An evaluation of the potential for implementing adaptive co-management in the Waodani social-ecological system in the Ecuadorian Amazon
- Authors: Bryja, Malgorzata Anna
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Adaptive natural resource management -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Huao Indians -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Natural resources -- Co-management -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Social ecology -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Sustainable development -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Resource-based communities -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni (Ecuador) -- Economic conditions , Huao Indians -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4784 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018192
- Description: Adaptive co-management (ACM), one of the most prominent management approaches to emerge in the recent years, combines iterative learning, flexibility, and adaptation promoted by adaptive management with the principles of nurturing diversity and fostering collaboration among different partners that underpin co-management philosophy. ACM has been proposed as an approach to address the deficiencies of centralized management in ensuring sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs) in face of future uncertainties. This thesis aims to evaluate the readiness of resource users (the Waodani) as well as external actors (the Ecuadorian State and NGOs) for future implementation of ACM and thus enhancing the long-term social-ecological sustainability of the Waodani SES located in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Qualitative data obtained by means of focus groups with the Waodani and individual interviews with external actors and Waodani leaders revealed different levels of readiness for ACM. Firstly, in the case of the Waodani, the insufficient fulfillment of some conditions required for successful ACM as well as intercommunity differences in regards to these conditions can complicate the implementation of ACM, unless sufficient external assistance is offered to the SES. The analysis of NGOs demonstrated, on the other hand, a relative readiness for ACM, providing that such aspects as sufficient funding, long-term commitment to collaboration, and inter-institutional linkages are strengthened. The study also found that the Ecuadorian government’s potential to contribute to ACM is hindered by the lack of readiness to work with the indigenous society as well as by funding and communication challenges. Furthermore, the resource based economy supported by the State limits the scope of innovation and adaptation. Still, as in the case of other actors, overcoming the challenges and transitioning towards adaptive governance and thus ACM could be possible in the long-term, if recent legal and political changes are truly implemented.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Bryja, Malgorzata Anna
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Adaptive natural resource management -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Huao Indians -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Natural resources -- Co-management -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Social ecology -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Sustainable development -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Resource-based communities -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni , Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni (Ecuador) -- Economic conditions , Huao Indians -- Ecuador -- Reserva de Biosfera Yasuni -- Economic conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4784 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018192
- Description: Adaptive co-management (ACM), one of the most prominent management approaches to emerge in the recent years, combines iterative learning, flexibility, and adaptation promoted by adaptive management with the principles of nurturing diversity and fostering collaboration among different partners that underpin co-management philosophy. ACM has been proposed as an approach to address the deficiencies of centralized management in ensuring sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs) in face of future uncertainties. This thesis aims to evaluate the readiness of resource users (the Waodani) as well as external actors (the Ecuadorian State and NGOs) for future implementation of ACM and thus enhancing the long-term social-ecological sustainability of the Waodani SES located in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Qualitative data obtained by means of focus groups with the Waodani and individual interviews with external actors and Waodani leaders revealed different levels of readiness for ACM. Firstly, in the case of the Waodani, the insufficient fulfillment of some conditions required for successful ACM as well as intercommunity differences in regards to these conditions can complicate the implementation of ACM, unless sufficient external assistance is offered to the SES. The analysis of NGOs demonstrated, on the other hand, a relative readiness for ACM, providing that such aspects as sufficient funding, long-term commitment to collaboration, and inter-institutional linkages are strengthened. The study also found that the Ecuadorian government’s potential to contribute to ACM is hindered by the lack of readiness to work with the indigenous society as well as by funding and communication challenges. Furthermore, the resource based economy supported by the State limits the scope of innovation and adaptation. Still, as in the case of other actors, overcoming the challenges and transitioning towards adaptive governance and thus ACM could be possible in the long-term, if recent legal and political changes are truly implemented.
- Full Text:
Barriers to and enablers of climate change adaptation in four South African municipalities, and implications for community based adaptation
- Authors: Spires, Meggan Hazel
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- Risk management -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Climate change mitigation -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- Government policy -- South Africa , Municipal government -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4787 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018913
- Description: The focus of this study is on understanding the multiple and interacting factors that hinder or enable municipal planned climate change adaptation, here called barriers and enablers respectively, and their implications for community based adaptation. To do this I developed a conceptual framework of barriers to and enablers of planned climate change adaptation, which informed a systematic literature review of barriers to planned community based adaptation in developing countries. In this framework barriers were grouped into resource, social and physical barriers. I then conducted empirical case study analysis using qualitative research methods in four South African municipalities to understand what barriers and enablers manifested in these contexts. In light of the reflexive nature of my methodology, my framework was adjusted based on my empirical findings, where contextual barriers were found to better represent the empirical results and subsumed physical barriers. I found my framework useful for analysis, but in the empirical cases, barriers and enablers overlaid and interacted so significantly that in reality it was often difficult to separate them. A key finding was that enablers tended to be more about the way things are done, as opposed to direct opposites of barriers. Comparison of barriers and enablers across the case studies revealed a number of key themes. Municipalities struggle to implement climate change adaptation and community based adaptation within contexts of significant social, economic and ecological challenges. These contextual barriers, when combined with certain cognitive barriers, lead to reactive responses. Existing municipal systems and structures make it difficult to enable climate change adaptation, which is inherently cross‐sectoral and messy, and especially community based adaptation that is bottom‐up and participatory. Lack of locally applicable knowledge, funding and human resources were found to be significant resource barriers, and were often underlain by social barriers relating to perceptions, norms, discourses and governance challenges. Enablers of engaged officials, operating within enabling organisational environments and drawing on partnerships and networks, were able to overcome or circumvent these barriers. When these enablers coincided with windows of opportunity that increased the prioritisation of climate change within the municipality, projects with ancillary benefits were often implemented. Analysis of the barriers and enablers identified in the literature and case studies, informed discussion on whether municipalities are able to implement community based adaptation as defined in the literature, as well as the development of recommendations for how municipal planned climate change adaptation and community based adaptation can be further understood and enabled in the future. These recommendations for practice and research include: (a) To acknowledge and understand the conceptual framings of municipal climate change work, as these framings inform the climate change agenda that is pursued, and hence what municipal climate change adaptation work is done and how it was done. (b) The need for further research into the social barriers that influence the vital enablers of engaged officials, enabling organisational environments, and partnerships and networks. (c) To learn from pilot community‐level interventions that have been implemented by municipalities, as well as from other disciplines and municipalities. (d) To develop top‐down/bottom‐up approaches to enable municipal planned climate change adaptation and community based adaptation, that benefits from high level support and guidance, as well as local level flexibility and learning‐by‐doing. (e) To develop viable mechanisms for municipalities to better engage with the communities they serve.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Spires, Meggan Hazel
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Climatic changes -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- Risk management -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Climate change mitigation -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- Government policy -- South Africa , Municipal government -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4787 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018913
- Description: The focus of this study is on understanding the multiple and interacting factors that hinder or enable municipal planned climate change adaptation, here called barriers and enablers respectively, and their implications for community based adaptation. To do this I developed a conceptual framework of barriers to and enablers of planned climate change adaptation, which informed a systematic literature review of barriers to planned community based adaptation in developing countries. In this framework barriers were grouped into resource, social and physical barriers. I then conducted empirical case study analysis using qualitative research methods in four South African municipalities to understand what barriers and enablers manifested in these contexts. In light of the reflexive nature of my methodology, my framework was adjusted based on my empirical findings, where contextual barriers were found to better represent the empirical results and subsumed physical barriers. I found my framework useful for analysis, but in the empirical cases, barriers and enablers overlaid and interacted so significantly that in reality it was often difficult to separate them. A key finding was that enablers tended to be more about the way things are done, as opposed to direct opposites of barriers. Comparison of barriers and enablers across the case studies revealed a number of key themes. Municipalities struggle to implement climate change adaptation and community based adaptation within contexts of significant social, economic and ecological challenges. These contextual barriers, when combined with certain cognitive barriers, lead to reactive responses. Existing municipal systems and structures make it difficult to enable climate change adaptation, which is inherently cross‐sectoral and messy, and especially community based adaptation that is bottom‐up and participatory. Lack of locally applicable knowledge, funding and human resources were found to be significant resource barriers, and were often underlain by social barriers relating to perceptions, norms, discourses and governance challenges. Enablers of engaged officials, operating within enabling organisational environments and drawing on partnerships and networks, were able to overcome or circumvent these barriers. When these enablers coincided with windows of opportunity that increased the prioritisation of climate change within the municipality, projects with ancillary benefits were often implemented. Analysis of the barriers and enablers identified in the literature and case studies, informed discussion on whether municipalities are able to implement community based adaptation as defined in the literature, as well as the development of recommendations for how municipal planned climate change adaptation and community based adaptation can be further understood and enabled in the future. These recommendations for practice and research include: (a) To acknowledge and understand the conceptual framings of municipal climate change work, as these framings inform the climate change agenda that is pursued, and hence what municipal climate change adaptation work is done and how it was done. (b) The need for further research into the social barriers that influence the vital enablers of engaged officials, enabling organisational environments, and partnerships and networks. (c) To learn from pilot community‐level interventions that have been implemented by municipalities, as well as from other disciplines and municipalities. (d) To develop top‐down/bottom‐up approaches to enable municipal planned climate change adaptation and community based adaptation, that benefits from high level support and guidance, as well as local level flexibility and learning‐by‐doing. (e) To develop viable mechanisms for municipalities to better engage with the communities they serve.
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »