https://ncfp.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/berkes_2009_adaptive-co-management.pdf

Evolution of co-management: role of knowledge generation, bridging organizations and social learning.

Federal Republic of Nigeria

Human agency is considered a key factor in determining how individuals and society respond to environmental change. This article synthesizes knowledge on agency, capacity, and resilience across human development, well-being, and disasters literature to provide insights to support more integrated and human-centered approaches to understanding environmental change. It draws out the key areas of agreement across these diverse fields and identifies the main points of contestation and uncertainty. This highlights the need to consider subjective and relational factors in addition to objective measures of capacity and to view these as reflexive and dynamic, as well as differentiated socially and temporally. These findings can help distinguish between coping, adaptation, and transformation as responses to environmental and other stressors.

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-052610-092905

Agency, Capacity, and Resilience to Environmental Change: Lessons from Human Development, Well-Being, and Disasters

This paper is a methodological contribution to emerging debates on the role of learning, particularly forward-looking (anticipatory) learning, as a key element for adaptation and resilience in the context of climate change. First, we describe two major challenges: understanding adaptation as a process and recognizing the inadequacy of existing learning tools, with a specific focus on high poverty contexts and complex livelihood-vulnerability risks. Then, the article examines learning processes from a dynamic systems perspective, comparing theoretical aspects and conceptual advances in resilience thinking and action research/learning (AR/AL). Particular attention is paid to learning loops (cycles), critical reflection, spaces for learning, and power. Finally, we outline a methodological framework to facilitate iterative learning processes and adaptive decision making in practice. We stress memory, monitoring of key drivers of change, scenario planning, and measuring anticipatory capacity as crucial ingredients. Our aim is to identify opportunities and obstacles for forward-looking learning processes at the intersection of climatic uncertainty and development challenges in Africa, with the overarching objective to enhance adaptation and resilient livelihood pathways, rather than learning by shock.

/pdf/anticipatory-learning-for-climate-change-adaptation-and-55t4uinygo.pdf

Anticipatory Learning for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience

/pdf/the-economics-of-valuing-ecosystem-services-and-biodiversity-324vqg1ydy.pdf

The economics of valuing ecosystem services and biodiversity

We provide a synthesis of the papers in the Special Issue, the Communities Ecosystems and Livelihoods component of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), and other recent publications on the ada ...

/pdf/powerless-spectators-coping-actors-and-adaptive-co-managers-5eqz8d2p64.pdf

G Cundhill

Papers

Powerless spectators, coping actors, and adaptive co-managers: a synthesis of the role of communities in ecosystem management