Resource-dependent Communities Research Articles

A hybrid-epistemological approach to climate change research: Linking scientific and smallholder knowledge systems in the Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract Effective responses to the impacts of climate change require the recognition that people conceptualize and experience environmental changes differently, and require the support of a range of global-to-local interdisciplinary efforts that allow a dialog between the biophysical and social sciences. In this study, we use a hybrid epistemological framework that integrates scientifc and local knowledge systems, methodological approaches, and geographic scopes to: 1) shed light on climate change in the equatorial Andes as reported by scientific and local knowledge systems, and 2) understand the role that climate factors play on land use and agricultural change in natural resource dependent communities in the region. We analyzed weather station (n = 5) data and downscaled climate data using parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, and spatial analysis techniques to detect spatio-temporal climate trends between 1965 and 2013. We also analyzed climate variability in the past four decades using qualitative information derived from a semi-structured survey (n = 36) and life history smallholder interviews (n = 8) collected in three research sites. Our study reveals significant warming trends in the region which is corroborated by local reports. Precipitation records show high inter-annual variability, with no significant decreasing or increasing trends, which contradicts people’s views in two of our research sites. Our study shows that although climate change appears to be a factor that influences farmers’ agricultural and livestock-production practices, other non-climatic forces play a more important role in determining their intensity and adoption. Despite site-level divergences and convergences, scientific and local knowledge systems can be woven together to expand our understanding of the physical and human manifestations of climate change.

Place-based or sector-based adaptation? A case study of municipal and fishery policy integration

ABSTRACTPlace-based adaptation planning is an approach to address cross-sectoral and multi-level governance concerns as well as to build local adaptive capacity in vulnerable resource-dependent communities facing the adverse impacts of climate change. In contrast, sector-based adaptation planning focuses on addressing climate change impacts on individual economic sectors (e.g. fisheries or forestry) or sub-sectors (such as lobsters or timber). Yet, linking sectoral approaches with local adaptation policies is challenging. More effort is needed to identify opportunities for complementary adaptation strategies and policy integration to foster multiple benefits. In this article, we use a case study of fishery sector resources and municipal adaptation planning in Nova Scotia to demonstrate how meaningful entry points could catalyse policy integration and lead to co-benefits across multiple levels and stakeholder groups. Drawing on a fisheries systems and fish chain framework, we identify and assess several entry points for policy integration across sector- and place-based adaptation domains within coastal habitats, as well as harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors. The analysis highlights the multiple benefits of integrating local municipal adaptation plans with multi-scale resource sectors especially towards monitoring ecosystem changes, protecting essential infrastructure, and securing local livelihoods.POLICY RELEVANCEClimate change is having a growing impact on coastal communities around the world, with consequences for sea-level rise, critical habitats, essential infrastructure, and multiple economic sectors and industries. This Canadian case study demonstrates how municipal adaptation initiatives can be complementary to sector-based adaptation at both local and regional levels through various entry points across commodity production chains. Policy integration across place-based and sector-based adaptation processes should lead to multiple benefits such as conserving marine biodiversity, protecting essential infrastructure, and securing livelihoods. Our analysis, which focuses specifically on the fishery sector and coastal communities, shows that these co-benefits may arise particularly in such coastal-marine systems and provide policy lessons to terrestrial systems and other sectors.

What's counted as a reindeer herder? Gender and the adaptive capacity of Sami reindeer herding communities in Sweden.

Researchers of adaptive capacity and sustainable livelihoods have frequently used social, cultural, human, economic and institutional capitals to better understand how rural and resource-dependent communities address environmental, social and economic stresses. Yet few studies have considered how men and women contribute differently to these capitals to support community resilience overall. Our research sought to understand the differential contributions of Sami men and women to the adaptive capacity of reindeer husbandry and reindeer herding communities in northern Sweden. Our focus revealed a gendered division of labour in reindeer herding as an economic enterprise as well as gendered contributions to a broader conceptualization of reindeer husbandry as a family and community-based practice, and as a livelihood and cultural tradition. Based on our results, we recommend that community resilience be enhanced by generating more opportunities for men to achieve higher levels of human and economic capital (particularly outside of herding activities) and encouraging women to contribute more directly to institutional capital by participating in the formation and implementation of legislation, policies and plans.

Ensuring Resilience of Natural Resources under Exposure to Extreme Climate Events

Natural resources directly support rural livelihoods and underpin much of the wealth of rural and regional Australia. Climate change manifesting as increasing frequency and or severity of extreme weather events poses a threat to sustainable management of natural resources because the recurrence of events may exceed the resilience of natural systems or the coping capacity of social systems. We report the findings of a series of participatory workshops with communities in eight discrete landscapes in South East New South Wales, Australia. The workshops focused on how natural resource management (NRM) is considered in the Prevent-Prepare-Respond-Recover emergency management cycle. We found that NRM is generally considered only in relation to the protection of life and property and not for the intrinsic value of ecosystem services that support communities. We make three recommendations to improve NRM under extreme climate events. Firstly, the support to communities offered by emergency management agencies could be bolstered by guidance material co-produced with government NR agencies. Secondly, financial assistance from government should specifically target the restoration and maintenance of green infrastructure to avoid loss of social-ecological resilience. Thirdly, action by natural resource dependent communities should be encouraged and supported to better protect ecosystem services in preparation for future extreme events.

Provisioning ecosystem services-sharing as a coping and adaptation strategy among rural communities in Ghana's semi-arid ecosystem

As complex challenges linked to changing socio-economic, environmental, political, and cultural conditions continually hamper the delivery of ecosystem services to natural resource dependent communities, local level adaptation needs attention. This paper presents the findings of an empirical survey in rural semi-arid Ghana investigating how households are employing communal sharing as a strategy to enhance access and management of nine provisioning ecosystem services (provisioning ES) namely crops and vegetables, livestock and poultry, bushmeat, freshwater, wildplants, fodder and forage, traditional medicine, fuelwood, and building materials. The results indicate that the variations in the sharing patterns of the nine provisioning ES can be linked to a mix of closely-linked socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental factors. Traditional medicine is the most commonly shared, whilst building materials are the least commonly shared. Sharing intensifies during the long dry season for majority of the provisioning ES. Logistic regression modeling indicates annual household income to be the most significant socio-demographic variable influencing participation in sharing. A greater proportion of interviewed household heads (64%) perceive sharing to be on the decline. These findings provide important baseline data for further quantitative and qualitative research exploring sharing's potential contribution to rural households’ livelihoods sustenance and ecosystem sustainability under changing conditions.

A tale of two communities: Using relational place-making to examine fisheries policy in the Pribilof Island communities of St. George and St. Paul, Alaska

This paper describes how relational place-making, with its focus on power dynamics, networked politics, and non-market, locally-valued characteristics, provides a useful framework for managers to better design fishing community policies. Social data, while becoming more common in fisheries management analyses, are typically restricted to quantitative measures that often cannot adequately summarize dynamics within fishing communities. In contrast, detailed ethnographic research and the theoretical framework of relational place-making can provide a useful methodology through which to gather social data to understand resource-dependent communities and the effects of fisheries management policies in these places. Relational place-making describes the process through which physical spaces are transformed into socially meaningful places, and how these understandings are contested and negotiated among different groups of actors. These contested narratives of place, called place-frames, can interact with economic development efforts to help create (or fail to create) sustainable communities. To better understand the efficacy of a specific fisheries policy, the community development quota (CDQ) program, we conducted 6 months of ethnographic research in the rural, Native communities of St. George and St. Paul, Alaska. In both communities we found that local place-frames centered on local empowerment and control. In St. George, local place-frames conflicted with place-frames advanced by CDQ employees, and locals were unable to align place-making goals with local economic realities. In St. Paul, local residents and CDQ employees shared a place-frame, allowing them to accomplish numerous local development goals. However, differences in place-frames advanced by other political entities on the island often complicated development initiatives. This study supports previous research indicating that policies and development projects that increase local power and self-determination are most successful in furthering community sustainability and well-being. This study indicates that relational place-making can illuminate local goals and desires and is therefore of great utility to the fisheries management decision-making process.

Community-Level Actions that Can Address Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification has led to detectable changes in seawater chemistry around the world, which are associated with reduced growth and survival of many species. Acute ocean acidification “events” in the Pacific Northwest United States have jeopardized the $270 million, 3,200 jobs/year shellfish aquaculture industry in Washington State, and this has contributed to the state’s broad-based, legislatively driven response to ocean acidification. Even though impacts from ocean acidification have yet to be felt in many locations, states and regions are beginning to take action on the issue. In this paper, we present an array of actions that can be undertaken by communities or regions to address ocean acidification. The actions can be coupled, completed one at a time, or aligned with other environmental initiatives, and they can be tailored to the prevailing political or economic environment. We review which have been used by different U.S. states and identify common themes and popular choices. We close by suggesting combinations of conditions and clusters of activities that seem to promote rapid and sustained action. Cutting atmospheric carbon dioxide levels internationally is still the most comprehensive way to address ocean acidification, but this analysis shows that productive actions can still be taken at smaller scales to help marine resource-dependent communities adapt to existing ocean acidification and prepare for possible future impacts.

Missing the forest for the trees? Navigating the trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation under REDD

Forested landscapes play a critical role in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon while at the same time fostering adaption by supporting ecosystem services, the recognition of which is reflected in the recent Paris Agreement on climate change. It has been suggested, therefore, that the conservation of forested landscapes may provide a potential win-win in the fight against global environmental change. Despite the potential synergies between mitigation and adaptation efforts, recent studies have also raised concerns about possible trade-offs. Our research employs the analytic lens of social-ecological resilience to explore the intersection between mitigation and adaptation in the context of a Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) project in Lao PDR. Drawing on ecosystem analyses, group discussions and interviews with policy makers, practitioners and resource-dependent communities, we identify three potential limitations of REDD for achieving climate synergies. First, by disrupting existing disturbance regimes, REDD interventions run the risk of reducing diversity and structural heterogeneity and thus may undermine functional redundancy core to resilience. Second, REDD-as-practiced has tended to select local, rather than structural, drivers of deforestation, focusing disproportionately on curtailing local livelihood practices, reducing local resources for adaptation. Third, REDD risks redirecting ecosystem service benefits away from local communities toward state agencies, incentivizing recentralization and limiting the scope of local governance. We argue that REDD’s potential for delivering synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in Laos is currently attenuated by structural factors rooted in development policies and broader political-economic trajectories in ways that may not be legible to, or adequately addressed by, current programmes and policy.

Dams and population displacement on China’s Upper Mekong River: Implications for social capital and social–ecological resilience

China is home to nearly half of the world’s 50,000 large dams, which provide irrigation, flood protection, and hydroelectricity. Most of these projects involve substantial population displacement, which can disrupt social capital, the webs of interdependence and support that community members maintain with one another through relationships of trust and reciprocity. We use new empirical evidence to examine the association between dam-induced displacement and social capital in China and interpret our findings in the context of social–ecological resilience theory. Our focus is on agricultural households on the Upper Mekong River, where four large hydropower dams have been constructed over the past twenty years.Our broad finding is that resettlement is associated with diminished social capital, as measured by two key indicators: inter-household exchange of financial resources, and inter-household exchange of agricultural labor. These effects differ across the four dam sites in the study based on local economic conditions and changes in resettlement policy. We find that population resettlement is associated with markedly lower levels of agricultural labor exchange. In an economically under-developed setting, this reduces the depth and breadth of social support that agricultural households rely on to produce crops for subsistence and income. This in turn diminishes social–ecological resilience because social capital is a key factor that helps agricultural or resource-dependent communities manage risk and adapt to changes and stressors.We consider the policy implications of our findings in the context of scientific and industry efforts to minimize social harm, promote economic vitality, and improve the sustainability of hydropower as a form of renewable energy.

Historical and future seasonal rainfall variability in Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Indonesia: Implications for the agriculture and water sectors

Climate change impacts are most likely to be felt by resource-dependent communities, and consequently locally-relevant data are necessary to inform livelihood adaptation planning. This paper presents information for historical and future seasonal rainfall variability in Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) Province, Indonesia, where rural livelihoods are highly vulnerable to current climate variability and future change. Historical rainfall variability is investigated using observational data from two stations located on the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. Future rainfall is examined using an ensemble of six downscaled climate model simulations at a spatial resolution of 14km for 1971–2100, applying the IPCC SRES-A2 ‘Business as Usual’ emissions scenario, and the six original global climate models (GCMs). Analyses of the observed seasonal rainfall data highlight cyclical variability and long-term declines. The observed periodicities are of about 2–4, 5, 8, 11, and 40–50years. Furthermore, dry season rainfall is significantly correlated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), while wet season rainfall is weakly correlated with ENSO. The simulated rainfall data reproduce the observed seasonal cycle very well, but overestimate the magnitude of rainfall and underestimate inter-annual rainfall variability. The models also show that the observed rainfall periodicities will continue throughout the 21st century. The models project that rainfall will decline, although with wide ranges of uncertainty, depending on season and location. Crop water demand estimates show that the projected changes will potentially impact the first growing period for rice during November–March. Rainfall may also be insufficient to meet water demand for many crops in the second growing period of March–June, when high value commodities such as chillies and tobacco are produced. The results reinforce the importance to consider all uncertainties when utilizing climate projections in subsequent impact assessments. Recommendations on the effective presentation of these results to inform multi-stakeholder adaptation planning for livelihoods, agriculture and irrigation are given.

Understanding the need for adaptation in a natural resource dependent community in Northern Norway: issue salience, knowledge and values

For society to effectively manage climate change impacts, the need to adapt must be recognized. At the same time there is a disconnect between knowledge and action on climate change. The salience of adaptation to climate change may be a precondition for action, but this issue has so far been neglected in the adaptation literature. This indicates a missing link between perception, values and world-views, on one side, and policy formation on the other. The article analyses how actors in three occupational groups in a natural resource dependent community in northern Norway perceive and respond to changes in weather and resource conditions, as well as projections for future climate. The results indicate that the need to adapt is perceived differently, if at all, amongst different actors. By drawing on concepts from governance literatures and cultural theory of risks (CTR), the paper seeks to explain this divergence in perceptions and responses amongst different actors, which can help policy-makers understand when and why autonomous actors are willing to adapt. We find that adaptation to climate change cannot readily be expected among actors who fit the individualist category of CTR, who do not directly utilize scientific knowledge when in their work.

Decentralizing conservation and diversifying livelihoods within Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal

To alleviate poverty and enhance conservation in resource dependent communities, managers must identify existing livelihood strategies and the associated factors that impede household access to livelihood assets. Researchers increasingly advocate reallocating management power from exclusionary central institutions to a decentralized system of management based on local and inclusive participation. However, it is yet to be shown if decentralizing conservation leads to diversified livelihoods within a protected area. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess factors affecting household livelihood diversification within Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project, the first protected area in Asia to decentralize conservation. We randomly surveyed 25% of Kanchenjunga households to assess household socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and access to livelihood assets. We used a cluster analysis with the ten most common income generating activities (both on- and off-farm) to group the strategies households use to diversify livelihoods, and a multinomial logistic regression to identify predictors of livelihood diversification. We found four distinct groups of household livelihood strategies with a range of diversification that directly corresponded to household income. The predictors of livelihood diversification were more related to pre-existing socioeconomic and demographic factors (e.g., more landholdings and livestock, fewer dependents, receiving remittances) than activities sponsored by decentralizing conservation (e.g., microcredit, training, education, interaction with project staff). Taken together, our findings indicate that without direct policies to target marginalized groups, decentralized conservation in Kanchenjunga will continue to exclude marginalized groups, limiting a household's ability to diversify their livelihood and perpetuating their dependence on natural resources.

Power and resistance in Cameroon – strategies, intentionality, intersectionality, and shifting spaces and identities

This paper examines how forest communities in Cameroon engage in social transformation when faced with social injustices and uneven power relations in their interactions with local state authorities and transnational corporations. It focuses on the different strategies that marginalized resource-dependent communities employ in resisting existing forms of domination manifested in public–private-community forest governance relations. We show how power operates in closed governance spaces to work against equitable, democratic and effective policy-making. We take as a point of departure that resistance or social change cannot be understood in isolation from power. Moreover, we engage with the intentionality debate and make the case that some forms of resistance are goal oriented in character. We reveal how disenfranchised communities, using powerful traditional ritual as a form of public protest, can effectively open up closed spaces and obtain effective participation in processes denied them. Our findings have significance for resistance and power debates relating to intentionality, intersectionality and outcomes.

From Reef to Table: Social and Ecological Factors Affecting Coral Reef Fisheries, Artisanal Seafood Supply Chains, and Seafood Security.

Ocean and coastal ecosystems provide critical fisheries, coastal protection, and cultural benefits to communities worldwide, but these services are diminishing due to local and global threats. In response, place-based strategies involve communities and resource users in management have proliferated. Here, we present a transferable community-based approach to assess the social and ecological factors affecting resource sustainability and food security in a small-scale, coral reef fishery. Our results show that this small-scale fishery provides large-scale benefits to communities, including 7,353 ± 1547 kg yr-1 (mean ± SE) of seafood per year, equating to >30,000 meals with an economic value of $78,432. The vast majority of the catch is used for subsistence, contributing to community food security: 58% is kept, 33.5% is given away, and 8.5% is sold. Our spatial analysis assesses the geographic distribution of community beneficiaries from the fishery (the “food shed” for the fishery), and we document that 20% of seafood procured from the fishery is used for sociocultural events that are important for social cohesion. This approach provides a method for assessing social, economic, and cultural values provided by small-scale food systems, as well as important contributions to food security, with significant implications for conservation and management. This interdisciplinary effort aims to demonstrate a transferable participatory research approach useful for resource-dependent communities as they cope with socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental change.

Designing conservation-development policies for the forest frontier

The conservation of forests in expanding frontier landscapes is critically important to maintain intact forest ecosystems and support forest dependent communities. To conserve frontier forests, policy approaches are needed that conserve forests and advance the well-being of local resource dependent communities. To identify such approaches, the forest conservation and development framework (FCDF) was designed to find place-based conservation-development policies that target system leverage-points influencing land-use practices. To demonstrate the utility of the FCDF, a portfolio of conservation-development policies were identified for Peru’s Manu-Tambopata Corridor (MAT) and evaluated by local land-users. Results of the MAT case study show high levels of interest in the proposed policies, but a wide variation in interest levels relative to personal circumstances and policies proposed. Barriers to implementing conservation-development policies in frontier environments were also identified, including high value land-use alternatives generating high opportunity costs for accepting PES payments (e.g., REDD+), insecure land tenure and conflicting authorizations limiting land-users policy choices, and broad demographic diversity among local land-users. Collectively, this research suggests the FCDF is a useful approach for identifying policies matched to local conditions that advance conservation and human development. This research also indicates policy design in frontier environments is most effective when adapted to local conditions, seeks to identify a mix of complementary policies, and is targeted at key system variables influencing land-use practices (i.e., system leverage-points). Importantly, the MAT case study also highlights how even in rapidly changing frontier landscapes, land-users are interested in policies that advance conservation and development goals.

Changes in adaptive capacity of Kenyan fishing communities

Coastal communities are particularly at risk from the impacts of a changing climate(1). Building the capacity of coastal communities to cope with and recover from a changing environment is a critical means to reducing their vulnerability(2,3). Yet, few studies have quantitatively examined adaptive capacity in such communities. Here, we build on an emerging body of research examining adaptive capacity in natural resource-dependent communities in two important ways. We examine how nine indicators of adaptive capacity vary: among segments of Kenyan fishing communities; and over time. Socially disaggregated analyses found that the young, those who had migrated, and those who do not participate in decision-making seemed least prepared for adapting to change in these resource-dependent communities. These results highlight the most vulnerable segments of society when it comes to preparing for and adapting to change in resource-dependent communities. Comparisons through time showed that aspects of adaptive capacity seemed to have increased between 2008 and 2012 owing to higher observed community infrastructure and perceived availability of credit.

Planning for growth in a natural resource boomtown: challenges for urban planners in Fort McMurray, Alberta

Between 2000 and 2010, the population of the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta increased by 80%, mainly due to the expansion of oil extraction projects and subsidiary industries. Population growth of this magnitude has significant consequences for city planning. While Fort McMurray struggles to keep up with enormous numbers of in-migrants, the cost of living in the city has skyrocketed. Using interviews with city planners and field experience in the city, in this paper I examine the current challenges faced by urban planners in Fort McMurray against the backdrop of global economic decision-making, corporate influence, and commodity dynamics. While the recession of 2008 gave city planners some breathing room, they still struggle with gathering accurate census information and predicting population growth, providing affordable housing, and balancing short-range planning with their long-term goals. Attempts by city planners to address these challenges could provide a contemporary model for urban planning in rapidly growing, resource-dependent communities.

Biodiversity conservation and livelihoods in rural Ghana: Impacts and coping strategies

Increasingly, conservationists and policy makers are in quest of projects directed towards biodiversity conservation. However, impacts of biodiversity conservation projects tend to be more severe in natural resource-dependent communities with limited livelihood options. This article examines the impacts of a biodiversity conservation project – creation of Kakum Conservation Area (KCA) – on livelihoods of rural people in Ghana, in terms of experiences and adaptive capacity of local communities. The article reveals that the impacts of the KCA project on local livelihoods varied according to proximity to the KCA boundary and the type of crops cultivated, as well as the scale of previous dependence on resources in the KCA. The article indicates that the KCA project would benefit by: (i) understanding the socio-cultural and political contexts influencing rural residents; and (ii) providing alternative livelihoods for communities experiencing the impacts of the KCA. Policy implications are further presented.

Exploring participation in ecological monitoring in Nepal's community forests

SUMMARYMembers of the public and resource-dependent communities are increasingly participating alongside professional scientists to monitor the natural world. This study applies the contention from development studies that participatory approaches may be tyrannical to participatory monitoring of Nepal's community forests. There is a tyranny of the group because elites within the community stand to benefit at the cost of those already marginalized. In theory, tyranny is produced through the methods employed in the projects, as they promote scientific systems of monitoring at the expense of local understandings of environmental change; in practice, however, the latter aspects override official monitoring to enable effective learning from the projects. In some instances, tyranny is produced through decision-making and control, whilst, in other cases, the reverse is true and communities are empowered through their participatory monitoring efforts. Policy makers and those involved in participatory monitoring should endeavour to transform tyranny created at local and wider scales. Participatory monitoring holds huge potential in the assessment of biodiversity, natural resources and ecosystem services, but programmes and projects need to effectively deliver associated benefits of conservation and community empowerment.

Chapter 1.4 Local governance and crisis management in Gamvik Municipality, in northern Norway: The role and participation of local authorities and voluntary organizations

This chapter looks at the role of local authorities and civil society in responding to a severe economic crisis in a resource dependent municipality in northern Norway. In response to the challenges of globalization, the long-term community development goal is for such resourcebased places to become more resilient, more sustainable, and more diverse. The paper first introduces the municipality of Gamvik in northern Norway, and reviews its historical development and economic challenges. The next part examines the response to this economic crisis by the local government, local economy, and civil society. The paper concludes with a discussion reviewing how the interconnections between economic transition, community transition, and the need to supply supports is crucial for transforming small resource dependent communities.