxation on salmon aquaculture for distributing its superprofit for the public good. By mapping actors and positions in the debate, the paper sheds light on the social reasons that led to the proposal’s rejection. It is argued that three positions emerged. The positions differ along two axes: rent and which community would benefit. The first position argues that aquaculture profits derive from natural resources and belong to local communities and to the national community. The second position denies that these superprofits can be categorized as rent and highlights issues of competitiveness. The third position seeks to distribute revenues locally as compensation for facilitating aquaculture. Although the debate about resource rent taxation was launched to debate the public-private issue, it turned into a fundamental disagreement about who should receive rents between the coastal municipalities and the state. The privatization of extraordinary revenue from common natural resources was no longer the focus.

Adaptive Management in Urban Stream Governance: A Review and an Urban Commoning Scenario-Building Exercise

One environmental solution proposed by scholars since the 1980s is to manage our common natural resources adaptively with emphasis on feedback, the inclusion of multiple stakeholders and the flexibility to change accordingly. By focusing the analysis on the understudied topic of urban river systems in adaptive governance, a systematic literature review and a scenario-building exercise were conducted. Whereas the bibliometric analysis aims to improve our collective knowledge on many aspects of the adaptive management in urban stream governance, the urban commoning scenario-building exercise is to simulate alternatives beyond conventional top-down management approaches and to explore different opportunities of engaging multiple stakeholders throughout the adaptive management cycle. Our investigations recommend that although there is a trend of considering the “human” or “soft” perspective as part of the integrated solution approach, future researches need to ground their studies in more empirical cases in order to identify a few contextual variables such as ICT or public-private collaboration arrangement to leverage the complex inputs of soft power as benefits and added value in the management of urban river as a social-ecological system.

Artisanal mollusc fisheries co-management in Brazil and Italy: Institutional innovations to address environmental crisis

Initiatives of artisanal fisheries co-management and the construction of differentiated markets for seafood products have been emerging in different parts of the world, as an institutionalized way of coping with a global fishery crisis. This paper analyses some institutionalization processes of artisanal mollusc fisheries, considering the role of co-management in two Brazilian and Italian protected areas (Resex Pirajubaé and Conero Regional Park). Within a theoretical framework aiming at moving beyond the dualism between nature and society, the methodology of multiple-case-study has been used to carry on research about mollusc artisanal fisheries co-management networks in their constitution and development. The paper analyses how these networks are organised in the two contexts and the relations social actors have been developing for a sustainable fishery as a possible way to influence and increase their capacity to address environmental crisis. In the artisanal mollusc fishery co-management experiences, fishers’ participation may favour institutional innovations and the co-management networks stability may be generated by the institutions legitimacy. Furthermore, the case studies offer complementary insights to better understand the linkage between artisanal fishery institutionalization processes, common natural resources co-management and value aggregation for traditional seafood. Artisanal mollusc fishery co-management experiences should be stimulated and investigated since they can help in diagnosing early climate and environmental changes in the oceans.

Can photonics technologies contribute to sustainable harvesting of marine life

Humanity is depending on sustainable management of our common natural resources. Nature has got some premises that can not be violated without consequences. The oceans resources and ecosystems are heading for collapse if measures are not taken to change the course. New approaches based on science and gained knowledge about well working principles and innovative methods employed by marine predators can serve as inspiration to disrupt and rethink the way we perform harvest of marine resources. Humpback whales create bubble nets and make ‘walls of sound’ as a hunting strategy. Snapping shrimps use their claws to generate bubbles that cavitate to stun their prey. Inspired by nature, can we copy and apply principles from such performance in a future harvest methodology? And can photonics technologies play a role in this?.

Groundwater depletion in northern India: Impacts of the sub‐regional anthropogenic land‐use, socio‐politics and changing climate

AbstractUnderstanding the key drivers behind intensive use of groundwater resources and subsequent depletion in northern India is important for future food security of India. Although spatio‐temporal changes of groundwater storage (GWS) and its depletion in northern India are mapped using the NASA's GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) records, the sub‐regional diverse socio‐political and environmental factors contributing to the variability in groundwater withdrawals and renewals are not well documented. Here, we provide new evidence on changes in GWS at different spatial scales using both observations and satellite‐based measurements applying both parametric and non‐parametric statistical analyses. The substantial loss of GWS has occurred since the beginning of the 21st century, and the decline in GWS is associated with some record‐breaking dry and hot climate events. We present how certain state‐based policy decisions, such as supplying free electricity for irrigation, prompted farmers to extract groundwater unsustainably and thus led to widespread GWS deletion, which has been also accelerated by frequent dryness and rising temperatures. In the hotspot of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi of northern India, the extracted groundwater during 1985–2013 is equivalent to a metre‐high layer if spread uniformly across its geographical domain. We find that the groundwater storage loss in northern India has increased rapidly from 17 km3 to 189 km3 between the pre‐2002 and 2002–2013 periods. This loss in northern India is, therefore, an excellent example of rapid surface greening and sub‐surface drying—a result of an interplay of socio‐political and environmental factors. As groundwater continues to be treated as a common natural resource and no clear definition exists to guide policymaking, this study also illustrates how the administrative district level approach can solve the widespread problem of depletion.

PEMBERDAYAAN MASYARAKAT DESA OLELE MELALUI PELATIHAN PEMBUATAN NUGET IKAN NIKE KELOR DAN CAKE KELOR

Olele village in Kabila Bone district is among the villages located in the southern coastal area of the province of Gorontalo. The majority of people there work as fishermen and farmers. Nike fish (Awaous melanocephalus) and moringa (Moringa oleifera) are the common natural resources in Olele village. The objective of this mentoring project was to enhance the food processing skills of the local community by disseminating steps in processing moringa nike fish nugget and the potential of the leaves of a moringa as the ingredient of moringa leaf cake. Its steps included 1) preparation, 2) program implementation, and 3) evaluation. Based on the results, the mentoring program contributed to the enhancement of both knowledge and skills of the participants in processing nugget of moringa nike fish. The participants were also aware of the potential of the leaf moringa as an ingredient of a healthy diet. Further, all participants were able to make moringa nike fish nugget and moringa leaf cake. These two food products received a positive reception from all panelists. In the end, all participants would improve all of the food products through their home-based food business. This was also to support the food business program in their village.

Performance differences between nations exploiting a common natural resource: The Icelandic–Norwegian mackerel case

The same type of industries, located in different nations, may perform differently in global markets. This comparative case study of the Icelandic and Norwegian mackerel industries explores whether national resources, capabilities, and institutional environments can help elucidate performance differences in exporting a common natural resource. To gain insight into the phenomenon, the present study utilizes landing and export statistics from the two nations supplemented with qualitative data based on interviews with key stakeholders in both nations. The findings show that Norway achieves a significantly higher export price on North East Atlantic mackerel than does Iceland. The price premium is consistent over time. Different qualities of the fish exported from the two countries are considered to be the main reason for the price contrast. The quality differential, as the present study argues, is primarily due to biological conditions, which neither of the two nations control, as the natural quality of the mackerel is highest when the fish is accessible in Norwegian waters. Accordingly, Norway has a biological competitive advantage over Iceland in terms of mackerel export. However, it is argued that Norway’s ability to exploit the advantage commercially may be related to national resources and capabilities but hardly to the Norwegian institutional framework, which does not allow firms to integrate vertically. Finally, in the paper, the findings are discussed, and implications are outlined.