Showing papers in "Society & Natural Resources in 2015"
TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of trust is broken down into its component parts in an attempt to reorganize trust theory in a robust and practical way for collaborative natural resource management, and four forms of trust relevant to collaborative natural resources management are described: dispositional trust, rational trust, affinitive trust, and procedural trust.
Abstract: Despite the long-recognized importance of trust in the natural resources management literature, few have drawn upon the breadth of other disciplines' investigations of trust to inform their work. This article represents an effort to break down the concept of trust into its component parts in an attempt to reorganize trust theory in a robust and practical way for collaborative natural resource management. We describe four forms of trust relevant to collaborative (and other forms of) natural resource management: dispositional trust, rational trust, affinitive trust, and procedural trust. By delineating different forms of trust, their antecedents, and their potential consequences for collaborative natural resource management, we aim to provide a useful and consistent lexicon and framework for use by researchers and practitioners in the human dimensions of natural resource management.
253 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) volunteers' motivations, satisfactions, and advocacy role were assessed through stakeholder and volunteer surveys and focus groups with the program's management.
Abstract: Citizen science is a useful approach for conducting scientific research; however, an understanding of the motivations, satisfactions, and other aspects of volunteers’ psychology is essential for conservation scientists wishing to mobilize this resource. We tested psychometric instruments for assessing the motivations, satisfactions, and advocacy role of volunteers with the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2). Data were collected through stakeholder and volunteer surveys, and focus groups with the program's management. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis included content analysis, statistical tests of internal consistency, and factor analysis. An inventory, the Environmental Volunteer Functions Inventory (EVFI), was tested for assessing volunteer motivations along with scales for assessing volunteer satisfaction and level of advocacy. These scales revealed that volunteers in SABAP2 are satisfied with the program and exhibit behaviors suggesting they act as advocates for the program. ...
114 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that state lands constitute today's frontiers for capitalist expansion, using cases from Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Indonesia, and show how practices, institutions, and laws that expunge local rights and claims to land and replace them with state rights have been fundamental to the creation of new frontier.
Abstract: Formal property rights are integral to contemporary global- and national-scale land transactions, and prerequisite to international institutions’ recognition of any state, private, or nonprofit land holdings. We argue that state lands constitute today's frontiers for capitalist expansion. Using cases from Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Indonesia, we show how practices, institutions, and laws that expunge local rights and claims to land and replace them with state rights have been fundamental to the creation of “new” frontiers. We argue that historical formalizations of state land created the enabling conditions for today's large-scale, international, and national acquisitions of land, in ways that were unanticipated at the time of state acquisition.
106 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the ways in which a discourse of NIMBYism is evident in the descriptions of local wind farm opponents, and conceptualized this discourse as embodying an array of deficit models of the public and public knowledge.
Abstract: UK energy policy contains ambitious goals for increased deployment of renewable energy technologies (RETs), but concern remains about the potential of local opposition to obstruct proposed developments. Despite emerging academic consensus that characterizing opposition to RET siting as NIMBYism is problematic, the discourse remains strong in popular debate. This article responds to calls for sociological research on both ascriptions of NIMBYism and the use of deficit models. Through an analysis of interviews with key actors in the renewable energy industry, we explore the ways in which a discourse of NIMBYism is evident in their descriptions of local wind farm opponents. We conceptualize this discourse as embodying an array of deficit models of the public and public knowledge. This is significant not only because developers' constructions of publics inform their modes of engagement with them, but also because they may influence public responses themselves.
89 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the recentralization of power in this growing informal sector, exploring how heavy-handed implementation of national reforms contributed to livelihood insecurity, emphasizing how national officials invoked "formalization" rationales for mining policy shifts that obscured their underlying...
Abstract: In the 1990s, government authorities in Zimbabwe introduced internationally praised policies to formalize the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, using a combination of district-administered and nationally administered licensing and capacity-building measures. While “decentralization” efforts in the 1990s and early 2000s were hampered by insufficient resource and power transfers, the model was seen by environmental scholars as a source of optimism. However, as economic crisis deepened in the 2000s, national officials (a) revoked the power of Rural District Councils to regulate riverbed alluvial gold panning and (b) increased barriers to formally licensed small-scale primary ore mining. This article examines the recentralization of power in this growing informal sector, exploring how heavy-handed implementation of national reforms contributed to livelihood insecurity. The study emphasizes how national officials invoked “formalization” rationales for mining policy shifts that obscured their underlying ...
85 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the European Union (EU) timber trade regime and other resource governance efforts are discussed, and the authors provide insights to current processes of formalization associated with these efforts.
Abstract: Responding to multiple problems affecting governance of natural resource access and trade, governments implement formalization processes, often driven by the interests of development agencies. In so doing, they interact with the contemporary political, social, and environmental contexts in which resources are extracted, produced, and traded. They also contend with histories of ownership, access rights, market configurations, and practices attached to resources and the lands in which they are located. As development policy, formalization frequently materializes as top-down restructuring based on current social and environmental norms. However, its adoption is often unsuccessful and entails risks including leakage, barriers to small or poor actors, elite capture, and negative effects on women or marginalized groups. The insights herein are informative to current processes of formalization associated with the European Union (EU) timber trade regime and other resource governance efforts. At the minimum, incor...
73 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a mediation model in which social interactions (classified as formal/informal and generic/fire-specific) are associated with beliefs about wildfire risk and mitigation options, which in turn shape wildfire mitigation behaviors.
Abstract: Social interactions are widely recognized as a potential influence on risk-related behaviors. We present a mediation model in which social interactions (classified as formal/informal and generic/fire-specific) are associated with beliefs about wildfire risk and mitigation options, which in turn shape wildfire mitigation behaviors. We test this model using survey data from fire-prone areas of Colorado. In several cases, our results are consistent with the mediation hypotheses for mitigation actions specifically targeting vegetative fuel reduction. Perceived wildfire probability partially mediates the relationship between several interaction types and vegetative mitigation behaviors, while perceptions of aesthetic barriers and lack of information play a mediating role in the case of fire-specific formal interactions. Our results suggest that social interactions may allow mitigation and prevention behaviors to “catch fire” within a community, and that wildfire education programs could leverage these interact...
68 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a nonsubjective method to identify and classify stakeholders in three categories (key, primary, and secondary stakeholders), taking into account the relationships among them (social network analysis), is proposed.
Abstract: In participatory forest planning, relevant stakeholders are included in the decision-making process. Stakeholder analysis is a crucial step in the participatory process in order to involve all groups of interests, increasing the legitimacy and transparency of the process. On the other hand, to gather an active stakeholder group that can communicate effectively, the number of key stakeholders should be restricted. This study aims to devise a nonsubjective method to identify and classify stakeholders in three categories (key, primary, and secondary stakeholders), taking into account the relationships among them (social network analysis). Stakeholders are classified according to the regular equivalence and betweenness centrality. The stakeholders' classification system is tested in two forest landscape management plans in Italy. Results show that the method is able to balance stakeholders' contributions and can be used to enhance the democratization of the decision-making process when power is unevenly distr...
63 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the concept of private participation and provide results of a mail survey that reveal that such participation appears to increase landowner perceptions of control and information access, and ultimately positive attitud...
Abstract: Public participation in local planning decisions is widely advocated as an important component of democratic decision making. It is linked to a number of positive outcomes, including increased resident satisfaction and more effective decision making. In the realm of energy development, many local governments lack regulatory control and thus lack a venue for public participation in this type of land-use decision. Private landowners are increasingly afforded the ability to participate in the planning and siting of these energy developments though contractual land leasing negotiations. Even as this form of participation becomes widespread, it occurs outside of the public sphere and challenges the traditional notions of participation in land use decisions. This article introduces the concept of “private participation” and provides results of a mail survey (n = 1,028) that reveal that such participation appears to increase landowner perceptions of control and information access, and ultimately positive attitud...
60 citations
TL;DR: The Girringun Aboriginal Corporation from the Wet Tropics, Australia and the Innu Nation of Labrador, Canada as discussed by the authors used a mix of Aboriginal strategies that are used to instigate planning reforms on their traditional estates.
Abstract: This article analyzes the strategies used by the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation from the Wet Tropics, Australia, and the Innu Nation of Labrador, Canada, in their efforts to participate in natural resource management within their traditional lands. Comparative research highlights that both Aboriginal groups engage in strategies of consensus building and constructive conflict, matching their choice to the dynamic institutional settings that govern natural resource management in their respective territories. Both groups build consensus for more equitable participation in natural resource management institutions while engaging, when necessary, in forms of constructive conflict that will bring about more expedient institutional change needed to fully reflect the full suite of Aboriginal interests and values. The result is a mix of Aboriginal strategies that are used to instigate planning reforms on their traditional estates.
51 citations
TL;DR: This article found two kinds of place effects: some related to broad attributes such as resource employment, and others explained by local society-environment relations, and individual-level predictors of coastal environmental concerns resemble those seen elsewhere for non-coastal environmental concerns.
Abstract: Surveys conducted in 2009–2012 asked residents of eight U.S. coastal regions about ocean-related environmental problems. Analysis of these multiregion data tests how individual characteristics predict views on locally focused marine issues, and whether after controlling for individual characteristics there remain systematic place-to-place variations. We find two kinds of place effects: some related to broad attributes such as resource employment, and others explained by local society–environment relations. Apart from these place effects, the individual-level predictors of coastal environmental concerns resemble those seen elsewhere for non-coastal environmental concerns, including effects from age, gender, and education. Political party, however, proves to be the most consistent predictor across issues from local to global in scale. Significant education effects offer support for an information deficit model of coastal concerns, but the pervasive partisanship and education × party interactions suggest tha...
TL;DR: In this paper, a fieldwork conducted in a coastal village close to Ghana's offshore oil fields documents that people in the village lack access to information about oil revenues and the main barriers for acquiring information are people's lack of capacity and willingness to acquire such information.
Abstract: Experience shows that discovery of valuable natural resources can become a curse rather than a blessing, and transparency has been identified as key to better resource governance because it can limit opportunities for corruption and mismanagement. This article shows that information disclosure, in which many governments and donor institutions engage, does not automatically translate into transparency. Ghana has embedded transparency as one of its key principles in oil management. However, fieldwork conducted in a coastal village close to Ghana's offshore oil fields documents that people in the village lack access to information about oil revenues. The study identifies that the main barriers for acquiring information are people's lack of capacity and willingness to acquire such information. Furthermore, the government of Ghana and the villagers perceive transparency very differently: The former equates information disclosure to transparency, whereas the latter perceive transparency in terms of the developm...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply the hedonic price method to a heavily fracked county in Colorado to test for the net effects of these two factors on house prices and find that employment in the oil and gas sector has a relatively small but significant positive effect on house price in the whole county and urban area model specifications, but not in the rural model specifications.
Abstract: As fracking moved into neighborhoods it has created concerns by homeowners about environmental effects and reduced property values. However, the increase in drilling activity results in gains in employment and increased the demand for housing. We apply the hedonic price method to a heavily fracked county in Colorado to test for the net effects of these two factors on house prices. Results across 12 different models shows that in seven of these the count of wells being fracked within a half-mile of a house has a small (−1% per well being drilled) but significant effect on house prices in the in Weld County and Greeley but not in rural areas. In models without year fixed effects, employment in the oil and gas sector has a relatively small but significant positive effect on house prices in the whole county and urban area model specifications, but not in the rural model specifications.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined job satisfaction and well-being among 478 fishermen in three subregions of the northeastern United States and found that differences between the mix of regional fisheries and attitudes toward regulations affect two components of job satisfaction, but not self-actualization.
Abstract: The complexity and rapid changes in fishery management approaches have forced fishermen to adopt strategies that may not be congruent with the original appeal of fishing as an occupation. Changes in fish populations and resulting efforts to manage stocks can impact job characteristics that influence job satisfaction (social–psychological needs, basic needs, and self-actualization) and potentially well-being. This hypothesis is addressed through examination of job satisfaction and well-being among 478 fishermen in three subregions of the northeastern United States. The results demonstrate that differences between the mix of regional fisheries and attitudes toward regulations affect two components of job satisfaction and well-being but not self-actualization. Management's attempts to reduce fishing effort therefore need to account for the persistence of self-actualization by either developing appropriate alternative occupations or preparing for the consequences of lower job satisfaction on the well-being of...
TL;DR: In this article, an empirically grounded theory of self-governance of a snowmelt commons in southern Colorado is presented. But, the authors do not address the question under what conditions are irrigators able to develop adaptive governance arrangements.
Abstract: Under what conditions are irrigators able to develop adaptive governance arrangements? This article addresses this question by developing an empirically grounded theory of self-governance of a snowmelt commons in southern Colorado. Drawing on previous work in collective action and institutional theory, we argue that self-regulation of the hydro-commons is driven by changes in shared user perceptions with regard to the salience and scarcity of the resource, as well as the perceived probability of salvaging the resource system. We further posit that several conditioning factors affect the likelihood of effective local responses, including the existing institutional arrangements for self-governance, techno-institutional complementarities, and vested interests. We test and refine our theoretical argument by conducting a historical analysis of regional responses to hydrologic, social, and institutional disturbances in Colorado's San Luis Valley.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared urban and rural residents' attitudes toward hunting, a culturally important rural activity that also is a key wildlife management technique throughout the world to control wildlife populations, finding that finding ways to increase the distribution of game meat and associated social interactions to urban nonhunters will help maintain or increase support for hunting and enhance wildlife management.
Abstract: Continuous urbanization and associated political influences of urbanites on rural activities stress a need for understanding urban attitudes toward use of natural resources. Our objective was to compare urban and rural residents' attitudes toward hunting, a culturally important rural activity that also is a key wildlife management technique throughout the world to control wildlife populations. Our mail survey (n = 6,818) revealed fewer nonhunters in the urban region of Stockholm (48%) expressed positive attitudes toward hunting than nonhunters in the predominantly rural northern Sweden (70%). Path analyses indicated that experiences with hunting or hunters, and especially consumption of game meat (Stockholm β = 0.25; northern Sweden β = 0.26), were associated with positive attitudes. Our results imply that finding ways to increase the distribution of game meat and associated social interactions to urban nonhunters will help maintain or increase support for hunting and enhance wildlife management.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider how competing interpretations of rights upon forestland affect indigenous peoples' ability to derive benefits from forests, using interviews and an evaluation exercise in 13 First Nations communities in New Brunswick, Canada.
Abstract: This article considers how competing interpretations of rights upon forestland affect indigenous peoples' ability to derive benefits from forests, using interviews and an evaluation exercise in 13 First Nations communities in New Brunswick, Canada. We asked first what First Nations expect from provincial forest governance arrangements, and second, what is preventing them from attaining their expectations? Informants attached greatest importance to rights and environmental protection, but tangible outcomes fall far short of expectations. Economic benefits are promoted by the government, but are least important for informants and results are mediocre. Undertaking an access analysis, we observe that governance arrangements do not deliver the benefits sought by First Nations, that control mechanisms provide limited participation in governance, and that power remains firmly with government and private industry. We conclude that rights alone do not enable First Nations to access benefits and that governance arr...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the Indonesian central government's efforts to regulate logging activities in historical perspective to draw lessons for the new timber legality verification system called SVLK, and showed that throughout history, illegal logging networks have been a fixture in Indonesia's forestry sector and that the involvement of local and national power holders has given logging activities a formal backing.
Abstract: This article reviews the Indonesian central government's efforts to regulate logging activities in historical perspective to draw lessons for the new timber legality verification system called SVLK. It shows that throughout history, illegal logging networks have been a fixture in Indonesia's forestry sector and that the involvement of local and national power holders has given logging activities a formal backing. The SVLK is expected to help improve forest governance, but since it is primarily an administrative tool there is a risk that preexisting trends and practices will continue. This underlines the need for anticorruption measures and independent monitoring to make the legality adherence system more robust and reliable.
TL;DR: This paper examined changes in perception of fire risk and structural characteristics and vegetation mitigation of rebuilt homes, to examine how homes, homeowners, and communities changed after fire and found evidence that adaptation is occurring, as well as evidence that it is not.
Abstract: Wildfire management now emphasizes fire-adapted communities that coexist with wildfires, although it is unclear how communities will progress to this goal. Hazards research suggests that response to wildfire—specifically, rebuilding after fire—may be a crucial opportunity for homeowner and community adaptation. We explore rebuilding after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire from Boulder, CO, that destroyed 165 homes, to better understand individual and community adaptation after wildfire. We examined changes in perception of fire risk and structural characteristics and vegetation mitigation of rebuilt homes, to examine how homes, homeowners, and communities changed after fire. We found evidence that adaptation is occurring, as well as evidence that it is not. Overall, rebuilding was slow. More than 3½ years after the fire, only 30% of those who had lost homes had rebuilt. Postfire rebuilding will only change a fraction of homes, but it is a critical process to understand.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare and contrast communal and individual properties to examine the relationship between state efforts to formalize property rights and tenure security in the Peruvian and Ecuadoran Amazon.
Abstract: This article compares and contrasts communal and individual properties to examine the relationship between state efforts to formalize property rights and tenure security. The article draws on a study of four landscape mosaics in the Peruvian and Ecuadoran Amazon, selected to represent dynamic forest frontiers. Though Hernando de Soto and other theorists from the property rights school emphasize private individual behavior and land allocation in many collective communities, this research also found collective behavior and land allocation in many individualized communities. The importance of the collective and social relations for both types of properties was particularly salient in the sources of tenure security identified. Though title was one important source, this was insufficient, and often formalization was found to be impermanent. Both groups also emphasized social networks and community relations, on the one hand, and demonstrated use, which further establishes the legitimacy of claims with neighbor...
TL;DR: This article explored differences and similarities among local residents, park staff, and visitors in their attitudes toward, fear of, perceived control over, and perceived likelihood of coming into contact with coyotes.
Abstract: We explored differences and similarities among local residents, park staff, and visitors in their (a) attitudes toward, (b) fear of, (c) perceived control over, and (d) perceived likelihood of coming into contact with coyotes. Data were collected near Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada, where a coyote caused a human fatality in 2009. Local residents were mailed a questionnaire (n = 578; 76%) in 2011. Park staff completed the questionnaire (n = 124) in 2011 and visitors were interviewed on trails in 2011 and 2012 (n = 375). The Potential for Conflict Index2 (PCI2) was used to examine differences among these groups. Residents held more negative attitudes, reported more fear, felt less in perceived control, and reported a higher perceived likelihood of seeing a coyote than park staff and visitors. Understanding different interest-group attitudes toward coyotes facilitates the design of specialized messages to ensure different stakeholders receive appropriate information.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the blurred regulatory lines that increasingly exist between biotrade and bioprospecting and highlight the unintended consequences that can arise from overregulation and poorly formulated laws, including the further marginalization of women and/or poor communities; elite capture; weakening small businesses; and leakage across political boundaries.
Abstract: Concerns about ecological sustainability and inequality are driving increased formalization of the natural product trade, including both biotrade of bulk, raw materials (or nontimber forest products [NTFPs]) and bioprospecting for genetic resources. However, there has been little interrogation as to whether the policy tools used to achieve sustainability and equity goals are appropriate and effective. This article addresses this gap by examining efforts to formalize biotrade, including the blurred regulatory lines that increasingly exist between biotrade and bioprospecting. Two case studies are explored from southern Africa—baobab and Pelargonium. Findings emphasize the unintended consequences that can arise from overregulation and poorly formulated laws, including the further marginalization of women and/or poor communities; elite capture; weakening small businesses; and leakage across political boundaries. Conclusions underpin the need to pursue solutions that are better informed and more respectful of ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed how smallholders of the Amazon estuary have adapted their land use systems to produce resources during booms and busts, and found that smallholders are highly flexible in their land-use decisions and livelihood strategies.
Abstract: The question of how smallholders of the Amazon estuary, locally known as cabolcos, have adapted their land use systems to produce resources during booms and busts is analyzed in this article. We draw upon more than 50 years of census data and more than 30 years of remotely sensed land-cover data to reconstruct these dynamics from World War II to the present. We found that smallholders are highly flexible in their land use decisions and livelihood strategies and that such flexibility has helped them to adapt their land-use systems to produce resources in demand during market booms and conserve forests. Smallholder mosaic landscapes contain forest fragments that enhance socioecological resilience to floods and other events produced by changes in the local hydro-climatic regimes due to sea-level rise and other climate-related changes. We argue that flexibility is a tool to reduce livelihood vulnerability by facilitating adaptation to global market and climate driven changes over the long term.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the emergence of two such relations through a case study from India, where humans and leopards share space and resources, and argue that both operate simultaneously by co-opting and accommodating each other.
Abstract: The relationships between humans and large carnivores are complex and dynamic. In this article, we explore the emergence of two such relations through a case study from India, where humans and leopards share space and resources. These relations between humans and leopards emerge from two distinct ontological practices. One is the “modern” practice of conservation in which the human–leopard relationship is shaped through the creation of dichotomies. The other is a “nonmodern” practice that locates humans and leopards in a constellation of moral and social relations. In this article, we compare these two practices to highlight their inherent power dynamics and argue that both operate simultaneously by co-opting and accommodating each other. Theoretically, we argue that these interactions emerge from a located history of relations negotiated and ordered through the actions of different actors.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define benefit sharing as the process of making informed and fair trade-offs between social, economic, and ecological costs and benefits within and between stakeholder groups, and between stakeholders and the natural environment.
Abstract: More examples of positive and negative outcomes of community-based conservation initiatives aimed at benefit sharing are surfacing globally, and there is increasing interest in who wins and who loses at multiple scales. However, the term “benefit sharing” is not well defined in the context of protected areas, hindering the effective implementation thereof. We define benefit sharing as the process of making informed and fair trade-offs between social, economic, and ecological costs and benefits within and between stakeholder groups, and between stakeholders and the natural environment. We explore identifying appropriate benefits in certain contexts and monitoring benefit sharing initiatives using relevant qualitative and quantitative indicators. Finally, we use an illustrative case study of mopane worm harvesting from the Kruger National Park in South Africa to explore how benefit sharing as defined in the article can be implemented using a strategic adaptive management approach during the planning, assess...
TL;DR: This article examined how itinerant energy workers in the Marcellus shale region reject stigmatizing labels and construct a positive, work-related identity around sociopositive actions, using qualitative interviews with employees at one contract drilling company.
Abstract: The present study examines how itinerant energy workers in the Marcellus Shale region reject stigmatizing labels and construct a positive, work-related identity around sociopositive actions. Qualitative interviews (n = 22) with employees at one contract drilling company are the primary data collection method. Participants use several protective techniques to manage the dirty work stigma that they perceive Marcellus Shale residents ascribe to their work and project onto them. By reframing, recalibrating, and refocusing stigma onto personal and environmental safety, oil-field workers reinforce their preferred self-identities. A social weighting technique allows workers to condemn those community residents who condemn them. This study expands knowledge on how the dirty work label fosters occupational communities within natural resource-based labor, while complementing boomtown studies that focus almost exclusively on community residents.
TL;DR: In this paper, a participatory mapping approach is presented to obtain spatially explicit local perceptions of future environmental and social change resulting from tourism development, as well as addressing the different community conflicts that may arise through the introduction of tourism in the Solomon Islands community.
Abstract: Tourism is a significant driver of social and ecological change in developing countries, particularly in small-island states, which are susceptible to tourism impacts due to their particular social and environmental characteristics. In this article we present a participatory mapping approach to obtaining spatially explicit local perceptions of future environmental and social change resulting from tourism development, as well as addressing the different community conflicts that may arise through the introduction of tourism in the future in a Solomon Islands community. The results show that spatial conflicts within a community over territory and associated resources are likely to occur when designing natural resource management and tourism development plans. This knowledge can help us increase the future sustainability of tourism in nascent small-islands destinations, particularly in vulnerable regions such as Roviana, which have experienced very little tourism development and will likely experience more in...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate factors influencing conservation-oriented land management practices on land holdings with conservation easements and report the results of a mail survey that produced responses from 251 out of a total of 518 landowners with a permanent conservation easement on their property, and suggest the need for increased easement holder capacity supporting targeted outreach with landowners; increased monitoring of ecological targets on easement properties; promotion of landowner participation in peer-to-peer management networks; and incre...
Abstract: The goal of this article is to investigate factors influencing conservation-oriented land management practices on land holdings with conservation easements. We report the results of a mail survey that produced responses from 251 out of a total of 518 landowners with a permanent conservation easement on their property. We predicted that landowner satisfaction with their easement and good relationships between landowners and easement holders would be positively correlated with the amount of conservation-oriented land management practices. However, we found landownership motivations to be a stronger predictor of active land management. We also found significant management differences between landowners with different easement holders. The results of this study suggest the need for increased easement holder capacity supporting targeted outreach with landowners; increased monitoring of ecological targets on easement properties; promotion of landowner participation in peer-to-peer management networks; and incre...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an alternative approach to conceptualizing resilience that more accurately reflects the concerns of the humanitarian relief and development communities, one that is based on monitoring resilience of the development process.
Abstract: Recently, the development and humanitarian relief communities have directed attention to building resilience of pastoral communities to droughts and other shocks. While resilience thinking has much to offer, using resilience as a framework for investing in disaster risk reduction and development faces numerous challenges. Development implies that people are actively changing, which poses the question of whether such changes are adaptations or transformations, or whether this is a subjective or academic distinction. The lack of clarity presents a challenge for monitoring resilience-building investments, yet such investments require indicators of impact. We argue that resilience of the system per se is not the primary goal of development and may sometimes be an impediment. We propose an alternative approach to conceptualizing resilience that more accurately reflects the concerns of the humanitarian relief and development communities, one that is based on monitoring resilience of the development process, rat...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the formalization of community-based floodplain fisheries in the Brazilian Amazon, including the development of federal and state fisheries management policies, the parallel development of community management systems, and the role of these processes in the evolution of fisheries management in the Lower Amazon region.
Abstract: A major trend in global trade in forest, animal, and agricultural products is the implementation of importation policies and development of private sector standards and certification mechanisms to promote the sustainable management of natural resources in the countries of origin. In many cases, ensuring sustainable origins involves requirements that small-scale rural producers and fishers cannot meet. This article investigates the formalization of community-based floodplain fisheries in the Brazilian Amazon, including (a) the development of federal and state fisheries management policies, (b) the parallel development of community management systems, and (c) the role of these processes in the evolution of fisheries management in the Lower Amazon region. We argue here that market-oriented solutions, such as third-party certification, are insufficient. Government support for and collaboration with producers and industry are essential to creating conditions that enable fishing communities to sustainably manag...