Charting the emergence of a ‘knowing system’ for climate change adaptation in Australian regional natural resource management

Climate change increases the complexity and uncertainty of regional natural resource management (NRM), calling into question the appropriateness of linear knowledge-transfer approaches. In this paper we reflect on knowledge practices among a partnership of researchers and NRM planners, under a federal program of NRM investment intended to ‘deliver information’ to regional NRM planners to support planning for climate change. We unpack ‘container’ and ‘conduit’ metaphors of linear, one-way communication invoked by the starting conditions, and explore whether more relational ways of communicating were achieved. A key theme emerged early in the research that NRM planners felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available and discouraged by the irrelevance of much of it to their climate change planning. Our research-practice collaboration unfolded in this context and through ongoing face-to-face and virtual engagement over a period of two years. The collaborative approach featured joint identification of priority activities, co-design of planning approaches, and the iterative co-development of an online ‘information portal’, which acted as a boundary object. We report the emergence of a ‘knowing system’, resulting from these efforts to foster relationships and co-produce boundary objects in a particular geographic context. Our findings highlight the potential benefits of investing in the capacity of researchers and NRM practitioners to engage in collaborative research partnerships premised on the emergence of knowing systems.     

The social licence to operate and its role in marine governance: Insights from Australia

Traditionally, the ‘social licence to operate’ (SLO) refers to the societal expectations imposed on corporate and commercial activities, often displayed by the willingness for corporations to go beyond the requirements of formal regulations. Alternatively, this paper investigates the emerging influence of the SLO in shaping government decisions regarding the use and impact of the marine environment and its resources. Using expert interviews, text analysis and case study analysis, this research delineated the contemporary SLO as it has manifested in Australian marine governance, with the results indicating that this is potentially occurring at a pace faster than can be systematically reacted to within the current political decision-making processes. Under these emerging conditions, the risk has been identified that traditional government decision-making and stakeholder consultation processes are lagging in their capacity to adapt to ensure that public policy processes can support and engage in this shifting dialogue and ensure the influence of information is appropriately weighted. This research highlights an emerging adjustment of community presence in marine governance and the immediate complexities and challenges this creates for government decision-making. In particular, it begins to explore the interaction of differing information, how this information is carried through communication channels, stakeholder behaviour, approaches to withholding or granting a SLO and the responsibility this carries.     

Methods of social assessment in Marine Protected Area planning: Is public participation enough?

Addressing social and economic considerations is crucial to the success of Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning and management. Ineffective social assessment can alienate local communities and undermine the success of existing and future MPAs. It is rare to critique the success of methods used currently to incorporate social and economic considerations into MPA planning. Three Australian MPA planning processes covering three states and incorporating federal and state jurisdictions are reviewed in order to determine how potential social impacts were assessed and considered. These case studies indicate that Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is under-developed in Australian MPA planning. Assessments rely heavily on public participation and economic modelling as surrogates for dedicated SIA and are followed commonly by attitudinal surveys to gauge public opinion on the MPA after its establishment. The emergence of issues around public perception of the value of MPAs indicates the failure of some of these proposals to adequately consider social factors in planning and management. This perception may have potential implications for the long term success of individual MPAs. It may also compromise Australia's ability to meet international commitments for MPA targets to gazette at least 10% of all its marine habitats as MPAs. Indeed, this is demonstrated in two of the three case studies where social and economic arguments against MPAs have been used to delay or block the future expansion of the MPA network.     

Elements of viral cartography

ABSTRACT

Making and sharing maps is easier than ever, and social media platforms make it possible for maps to rapidly attain widespread visibility and engagement. Such maps can be considered examples of viral cartography – maps that reach rapid popularity via social media dissemination. In this research we propose a framework for evaluating the design and social dissemination characteristics of viral maps. We apply this framework in two case studies using maps that reached wide audiences on Twitter. We then analyze collections of maps derived from and inspired by viral maps using image analysis and machine learning to characterize their design elements. Based on our initial work to conceptualize and analyze virality in cartography, we propose a set of new research challenges to better understand viral mapmaking and leverage its social affordances.     

The tragedy of the commodity is not inevitable: Indigenous resistance prevents high-value fisheries collapse in the Pacific islands

The emergence of export markets for high-value seafood products tends to produce a predictable pattern of serial depletion of resources and social disruption in coastal communities, a phenomenon described as ‘the tragedy of the commodity’. The sea cucumber trade epitomizes these challenges, with cases of rapid growth followed by fishery collapse documented across the Indo-Pacific and the majority of assessed stocks worldwide overexploited. Is this ‘boom-bust’ sequence inevitable? We examine three cases of resistance to the sea cucumber trade from Palau, Pohnpei, and Yap. Despite the overwhelming short-term financial incentives to export, fishers, youth, elected and traditional leaders, and civil society organizations coordinated to ban the trade at its peak, using public protest, court battles, and customary and statutory law. We show that, like the tragedy of the commons, Indigenous peoples and local communities can organize to resist the tragedy of the commodity. They do so by asserting Indigenous values, rights, and institutions, recommonizing the resource and preventing fisheries collapse. These cases challenge the inevitability of the tragedy of the commodity and the narrative of poor fishers as vulnerable and disempowered.     

渭河流域3 100年前资源退化与人地关系演变

渭河流域全新世古土壤S     

尺度理论视角下的“一带一路”战略解读

目前,“一带一路”已成为中国的核心发展战略之一。借鉴尺度重构和尺度政治理论,分析“一带一路”战略的内涵、影响和风险。研究发现“一带一路”战略重构了现有的国家角色和地域形式,催生了以跨国基础设施为基础、以资本和经贸合作为支撑的新尺度。该尺度一方面被国际和国内的资本和权力关系不断重构,另一方面也在重构着现有的权力关系和资本积累过程。还从尺度政治视角出发探讨了“一带一路”战略中的风险因素。在国际层面,中国既面临着基于多边国际关系和地方抵抗的尺度上推力量,也面临着基于旧有边界和尺度化表达的尺度下推因素。在国内,“一带一路”战略既面临着地方政府基于政策争夺和地方保护主义产生的重复建设问题,也存在疆独势力等通过国际联系复杂化地方趋势的风险。为了更好地推行“一带一路”战略,中国必须积极应对这些尺度政治的挑战,深入研究尺度政治的机制和破解之道,努力化解海外投资、国际合作和地方治理中的风险。     

Social Mix and the Problematisation of Social Housing

Social housing in Australia is at a significant juncture. High levels of housing stress, increasing levels of socio-spatial polarisation and reduced government funding are posing complex policy challenges. Social mix policies are one response to these challenges, arising from the problematisation of social housing estates as socially excluded. This problematisation is examined through case studies of two Sydney social housing renewal projects: Telopea and Riverwood North. Drawing on interviews with government, private-sector and not-for-profit housing practitioners, the paper identifies two distinct discourses of social exclusion within this problematisation—culture of poverty discourse and equity discourse—that shape the implementation of social mix. These discourses reveal that implementing social mix is more complex than simply managing the cohabitation of residents in different tenures. Rather, the practice of social mix is embedded within discourses about the nature and causes of social exclusion. These discourses, in their turn, inform the multiple and sometimes conflicting aspirations pursued through social mix policies.     

From economic integration to socioeconomic inclusion: day labor worker centers as social intermediaries

Day labor worker centers have emerged as an important mode of regulatory action in the informal economy of major US cities. Research suggests that these organizations are beneficial in improving employment outcomes experienced by migrant workers engaged in this labor market sector. Yet, the extent to which these organizations impact the social integration of this working population remains relatively undeveloped in the literature. Using data from the National Day Labor Survey, we examine the impact of day labor worker centers on the level of social inclusion experienced by migrant day laborers. We find that worker centers have a modest, but statistically significant, impact on the levels of social integration experienced by this working population and that this varies from city to city. Ultimately we argue that the social intermediary role of these organizations may offer a type of counter mobilization necessary to promote the socioeconomic integration of this working population, but that issues of capacity remain.     

A new algorithm to find raster-based least-cost paths using cut and fill operations

We developed a least-cost path analysis algorithm that satisfies a slope threshold condition in hilly terrain. The new algorithm uses an expanding moving-window to explore a combination of cells that satisfy an elevation threshold condition and then supplements this by executing cut and fill operations when there are obstacle cells between source and destination cells. Cut and fill factors regarding the difference in the actual elevation and revised elevation are considered and a least-cost path is analyzed after calculating the accumulated travel cost to the destination point. After applying the developed algorithm to synthetic and real-world data, the least accumulated travel cost from the source point can then be calculated for all cells on the raster surface by considering various slope thresholds, moving-window sizes and raster data resolutions. This algorithm can be implemented as a useful tool in GIS software as well as engineering design software utilized in the construction and mining industries.