Natural Resource Management Practices Research Articles

The Veer from Frontier Economics to Eco-development Paradigm: Approaches, Policies and Strategies of Sustainable Development - The Case of Environmental Governance in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the richest countries in natural resource endowment. Nevertheless, due to pressures from socioeconomic changes coupled with improper governance practices the country has been threatened by prolonged resource degradation with subsequent results. This paper was sought to assess paradigms, approaches, and strategies for sustainable development in case of environmental governance in Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, published and unpublished professional literature including important policy documents were reviewed. The institutional based environmental governance for sustainable use of natural resources in Ethiopia was started at the late of 19th C while Minilik II established central Government. The natural resource laws during Italian occupation (1936-41) focused on selection of economic forest and use-oriented paradigm. As a result natural resources were exploited in destructive way under a condition where there was no ownership. The environmental governance thinking/paradigm/ during the Haile Silassie regime was almost similar to previous one; frontier economics, rather than being ecological oriented. The misperception to natural resources; misguided intervention and irrational land distribution and tenure insecurity have led intensive natural degradation. After the Derg regime took the power, all natural resources were nationalized and governed through application of centralized frontier economics based on socialism ideology. Frequent redistribution of land, resettlement and villagization; involuntary participation of community weakened the effects of natural resource management practices applied during Derg regime. Political instability and civil war had its own sizable challenge on environmental governance. The environmental governance ideology, during EPRDF has been veered from pure frontier economics to Eco-development. Environmental issues have been handled by independent institutions through decentralized and local-community based approaches. Additionally, different bylaws and sustainable development strategies have been adopted by current government to handle environmental issues and have environmentally sustainable and green economic growth. However, still now, environmental governance is not successful and faces challenges from institutional instability; inadequate capacity and political commitment, feeble policy implementation &geophysical variables. Thus, all responsible bodies and key actors must work jointly to overcome challenges of environmental governance and realize environmentally sustainable development.

Linked Boundary Functions: Examining the Role of ‘Research for Development’ Organizations in Integrating Levels of Resource Governance

Natural resource management practices such as community-based resource management (CBRM) are well-established bottom-up approaches to developing adaptive governance systems. Less is understood about how communities involved in such processes can attract top-down support without compromising their credibility or salience. We tested the usefulness of the linked boundary functions concept – boundary chains – for explaining the role of “research for development” (R4D) organizations in the integration of bottom-up community resource governance and top-down policy and legislative governance. We used the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in the Solomon Islands as a case study to probe the role of R4D organizations in this regard. The linked boundary functions concept proved useful in exploring the active functions of R4D organizations as actors that lend credibility, salience, and legitimacy to community-based governance initiatives. The concept of linked boundary functions or boundary chains can contribute to the current discussion in the complexity-aware theory of change and open new avenues for boundary management that enable the development of integrated resource governance in complex development contexts. This article contributes to the existing literature on the boundary spanning activities of R4D organizations.

Cross Cultural Knowledge, Ethno-Conservation, and Sustainability Pragmatism

Abstract Local conservative knowledge cut across small-scale ecological natural resource management practices, whilst scientific innovations generates extensive solutions using key principles of empirical study. Assessing tribal peoples’ lifestyles, disposition and the preservation of the rich cultural endowments and vegetation fertility, shows linkages of strict enforcement of customary environmentalism to secure livelihood sources. This qualitative study uses descriptive comparison of cross-cultural conservation practices to underscore the reconciliation of cultural knowledge, natural ecology sustainability. Data and case studies from cultural behaviours, perceptions and attitudes of certain tribal groups were processed and presented as strategies and solutions for inclusive propositions. Theories and dataset from previous journals, reports, books and conference communique from multilateral agencies, non-political actors, research institutes were resourceful in arriving at conclusions that will provide a common path that accentuates cultural ecological practices to broaden the campaign for sustainability.

Integrated approaches to natural resources management—Theory and practice

AbstractTo meet multiple environmental objectives, integrated programming is becoming increasingly important for the Global Environmental Facility, the financial mechanism of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. However, integration is often not well defined. We therefore focus on identifying key aspects of integration and assessing their implementation in natural resources management projects. To that end, we draw on systems thinking literature and carry out an analysis of a random sample of Global Environmental Facility integrated projects and in‐depth case studies demonstrating lessons learned and good practice. We highlight the need for projects to identify clearer system boundaries and main feedback mechanisms within those boundaries, in order to effectively address drivers of environmental change. We propose a theory of change for integrated natural resources management projects, where short‐term environmental and socioeconomic benefits will first accrue at the local level. Implementation of improved integrated natural resources management technologies and practices at the local level can then be extended through spatial planning and strengthening of innovation systems. Financing and incentive mechanisms at the watershed and/or landscape/seascape level coupled with supporting policies could sustain and enhance ecosystem services at even larger scales and longer time spans. The evolving scientific understanding of factors influencing social, technical, and institutional innovations and transitions towards sustainable management of natural resources should be harnessed and integrated into influencing models and theory of change for complex social‐environmental problems, such as land degradation, and be coupled with up‐to‐date approaches for learning, adaptive management, and scaling up.

Landscape-based upstream-downstream prevalence of land-use/cover change drivers in southeastern rift escarpment of Ethiopia.

Characterized by high population density on a rugged topography, the Gedeo-Abaya landscape dominantly contains a multi-strata traditional agroforests showing the insight of Gedeo farmers on natural resource management practices. Currently, this area has been losing its resilience and is becoming unable to sustain its inhabitants. Based on both RS-derived and GIS-computed land-use/cover changes (LUCC) as well as socioeconomic validations, this article explored the LUCC and agroecological-based driver patterns in Gedeo-Abaya landscape from 1986 to 2015. A combination of geo-spatial technology and cross-sectional survey design were employed to detect the drivers behind these changes. The article discussed that LUCC and the prevalence of drivers are highly diverse and vary throughout agroecological zones. Except for the population, most downstream top drivers are perceived as insignificant in the upstream region and vice versa. In the downstream, land-use/cover (LUC) classes are more dynamic, diverse, and challenged by nearly all anticipated drivers than are upstream ones. Agroforestry LUC has been increasing (by 25% of its initial cover) and is becoming the predominant cover type, although socioeconomic analysis and related findings show its rapid LUC modification. A rapid reduction of woodland/shrubland (63%) occurred in the downstream, while wetland/marshy land increased threefold (158%), from 1986 to 2015 with annual change rates of - 3.7 and + 6%, respectively. Land degradation induced by changes in land use is a serious problem in Africa, especially in the densely populated sub-Saharan regions such as Ethiopia (FAO 2015). Throughout the landscape, LUCC is prominently affecting land-use system of the study landscape due to population pressure in the upstream region and drought/rainfall variability, agribusiness investment, and charcoaling in the downstream that necessitate urgent action.

The concept of stewardship in sustainability science and conservation biology

This paper focuses on the development and meaning of the stewardship concept in the current environmental science, ecology and biodiversity conservation literature. Stewardship broadly refers to a form of collaborative planning and responsible management of the environment through sustainable natural resource management practices that respect ecosystem functions. The objective of this paper is to discuss the various meanings of stewardship in the fields of environmental science and biodiversity conservation. Our main interest is to explore how different political ideologies and ethical values of stewardship shape the conceptualisation of conservation actions and policies, and why do these matter for conservation policy in the context of the new conservation debate. To address this objective we adapted the political science framework developed by Dryzek (2013) and applied it to existing stewardship approaches in use. Based on two dimensions (reformist vs radical and imaginative vs prosaic) we identified 4 main types of stewardship: reformist, adaptive, sustainability and transformative stewardship. The key distinctions between stewardship types are (i) the role of science, (ii) the exploration and integration of the plurality of values, and (iii) the capacity to modify values, rules and decision-making system. We conclude with a discussion on the consequences of these results and present future directions for both research and conservation policy.

Research priorities for conservation and natural resource management in Oceania's small-island developing states.

For conservation science to effectively inform management, research must focus on creating the scientific knowledge required to solve conservation problems. We identified research questions that, if answered, would increase the effectiveness of conservation and natural resource management practice and policy in Oceania's small-island developing states. We asked conservation professionals from academia, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations across the region to propose such questions and then identify which were of high priority in an online survey. We compared the high-priority questions with research questions identified globally and for other regions. Of 270 questions proposed by respondents, 38 were considered high priority, including: What are the highest priority areas for conservation in the face of increasing resource demand and climate change? How should marine protected areas be networked to account for connectivity and climate change? What are the most effective fisheries management policies that contribute to sustainable coral reef fisheries? High-priority questions related to the particular challenges of undertaking conservation on small-island developing states and the need for a research agenda that is responsive to the sociocultural context of Oceania. Research priorities for Oceania relative to elsewhere were broadly similar but differed in specific issues relevant to particular conservation contexts. These differences emphasize the importance of involving local practitioners in the identification of research priorities. Priorities were reasonably well aligned among sectoral groups. Only a few questions were widely considered answered, which may indicate a smaller-than-expected knowledge-action gap. We believe these questions can be used to strengthen research collaborations between scientists and practitioners working to further conservation and natural resource management in this region.

Synergies between Different Types of Agricultural Technologies in the Kenyan Small Farm Sector

Sustainable intensification of agriculture will have to build on various innovations, but synergies between different types of technologies are not yet sufficiently understood. We use representative data from small farms in Kenya and propensity score matching to compare effects of input-intensive technologies and natural resource management practices on household income. When adopted in combination, positive income effects tend to be larger than when individual technologies are adopted alone. The largest gains occur when improved seeds are adopted together with organic manure and zero tillage. These results point at important synergies between plant breeding technologies and natural resource management practices.

Climate Change as Ecological Colonialism: Dilemma of Innocent Victims

Climate Change is at just the once a social, cultural and an ecological issue. It is an environmental justice issue, an issue of economic and political domination, a consequence of clash between deregulated capitalism and the welfare of mankind deeply entrenched in a capitalist economic system based upon the persistent exploitation of natural resource for individual benefits. Poverty stricken peoples of least developed countries are the innocent victims of climate change. This article argues and identifies key ways that anthropological knowledge/lens can enrich and deepen contemporary understandings of climate change. From discussions allied to natural resource management practices it is construed that natural resource management practices are impacted from factors –political, economic (capitalism), domination, cultural, community and societal activities which are anthropogenic factors responsible for climate change calling for the equity and justice implications of climate change issues. As climate change is ecological colonialism at its fullest development-its critical scale-with sweeping social, cultural, economic and political implications, anthropological lens seek to respond to climate change at the local, regional, national, and global scales and are helpful in reflecting the understandings in application and seeking ways to pool resource with communities to assist them in addressing their climate change concerns. There are some other key contributions that anthropology can bring to understandings of climate change viz. awareness of cultural values and political relations that shape the production and interpretation of climate change knowledge, survival, power, ethics, morals, environmental costs and justice, militarism, war, intertwined crises of food, water, biodiversity loss and livelihood.Himalayan Journal of Sociology & Anthropology - Vol. VII (2016), Page: 111-140

Drivers of local people’s participation in sustainable natural resource management: a case study in central Iran

ABSTRACTThe driving forces behind natural resource management (NRM) vary among countries. Most NRM programmes focus on biophysical drivers such as soil, water and vegetation, with little attention directed towards the nuanced sociocultural and religious drivers of sustainable natural resource management (SNRM) practices. This paper explores those understudied drivers that influence local people’s participation (LPP) in SNRM in Isfahan, Iran. Using a multi-stage stratified sampling method, we selected 200 natural resource experts and natural resource users to complete a questionnaire about their perceptions of SNRM. Results reveal that sociocultural and religious beliefs are the major drivers of SNRM. The results also indicate that subsidiary drivers include: a sense of responsibility towards SNRM; the conviction that natural resources belong to God and should therefore be preserved; participation to preserve natural resources because of training courses and media influence; a long-established custom of preserving natural resources; and the specific impact of environmental television programmes. Demographic analysis finds a significant relationship between educational level and LPP in SNRM. This study’s results therefore suggest that natural resource managers would benefit from a deeper understanding of the local sociocultural and religious contexts that motivate people to participate in SNRM.

Love of the land: Social-ecological connectivity of rural landholders

Understanding how landholders relate to the land and water they manage is crucial to sustainable natural resource management policy and practice. This study focuses on the relationship that rural landholders, both producers and rural lifestylers, have with their land and waterways, to provide insight into a social-ecological dynamic that contributes to social resilience. Mixed qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews and photovoice are used to examine stewardship; place attachment and constituent components of affective, functional and cognitive connection; as well as sense of community, through a case study in the Mary River valley in South-east Queensland Australia. Powerful visual images from participant-derived photos illustrate rural landholders' views of the interwined connections of landscapes and communities and their ‘love of the land’. The study thus expands the breadth of methods used in investigating place attachment. It contributes to the theoretical understanding of how the integrated nature of stewardship, place and community build and maintain social resilience. Understanding landholder relationships and motivations as part of a social-ecological system can enable better targeting of land management support.

Profile Characteristics of Watershed Farmers and the Extent of Adoption of NRM Practices in Watershed Areas of the Andhra Pradesh State

This study describes the association between the profile characteristics of watershed farmers and the extent of adoption of various NRM (Natural Resource Management) practices in watershed areas of the Andhra Pradesh state. The results indicate that positive and significant relationships were seen between profile characteristics such as training undergone, team work, risk-taking ability, input usage pattern, farm size, environmental awareness and socio-political participation and the extent of adoption of NRM activities. The value of the coefficient of multiple determination (R2) indicates that a combination of six independent variables (farm size, training, input usage pattern, environmental awareness, risk-taking ability and group communication) could explain 78.49 % of the variation in the dependent variable of the extent of adoption of NRM practices.

Natural Resource Management in Eastern Himalaya: A case study of fringe Villages of Shergaon Forest Division, Arunachal Pradesh

The natural resource management (NRM) practice has been considered as an important aspect of ethnic communities. The present study emphasized on the documentation of NRM practices of the Sherdukpen tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The study was done in the three fringe villages Membachur, Mukhuthing and Thongre of Shergaon Forest division, West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The data was collected from 97 informants through questionnaire. The NRM practices of Sherdukpen tribe consisted of traditional maize cultivation, management of individual forest, community forest, etc. About 90% of the tribe are involved in farming practice. The average agricultural land holding and average individual forest land holding per HH that range from 0.72 ha to 1.2 ha and 0.6 ha to 0.8 ha, respectively.

How can we ever create participation when we are the ones who decide? On natural resource management practice and its readiness for change

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the gap between demands for participatory approaches in natural resource management (NRM) policies and lack of such approaches in the work of environmental authorities. The analysis draws on practice theory, using the case of NRM practice created by Swedish County Administrative Board (CAB) officials. The data originate from officials’ reflections during courses designed to strengthen their participatory and collaborative competences. Based on practice theory, officials are seen as participants of a routinised practice in which their interpretations of their work and roles are socially constructed. The analysis shows that the objective of this practice is to protect nature and mitigate resistance from stakeholders through information. These interpretations have acquired a reified nature, making them taken for granted. This stabilises the practice, maintaining the gap between demands in national policies and their implementation. To enable change in the CAB practice, the objective constructed by officials needs to be reinterpreted to produce a rule of law that can be justified and which concurrently permits stakeholder participation. To achieve changes in NRM officials’ practice, these need to be seen in their institutional context and comprise the whole system, from international/EU auditing levels to Swedish CABs and the officials’ everyday activities.

Remobilizing netukulimk: indigenous cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship and fisheries management in Atlantic Canada

Recent global initiatives such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples have brought the issues facing and needs of Indigenous peoples to the forefront of international attention. While underscoring respect for traditional practices, these initiatives have yet to appreciate fully the extent to which Indigenous peoples’ practices engage ways of being, living and believing that encompass a holistic understanding of the relations between humans and all facets of their ecosystems. The Mi’kmaw, a nation of Indigenous peoples in Atlantic Canada, work to recapture and express ancient holistic understandings through their contemporary natural resource management aspirations and practices. In this paper we review key colonial events that have impacted Indigenous relations with settlers and resulted in historical marginalization of the Mi’kmaw from fishery policy and management processes. We provide an overview and discussion of recent developments wherein the Mi’kmaw are working to revitalize the place of netukulimk, a concept that embraces cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship, in the exercise of treaty-based rights, particularly within self-governing fisheries management initiatives. We conclude with the core attributes of Two-Eyed Seeing, a methodological framework for collaborative, decolonizing research practices and Indigenous knowledge mobilization strategies. The Mi’kmaw experiences provide insights regarding the challenges and requirements for achieving respect for Indigenous traditional practices and point a way forward for more effective and inclusive stewardship of natural aquatic resources into the future.

Caught Between Mediation and Local Dependence: Understanding the Role of Non-government Organisations in Co-management of Coastal Resources in Eastern Indonesia

ABSTRACTResolving contestations over resource management rights around coastal villages remains a focal challenge for co-management initiatives in remote coastal zones. Contemporary socio-political settings increasingly see local people having to negotiate between local long-standing (horizontal) relationships and new emerging (vertical) relationships which involve collaborations with outside actors who try to assume neutral mediating positions. Using two conflicts, this article examines the rise and fall of a participatory coastal resource management program in eastern Indonesia involving a fishing community engaged in a co-management arrangement with a conservation non-government organisation (NGO). An actor-oriented approach is applied to analyse how these conflicts shape, drive and direct collaborations across the community–NGO interface. We discuss how these impact the implementation of the conservation ethics and sustainable natural resource management practices, and show how particular mediating capacities of an NGO may overcome, and even build forth on, conflict in some contexts but fall short in others. We argue that local resource user groups and conservation teams operate according to strong local relationships that are entrenched in cultural–historical hierarchies of power. We moreover note that these local relationships significantly influence the extent of neutrality of external groups in their mediating, coordinating and technical advisory roles. The effectiveness of co-management partnerships hinges on the ability to balance actors’ mediating capacity with their local dependence for operation.

Policy Change and Its Effect on Australian Community-based Natural Resource Management Practices

The authors of this article report on a qualitative study of Australian community-based natural resource management groups known as Landcare groups. They discuss how four Landcare groups contributed to sustainability practices and how a policy change implemented in 2003 influenced the efforts of the groups to remain active in their activities. Using case-study methodology and drawing on Habermasian theory to support their work, the authors show that changing administrative structures created a tighter connection among government policies, projects and landholders carrying out natural resource management projects. The tighter connections provide more efficient processes to deliver officially valued outcomes as they are mediated by the catchment management authorities, but that efficiency is achieved at a cost because each landholder is now in competition with other landholders in the catchment to improve his/her own properties. Now the landholders are clients of the system, as private consumers rather than as a local community.

Can the control of invasive species be left to chance?

Invasive species are said to be a bigger threat to native biodiversity than pollution, harvest, and disease combined. In order to preserve native flora, fauna, and natural resources of regions, the effective control of invasive species is imperative. We consider a three-species predator–prey model, where the top predator, functions as an invasive species, with the ability to grow explosively to ‘uncontrollable’ levels in a finite time, if unchecked. We investigate the effect of random environmental forces, on such explosive growth. We find that environmental noise alone, cannot prevent explosive growth in invasive populations. We interpret these results as showing that invasive species can strongly adapt to a randomly changing environment. We provide supporting evidence of such phenomenon, from the ecological literature. Our results are applicable to a wide variety of natural resource management practices.

What factors influence the effectiveness of financial incentives on long-term natural resource management practice change?

Abstract Financial incentives are used by natural resource management organisations to encourage landholders to adopt sustainable practices where the outcomes on a farm scale may be negative or marginal. There is a growing body of research aimed at understanding why landholders do or do not agree to participate in financial incentive programs, however research that considers when and how financial incentives work to bring about long-term behaviour change is relatively immature. The purpose of this review is to answer the question ‘What factors influence the effectiveness of financial incentives on long-term natural resource management practice change?’ In synthesising the evidence, it was found that there are numerous characteristics of the practice change itself, along with the program design and implementation, which are important to understand long-term behaviour change. These include whether inexpensive maintenance or long-term funding is available; whether the changes are relatively simple to sustain; whether the program involves structural changes; whether there is land use rigidity; and whether the changes have resulting environmental benefits that are highly observable. Additionally, it is advisable for programs that use financial incentives to include the following program features: ongoing extension support and a focus on building relationship and trust; flexibility in how the practice change is applied; active landholder involvement from planning to evaluation; and contract length that is appropriate for the complexity of the NRM practice. These characteristics can be used to guide policy makers in their natural resource management investment decisions. There is a clear need for greatly increased monitoring and evaluation of existing programs, both during the program and after its conclusion, in order to more fully understand its long-term impacts and ultimate effectiveness. Finally, landholders undertaking a practice change generally benefit from ongoing support from government natural resource management extension officers.

What factors influence the effectiveness of financial incentives on long-term natural resource management practice change?

What factors influence the effectiveness of financial incentives on long-term natural resource management practice change?