Social-ecological Fit Research Articles

Optimization of social-ecological fit in China's Sousa Chinensis protected areas based on modified Moran's I

Global social-ecological fit challenges require generalized methods that quantify the degree of human-nature matching to identify and optimize common problems in the world's coasts and oceans. Despite progress in depicting social-ecological interdependency, focus is less on measuring universally applicable and quantitatively comparable fit. By reviewing international marine protected areas' fit problems and transforming qualitative subgraphs to quantitative submatrices, the modified Moran's I can measure social-ecological fit in worldwide scenarios. As an example, results of China's 6 Sousa chinensis marine protected areas include: (1) Quantitative calculations aligned with qualitative motifs, indicating a gradient of fit degrees and motif types; (2) Fit degree was significant at the 95% confidence level after of 10,000 randomizations; (3) Fit degrees could be predicted with over 90% accuracy by common network attributes including betweenness centrality, clustering centrality, degree centrality and eigenvector centrality in 10,000 cross-validations; (4) The development pathway, stages and resilience of fit were presented. Fit problems and solutions were categorized into four groups based on the fit degrees. Governance insights for international practitioners include enhancing access to ecological resources through strengthening connections, avoiding overexploitation of resources via values creation, and following the adaptation-transformation pathway in co-management programs. Without any environmental restrictions and species specifications, the mathematically defined indicator of fit can be applied to other social-ecological systems to offer optimization strategies locally and internationally.

Agreements for conserving migratory shorebirds in the Asia-Pacific are better fit for addressing habitat loss than hunting.

A full-life cycle approach is a tenet of migratory species conservation, yet the degree to which this is achieved remains largely unassessed. This knowledge gap can be addressed using the concept of social-ecological fit, understood as the match between governance and ecological dimensions. Here, we assess the social-ecological fit for conserving migratory shorebirds in the Asia-Pacific, focusing on habitat loss and hunting. We identify the governance architectures for addressing these two threats and then assess the coordinating capacity of each architecture, measure institutional coverage for each species across their range, and determine the degree of institutional connectivity along their migratory network. We find that social-ecological fit is higher for the governance of habitat designation than for hunting management, with implications for governance practice. Analyses of social-ecological fit thus provide critical insights on the potential effectiveness of governance and therefore are a useful first step for migratory species conservation.

The Link Between Social-Ecological Network Fit and Outcomes: A Rare Empirical Assessment of a Prominent Hypothesis

It is often claimed that the structure of networks influences outcomes in environmental governance. For example, network motifs of social-ecological fit have been linked to positive environmental outcomes, but empirical tests of this link are rare. Social-ecological network fit represents a situation in which actors involved in the governance and management of linked ecological elements coordinate. We empirically analyze how motifs of social-ecological network fit are associated with actors’ outcome assessments in ten cases of Swiss wetlands governance. We combine social networks among organizational actors, networks of interrelated ecosystem management activities, and actors’ assessments of outcomes. Results show that – contrary to the prominent theoretical claim – more fit is linked to worse outcomes. Drawing on the so-called risk hypothesis, we argue that our negative findings likely highlight a complicated causal process between actors’ assessments of outcomes and their adjustment to risks through coordination in networks.

Creating adaptive social-ecological fit: The role of regional actors in the governance of Sea-level rise adaptation in San Francisco bay

Sea level rise is one of the most pressing climate adaptation issues around the world. Often, coastal communities are interdependent in their exposure to sea level rise – if one builds a seawall, it will push water to another – and would benefit from a coordinated adaptive response. The literature on social-ecological systems (SES) calls for actors placed at higher levels of governance (e.g. regional government in a metropolitan area) to improve coordination between local managers by serving as brokers. However, we lack empirical insight on how higher-level actors might improve coordination in practice, and theoretical development on the implications of their intermediation. To address these gaps, we study the case of adaptation to sea level rise in the San Francisco Bay Area. We build a social-ecological network of social actors and shoreline segments using original survey data and simulated scenarios of tidal and traffic interdependencies between shoreline segments. We perform a frequency analysis of network motifs that operationalize social-ecological ‘fit’ in the context of the Bay Area. We find that regional actors and non-governmental organizations increase social-ecological fit by providing intermediation between actors who work on different shoreline segments, whether interdependent or not. This shows that these actors provide adaptive social-ecological fit, future-proofing the Bay Area to current and future climate adaptation challenges.

Assessing social-ecological fit of flood planning governance

Social-ecological fit demands that governance systems align with and function at the appropriate scales of social and ecological processes being governed. While multilevel social-ecological network analysis has been applied to assess fit in various contexts, it has not yet been applied to understand transboundary flood planning. We investigate the social-ecological fit of collaborative flood planning efforts in the St. John River Basin, located in New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada and Maine in the United States, focusing on two social-ecological fit challenges: shared management of ecological resources and management of interconnected resources. Our results displayed organizations have a tendency to collaborate with others located in the same sub-sub-basin and not with those working in different sub-sub-basins, indicating limited social-ecological fit of the collaboration network to flooding at the basin scale. Qualitative analysis identified collaboration provided increased knowledge and technical resources to engage in flood planning, but it was hindered by a lack of financial resources, time constraints, and a lack of shared commitment. Collaborative relationships among organizations working in different sub-sub-basins are essential for cohesive flood planning at the basin level, and in this case, there is potential for an increase in collaboration among ecological neighbors to govern for ecological connectivity.

Mismatches in salmon social–ecological systems: Challenges and opportunities for (re)alignment in the Skeena River watershed

Mismatches between institutions and social–ecological systems (SESs) are one of the foremost challenges in natural resource management. However, while mismatches are often cited in the literature as a major challenge, empirical evidence of mismatches and their consequences is limited. This is particularly true for complex SESs, such as on the Pacific Coast of North America, where salmon drive interactions across multiple environments, jurisdictions, and scales. Here, I use the theoretical concept of fit to examine institutional alignment in a large-scale Pacific salmon SES, the Skeena River watershed in British Columbia, Canada. Utilizing Canadian federal environmental assessments as a proxy for colonial environmental governance institutions, I describe the common causes and consequences of mismatches between institutions and salmon SESs. This case study suggests that mismatches are threatening salmon sustainability and negatively affecting Indigenous People’s rights, livelihoods, and approaches to resource management and stewardship. I argue that improving social–ecological fit in salmon SESs will require new or revitalized forms of environmental governance that consciously fit the underlying social–ecological dynamics. While these findings are based on the Skeena River watershed, they may be generalizable to other salmon SESs in which mismatches between social and ecological processes and institutions exist.

Regulation, the hybrid market, and species conservation: The case of conservation banking in California.

Conservation Banking in California is a long-established offset program. Banks are hybrid instruments that hover between market autonomy and regulatory oversight. Challenges that may affect outcomes of the program include aligning regulation with the scales and objectives of the hybrid market and conservation and interaction with other compensation instruments. I use an analytical framework combining social-ecological fit (does the regulation fit the spatial, functional, and temporal scales of the market or conservation?) and instrument interaction (are compensation instruments redundant, synergetic, etc.?) to analyze the institutional framework of the conservation banking program. Results show that the program fails to reflect the hybrid market or species conservation objectives, creating a social-ecological mismatch. The institutional framework disincentivizes banking, while its contribution in conserving species cannot be measured. Competing and redundant instruments can lead to weaker compensation. The program needs equal standards that reflect conservation objectives for all compensation instruments. Findings on fit can be useful for other banking programs, and considerations on instrument interaction could improve offsets anywhere.

Improving the socio-ecological fit in water governance by enhancing coordination of ecosystem services used

Water governance systems have evolved around the exploitation of provisioning ecosystem services. The overexploitation of provisioning and the degradation of regulating services have led to a decline in the capacity of ecosystems to provide any services at all. Decisions affecting water-related ecosystem services are often not made in the water sector. Governance that does not take into account ecological interdependencies lead to unsustainable use of resources. In such situations, one can speak of a misfit between interdependencies of ecosystem services and coordination processes that would allow addressing them. The article introduces an approach to identify such misfits and potential solutions to overcome them and applies the approach to case studies in Germany, South Africa and Iran. The context-sensitive analyses highlight factors that contribute to or even determine prevailing practices in water management. The fit with the pattern of ecosystem service uses was found to be higher for governance processes in practice (formal and informal) than for formal coordination instruments on paper. Actors may not lack opportunities to exchange but these are not translated into tangible coordination outcomes. To reduce trade-offs between the uses of ecosystem service, improved synergies are needed between formal and informal institutional settings. Instruments need to be tailored to local circumstances. Scope and effectiveness of local action may be limited by higher governance levels. The analyses have demonstrated that the path from improving social-ecological fit to achieving sustainability is long. Addressing institutional deficits requires transformational change rather than short-term measures for addressing isolated problems or crisis situations.

Mapping stakeholder networks for the co-production of multiple ecosystem services: A novel mixed-methods approach

Governance of ecosystem services (ES) requires an understanding of the complex dynamics of collaboration (and contestation) of multiple stakeholders and multiple ES. However, many studies consider only a few ES or stakeholder groups. In our work, we map the co-production of multiple ES by multiple stakeholders connected through ES governance networks. Through a unique combination of Public Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), stakeholder focus groups, surveys, and social network analysis, we reveal insights on social-ecological fit of ES co-production across an area unified by a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation.By overlaying relationships between stakeholders, multiple ES, and ES co-production networks, our results reveal gaps and mismatches in the ES governance system. We identified mismatches between those ES most valued by the region’s inhabitants and those managed, governed and studied by relevant institutions and stakeholders. Cultural ES were the most highly appreciated by stakeholders, but social networks of cultural ES governance were the least densely connected, with highly influential stakeholders involved in cultural ES management (e.g., farmers), not well connected to the governance network. Thus, our findings point to a weakness in cultural ES governance and the need of incorporating cultural ES more clearly into natural resource management agendas.Our results show the importance of mapping what is being discussed by whom, and that mapping environmental governance networks alone does not necessarily provide sufficient resolution to understand co-production of different ES. We confirm the difficulties of governing ES when the ES providers and/or beneficiaries operate at different or distant scales, the scale of ecological processes does not match management (e.g., in some regulating and maintenance ES), or stakeholders which are important in affecting ES provision are not involved in governance, resulting in social-ecological misfit. Lastly, our work confirms the broad array of research methods needed to capture the complexity of governing multiple ES.

Achieving social-ecological fit in projectified environmental governance: Exploring vertical and horizontal dimensions

Social-ecological fit has been a popular approach to assessing the connectedness between social and ecological systems in environmental governance. However, the role of projects in social-ecological fit has yet to be explicitly problematized and conceptualized. Given the centrality of projects - i.e. temporally limited organizations that bring various actors into collaboration to pursue clearly defined goals and tasks - in environmental governance, this is a serious shortcoming in the literature. In this paper, we fill this gap by drawing on the hitherto unconnected literatures on projectified environmental governance and social-ecological fit. We then assess the extent to which fit can be achieved in projectified environmental governance. To do this, we develop a novel framework for assessing the vertical and horizontal dimensions of social, spatial, and temporal fit and conduct an empirical study of the European Union’s LIFE Program and environmental projects funded by the program in Estonia. Our results suggest that the spatial and temporal fit of projects is contingent on social fit, i.e., the alignment of interests and needs of project-related actors. Frictions between various levels of decision-making also condition the possibilities of achieving fit horizontally across stakeholder groups and ecological systems as well as of sustaining project results over time.

Evaluating social–ecological fit in urban stream management: The role of governing institutions in sustainable urban ecosystem service provision

The ecosystem services provided by urban rivers are often severely degraded. Although studies have examined why rivers are degraded, little is known about the social and natural dimensions of rivers in urban settings from an integrative systems approach. Such an approach would improve our understanding of the interplay between humans and nature with regard to the sustainable management of urban rivers. To address this research gap, this study posed two questions: (1) What is the social–ecological fit in current urban river management settings? (2) What contextual attributes could promote a better social–ecological fit to enable the sustainable provision of ecosystem services from urban rivers? In this study, we used an integrative approach to devise proxy indicators of social–ecological fit, based on an empirical case study in Taiwan. Three recursive human–nature coevolutionary scenarios were identified based on key observations: (1) social–ecological temporal misfit scenario; (2) social–ecological functional fit scenario; and (3) ecosystem service trade-offs scenario. For each scenario, the corresponding contextual attributes were proposed to enable social–ecological systems sustainability, namely, (a) building social resilience; (b) the diversification of infrastructure investment; and (c) a comprehensive ecosystem service monitoring mechanism. The policy and practical implications of this study call for the building of an institutional environment to foster adaptive change and remind local governments and actors of their pivotal role in the governance of urban rivers.

社会-生态网络方法研究进展

社会-生态系统是由一个或多个社会和生态子系统交互作用形成的复杂的、非线性的、动态耦合系统。理解社会与生态子系统之间的复杂交互关系对于实现有效、可持续的环境治理至关重要。社会-生态网络方法是网络理论在社会-生态交互作用研究中应用与发展的产物，在定量刻画社会-生态系统结构、分析系统动态变化、推动系统适应性治理等方面具有重大的应用潜力。系统梳理了国内外现有的社会-生态网络研究，首先从网络的类型、构建模式、分析方法3个方面介绍社会-生态网络方法，并阐述其在资源管理、社会-生态匹配、社会-生态适应性治理领域中的应用，探讨社会-生态网络方法在研究社会-生态交互作用中的优势和挑战，最后提出未来社会-生态网络研究的重点方向，即社会-生态网络的动态变化过程以及社会-生态网络结构与功能关系。研究旨在深化网络分析可用于描述人—自然关系的认识，为社会-生态系统的网络研究提供实践指导，以期促进社会-生态网络方法在我国社会-生态系统研究中的应用。;Social-ecological system is composed of social subsystem and ecological subsystem and the interactions between them, whose structures and functions are different from those of social subsystem or ecological subsystem alone. Social-ecological system is therefore characterized by complexity, non-stability and nonlinearity. At present, dynamic evolutions and mutual feedback mechanisms have gradually become the core contents of social-ecological system research. Achieving effective and sustainable environmental governance requires a better understanding of the complex interdependencies in social-ecological systems. However, the complexity, mutual feedback loops and other nonlinear dynamic characteristics of social-ecological dependence, as well as differences in interdisciplinary research paradigms make it very difficult to conceptualize and understand human-nature interactions in the social-ecological system. With the development of modern graph theory, statistical theory, computer technology, etc., network thinking has gradually been practically applied in analyzing the internal relations of the system. Social-ecological network method has been born as a product of the application and development of network theory in the study of socio-ecological interaction, which has great application potential in quantitatively descripting the system structure, analyzing the system dynamic changes, and promoting adaptive governances. We systematize existing social-ecological network studies and introduce the social-ecological network methods in terms of the type of network, building mode and analysis method. Then the article summarizes the social-ecological network method's applications in the field of natural resource management, social-ecological fit, social-ecological adaptability governances. By discussing the advantage and challenge of the social-ecological network method in the research of social-ecological interaction, we believe that the generalization of the social-ecological system into a network provides an effective way to understand the social-ecological dependence and insight into the behavior of the system. However, currently, the lack of generally recognized social-ecological interaction theory, insufficient practical application cases and researches on the causal relationship between structure and function, etc., still hinder the further development of social-ecological network methods. Finally, we put forward two important directions on strengthening and improving social-ecological network research in the future, that is, to introduce mathematical or physics methods to study the dynamic change process of social-ecological network, and to use more cases to reveal the relationship between the structure and function of social-ecological network. The paper aimed at deepening the understanding that network analysis can be used to describe human-nature relationship, and providing practical guidance for social-ecological network research, to promote a scientific and standardized application of the network method in social-ecological system studies in China.

Non-governmental organizations improve the social-ecological fit of institutions conserving the Andean bear in Colombia

Non-governmental organizations improve the social-ecological fit of institutions conserving the Andean bear in Colombia

Multi-level social-ecological networks in a payments for ecosystem services programme in central Veracruz, Mexico

SummaryPayments for ecosystem services (PES) programmes have been considered an important conservation mechanism to avoid deforestation. These environmental policies act in social and ecological contexts at different spatial scales. We evaluated the social-ecological fit between stakeholders and ecosystem processes in a local PES programme across three levels: social, ecological and social-ecological. We explored collaboration among stakeholders, assessed connectivity between forest units and evaluated conservation activity links between stakeholders and forest units. In addition, to increase programme effectiveness, we classified forest units based on their social and ecological importance. Our main findings suggest that non-governmental organizations occupy brokerage positions between landowners and government in a dense collaboration network. We also found a partial spatial misfit between conservation activity links and the forest units that provide the most hydrological services to Xalapa. We conclude that conservation efforts should be directed towards the middle and high part of the Pixquiac sub-watershed and that the role of non-governmental organizations as mediators should be strengthened to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the local PES programme.

Biosphere Reserves’ Management Effectiveness—A Systematic Literature Review and a Research Agenda

Research about biosphere reserves’ management effectiveness can contribute to better understanding of the existing gap between the biosphere reserve concept and its implementation. However, there is a limited understanding about where and how research about biosphere reserves’ management effectiveness has been conducted, what topics are investigated, and which are the main findings. This study addresses these gaps in the field, building on a systematic literature review of scientific papers. To this end, we investigated characteristics of publications, scope, status and location of biosphere reserves, research methods and management effectiveness. The results indicate that research is conceptually and methodologically diverse, but unevenly distributed. Three groups of papers associated with different goals of biosphere reserves were identified: capacity building, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. In general, each group is associated with different methodological approaches and different regions of the world. The results indicate the importance of scale dynamics and trade-offs between goals, which are advanced as important leverage points for the success of biosphere reserves. Building on the gaps identified in the literature, a research agenda is proposed, focusing on the need to investigate mechanisms for holistic research, outcomes and trade-offs, transformations for social-ecological fit and institutions for integrated management across scales.

Seeking sustainability: Employing Ostrom's SESF to explore spatial fit in Maine’s sea urchin fishery

Achieving resource sustainability in complex social-ecological systems requires employing place-based management mechanisms congruent with the underlying temporal, spatial, and functional dynamics of the system in question. However, matching management to system dynamics can prove extremely challenging, as has been illustrated in Maine’s sea urchin fishery where fishery managers have struggled to resolve management spatial scale mismatch for over two decades. In Maine, the spatial scale of management far exceeds the relevant spatial dynamics of the urchin resource and leaves fine-scale urchin aggregations in a de facto open access state. These conditions facilitated the serial overharvest of urchin aggregations and resulted in the substantial loss of viable urchin habitat as overharvested areas transitioned to kelp-dominated ecosystem states that inhibit urchin recruitment. Although fishery actors contemplated adopting a number of fine-scale management alternatives to enhance social-ecological fit in the fishery, to date, no such alternatives have been employed. We adopted an ethnographic research approach and conducted semi-structured key informant interviews, document analysis of archived meeting minutes, and participant observation at co-management meetings and restoration events to explore these dynamics from the fishery’s incipience to the present. Following data analysis, we employed Ostrom’s social-ecological systems framework as a diagnostic tool to identify the factors that have influenced management spatial fit in the urchin fishery. Research findings suggest that a number of interacting variables, including harvesters’ heterogeneity and conflicting mental models of the SES, low levels of trust and social capital, and changes in the resource system following collapse impeded collective action necessary to support fine-scale management. However, changing leadership characteristics and increasing horizontal collaboration between harvesters and scientists have positively influenced governance outcomes in recent years and provide a window of opportunity to transition towards a more adaptive and collaborative governance arrangement conducive to addressing problems of fit in the urchin fishery.

Are bottom-up approaches good for promoting social\u2013ecological fit in urban landscapes?

Bottom-up approaches are often presented as a remedy to environmental governance problems caused by poorly aligned social institutions and fragmented ecosystems. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating how such social–ecological fit might emerge and help achieve desirable outcomes. This paper combines quantitative social–ecological network analysis with interviews to investigate whether bottom-up approaches in lake governance improve the fit. We study groups of residents seeking to improve management of a network of lakes in Bengaluru, India. Results show that 23 ‘lake groups’ collaborate in a way that aligns with how lakes are hydrologically connected, thus strengthening the social–ecological fit. Three groups founded around 2010 have mobilized support from municipal officers and introduced an ecosystem-based approach to lake management that recognizes their ecological functions and dependence on, the broader hydrological network. These groups have also changed how other lake groups operate: groups founded after 2010 are more collaborative and more prone to contribute to social–ecological fit compared to the older lake groups. This paper demonstrates the utility of a theoretically informed method for examining the impact of bottom-up approaches, which, we argue, is important for a more informed perspective on their relevance and potential contribution to urban environmental governance.

Multilevel water quality management in the international Rhine catchment area: how to establish social-ecological fit through collaborative governance

Widmer, A., L. Herzog, A. Moser, and K. Ingold. 2019. Multilevel water quality management in the international Rhine catchment area: how to establish social-ecological fit through collaborative governance. Ecology and Society 24(3):27. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11087-240327

Examining horizontal and vertical social ties to achieve social–ecological fit in an emerging marine reserve network

Abstract Most MPA networks are designed only with ecological processes in mind to increase their conservation utility. However, since MPA networks often involve large geographic areas, they also affect and involve multiple actors, institutions, and policy sectors. A key challenge when establishing an effective MPA network is to align the ‘social system’ with the biophysical MPA network (the ‘ecological system’). This challenge is often denoted as ‘social–ecological fit’. Facilitating collaborative social interactions among various actors and stakeholders (social connectivity) is equally as important as accomplishing ecological connectivity. New analytical approaches are required to effectively examine this ‘social’ dimension of fit. An emerging marine reserve network in Jamaica and the recent invasion of Indo‐Pacific lionfish are used as a case study to: (1) examine the extent to which horizontal and vertical social ties bring local and national actors together to collaborate, coordinate, and share knowledge; and (2) assess the extent to which different attributes and features of such multilevel social networks may enhance or inhibit particular aspects of social–ecological fit. Findings suggest that multilevel linkages have played the greatest role in relation to enhancing fit in the marine reserve network in the context of the recent lionfish invasion. However, the long‐term propensity of the multi‐actor and multilevel networks to enhance social–ecological fit is uncertain given the prevalence of weak social ties, lack of a culture of information sharing and collaboration, and limited financial resources.

How does network governance affect social-ecological fit across the land–sea interface? An empirical assessment from the Lesser Antilles

How does network governance affect social-ecological fit across the land–sea interface? An empirical assessment from the Lesser Antilles