New directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology:
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179028 , vital:40101 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/aman.13380
- Description: Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid‐1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss their potential contribution to a public and actionable anthropology/scholarship that can better inform fisheries management and conservation. This is important because in the twenty‐first century, coastal peoples are facing socioeconomic and environmental challenges that are increasingly becoming hazardous. To create a more actionable discipline, anthropology needs to be more accessible, inform innovation, and recapture a more pluralistic scholarship that champions interdisciplinary work. This will require the consilience between the humanities and natural sciences for studying human–marine interactions more broadly and for protecting the marine environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179028 , vital:40101 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/aman.13380
- Description: Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid‐1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss their potential contribution to a public and actionable anthropology/scholarship that can better inform fisheries management and conservation. This is important because in the twenty‐first century, coastal peoples are facing socioeconomic and environmental challenges that are increasingly becoming hazardous. To create a more actionable discipline, anthropology needs to be more accessible, inform innovation, and recapture a more pluralistic scholarship that champions interdisciplinary work. This will require the consilience between the humanities and natural sciences for studying human–marine interactions more broadly and for protecting the marine environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Scientific frontiers in the management of coral reefs
- Aswani, Shankar, Mumby, Peter J, Baker, Andrew, Christie, Patrick, McCook, Laurence J, Steneck, Robert S, Richmond, Robert H
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Mumby, Peter J , Baker, Andrew , Christie, Patrick , McCook, Laurence J , Steneck, Robert S , Richmond, Robert H
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70582 , vital:29677 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2015.00050
- Description: Coral reefs are subjected globally to a variety of natural and anthropogenic stressors that often act synergistically. Today, reversing ongoing and future coral reef degradation presents significant challenges and countering this negative trend will take considerable efforts and investments. Scientific knowledge can inform and guide the requisite decision-making process and offer practical solutions to the problem of protection as the effects of climate change exacerbate. However, implementation of solutions presently lags far behind the pace required to reverse global declines, and there is a need for an urgent and significant step-up in the extent and range of strategies being implemented. In this paper, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science research that can help build stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of interventions. We cover various areas including: (1) enhancing the case for reef conservation and management, (2) dealing with local stressors on reefs, (3) addressing global climate change impacts, (4) and reviewing various approaches to the governance of coral reefs. In sum, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science that will require further attention in coming years as managers work toward building stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of local interventions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Mumby, Peter J , Baker, Andrew , Christie, Patrick , McCook, Laurence J , Steneck, Robert S , Richmond, Robert H
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70582 , vital:29677 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2015.00050
- Description: Coral reefs are subjected globally to a variety of natural and anthropogenic stressors that often act synergistically. Today, reversing ongoing and future coral reef degradation presents significant challenges and countering this negative trend will take considerable efforts and investments. Scientific knowledge can inform and guide the requisite decision-making process and offer practical solutions to the problem of protection as the effects of climate change exacerbate. However, implementation of solutions presently lags far behind the pace required to reverse global declines, and there is a need for an urgent and significant step-up in the extent and range of strategies being implemented. In this paper, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science research that can help build stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of interventions. We cover various areas including: (1) enhancing the case for reef conservation and management, (2) dealing with local stressors on reefs, (3) addressing global climate change impacts, (4) and reviewing various approaches to the governance of coral reefs. In sum, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science that will require further attention in coming years as managers work toward building stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of local interventions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Variation in perception of environmental change in nine Solomon Islands communities: implications for securing fairness in community-based adaptation
- Ensor, Jonathan Edward, Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth, Hoddy, Eric Timothy, Aswani, Shankar, Albert, Simon, Vaccaro, Ismael, Benedict, Jason Jon, Beare, Douglas James
- Authors: Ensor, Jonathan Edward , Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth , Hoddy, Eric Timothy , Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Vaccaro, Ismael , Benedict, Jason Jon , Beare, Douglas James
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145380 , vital:38433 , DOI: 10.1007/s10113-017-1242-1
- Description: Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Ensor, Jonathan Edward , Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth , Hoddy, Eric Timothy , Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Vaccaro, Ismael , Benedict, Jason Jon , Beare, Douglas James
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145380 , vital:38433 , DOI: 10.1007/s10113-017-1242-1
- Description: Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Keeping food on the table: responses and changing coastal fisheries in Solomon Islands
- Albert, Simon, Aswani, Shankar, Fisher, Paul L, Albert, Joelle
- Authors: Albert, Simon , Aswani, Shankar , Fisher, Paul L , Albert, Joelle
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70593 , vital:29678 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130800
- Description: Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the Pacific Islands coastal fisheries provide basic subsistence needs for millions of people. A decline in fish catch would therefore have profound impacts on the health and livelihoods of these coastal communities. Given the decrease in local catch rates reported for many coastal communities in the Pacific, it is important to understand if fishers have responded to ecological change (either by expanding their fishing range and/or increasing their fishing effort), and if so, to evaluate the costs or benefits of these responses. We compare data from fish catches in 1995 and 2011 from a rural coastal community in Solomon Islands to examine the potentially changing coastal reef fishery at these time points. In particular we found changes in preferred fishing locations, fishing methodology and catch composition between these data sets. The results indicate that despite changes in catch rates (catch per unit effort) between data collected in 2011 and 16 years previously, the study community was able to increase gross catches through visiting fishing sites further away, diversifying fishing methods and targeting pelagic species through trolling. Such insight into local-scale responses to changing resources and/ or fisheries development will help scientists and policy makers throughout the Pacific region in managing the region’s fisheries in the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Albert, Simon , Aswani, Shankar , Fisher, Paul L , Albert, Joelle
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70593 , vital:29678 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130800
- Description: Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the Pacific Islands coastal fisheries provide basic subsistence needs for millions of people. A decline in fish catch would therefore have profound impacts on the health and livelihoods of these coastal communities. Given the decrease in local catch rates reported for many coastal communities in the Pacific, it is important to understand if fishers have responded to ecological change (either by expanding their fishing range and/or increasing their fishing effort), and if so, to evaluate the costs or benefits of these responses. We compare data from fish catches in 1995 and 2011 from a rural coastal community in Solomon Islands to examine the potentially changing coastal reef fishery at these time points. In particular we found changes in preferred fishing locations, fishing methodology and catch composition between these data sets. The results indicate that despite changes in catch rates (catch per unit effort) between data collected in 2011 and 16 years previously, the study community was able to increase gross catches through visiting fishing sites further away, diversifying fishing methods and targeting pelagic species through trolling. Such insight into local-scale responses to changing resources and/ or fisheries development will help scientists and policy makers throughout the Pacific region in managing the region’s fisheries in the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Indigenous polycentric and nested customary sea-tenure (CST) institutions: a Solomon Islands case study
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178964 , vital:40100 , ISBN 9780429628283
- Description: In one volume, this book brings together a diversity of approaches, theory and frameworks that can be used to analyse the governance of renewable natural resources. Renewable natural resources are under pressure, with over-exploitation and degradation raising concern globally. Understanding governance systems and practice is essential for developing effective and fair solutions. This book introduces readers to key concepts and issues concerned with the governance of renewable natural resources and illustrates the diversity of approaches, theories and frameworks that have been used to analyse governance systems and practice. Each chapter provides an introduction to an area of literature and theory and demonstrates application through a case study. The book covers a range of geographical locations, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries, and several types of natural resources. The approaches and theories introduced include common property theory, political ecology, institutional analysis, the social -ecological systems framework and social network analysis. Findings from across the chapters support an analytical focus on institutions and local context and a practical focus on diverse, flexible and inclusive governance solutions. The book serves as an essential introduction to the governance of renewable natural resources for students, researchers and practitioners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178964 , vital:40100 , ISBN 9780429628283
- Description: In one volume, this book brings together a diversity of approaches, theory and frameworks that can be used to analyse the governance of renewable natural resources. Renewable natural resources are under pressure, with over-exploitation and degradation raising concern globally. Understanding governance systems and practice is essential for developing effective and fair solutions. This book introduces readers to key concepts and issues concerned with the governance of renewable natural resources and illustrates the diversity of approaches, theories and frameworks that have been used to analyse governance systems and practice. Each chapter provides an introduction to an area of literature and theory and demonstrates application through a case study. The book covers a range of geographical locations, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries, and several types of natural resources. The approaches and theories introduced include common property theory, political ecology, institutional analysis, the social -ecological systems framework and social network analysis. Findings from across the chapters support an analytical focus on institutions and local context and a practical focus on diverse, flexible and inclusive governance solutions. The book serves as an essential introduction to the governance of renewable natural resources for students, researchers and practitioners.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Geospatial technologies and indigenous Knowledge Systems:
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145448 , vital:38439 , ISBN 9781315181523 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315181523/chapters/10.1201/9781315181523-18
- Description: During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, pressure on coastal ecosystems has amplified and resulted in the widespread degradation of adjacent marine and terrestrial habitats globally (Burke et al., 2001). The ecosystem services provided by coastal habitats, including coastal protection and food procurement, have been heavily compromised by anthropogenic disturbance such as overfishing, pollution, sedimentation and alteration of coastal vegetation (Costanza et al., 1997; Agardy et al., 2009). In the context of small islands, this continued degradation in tandem with the ongoing effects of climate change is putting the livelihoods of coastal peoples at risk (e.g. Bell et al., 2009). While international efforts at curtailing these negative trends are ongoing, many researchers are working directly with coastal local/ indigenous communities to seek more effective management of coastal terrestrial and marine resources. Among various approaches, researchers are increasingly incorporating local knowledge systems for designing resource management and conservation plans (e.g. Gadgil et al., 1993).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145448 , vital:38439 , ISBN 9781315181523 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315181523/chapters/10.1201/9781315181523-18
- Description: During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, pressure on coastal ecosystems has amplified and resulted in the widespread degradation of adjacent marine and terrestrial habitats globally (Burke et al., 2001). The ecosystem services provided by coastal habitats, including coastal protection and food procurement, have been heavily compromised by anthropogenic disturbance such as overfishing, pollution, sedimentation and alteration of coastal vegetation (Costanza et al., 1997; Agardy et al., 2009). In the context of small islands, this continued degradation in tandem with the ongoing effects of climate change is putting the livelihoods of coastal peoples at risk (e.g. Bell et al., 2009). While international efforts at curtailing these negative trends are ongoing, many researchers are working directly with coastal local/ indigenous communities to seek more effective management of coastal terrestrial and marine resources. Among various approaches, researchers are increasingly incorporating local knowledge systems for designing resource management and conservation plans (e.g. Gadgil et al., 1993).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
One size does not fit all: critical insights for effective community-based resource management in Melanesia
- Aswani, Shankar, Albert, Simon, Love, Mark
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Love, Mark
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145392 , vital:38434 , DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2017.03.041
- Description: In recent years, Fiji's approach of combining traditional systems of community-based coastal management and modern management systems has become a successful blueprint for marine conservation, particularly the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) network model. As a result of this success, conservation practitioners have imported the Fiji LMMA model to the Solomon Islands and in Vanuatu in hope of replicating the purported success attained in Fiji. This paper argues that because tenure systems and associated political systems in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu are substantially different, one cannot simply extrapolate the more centralized tenurial and political Fiji model to the decentralized tenurial and politically eclectic Solomons and Vanuatu. This paper provides an analysis of some of the various approaches used in these countries to make a case for why socio-political diversity and historical particulars matter to resource management and conservation-in-practice (and for any development interventions).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Love, Mark
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145392 , vital:38434 , DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2017.03.041
- Description: In recent years, Fiji's approach of combining traditional systems of community-based coastal management and modern management systems has become a successful blueprint for marine conservation, particularly the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) network model. As a result of this success, conservation practitioners have imported the Fiji LMMA model to the Solomon Islands and in Vanuatu in hope of replicating the purported success attained in Fiji. This paper argues that because tenure systems and associated political systems in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu are substantially different, one cannot simply extrapolate the more centralized tenurial and political Fiji model to the decentralized tenurial and politically eclectic Solomons and Vanuatu. This paper provides an analysis of some of the various approaches used in these countries to make a case for why socio-political diversity and historical particulars matter to resource management and conservation-in-practice (and for any development interventions).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Multiple drivers of local (non-) compliance in community-cased marine resource management: case studies from the South Pacific
- Rohe, Janne R, Aswani, Shankar, Schlüter, Achim, Ferse, Sebastian C A
- Authors: Rohe, Janne R , Aswani, Shankar , Schlüter, Achim , Ferse, Sebastian C A
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70571 , vital:29676 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00172
- Description: The outcomes of marine conservation and related management interventions depend to a large extent on people's compliance with these rule systems. In the South Pacific, community-based marine resource management (CBMRM) has gained wide recognition as a strategy for the sustainable management of marine resources. In current practice, CBMRM initiatives often build upon customary forms of marine governance, integrating scientific advice and management principles in collaboration with external partners. However, diverse socio-economic developments as well as limited legal mandates can challenge these approaches. Compliance with and effective (legally-backed) enforcement of local management strategies constitute a growing challenge for communities—often resulting in considerable impact on the success or failure of CBMRM. Marine management arrangements are highly dynamic over time, and similarly compliance with rule systems tends to change depending on context. Understanding the factors contributing to (non-) compliance in a given setting is key to the design and function of adaptive management approaches. Yet, few empirical studies have looked in depth into the dynamics around local (non-) compliance with local marine tenure rules under the transforming management arrangements. Using two case studies from Solomon Islands and Fiji, we investigate what drives local (non-) compliance with CBMRM and what hinders or supports its effective enforcement. The case studies reveal that non-compliance is mainly driven by: (1) diminishing perceived legitimacy of local rules and rule-makers; (2) increased incentives to break rules due to market access and/ or lack of alternative income; and (3) relatively weak enforcement of local rules (i.e., low perceptions of risk from sanctions for rule-breaking). These drivers do not stand alone but can act together and add up to impair effective management. We further analyze how enforcement of CBMRM is challenged through a range of institutional; socio-cultural and technical/financial constraints, which are in parts a result of the dynamism and ongoing transformations of management arrangements. Our study underlines the importance of better understanding and contextualizing marine resource management processes under dynamic conditions for an improved understanding of compliance in a particular setting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Rohe, Janne R , Aswani, Shankar , Schlüter, Achim , Ferse, Sebastian C A
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70571 , vital:29676 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00172
- Description: The outcomes of marine conservation and related management interventions depend to a large extent on people's compliance with these rule systems. In the South Pacific, community-based marine resource management (CBMRM) has gained wide recognition as a strategy for the sustainable management of marine resources. In current practice, CBMRM initiatives often build upon customary forms of marine governance, integrating scientific advice and management principles in collaboration with external partners. However, diverse socio-economic developments as well as limited legal mandates can challenge these approaches. Compliance with and effective (legally-backed) enforcement of local management strategies constitute a growing challenge for communities—often resulting in considerable impact on the success or failure of CBMRM. Marine management arrangements are highly dynamic over time, and similarly compliance with rule systems tends to change depending on context. Understanding the factors contributing to (non-) compliance in a given setting is key to the design and function of adaptive management approaches. Yet, few empirical studies have looked in depth into the dynamics around local (non-) compliance with local marine tenure rules under the transforming management arrangements. Using two case studies from Solomon Islands and Fiji, we investigate what drives local (non-) compliance with CBMRM and what hinders or supports its effective enforcement. The case studies reveal that non-compliance is mainly driven by: (1) diminishing perceived legitimacy of local rules and rule-makers; (2) increased incentives to break rules due to market access and/ or lack of alternative income; and (3) relatively weak enforcement of local rules (i.e., low perceptions of risk from sanctions for rule-breaking). These drivers do not stand alone but can act together and add up to impair effective management. We further analyze how enforcement of CBMRM is challenged through a range of institutional; socio-cultural and technical/financial constraints, which are in parts a result of the dynamism and ongoing transformations of management arrangements. Our study underlines the importance of better understanding and contextualizing marine resource management processes under dynamic conditions for an improved understanding of compliance in a particular setting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Planning for the future: mapping anticipated environmental and social impacts in a nascent tourism destination
- Aswani, Shankar, Diedrich, Amy, Currier, Kitty
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Diedrich, Amy , Currier, Kitty
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145415 , vital:38436 , DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2015.1020582
- Description: 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 the near future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Diedrich, Amy , Currier, Kitty
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145415 , vital:38436 , DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2015.1020582
- Description: 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 the near future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Human harvesting impacts on managed areas: ecological effects of socially-compatible shellfish reserves
- Aswani, Shankar, Flores, Carola F, Broitman, Bernardo R
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Flores, Carola F , Broitman, Bernardo R
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124664 , vital:35644 , https://doi.10.1007/s11160-014-9376-4
- Description: We examined how human harvesting impacts on managed areas affect the abundance and size distribution of the edible mangrove shellfish Anadara granosa and Polymesoda spp. in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. We tested two hypotheses: (1) in areas permanently and temporally closed to human exploitation, abundance and size distribution of these shellfish species is significantly greater than in sites open to exploitation and (2) moderate human disturbance of shell beds, particularly of Polymesoda spp., increases their abundance. Firstly, we studied perceptions of environmental states and processes coupled to foraging and management interventions to assess sociocultural influences on harvesting practices and ascertain the types of management regime that people would consider in a context where poaching and interloping are common practices. Secondly, we compared shellfish abundance and shell size from areas that were permanently protected, temporally reserved for communal harvest, and permanently open for exploitation. Thirdly, drawing from women’s local knowledge, we measured the abundance of Polymesoda spp. in relation to mud compactness in quadrats across the three management regimes. Results showed that both species were significantly more abundant in permanent and temporally closed sites than in open sites. In the mud compactness study, however, while shell abundance was greater in moderately compacted quadrats, there was no statistical relationship between mud compactness and shell abundance within or across the three management regimes. Results suggest that even under the strong impacts of poaching, temporally closed areas have more clams than open areas and are as effective as areas that are permanently closed nominally. The results also suggest that human harvesting regimes can influence the effectiveness of local management decisions and thus are important when designing community-based conservation programs in the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Flores, Carola F , Broitman, Bernardo R
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124664 , vital:35644 , https://doi.10.1007/s11160-014-9376-4
- Description: We examined how human harvesting impacts on managed areas affect the abundance and size distribution of the edible mangrove shellfish Anadara granosa and Polymesoda spp. in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. We tested two hypotheses: (1) in areas permanently and temporally closed to human exploitation, abundance and size distribution of these shellfish species is significantly greater than in sites open to exploitation and (2) moderate human disturbance of shell beds, particularly of Polymesoda spp., increases their abundance. Firstly, we studied perceptions of environmental states and processes coupled to foraging and management interventions to assess sociocultural influences on harvesting practices and ascertain the types of management regime that people would consider in a context where poaching and interloping are common practices. Secondly, we compared shellfish abundance and shell size from areas that were permanently protected, temporally reserved for communal harvest, and permanently open for exploitation. Thirdly, drawing from women’s local knowledge, we measured the abundance of Polymesoda spp. in relation to mud compactness in quadrats across the three management regimes. Results showed that both species were significantly more abundant in permanent and temporally closed sites than in open sites. In the mud compactness study, however, while shell abundance was greater in moderately compacted quadrats, there was no statistical relationship between mud compactness and shell abundance within or across the three management regimes. Results suggest that even under the strong impacts of poaching, temporally closed areas have more clams than open areas and are as effective as areas that are permanently closed nominally. The results also suggest that human harvesting regimes can influence the effectiveness of local management decisions and thus are important when designing community-based conservation programs in the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Change in Roviana Lagoon Coral Reef ethnobiology:
- Aswani, Shankar, Albert, Simon
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145460 , vital:38440 , ISBN 9783319237633 , DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-23763-3_10
- Description: Coral reefs are iconic for their beauty and biodiversity, and are of great socioeconomic and cultural importance for many coastal communities across the tropics. However, little is known about people’s local classification and their social and ecological relationship with these habitats. This chapter describes Roviana people’s changing ecological and social relationship with their coral reefs, which are increasingly being damaged by humans. First, we combined ecological and social data to describe people’s classification of local coral reefs in tandem with the productive practices conducted in these habitats. Second, we examined local perceptions and recognized effects of environmental and climatic changes on reefs over the last two decades. Finally, we measured changes in fishing activities and in the taxonomic systems (between 1995 and 2011) to evaluate if recent social and economic change has led to the erosion of marine indigenous ecological knowledge and associated practices. Studying people’s changing perceptions of their coral reefs is crucial to understand their ability to identify and adapt to environmental transformations. Simply, the way local people perceive the state of the environment is not only important in terms of changes in local epistemology but also has important implications for how resources are used and managed, and this information can be coupled with scientific one for a broader management strategy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145460 , vital:38440 , ISBN 9783319237633 , DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-23763-3_10
- Description: Coral reefs are iconic for their beauty and biodiversity, and are of great socioeconomic and cultural importance for many coastal communities across the tropics. However, little is known about people’s local classification and their social and ecological relationship with these habitats. This chapter describes Roviana people’s changing ecological and social relationship with their coral reefs, which are increasingly being damaged by humans. First, we combined ecological and social data to describe people’s classification of local coral reefs in tandem with the productive practices conducted in these habitats. Second, we examined local perceptions and recognized effects of environmental and climatic changes on reefs over the last two decades. Finally, we measured changes in fishing activities and in the taxonomic systems (between 1995 and 2011) to evaluate if recent social and economic change has led to the erosion of marine indigenous ecological knowledge and associated practices. Studying people’s changing perceptions of their coral reefs is crucial to understand their ability to identify and adapt to environmental transformations. Simply, the way local people perceive the state of the environment is not only important in terms of changes in local epistemology but also has important implications for how resources are used and managed, and this information can be coupled with scientific one for a broader management strategy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Environmental and social recovery asymmetries to large-scale disturbances in small island communities
- Aswani, Shankar, Van Putten, Ingrid, Miñarro, Sara
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Van Putten, Ingrid , Miñarro, Sara
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67325 , vital:29073 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2685-2
- Description: publisher version , People’s livelihoods in tropical small-island developing states are greatly dependent on marine ecosystem services. Yet services such as fisheries and coastal buffering are being degraded at an alarming rate, thus making people increasing vulnerable to protracted and sudden environmental changes. In the context of the occurrences of extreme events such as earthquakes and tsunamis, it is vital to uncover the processes that make people in these island states resilient, or not, to environmental disruptions. This paper compares people’s perceptions of social and environmental impacts after an extreme event in the Western Solomon Islands (11 different villages on 8 different islands) to better understand how knowledge systems influence the coupling of human and natural systems. We examine the factors that contributed to perceptions of respective recovery in the environmental versus the social domains across communities with different traditional governance and modernization characteristics in a tsunami impact gradient. First, we separately assessed, at the community and individual level, the potential determinants of perceived recovery in the environmental and social domains. At the community level, the average values of the perceived environmental and social recovery were calculated for each community (1 year after the tsunami), and at the individual level, normally distributed environmental and social recovery variables (based on the difference in perceptions immediately and 1 year after the tsunami) were used as dependent variables in two General Linear Models. Results suggest that environmental and social resilience are not always coupled correspondingly and, less unexpectedly, that asymmetries during recovery can occur as a result of the underlying social and ecological context and existing adaptive capacity. More generally, the study shows how by evaluating post-disturbance perceptional data in tsunami-affected communities, we can better understand how subjective perceptions of change can affect the (de)-coupling of human and natural systems.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Van Putten, Ingrid , Miñarro, Sara
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67325 , vital:29073 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-016-2685-2
- Description: publisher version , People’s livelihoods in tropical small-island developing states are greatly dependent on marine ecosystem services. Yet services such as fisheries and coastal buffering are being degraded at an alarming rate, thus making people increasing vulnerable to protracted and sudden environmental changes. In the context of the occurrences of extreme events such as earthquakes and tsunamis, it is vital to uncover the processes that make people in these island states resilient, or not, to environmental disruptions. This paper compares people’s perceptions of social and environmental impacts after an extreme event in the Western Solomon Islands (11 different villages on 8 different islands) to better understand how knowledge systems influence the coupling of human and natural systems. We examine the factors that contributed to perceptions of respective recovery in the environmental versus the social domains across communities with different traditional governance and modernization characteristics in a tsunami impact gradient. First, we separately assessed, at the community and individual level, the potential determinants of perceived recovery in the environmental and social domains. At the community level, the average values of the perceived environmental and social recovery were calculated for each community (1 year after the tsunami), and at the individual level, normally distributed environmental and social recovery variables (based on the difference in perceptions immediately and 1 year after the tsunami) were used as dependent variables in two General Linear Models. Results suggest that environmental and social resilience are not always coupled correspondingly and, less unexpectedly, that asymmetries during recovery can occur as a result of the underlying social and ecological context and existing adaptive capacity. More generally, the study shows how by evaluating post-disturbance perceptional data in tsunami-affected communities, we can better understand how subjective perceptions of change can affect the (de)-coupling of human and natural systems.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2017
Governance mapping: a framework for assessing the adaptive capacity of marine resource governance to environmental change
- Dutra, Leo X C, Sporne, Ilva, Haward, Marcus, Aswani, Shankar, Cochrane, Kevern L, Frusher, Stewart, Gasalla, Maria A, Gianesella, Sônia M F, Grant, Tanith, Hobday, Alistair J, Jennings, Sarah M, Plagányi, Éva, Pecl, Gretta T, Salim, Shyam S, Sauer, Warwick H H, Taboada, Manuela B, Van Putten, Ingrid E
- Authors: Dutra, Leo X C , Sporne, Ilva , Haward, Marcus , Aswani, Shankar , Cochrane, Kevern L , Frusher, Stewart , Gasalla, Maria A , Gianesella, Sônia M F , Grant, Tanith , Hobday, Alistair J , Jennings, Sarah M , Plagányi, Éva , Pecl, Gretta T , Salim, Shyam S , Sauer, Warwick H H , Taboada, Manuela B , Van Putten, Ingrid E
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145336 , vital:38429 , DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2018.12.011
- Description: Marine social-ecological systems are influenced by the way humans interact with their environment, and external forces, which change and re-shape the environment. In many regions, exploitation of marine resources and climate change are two of the primary drivers shifting the abundance and distribution of marine living resources, with negative effects on marine-dependent communities. Governance systems determine ‘who’ makes decisions, ‘what’ are their powers and responsibilities, and ‘how’ they are exercised. Understanding the connections between the actors comprising governance systems and influences between governance and the environment is therefore critical to support successful transitions to novel forms of governance required to deal with environmental changes. The paper provides an analytical framework with a practical example from Vanuatu, for mapping and assessment of the governance system providing for management of coral reef fish resources. The framework enables a rapid analysis of governance systems to identify factors that can encourage, or hinder, the adaptation of communities to changes in abundance or availability of marine resources.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Dutra, Leo X C , Sporne, Ilva , Haward, Marcus , Aswani, Shankar , Cochrane, Kevern L , Frusher, Stewart , Gasalla, Maria A , Gianesella, Sônia M F , Grant, Tanith , Hobday, Alistair J , Jennings, Sarah M , Plagányi, Éva , Pecl, Gretta T , Salim, Shyam S , Sauer, Warwick H H , Taboada, Manuela B , Van Putten, Ingrid E
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145336 , vital:38429 , DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2018.12.011
- Description: Marine social-ecological systems are influenced by the way humans interact with their environment, and external forces, which change and re-shape the environment. In many regions, exploitation of marine resources and climate change are two of the primary drivers shifting the abundance and distribution of marine living resources, with negative effects on marine-dependent communities. Governance systems determine ‘who’ makes decisions, ‘what’ are their powers and responsibilities, and ‘how’ they are exercised. Understanding the connections between the actors comprising governance systems and influences between governance and the environment is therefore critical to support successful transitions to novel forms of governance required to deal with environmental changes. The paper provides an analytical framework with a practical example from Vanuatu, for mapping and assessment of the governance system providing for management of coral reef fish resources. The framework enables a rapid analysis of governance systems to identify factors that can encourage, or hinder, the adaptation of communities to changes in abundance or availability of marine resources.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An integrated framework for assessing coastal community vulnerability across cultures, oceans and scales
- Aswani, Shankar, Howard, J A E, Gasalla, Maria A, Jennings, Sarah M, Malherbe, W, Martins, I M, Salim, Shyam S
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A E , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah M , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim, Shyam S
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123063 , vital:35402 , https://doi.10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795
- Description: Across the globe, many coastal communities rely on marine resources for their food security (FS), income and livelihoods and with predicted trends in human populations, the number of people reliant on these resources is likely to increase (FAO, 2012). However, the effects of climate change including increased variability are already being experienced by coastal communities and appear to be accelerating (Doney et al., 2012). Depending on a range of factors, including location, these changes are having mild to severe impacts on communities both in direct and indirect ways (Miller et al., 2010). Communities in coastal areas, for instance, are particularly at risk due to sea level rise but also through their dependence on marine resources that are impacted by multiple climate change pressures. A change in the availability and condition of marine resources has consequences on the livelihoods of fishing populations or those who depend directly on fishing as a source of food (Badjeck, Allison, Halls, & Dulvy, 2010).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A E , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah M , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim, Shyam S
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123063 , vital:35402 , https://doi.10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795
- Description: Across the globe, many coastal communities rely on marine resources for their food security (FS), income and livelihoods and with predicted trends in human populations, the number of people reliant on these resources is likely to increase (FAO, 2012). However, the effects of climate change including increased variability are already being experienced by coastal communities and appear to be accelerating (Doney et al., 2012). Depending on a range of factors, including location, these changes are having mild to severe impacts on communities both in direct and indirect ways (Miller et al., 2010). Communities in coastal areas, for instance, are particularly at risk due to sea level rise but also through their dependence on marine resources that are impacted by multiple climate change pressures. A change in the availability and condition of marine resources has consequences on the livelihoods of fishing populations or those who depend directly on fishing as a source of food (Badjeck, Allison, Halls, & Dulvy, 2010).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Tools to enrich vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning for coastal communities in data-poor regions: application to a case study in Madagascar
- Cochrane, Kevern L, Rakotondrazafy, H, Aswani, Shankar, Chaigneau, Tomas, Downey-Breedt, Nicola, Lemahieu, Anne, Paytan, Adina, Pecl, Gretta T, Plagányi, Éva, Popova, Elizaveta, Van Putten, Ingrid E, Sauer, Warwick H H, Byfield, Val, Gasalla, Maria A, Van Gennip, Simon J, Malherbe, Willem, Rabary, Andriantsilavo, Rabeariso, Ando, Ramaroson, N, Randrianarimanana, V, Scott, Lucy E P, Tsimanaoraty, P M
- Authors: Cochrane, Kevern L , Rakotondrazafy, H , Aswani, Shankar , Chaigneau, Tomas , Downey-Breedt, Nicola , Lemahieu, Anne , Paytan, Adina , Pecl, Gretta T , Plagányi, Éva , Popova, Elizaveta , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Sauer, Warwick H H , Byfield, Val , Gasalla, Maria A , Van Gennip, Simon J , Malherbe, Willem , Rabary, Andriantsilavo , Rabeariso, Ando , Ramaroson, N , Randrianarimanana, V , Scott, Lucy E P , Tsimanaoraty, P M
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145347 , vital:38430 , DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00505
- Description: Here we describe an interdisciplinary and multi-country initiative to develop rapid, participatory methods to assess the vulnerability of coastal communities and facilitate adaptation to climate change in data-poor regions. The methods were applied in Madagascar as a case study. The initiative centered on an exploratory research exercise in two communities in the south-west of Madagascar, a workshop held in Antananarivo in June 2016, combined with a component on communicating ocean science and climate change to stakeholders. It utilized innovative and rapid approaches to combine global and local skills and information on adaptation and resilience building, taking cognizance of national policies, and was based on the principles of a holistic, integrated and participatory approach. This paper summarizes the activities undertaken and assesses how effective they were in achieving the project goals, as well as presenting examples of the outputs obtained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cochrane, Kevern L , Rakotondrazafy, H , Aswani, Shankar , Chaigneau, Tomas , Downey-Breedt, Nicola , Lemahieu, Anne , Paytan, Adina , Pecl, Gretta T , Plagányi, Éva , Popova, Elizaveta , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Sauer, Warwick H H , Byfield, Val , Gasalla, Maria A , Van Gennip, Simon J , Malherbe, Willem , Rabary, Andriantsilavo , Rabeariso, Ando , Ramaroson, N , Randrianarimanana, V , Scott, Lucy E P , Tsimanaoraty, P M
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145347 , vital:38430 , DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00505
- Description: Here we describe an interdisciplinary and multi-country initiative to develop rapid, participatory methods to assess the vulnerability of coastal communities and facilitate adaptation to climate change in data-poor regions. The methods were applied in Madagascar as a case study. The initiative centered on an exploratory research exercise in two communities in the south-west of Madagascar, a workshop held in Antananarivo in June 2016, combined with a component on communicating ocean science and climate change to stakeholders. It utilized innovative and rapid approaches to combine global and local skills and information on adaptation and resilience building, taking cognizance of national policies, and was based on the principles of a holistic, integrated and participatory approach. This paper summarizes the activities undertaken and assesses how effective they were in achieving the project goals, as well as presenting examples of the outputs obtained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Limitations of the random response technique and a call to implement the ballot box method for estimating recreational angler compliance using surveys:
- Bova, Christopher S, Aswani, Shankar, Farthing, Matthew W, Potts, Warren M
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S , Aswani, Shankar , Farthing, Matthew W , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145359 , vital:38431 , DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2018.06.017
- Description: Accurate estimation of the levels of non-compliance to fishing regulations is crucial in ensuring that long term sustainability goals of fisheries are met. When requesting information regarding sensitive behaviour, such as an angler’s non-compliance to regulations through direct questioning methods (DQM), their responses can be influenced by social desirability bias (SDB). Literature in human dimensions research on methods for controlling this bias is limited. There has been an emerging prevalence in the use of the random response technique (RRT), which is a method aimed at reducing SDB in questions regarding sensitive behaviour, although it has never been validated against observed data in an environmental resource use context. An alternative to the RRT, the use of a ballot box method (BBM) has been successfully implemented to reduce SDB in contingent valuation studies and is introduced in this paper as a method for reducing SDB in face-to-face survey responses regarding sensitive behaviour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S , Aswani, Shankar , Farthing, Matthew W , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145359 , vital:38431 , DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2018.06.017
- Description: Accurate estimation of the levels of non-compliance to fishing regulations is crucial in ensuring that long term sustainability goals of fisheries are met. When requesting information regarding sensitive behaviour, such as an angler’s non-compliance to regulations through direct questioning methods (DQM), their responses can be influenced by social desirability bias (SDB). Literature in human dimensions research on methods for controlling this bias is limited. There has been an emerging prevalence in the use of the random response technique (RRT), which is a method aimed at reducing SDB in questions regarding sensitive behaviour, although it has never been validated against observed data in an environmental resource use context. An alternative to the RRT, the use of a ballot box method (BBM) has been successfully implemented to reduce SDB in contingent valuation studies and is introduced in this paper as a method for reducing SDB in face-to-face survey responses regarding sensitive behaviour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Social capital reduces vulnerability in rural coastal communities of Solomon Islands:
- Malherbe, Willem, Sauer, Warwick H H, Aswani, Shankar
- Authors: Malherbe, Willem , Sauer, Warwick H H , Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150230 , vital:38951 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105186
- Description: Rural island communities are generally regarded as the most vulnerable groups affected by climate change. This perception arises due to them often being in less developed areas with high levels of exposure to stressors, while reportedly lacking the means to cope with these stressors. Studies which use developed-country yardsticks, such as those used in past IPCC-based assessments, when measuring vulnerability in less developed states will however inevitably over-pronounce its effects in such areas. The sustainable livelihoods approach provides an alternate means of determining vulnerability using capital assets such as social capital. The presence of these assets enables communities to pursue diverse livelihood strategies which ultimately serve to reduce their vulnerability. This study seeks to measure attributes of social capital in five marine dependent communities of Solomon Islands.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Malherbe, Willem , Sauer, Warwick H H , Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150230 , vital:38951 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105186
- Description: Rural island communities are generally regarded as the most vulnerable groups affected by climate change. This perception arises due to them often being in less developed areas with high levels of exposure to stressors, while reportedly lacking the means to cope with these stressors. Studies which use developed-country yardsticks, such as those used in past IPCC-based assessments, when measuring vulnerability in less developed states will however inevitably over-pronounce its effects in such areas. The sustainable livelihoods approach provides an alternate means of determining vulnerability using capital assets such as social capital. The presence of these assets enables communities to pursue diverse livelihood strategies which ultimately serve to reduce their vulnerability. This study seeks to measure attributes of social capital in five marine dependent communities of Solomon Islands.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Global trends of local ecological knowledge and future implications
- Aswani, Shankar, Lemahieu, Anne, Sauer, Warwick H H
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Lemahieu, Anne , Sauer, Warwick H H
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70504 , vital:29668 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195440
- Description: Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local resilience capacities from this loss. In this global literature review, we analyse the drivers of various types of local and indigenous ecological knowledge transformation and assess the directionality of the reported change. Results of this analysis show a global impoverishment of local and indigenous knowledge with 77% of papers reporting the loss of knowledge driven by globalization, modernization, and market integration. The recording of this loss, however, is not symmetrical, with losses being recorded more strongly in medicinal and ethnobotanical knowledge. Persistence of knowledge (15% of the studies) occurred in studies where traditional practices were being maintained consiously and where hybrid knowledge was being produced as a resut of certain types of incentives created by economic development. This review provides some insights into local and indigenous ecological knowledge change, its causes and implications, and recommends venues for the development of replicable and comparative research. The larger implication of these results is that because of the interconnection between cultural and biological diversity, the loss of local and indigenous knowledge is likely to critically threaten effective conservation of biodiversity, particularly in community-based conservation local efforts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Lemahieu, Anne , Sauer, Warwick H H
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70504 , vital:29668 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195440
- Description: Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local resilience capacities from this loss. In this global literature review, we analyse the drivers of various types of local and indigenous ecological knowledge transformation and assess the directionality of the reported change. Results of this analysis show a global impoverishment of local and indigenous knowledge with 77% of papers reporting the loss of knowledge driven by globalization, modernization, and market integration. The recording of this loss, however, is not symmetrical, with losses being recorded more strongly in medicinal and ethnobotanical knowledge. Persistence of knowledge (15% of the studies) occurred in studies where traditional practices were being maintained consiously and where hybrid knowledge was being produced as a resut of certain types of incentives created by economic development. This review provides some insights into local and indigenous ecological knowledge change, its causes and implications, and recommends venues for the development of replicable and comparative research. The larger implication of these results is that because of the interconnection between cultural and biological diversity, the loss of local and indigenous knowledge is likely to critically threaten effective conservation of biodiversity, particularly in community-based conservation local efforts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Assessing a social norms approach for improving recreational fisheries compliance
- Bova, Christopher S, Halse, Sarah J, Aswani, Shankar, Potts, Warren M
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S , Halse, Sarah J , Aswani, Shankar , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123122 , vital:35408 , https://doi.10.1111/fme.12218
- Description: This study aimed to assess the suitability of the Berkowitz’ (2005) social norms approach (SNA) for improving compliance behaviour amongst recreational fishers. A total of 138 recreational shore anglers were interviewed in Eastern Cape, South Africa and asked about their compliance, attitudes towards compliance, perceptions of compliance and the attitudes of other anglers. Results indicate that angler compliance for individual regulations was relatively high (75%–90%). Attitudes of anglers towards compliance was positive, with >80% feeling that “breaking any regulation is wrong.” Yet, as predicted by the SNA, interviewees often overestimated the non-compliance and negative attitudes of other anglers, particularly as their social proximity decreased. Interviewees with the greatest misperceptions were also less compliant. The social norms present in the Eastern Cape rock and surf fishery fulfil the criteria required for the application of the SNA, suggesting that this approach may provide a suitable normative intervention for improving compliance to be used in conjunction with instrumental approaches in recreational fisheries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S , Halse, Sarah J , Aswani, Shankar , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123122 , vital:35408 , https://doi.10.1111/fme.12218
- Description: This study aimed to assess the suitability of the Berkowitz’ (2005) social norms approach (SNA) for improving compliance behaviour amongst recreational fishers. A total of 138 recreational shore anglers were interviewed in Eastern Cape, South Africa and asked about their compliance, attitudes towards compliance, perceptions of compliance and the attitudes of other anglers. Results indicate that angler compliance for individual regulations was relatively high (75%–90%). Attitudes of anglers towards compliance was positive, with >80% feeling that “breaking any regulation is wrong.” Yet, as predicted by the SNA, interviewees often overestimated the non-compliance and negative attitudes of other anglers, particularly as their social proximity decreased. Interviewees with the greatest misperceptions were also less compliant. The social norms present in the Eastern Cape rock and surf fishery fulfil the criteria required for the application of the SNA, suggesting that this approach may provide a suitable normative intervention for improving compliance to be used in conjunction with instrumental approaches in recreational fisheries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Food on the Table: Human Responses and Changing Coastal Fisheries in Solomon Islands
- Albert, Simon, Aswani, Shankar, Fisher, Paul L, Albert, Joelle
- Authors: Albert, Simon , Aswani, Shankar , Fisher, Paul L , Albert, Joelle
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/421887 , vital:71893 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130800"
- Description: Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the Pacific Islands coastal fisheries provide basic subsistence needs for millions of people. A decline in fish catch would therefore have profound impacts on the health and livelihoods of these coastal communities. Given the decrease in local catch rates reported for many coastal communities in the Pacific, it is important to understand if fishers have responded to ecological change (either by expanding their fishing range and/or increasing their fishing effort), and if so, to evaluate the costs or benefits of these responses. We compare data from fish catches in 1995 and 2011 from a rural coastal community in Solomon Islands to examine the potentially changing coastal reef fishery at these time points. In particular we found changes in preferred fishing locations, fishing methodology and catch composition between these data sets. The results indicate that despite changes in catch rates (catch per unit effort) between data collected in 2011 and 16 years previously, the study community was able to increase gross catches through visiting fishing sites further away, diversifying fishing methods and targeting pelagic species through trolling. Such insight into local-scale responses to changing resources and/or fisheries development will help scientists and policy makers throughout the Pacific region in managing the region’s fisheries in the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Albert, Simon , Aswani, Shankar , Fisher, Paul L , Albert, Joelle
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/421887 , vital:71893 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130800"
- Description: Globally the majority of commercial fisheries have experienced dramatic declines in stock and catch. Likewise, projections for many subsistence fisheries in the tropics indicate a dramatic decline is looming in the coming decades. In the Pacific Islands coastal fisheries provide basic subsistence needs for millions of people. A decline in fish catch would therefore have profound impacts on the health and livelihoods of these coastal communities. Given the decrease in local catch rates reported for many coastal communities in the Pacific, it is important to understand if fishers have responded to ecological change (either by expanding their fishing range and/or increasing their fishing effort), and if so, to evaluate the costs or benefits of these responses. We compare data from fish catches in 1995 and 2011 from a rural coastal community in Solomon Islands to examine the potentially changing coastal reef fishery at these time points. In particular we found changes in preferred fishing locations, fishing methodology and catch composition between these data sets. The results indicate that despite changes in catch rates (catch per unit effort) between data collected in 2011 and 16 years previously, the study community was able to increase gross catches through visiting fishing sites further away, diversifying fishing methods and targeting pelagic species through trolling. Such insight into local-scale responses to changing resources and/or fisheries development will help scientists and policy makers throughout the Pacific region in managing the region’s fisheries in the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015