Romina Rodela

A review of assertions about the processes and outcomes of social learning in natural resource management

Social learning has become a central theme in natural resource management. This growing interest is underpinned by a number of assertions about the outcomes of social learning, and about the processes that support these outcomes. Yet researchers and practitioners who seek to engage with social learning through the natural resource management literature often become disorientated by the myriad processes and outcomes that are identified. We trace the roots of current assertions about the processes and outcomes of social learning in natural resource management, and assess the extent to which there is an emerging consensus on these assertions. Results suggest that, on the one hand, social learning is described as taking place through deliberative interactions amongst multiple stakeholders. During these interactions, it is argued that participants learn to work together and build relationships that allow for collective action. On the other hand, social learning is described as occurring through deliberate experimentation and reflective practice. During these iterative cycles of action, monitoring and reflection, participants learn how to cope with uncertainty when managing complex systems. Both of these processes, and their associated outcomes, are referred to as social learning. Where, therefore, should researchers and practitioners focus their attention? Results suggest that there is an emerging consensus that processes that support social learning involve sustained interaction between stakeholders, on-going deliberation and the sharing of knowledge in a trusting environment. There is also an emerging consensus that the key outcome of such learning is improved decision making underpinned by a growing awareness of human-environment interactions, better relationships and improved problem-solving capacities for participants.

Testing the ecosystem service cascade framework and QUICKScan software tool in the context of land use planning in Glenlivet Estate Scotland

ABSTRACT The concept of ecosystem services has been extensively studied in recent decades. Most studies have focused on describing the specific aspects such as production, spatial extent, valuation of services and the trade-off between services. Few studies however assess the practitioners’ views on the frameworks, models or tools developed. In this paper, we report on a multi-stakeholder workshop where two tools were tested (i) the ecosystem service cascade framework was tested as a means to frame the issues and (ii) a participatory-spatial modelling method, QUICKScan, was tested as an aid to support discussion over natural resource management and planning in a multi-use landscape. A focused group discussion was utilised to determine stakeholders’ views of the cascade framework and pre- and post-workshop questionnaires quantified the stakeholders’ views of the QUICKScan method. The stakeholders identified both positive and negative aspects of both tools. The diversity of views expressed were associated with (i) the past experience of the individual with the issues discussed, (ii) the technical aspects of the tools i.e. the ability with GIS and (iii) the level of new shared knowledge they reported acquiring on the day which was related to their initial knowledge of the issue and area studied. EDITED BY Davide Geneletti

Environmental non-governmental organizations and transnational collaboration: The Baltic Sea and Adriatic-Ionian Sea regions

Previous studies of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGO) have primarily taken place within a nation-state perspective without considering multiple levels of politics and governance. Because environmental problems are usually cross-border phenomena, environmental movements must develop transnational features to play constructive roles in politics and governance. This study contributes to the theorizing and study of transnationalization of ENGOs by illuminating the different regional conditions for this process. The conditions for ENGOs to develop transnational collaboration are explored by comparing ENGOs from six countries in two macro-regions: Sweden, Germany, and Poland in the Baltic Sea region, and Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia in the Adriatic-Ionian Sea region. Grounded in the literatures on social movement theory and ENGO transnationalization, the study identifies how different national, macro-regional, and European institutional structures shape the conditions under which ENGOs develop cross-border collaborations, and demonstrate the importance of long-term and dynamic interplay between processes that occur at the domestic and transnational levels.

Crossing disciplinary boundaries in environmental research: Interdisciplinary engagement across the Slovene research community.

Contemporary approaches to environmental research are calling for a type of scientific inquiry that is able to bring together the natural and social sciences. This with the aim to advance our understanding of environmental issues and produce synthetic and actionable knowledge meant to address these. Yet, interdisciplinarity research of this type is a demanding and challenging pursuit; many have shown that in certain thematic areas and geographic regions practice falls behind discourse. We bring together ideas about interdisciplinary research collaborations (after Patricia L. Rosenfield) and interdisciplinary epistemic synthesis (after Julie T. Klein) that are used to analyse a sample of research projects funded (from 2006 to 2013) by the Slovene Research Agency. We triangulated interview data (with principal investigators) with document analysis and integrated these with other secondary data. Our results suggest for the sample of environmental projects to be interdisciplinary in a narrow sense, this prevalently within natural and life sciences with little input from the humanities and social sciences. Also, the results obtained suggest that environmental research with unambiguous problem solving objectives is preferred over research with a high degree of abstraction, as involved in theoretical and conceptual work.

Learning for social-ecological change : a qualitative review of outcomes across empirical literature in natural resource management

Learning is considered as a promising mechanism to cope with rapid environmental change. The implications of learning for natural resource management (NRM) have not been explored in-depth and the evidence on the topic is scattered across multiple sources. We provide a qualitative review of types of learning outcomes and consider their manifestations in NRM across selected empirical literature. We conducted a systematic search of the peer-reviewed literature (N = 1,223) and a qualitative meta-synthesis of included articles, with an explicit focus on learning outcomes and NRM changes (N = 53). Besides social learning, we found several learning concepts used, including policy and transformative learning, and multiple links between learning and NRM reported. We observe that the development of skills, together with a system approach involving multi-level capacities, is decisive for implications of learning for NRM. Future reviews could systematically compare how primary research applies different learning concepts and discusses links between learning and NRM changes.

On the use of databases about research performance : comments on Karlovčec and Mladenić (2015) and others using the SICRIS database

The accuracy of interdisciplinarity measurements depends on how well the data is used for this purpose and whether it can meaningfully inform about work that crosses disciplinary domains. At present, there are no ad hoc databases compiling information only and exclusively about interdisciplinary research, and those interested in assessing it have to reach out to existing databases that have been compiled for other purposes. Karlovčec and Mladenić (Scientometrics 102:433–454, 2015) saw an opportunity in a national database that brings together information meant to be used for assessing the scientific performance of the Slovene academic community, which they used to obtain information that was then applied to measure interdisciplinarity. However, the context and purpose for which databases are produced have certain implications on their use. In their study, the authors overlooked the social and political context within which that specific database was created, is maintained and is used for (evaluation of research performance). This resulted in an incomplete interpretation of the results obtained and description of the current situation. This commentary addresses two aspects that warrant further consideration: one pertains to the limitations of the dataset itself and the measures used to debunk these, while the second pertains to the line of reasoning behind the integration and use of IDR measures in this study.

Spatial decision support systems: Exploring differences in pilot-testing with students vs. professionals

Abstract This study explores the implications of engaging students, versus professionals/experts, in pilot-testing of SDSS, and discusses likely differences in terms of expected outcomes for the given pilot-test. To this end we use data collected during two pilot tests of a novel SDSS that was developed by members of our project team. The pilot-tests were done with two different groups; one made of 13 doctoral students, while the other of 12 professionals/stakeholders. The pilot-test served to gather feedback on SDSS usability and other aspects of interest to the development team. On the basis of the outcomes obtained we develop an analytical framework meant to summarise what we come to notice as key aspects distinguishing how different types of testers will engage in an SDSS pilot-test, and the type of feedback these will consequently provide. These key aspects include expertise, stage of life, and institutional context (ESI). This framework could offer some help to other teams in planning, organizing, and delivering pilot-test, and processing the assessments received.

A social marketing perspective on road freight transportation of fresh fruits and vegetables: a Slovene case

Abstract With the large increase in transportation over the last decades and the associated negative impacts upon the environment and society, a more sustainable use of transport is a crucial policy issue. This analysis focuses on road freight transport of selected produce (carrots, cabbage, apples and pears) with the aim to appraise the sustainability of road freight transport of these for the Slovene market. To this end, we take into account self-sufficiency, import and export features, transport needs, produce origin and prices differences between domestic and non-domestic produce. The method used for obtaining transported quantities, exported from and imported to the county, was material flow accounts (MFA). Then we undertook an analysis of sustainability of road transport of produce where we considered the country’s transport needs. The study finds that road freight transport for selected produce is not sustainable. Recognising the normative dimensions of sustainability, the role of social marketing in this context is explored and suggestions on how to promote more sustainable transport solutions advanced.