Towards integrated governance for water, health and social–ecological systems: The watershed governance prism

This article proposes a shift toward the integrated governance of watersheds as a basis for fostering health, sustainability and social–ecological resilience. The authors suggest that integrated watershed governance is more likely when different perspectives, including health and well-being, are explicitly understood, communicated, and sought as co-benefits of watershed management. A new conceptual device – the watershed governance prism – is introduced in relation to the multiple facets of governance that characterize contemporary water resources management and examined as an integrative framework to link social and environmental concerns with the determinants of health in the watershed context. The authors assess the diagnostic and communicative potential of such a framework, discussing its utility as a concise depiction of multiple, interacting policy priorities and as a guide to integrate different research and policy domains into the governance of water, health and social–ecological systems.     

Applying historical ecology to natural resource management institutions: Lessons from two case studies of landscape fire management

Understanding the linkages between social and ecological systems is key to developing sustainable natural resource management (NRM) institutions. Frequently, however, insufficient attention is paid to the historical development of NRM institutions. Instead, discussion largely focuses on models of economic efficiency at the expense of the cultural, historical, and ecological contexts within which institutions develop. Here we use the research program of historical ecology to explore the development, maintenance, and change of two contemporary fire management institutions in northern Australia and Colorado, USA, to demonstrate how social institutions and ecological systems change and resist change over time and how institutions interact across scales to negotiate contrasting goals and motivations. We argue that these NRM institutions are not strictly speaking evolutionary or adaptive, and that historical context is critical when evaluating how and why particular institutions and institutional relationships develop. As with ecosystems, the present characteristics of the NRM institutions are dependent on what has happened before and their efficacy can only be evaluated retrospectively. Therefore, an understanding of history is essential to questions of the desirability and feasibility of institutional change where such shifts are required from an ecological, social, or economic perspective. We further propose that institutional conflict arises from the differing goals and motives of resource management institutions at different scales. Our cases reveal that larger-scale institutions can be successful at achieving narrowly defined goals but often fall short of achieving socially desirable sustainable outcomes. Our findings support the use of narratives of community history, place, and being in considering the resilience and sustainability of social-ecological systems. We offer that historical ecology is complementary with institutional and economic approaches to the analysis of NRM institutions, and possesses a particular strength in linking ecology to the values and norms of small social groups.     

Multi-level participation for building adaptive capacity: Formal agency-community interactions in northern Kenya

Multi-level, networked participation is a vital component in building social–ecological resilience and the capacity to adapt to environmental change. This paper outlines the ways in which multi-level participation contributes to adaptive capacity and, in so doing, takes a step toward articulating a theory of participation based on resilience thinking. We use a case study of Gabra pastoralist communities of northern Kenya to illustrate how multi-level participation may lead to increasing adaptive capacity, above and beyond existing pastoralist adaptations. The findings suggest that adaptive capacity is systemic—that is to say, it is a property of the social–ecological system, including especially the network of institutional linkages that characterizes that system, as much as it is a property of particular actors within the system. We argue that there are three key elements of meaningful multi-level participation: an institutional environment in which the various levels of institutions are linked, inclusivity in decision-making at these various levels, and deliberation. These three features can work together to create meaningful multi-level participation, to facilitate the co-production of knowledge and to build adaptive capacity.     

Testing resilience thinking in a poverty context: Experience from the Niger River basin

Resilience thinking is an important addition to the range of frameworks and approaches that can be used to understand and manage complex social–ecological systems like small-scale fisheries. However, it is yet to lead to better environmental or development outcomes for fisheries stakeholders in terms of food security, improved livelihoods and ecological sustainability. This paper takes an empirical approach by focusing on the fundamentals of resilience thinking to evaluate its usefulness in developing relevant management interventions in small-scale fisheries in the Niger River Basin in West Africa. The paper presents the outputs of a participatory assessment exercise where both fishery communities and local experts were involved at two different scales. The resilience frame used was designed to facilitate the identification of socially defined thresholds that help delineate the desirability of the current system configuration and provides a diagnosis framework that tailors management solutions to problems in local context. The analysis highlights some key contributions from resilience thinking to the challenge of diagnosis in small-scale fisheries management in developing countries, as well as important contributions that emerge from taking a pragmatic and critical approach to its application.     

Ethics and public perception of climate change: Exploring the Christian voices in the US public debate

Climate change raises many questions with strong moral and ethical dimensions that are important to address in climate-policy formation and international negotiations. Particularly in the United States, the public discussion of these dimensions is strongly influenced by religious groups and leaders. Over the past few years, many religious groups have taken positions on climate change, highlighting its ethical dimensions. This paper aims to explore these ethical dimensions in the US public debate in relation to public support for climate policies. It analyzes in particular the Christian voices in the US public debate on climate change by typifying the various discourses. Three narratives emerge from this analysis: ‘conservational stewardship’ (conserving the ‘garden of God’ as it was created), ‘developmental stewardship’ (turning the wilderness into a garden as it should become) and ‘developmental preservation’ (God's creation is good and changing; progress and preservation should be combined). The different narratives address fundamental ethical questions, dealing with stewardship and social justice, and they provide proxies for public perception of climate change in the US. Policy strategies that pay careful attention to the effects of climate change and climate policy on the poor – in developing nations and the US itself – may find support among the US population. Religious framings of climate change resonate with the electorates of both progressive and conservative politicians and could serve as bridging devices for bipartisan climate-policy initiatives.     

A three-tiered approach to participatory vulnerability assessment in the Solomon Islands

Greater recognition of the seriousness of global environmental change has led to an increase in research that assesses the vulnerability of households, communities and regions to changing environmental or economic conditions. So far, however, there has been relatively little attention given to how assessments can be conducted in ways that help build capacity for local communities to understand and find their own solutions to their problems. This paper reports on an approach that was designed and used to work with a local grass roots organization in the Solomon Islands to promote inclusivity and participation in decision-making and to build the capacity of the organization to reduce the vulnerability of communities to drivers of change. The process involved working collaboratively with the organization and training its members to conduct vulnerability assessments with communities using participatory and deliberative methods. To make best use of the learning opportunities provided by the research process, specific periods for formal reflection were incorporated for the three key stakeholders involved: the primary researchers; research assistants; and community members. Overall, the approach: (1) promoted learning about the current situation in Kahua and encouraged deeper analysis of problems; (2) built capacity for communities to manage the challenges they were facing; and (3) fostered local ownership and responsibility for problems and set precedents for future participation in decision-making. While the local organization and the communities it serves still face significant challenges, the research approach set the scene for greater local participation and effort to maintain and enhance livelihoods and wellbeing. The outcomes highlight the need for greater emphasis on embedding participatory approaches in vulnerability assessments for communities to benefit fully from the process.     

An operational framework for equity in the 2015 Agreement

Equity is a highly contentious but essential area of negotiation, if a stable and effective international climate agreement with broad participation is to be achieved. Three perspectives on the magnitude dimensions of equity are identified that need consideration in the process of formulating an agreement: agreement on a ‘safe’ temperature goal; agreement on the required global effort; and agreement on a fair division of contributions. The opportunities are explored for reconciling these perspectives in an operational framework for equity. Specifically, this means the importance of the adopted a global temperature goal of below 2°C temperature increase by the end of the century. In addition, an initial approach to quantifying adaption costs is suggested, while the importance of arriving at a global mitigation goal is emphasized. It is argued that finance and technology support commensurate with the required global mitigation and adaptation effort is an important element of equity.

Policy relevance

The centrality of equity, in terms of both form and magnitude, will be vital for the design and implementation of a 2015 Agreement that is capable of achieving the objectives of the Convention. Three central areas of debate within global negotiations are identified and discussed: an appropriate temperature goal; global goals for adaptation, mitigation, finance, and technological support; and the division of global effort. The opportunities for reconciling the areas of debate are explored specifically in the context of an Equity Reference Framework, along with suggestions for approaches to quantifying adaptation needs.     

Emergence of co-management governance for Hawai‘i coral reef fisheries

Governance failures associated with top-down management have spawned a myriad of institutional arrangements to engage resource users in decision-making through co-management. Although co-management can take many forms and may not always lead to positive outcomes, it has emerged as a promising governance option available to meet social and ecological goals. Recent research on co-management of small-scale fisheries has used comparative approaches to test factors associated with social and ecological success. Less is known however, about how co-management institutional arrangements emerge and persist in the face of socioeconomic and environmental change. Here, we examine the emergence of co-management governance using a case study from coral reef fisheries in the Hawaiian Islands. We used a mixed methods approach, combining a robust policy analysis and a set of key respondent interviews to trace the evolution of this co-management arrangement. Our research uncovers a set of linked drivers and social responses, which together comprise the emergence phase for the evolution of co-management in this case study. Drivers include resource depletion and conflict, and social responses comprise self-organization, consensus building, and collective action. We share insights on key factors that affect these phases of emergence, drawing on empirical findings from our policy review and key respondent interviews. We conclude by describing ways that our findings can directly inform policy and planning in practice, including the importance of documenting the ‘creation story’ that spawned the new institutional arrangement, ensuring that enabling conditions are present, the complexity of defining community, the connection between process legitimacy and outcomes, and understanding the costs and timelines associated with co-management governance transitions.     

An iconic approach for representing climate change

International and national greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals implicitly rely in part on individuals undertaking voluntary emissions reductions through lifestyle decisions. Whilst there is widespread public recognition of climate change as an issue, there are many barriers – cognitive, psychological and social – preventing individuals from enacting lifestyle decarbonisation. More effective climate change communication approaches are needed which allow individuals to engage meaningfully with climate change, thus opening new prospects for lifestyle decarbonisation. This study presents an iconic approach to engagement, tested in the UK context, which allows individuals to approach climate change through their own personal values and experiences. The iconic approach harnesses the emotive and visual power of climate icons with a rigorous scientific analysis of climate impacts under a different climate future. Although some climate icons already exist – for example the Thermohaline Circulation shutdown – these ‘expert-led’ icons fail to effectively engage ‘non-experts’. We demonstrate that the non-expert-led iconic approach helps overcome some of the cognitive and affective barriers that impede action towards lifestyle decarbonisation.     

Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change

The 20th anniversary issue of Global Environmental Change provides an important opportunity to address the core questions involved in addressing “global environmental” problems—especially those related to climate change. Climate change is a global collective-action problem since all of us face the likelihood of extremely adverse outcomes that could be reduced if many participants take expensive actions. Conventional collective-action theory predicts that these problems will not be solved unless an external authority determines appropriate actions to be taken, monitors behavior, and imposes sanctions. Debating about global efforts to solve climate-change problems, however, has yet not led to an effective global treaty. Fortunately, many activities can be undertaken by multiple units at diverse scales that cumulatively make a difference. I argue that instead of focusing only on global efforts (which are indeed a necessary part of the long-term solution), it is better to encourage polycentric efforts to reduce the risks associated with the emission of greenhouse gases. Polycentric approaches facilitate achieving benefits at multiple scales as well as experimentation and learning from experience with diverse policies.     

Learning effects of interactive decision-making processes for climate change adaptation

Learning is gaining attention in relation to governance processes for contemporary environmental challenges; however, scholarship at the nexus of learning and environmental governance lacks clarity and understanding about how to define and measure learning, and the linkages between learning, social interactions, and environment. In response, this study aimed to advance and operationalize a typology of learning in an environmental governance context, and examined if a participatory decision-making process (adaptive co-management) for climate change adaptation fostered learning. Three types of learning were identified: cognitive learning, related to the acquisition of new or the structuring of existing knowledge; normative learning, which concerns a shift in viewpoints, values or paradigms, and relational learning, referring to an improved understanding of others’ mindsets, enhanced trust and ability to cooperate. A robust mixed methods approach with a focus on quantitative measures including concept map analysis, social network analysis, and self-reflective questions, was designed to gauge indicators for each learning type. A participatory decision-making process for climate change adaptation was initiated with stakeholders in the Niagara region, Canada. A pseudo-control group was used to minimize external contextual influences on results. Clear empirical evidence of cognitive and relational learning was gained; however, the results from normative learning measures were inconclusive. The learning typology and measurement method operationalized in this research advances previous treatments of learning in relation to participatory decision-making processes, and supports adaptive co-management as a governance strategy that fosters learning and adaptive capacity.     

The Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale

Anxiety relating to a multitude of ecological crises, or eco-anxiety, is a subject of growing research significance. We used a multi-study mixed-methods design to explore eco-anxiety in Australia and New Zealand, validating a new eco-anxiety scale. In Study One, we developed and tested a 7-item eco-anxiety scale (n = 334), finding that this captured some, but not all, experiences of eco-anxiety. We found that people were anxious about a range of environmental conditions and their personal negative impact on the planet. Notably, people’s anxiety about different environmental conditions (e.g., climate change, environmental degradation, pollution) were interconnected, lending support for the existence of eco-anxiety (a broader construct that encompasses climate change anxiety). These results informed further scale development in Study Two. Exploratory (n = 365) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (n = 370) supported a final 13-item scale that captured four dimensions of eco-anxiety: affective symptoms, rumination, behavioural symptoms, and anxiety about one’s negative impact on the planet, which were each distinct from stress, anxiety and depression. A further longitudinal sample (n = 189) established the stability of these factors across time. Findings support eco-anxiety as a quantifiable psychological experience, reliably measured using our 13-item eco-anxiety scale, and differentiated from mental health outcomes.     

Chloride and Bromide Loss from Sea-Salt Particles in Southern Ocean Air

Datasets on aerosol composition in Southern Ocean air at Cape Grim and Macquarie Island, and rainwater composition at Cape Grim, have been analysed for sea-salt components in order to test the validity of the multiphase autocatalytic halogen activation process proposed initially by Sander and Crutzen (1996) and developed fully for clean marine air by Vogt et al. (1996). Four distinct datasets from the two locations were analysed. All four datasets provided consistent evidence in support of three predictions of the autocatalytic model: (1) overall Cl- deficits in sea-salt aerosol were small, difficult to quantify against analytical uncertainty and at most a few percent; (2) Br- deficits were large, averaging –30% to –50% on an annual basis, with strong seasonality ranging from about –10% in some winter samples to –80% or more in some summer samples; and (3) the Br- and Cl- deficits were clearly linked to the availability of strong, S-acidity in the aerosol, confirming the importance of acid catalysis to the dehalogenation process.     

Scales of climate impacts

Climates, ecosystems, and societies interact over a tremendous range of temporal and spatial scales. Scholarly work on climate impacts has tended to emphasize different questions, variables, and modes of explanation depending on the primary scale of interest. Much of the current debate on cause and effect, vulnerability, marginality, and the like stems from uncritical or unconscious efforts to transfer experience, conclusions, and insights across scales. This paper sketches a perspective from which the relative temporal and spatial dimensions of climatic, ecological, and social processes can be more clearly perceived, and their potential interactions more critically evaluated. Quantitative estimates of a variety of characteristic scales are derived and compared, leading to specific recommendations for the design of climate impact studies.A longer version of this paper (Clark, 1985), with complete documentation of data sources, was presented at the Social Science Research Council's Conference on Forecasting in the Social and Natural Sciences (Boulder, Colorado, June 10–13, 1984).     

Reconciling the design of CDM with inborn paradox of additionality concept

Additionality of greenhouse gas emission reduction achieved through projects in developing countries has been a matter of heated debate for quite some time. Michael Grubb succintly summarized the inborn paradox of the additionality concept. It reads: “the most ‘cost-effective’ projects may be the least ‘additional’ and strict project additionality would give perverse policy incentives”. The authors begin with elaborating this notion. The dilemma for policy makers is that, despite the paradox, Kyoto regime desperately needs flexibility to reconcile its ambitious target with difficulties in implementing domestic policies and measures. The solution to it is to give a certain degree of discretionary elements to each party in designing criteria for clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. Such institutional design works because parties do not behave like an economic man but do have propensity to faithfully comply in a tightly woven international interdependence structure as the experience of past multilateral international agreements suggest. Transparency and responsibility will be a prerequisite for such an institutional design to be effective and attain public support. In contrast, a catch-all institutional design that depends heavily on bureaucratic and technological elements will be plagued by Grubb’s paradox and fail eventually. Elaborated methodologies for additionality determination will increase importance in the long run and universal rules may be available in future. But we have to begin with learning how the flexibility of Kyoto regime works by doing.     

Fractal analysis of climatic data: Mean annual temperature records in Hungary

Summary Rescaled range analysis of the annual mean surface air temperatures at 7 meteorological stations in Hungary for the period of 1901–1991 indicates that the considered temperatures are fractals with a mean fractal dimension of 1.23 ± 0.01. This value compares favourably with the fractal dimensions of other climatic records, both on small time scale of 10–100 years and for time spans 10³–10⁶ years. Possibly such fractal dimensions are characteristic of climate change over the whole spectral range of 10 to 10⁶ years. If this assumption becomes confirmed through analysis of a wider set of climatic records, long-range climatic prediction (in statistical sense) on different time scales will appear feasible.With 4 Figures     

An improved Lorentzian technique for evaluating resonance characteristics of the Earth-ionosphere cavity

The effectiveness of various formulations of the Lorentzian procedure for estimating Schumann resonance (SR) characteristics of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide from transient electromagnetic signals is tested in the limits of a simplified, spherically uniform model of the resonator. It is shown that the major improvement, in comparison with the “classic” Lorentzian formulation, is achieved by consideration of the intra-modal phase interference. The effect of the “limited frequency dispersion” inherent in the “classic” Lorentzian approach – that is of substantial importance at the lowest SR modes – can be effectively neutralized by interpolating the values for the propagation parameter between the adjacent modal frequencies. Several practical aspects of applying the Lorentzian procedure to transient signals are also discussed.     

Plural valuation of nature for equity and sustainability: Insights from the Global South

Plural valuation is about eliciting the diverse values of nature articulated by different stakeholders in order to inform decision making and thus achieve more equitable and sustainable outcomes. We explore what approaches align with plural valuation on the ground, as well as how different social-ecological contexts play a role in translating plural valuation into decisions and outcomes. Based on a co-constructed analytical approach relying on empirical information from ten cases from the Global South, we find that plural valuation contributes to equitable and sustainable outcomes if the valuation process: 1) is based on participatory value elicitation approaches; 2) is framed with a clear action-oriented purpose; 3) provides space for marginalized stakeholders to articulate their values in ways that can be included in decisions; 4) is used as a tool to identify and help reconcile different cognitive models about human-nature relations; and 5) fosters open communication and collaboration among stakeholders. We also find that power asymmetries can hinder plural valuation. As interest and support for undertaking plural valuation grows, a deeper understanding is needed regarding how it can be adapted to different purposes, approaches, and social-ecological contexts in order to contribute to social equity and sustainability.     

Maladaptive trajectories of change in Makira, Solomon Islands

Trajectories of change are dynamic processes of individual, group and/or societal responses to change which create further change and responses, with outcomes that reflect the cumulative properties of those processes. Understanding trajectories of change is an important initial step for designing appropriate adaptation strategies because even though responses may enable people to cope with change in the short term, the accumulated responses of individuals can generate undesirable maladaptive outcomes over longer periods of time. This paper examines trajectories of change in Kahua, Solomon Islands, where people have traditionally relied on subsistence activities and have in the past been subsistence affluent. Participatory methods, including 76 focus group discussions in 38 communities with 821 individuals, were used to determine changes in the region and its drivers. A conceptual model was developed of the underlying feedback processes within the Kahua social–ecological system. The results show that communities are facing rapid and extensive changes. Most changes, however, are being driven by the two key drivers of population growth and a strong desire for monetary prosperity that act synergistically to generate stress in communities. People are generally responding by focusing on income generation, which is reinforcing stress in communities and resulting in maladaptive trajectories of change. The results suggest development policy in the Solomon Islands needs to: (1) take the challenges of population growth much more seriously; (2) place greater effort on development activities that reduce per capita impact on the environment; (3) improve management of the high expectations for monetary prosperity; (4) increase emphasis on wellbeing aspects of development rather than income generation per se, and (5) better align development with existing adaptation strategies to ensure that vulnerability to future global change does not increase.     

Sila dialogues on climate change: Inuit wisdom for a cross-cultural interdisciplinarity

This research begins with the recognition that climate change researchers have become interested in Inuit ecological observations because of the importance of northern changes on the global climate system, but this research often marginalizes Inuit understandings of these climate-related changes. The direct translation of the Inuktitut term Sila in much of this research is a case study in this methodological problem. In contrast to climate research translations of Sila as weather, ethnographies of Inuit conceive of Sila as a spiritual power that is related to the weather. These diverging interpretations of Sila reflect the difficulty of conducting cross-cultural research. To mitigate this difficulty a dialogue was engaged with Inuit concerning their experience of climate change in relation to the different Inuit and Western understandings of Sila. The central goals of this paper are to clearly define Sila so as to identify implications it may have for Western approaches in conducting cross-cultural climate research, and, in the process, to begin a cross-cultural dialogue that aims at an agreed upon understanding of climate change that is respectful of different knowledges.