Steven M. Alexander

Fostering effective international collaboration for marine science in small island states

1 The Center for Marine Resource Studies, The School for Field Studies, South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA, 4 Environmental Defense Fund, Boston, MA, USA, 5 Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, College of Life and Natural Sciences, University of Derby, Derby, UK, Waitt Institute, Washington, DC, USA, Centro de Investigaciones de Ecosistemas Costeros, Ciego de Avila, Cuba, Department of Marine Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government, Nassau, Bahamas, Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies, The University of the West Indies, St. Michael, Barbados

Emerging Concepts in Adaptive Management

Adaptive management is an elegant concept. Structure management interventions and policies as experiments, monitor feedback, and make necessary adjustments. Yet, the implementation of adaptive management has often been difficult, and the outcomes unclear. We examine in this chapter six issues or concepts that emerge as central to ongoing efforts to advance the theory and practice of adaptive management of natural resources: (1) adopting a transdisciplinary perspective on adaptive management; (2) shifting from a natural resource management to social-ecological systems perspective; (3) situating adaptive management within a governance context; (4) surfacing the role of power in adaptive management processes; (5) engaging with knowledge co-production; and (6) exploring the role of adaptive management as a deliberative tool in support of social-ecological transformations.

Theorizing the Social Structural Foundations of Adaptation and Transformation in Social-Ecological Systems

Social networks are frequently cited as vital for facilitating successful adaptation and transformation in linked social-ecological systems to overcome pressing resource management challenges. Yet confusion remains over the precise nature of adaptation versus transformation, and the specific social network structures that facilitate these processes. Here we adopt a network perspective to theorize a continuum of structural capacities in social-ecological systems that set the stage for effective adaptation and transformation. We begin by drawing on the resilience literature and the multilayered action situation to link processes of change in social-ecological systems to decision making across multiple layers of rules underpinning societal organization. We then present a framework that hypotheses seven specific social-ecological network configurations that lay the structural foundation necessary for facilitating adaptation and transformation, given the type and magnitude of human action required. A key contribution of the framework is explicit consideration of how social networks relate to ecological structures and the particular environmental problem at hand. Of the seven configurations identified, three are linked to capacities conducive for adaptation and three to transformation, while one is hypothesized to be important for facilitating both processes. We discuss how our theoretical framework can be applied in practice by highlighting existing empirical examples from related environmental governance contexts. Further extension of our hypotheses, particularly as more data become available, can ultimately help guide the design of institutional arrangements more effective at dealing with change.

The social structural foundations of adaptation and transformation in social-ecological systems

Social networks are frequently cited as vital for facilitating successful adaptation and transformation in linked social-ecological systems to overcome pressing resource management challenges. Yet confusion remains over the precise nature of adaptation vs. transformation and the specific social network structures that facilitate these processes. Here, we adopt a network perspective to theorize a continuum of structural capacities in social-ecological systems that set the stage for effective adaptation and transformation. We begin by drawing on the resilience literature and the multilayered action situation to link processes of change in social-ecological systems to decision making across multiple layers of rules underpinning societal organization. We then present a framework that hypothesizes seven specific social-ecological network configurations that lay the structural foundation necessary for facilitating adaptation and transformation, given the type and magnitude of human action required. A key contribution of the framework is explicit consideration of how social networks relate to ecological structures and the particular environmental problem at hand. Of the seven configurations identified, three are linked to capacities conducive to adaptation and three to transformation, and one is hypothesized to be important for facilitating both processes. We discuss how our theoretical framework can be applied in practice by highlighting existing empirical examples from related environmental governance contexts. Further extension of our hypotheses, particularly as more data become available, can ultimately help guide the design of institutional arrangements to be more effective at dealing with change.

Qualitative data sharing and re-use for socio-environmental systems research: A synthesis of opportunities, challenges, resources and approaches

This work was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) under funding received from the National Science Foundation DBI-1052875.

Cross-discipline evidence principles for sustainability policy

Evidence-based approaches to sustainability challenges must draw on knowledge from the environment, development and health communities. To be practicable, this requires an approach to evidence that is broader and less hierarchical than the standards often applied within disciplines.

Quantifying ecological and social drivers of ecological surprise

Author(s): Filbee-Dexter, K; Symons, CC; Jones, K; Haig, HA; Pittman, J; Alexander, SM; Burke, MJ | Abstract:

Frontiers in socio-environmental research: components, connections, scale, and context

The complex and interdisciplinary nature of socio-environmental (SE) problems has led to numerous efforts to develop organizing frameworks to capture the structural and functional elements of SE systems. We evaluate six leading SE frameworks, i.e., human ecosystem framework, resilience, integrated assessment of ecosystem services, vulnerability framework, coupled human-natural systems, and social-ecological systems framework, with the dual goals of (1) investigating the theoretical core of SE systems research emerging across diverse frameworks and (2) highlighting the gaps and research frontiers brought to the fore by a comparative evaluation. The discussion of the emergent theoretical core is centered on four shared structuring elements of SE systems: components, connections, scale, and context. Cross-cutting research frontiers include: moving beyond singular case studies and small-n studies to meta-analytic comparative work on outcomes in related SE systems; combining descriptive and data-driven modeling approaches to SE systems analysis; and promoting the evolution and refinement of frameworks through empirical application and testing, and interframework learning.