| 1. |
- Barnes, Michele L., et al.
(författare)
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'Bunkering down' : How one community is tightening social-ecological network structures in the face of global change
- 2022
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Ingår i: People and Nature. - : Wiley. - 2575-8314. ; 4:4, s. 1032-1048
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Complex networks of relationships among and between people and nature (social-ecological networks) play an important role in sustainability; yet, we have limited empirical understanding of their temporal dynamics.We empirically examine the evolution of a social-ecological network in a common-pool resource system faced with escalating social and environmental change over the past two decades.We first draw on quantitative and qualitative data collected between 2002 and 2018 in a Papua New Guinean reef fishing community to provide contextual evidence regarding the extent of social and environmental change being experienced. We then develop a temporal multilevel exponential random graph model using complete social-ecological network data, collected in 2016 and 2018, to test key hypotheses regarding how fishing households have adapted their social ties in this context of change given their relationships with reef resources (i.e. social-ecological ties). Specifically, we hypothesized that households will increasingly form tight-knit, bonding social and social-ecological network structures (H1 and H3, respectively) with similar others (H2), and that they will seek out resourceful actors with specialized knowledge that can promote learning and spur innovation (H4).Our results depict a community that is largely ‘bunkering down’ and looking inward in response to mounting risk to resource-dependent livelihoods and a breakdown in the collaborative processes that traditionally sustained them. Community members are increasingly choosing to interact with others more like themselves (H2), with friends of friends (H1), and with those connected to interdependent ecological resources (H3)—in other words, they are showing a strong, increasing preference for forming bonding social-ecological network structures and interacting with like-minded, similar others. We did not find strong support for H4.Bonding network structures may decrease the risk associated with unmonitored behaviour and help to build trust, thereby increasing the probability of sustaining cooperation over time. Yet, increasing homophily and bonding ties can stifle innovation, reducing the ability to adapt to changing conditions. It can also lead to clustering, creating fault lines in the network, which can negatively impact the community's ability to mobilize and agree on/enforce social norms, which are key for managing common resources.
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| 2. |
- Barnes, Michele L., et al.
(författare)
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Social determinants of adaptive and transformative responses to climate change
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 10:9, s. 823-828
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To cope effectively with the impacts of climate change, people will need to change existing practices or behaviours within existing social-ecological systems (adaptation) or enact more fundamental changes that can alter dominant social-ecological relationships and create new systems or futures (transformation). Here we use multilevel network modelling to examine how different domains of adaptive capacity-assets, flexibility, organization, learning, socio-cognitive constructs and agency-are related to adaptive and transformative actions. We find evidence consistent with an influence process in which aspects of social organization (exposure to others in social networks) encourage both adaptive and transformative actions among Papua New Guinean islanders experiencing climate change impacts. Adaptive and transformative actions are also related to social-ecological network structures between people and ecological resources that enable learning and the internalization of ecological feedbacks. Agency is also key, yet we show that while perceived power may encourage adaptations, it may discourage more transformative actions. Multilevel network modelling shows that social network exposure promotes both adaptive and transformative responses to climate change among Papua New Guinean islanders. Different social-ecological network structures are associated with adaptation versus transformation.
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| 3. |
- Cinner, Joshua E., et al.
(författare)
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Changes in adaptive capacity of Kenyan fishing communities
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature Climate Change. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 5:9, s. 872-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coastal communities are particularly at risk from the impacts of a changing climate(1). Building the capacity of coastal communities to cope with and recover from a changing environment is a critical means to reducing their vulnerability(2,3). Yet, few studies have quantitatively examined adaptive capacity in such communities. Here, we build on an emerging body of research examining adaptive capacity in natural resource-dependent communities in two important ways. We examine how nine indicators of adaptive capacity vary: among segments of Kenyan fishing communities; and over time. Socially disaggregated analyses found that the young, those who had migrated, and those who do not participate in decision-making seemed least prepared for adapting to change in these resource-dependent communities. These results highlight the most vulnerable segments of society when it comes to preparing for and adapting to change in resource-dependent communities. Comparisons through time showed that aspects of adaptive capacity seemed to have increased between 2008 and 2012 owing to higher observed community infrastructure and perceived availability of credit.
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| 4. |
- Cinner, Joshua E., et al.
(författare)
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Comanagement of coral reef social ecological systems
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 109:14, s. 5219-5222
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In an effort to deliver better outcomes for people and the ecosystems they depend on, many governments and civil society groups are engaging natural resource users in collaborative management arrangements (frequently called comanagement). However, there are few empirical studies demonstrating the social and institutional conditions conducive to successful comanagement outcomes, especially in small-scale fisheries. Here, we evaluate 42 comanagement arrangements across five countries and show that: (i) comanagement is largely successful at meeting social and ecological goals; (ii) comanagement tends to benefit wealthier resource users; (iii) resource overexploitation is most strongly influenced by market access and users' dependence on resources; and (iv) institutional characteristics strongly influence livelihood and compliance outcomes, yet have little effect on ecological conditions.
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| 5. |
- Cinner, Joshua E., et al.
(författare)
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Livelihood Diversification in Tropical Coastal Communities : A Network-Based Approach to Analyzing 'Livelihood Landscapes'
- 2010
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Ingår i: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 5:8, s. e11999-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Diverse livelihood portfolios are frequently viewed as a critical component of household economies in developing countries. Within the context of natural resources governance in particular, the capacity of individual households to engage in multiple occupations has been shown to influence important issues such as whether fishers would exit a declining fishery, how people react to policy, the types of resource management systems that may be applicable, and other decisions about natural resource use. Methodology/Principal Findings: This paper uses network analysis to provide a novel methodological framework for detailed systemic analysis of household livelihood portfolios. Paying particular attention to the role of natural resource-based occupations such as fisheries, we use network analyses to map occupations and their interrelationships-what we refer to as 'livelihood landscapes'. This network approach allows for the visualization of complex information about dependence on natural resources that can be aggregated at different scales. We then examine how the role of natural resource-based occupations changes along spectra of socioeconomic development and population density in 27 communities in 5 western Indian Ocean countries. Network statistics, including in-and out-degree centrality, the density of the network, and the level of network centralization are compared along a multivariate index of community-level socioeconomic development and a gradient of human population density. The combination of network analyses suggests an increase in household-level specialization with development for most occupational sectors, including fishing and farming, but that at the community-level, economies remained diversified. Conclusions/Significance: The novel modeling approach introduced here provides for various types of livelihood portfolio analyses at different scales of social aggregation. Our livelihood landscapes approach provides insights into communities' dependencies and usages of natural resources, and shows how patterns of occupational interrelationships relate to socioeconomic development and population density. A key question for future analysis is how the reduction of household occupational diversity, but maintenance of community diversity we see with increasing socioeconomic development influences key aspects of societies' vulnerability to environmental change or disasters.
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| 6. |
- Cinner, Joshua.E., et al.
(författare)
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Responding to change : Using scenarios to understand how socioeconomic factors may influence amplifying or dampening exploitation feedbacks among Tanzanian fishers
- 2010
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - Online : Elsevier BV. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Environmental change often requires societies to adapt. In some instances, these adaptations can create feedbacks that amplify the change. Alternatively, other adaptations may dampen the change. We used semi-structured interviews with 240 fishers from nine Tanzanian coastal communities to explore responses to four hypothetical scenarios of increasingly severe declines in their average catch (10%, 20%, 30% and 50%). Overall, a higher proportion of fishers said they would respond to decline using amplifying adaptations (such as fishing harder) than dampening adaptations (such as reducing effort), particularly in the scenarios with lower levels of decline. We used a redundancy analysis to explore whether certain types of responses were related to the fishers’ socioeconomic characteristics. Fishers that would employ amplifying responses had greater economic wealth but lacked options. Fishers who would adopt dampening responses possessed characteristics associated with having livelihood options. Fishers who would adopt neither amplifying nor dampening responses were less likely to belong to community groups and sold the largest proportion of their catch. This study provides novel contributions by differentiating aspects of adaptive capacity that will amplify versus dampen environmental change and by highlighting what the resource users’ themselves say regarding responding to environmental change. Although direct policy application is limited by the study's hypothetical scenario nature, it provides a good beginning to incorporating resource users’ voices into such policy discussions.
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| 7. |
- Cinner, Joshua E., et al.
(författare)
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Winners and Losers in Marine Conservation : Fishers' Displacement and Livelihood Benefits from Marine Reserves
- 2014
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Ingår i: Society & Natural Resources. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0894-1920 .- 1521-0723. ; 27:9, s. 994-1005
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Marine reserves can create both benefits and costs to fishers. This article explores the perceptions of fishers in Kenya and Seychelles about displacement, spillover, and overall impacts of local marine reserves on their livelihoods. We test whether these perceptions are different among fishers from different geographic and socioeconomic conditions. Sixty-six percent of fishers had been displaced from marine reserves or coastal development and 90% believed they had caught fishes that spilled over from marine reserves. Poorer fishers in Kenya were both displaced from, and also felt like they benefited from, marine reserves. This highlights how people's experiences with marine reserves, both positive and negative, are affected by a range of social considerations that may not be incorporated in typical evaluations of ecological and economic marine reserve success.
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| 8. |
- Cumming, Graeme S., et al.
(författare)
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Research priorities for the sustainability of coral-rich western Pacific seascapes
- 2023
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Ingår i: Regional Environmental Change. - 1436-3798 .- 1436-378X. ; 23:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nearly a billion people depend on tropical seascapes. The need to ensure sustainable use of these vital areas is recognised, as one of 17 policy commitments made by world leaders, in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 (‘Life below Water’) of the United Nations. SDG 14 seeks to secure marine sustainability by 2030. In a time of increasing social-ecological unpredictability and risk, scientists and policymakers working towards SDG 14 in the Asia–Pacific region need to know: (1) How are seascapes changing? (2) What can global society do about these changes? and (3) How can science and society together achieve sustainable seascape futures? Through a horizon scan, we identified nine emerging research priorities that clarify potential research contributions to marine sustainability in locations with high coral reef abundance. They include research on seascape geological and biological evolution and adaptation; elucidating drivers and mechanisms of change; understanding how seascape functions and services are produced, and how people depend on them; costs, benefits, and trade-offs to people in changing seascapes; improving seascape technologies and practices; learning to govern and manage seascapes for all; sustainable use, justice, and human well-being; bridging communities and epistemologies for innovative, equitable, and scale-crossing solutions; and informing resilient seascape futures through modelling and synthesis. Researchers can contribute to the sustainability of tropical seascapes by co-developing transdisciplinary understandings of people and ecosystems, emphasising the importance of equity and justice, and improving knowledge of key cross-scale and cross-level processes, feedbacks, and thresholds.
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| 9. |
- Daw, Tim M., et al.
(författare)
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Design Factors and Socioeconomic Variables Associated with Ecological Responses to Fishery Closures in the Western Indian Ocean :
- 2011
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Ingår i: Coastal Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0892-0753 .- 1521-0421. ; 39:4, s. 412-424
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We assessed the ability of socioeconomic variables (population size, perceived infringement, and community infrastructure) and design features (closure age and area) to predict ecological indicators of “success” in seventeen coral-reef fishery closures in the Western Indian Ocean. Success was measured as absolute fish biomass and coral cover in closures, and the response ratio of these variables indicating the level of difference relative to control sites outside closures. Fish biomass had a greater and more consistent response to protection than coral cover. Human population density had a strong positive association with the response of fish biomass, which was driven by lower biomass outside marine protected areas (MPAs) in high human population density sites, rather than higher biomass within MPAs. Perceived infringement was negatively associated with the absolute and response ratio of fish biomass. Coral cover was variable, weakly related to closure, and positively related to closure size and human population density. This, and previous regional studies, indicate that physical design features have a modest effect on the response of fish to MPAs, that design features interact with compliance, and that human population density around closures can indirectly influence the effect of MPAs on fish populations.
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| 10. |
- Daw, Tim M., et al.
(författare)
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To Fish or Not to Fish : Factors at Multiple Scales Affecting Artisanal Fishers' Readiness to Exit a Declining Fishery
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:2, s. e31460-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Globally, fisheries are challenged by the combined impacts of overfishing, degradation of ecosystems and impacts of climate change, while fisheries livelihoods are further pressured by conservation policy imperatives. Fishers' adaptive responses to these pressures, such as exiting from a fishery to pursue alternative livelihoods, determine their own vulnerability, as well as the potential for reducing fishing effort and sustaining fisheries. The willingness and ability to make particular adaptations in response to change, such as exiting from a declining fishery, is influenced by economic, cultural and institutional factors operating at scales from individual fishers to national economies. Previous studies of exit from fisheries at single or few sites, offer limited insight into the relative importance of individual and larger-scale social and economic factors. We asked 599 fishers how they would respond to hypothetical scenarios of catch declines in 28 sites in five western Indian Ocean countries. We investigated how socioeconomic variables at the individual-, household- and site-scale affected whether they would exit fisheries. Site-level factors had the greatest influence on readiness to exit, but these relationships were contrary to common predictions. Specifically, higher levels of infrastructure development and economic vitality - expected to promote exit from fisheries - were associated with less readiness to exit. This may be due to site level histories of exit from fisheries, greater specialisation of fishing households, or higher rewards from fishing in more economically developed sites due to technology, market access, catch value and government subsidies. At the individual and household scale, fishers from households with more livelihood activities, and fishers with lower catch value were more willing to exit. These results demonstrate empirically how adaptive responses to change are influenced by factors at multiple scales, and highlight the importance of understanding natural resource-based livelihoods in the context of the wider economy and society.
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| 11. |
- Graham, Nicholas A. J., et al.
(författare)
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Coral reefs as novel ecosystems : embracing new futures
- 2014
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-3435 .- 1877-3443. ; 7, s. 9-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The composition and functions of many ecosystems are changing, giving rise to the concept of novel ecosystems. Although some coral reefs are becoming non-coral systems, others are becoming novel coral-dominated ecosystems driven principally by differential species responses to climate change and other drivers, but also due to species range shifts at higher latitudes, and in some cases introduced species. Returning many coral reefs to pristine baselines is unrealistic, whereas embracing novel futures enables more pragmatic approaches to maintaining or re-building the dominance of corals. Coral reefs are changing in unprecedented ways, providing the impetus to improve our understanding of reef compositions that may dominate in the future, explore new management approaches, assess changes in ecosystem services, and investigate how human societies can adapt and respond to novel futures.
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| 12. |
- Graham, Nicholas A. J., et al.
(författare)
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Managing resilience to reverse phase shifts in coral reefs
- 2013
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 1540-9295 .- 1540-9309. ; 11:10, s. 541-548
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Both coral-dominated and degraded reef ecosystems can be resistant to change. Typically, research and management have focused on maintaining coral dominance and avoiding phase shifts to other species compositions, rather than on weakening the resilience of already degraded reefs to re-establish coral dominance. Reversing degraded coral-reef states will involve reducing local chronic drivers like fishing pressure and poor water quality. Reversals will also require management of key ecological processes - such as those performed by different functional groups of marine herbivores - that both weaken the resilience of the degraded state and strengthen the coral-dominated state. If detrimental human impacts are reduced and key ecological processes are enhanced, pulse disturbances, such as extreme weather events, and ecological variability may provide opportunities for a return to a coral-dominated state. Critically, achieving these outcomes will necessitate a diverse range of integrated approaches to alter human interactions with reef ecosystems.
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| 13. |
- Lokrantz, Jerker, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing potential vulnerability of coral reefs through functional groups of herbivores
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Fishing can have major influences on ecological processes on coral reefs. Overfishing of herbivores is particularly detrimental, generating ecosystem-wide impacts where algae overgrow corals and become the dominant benthic organism. This can result in altered ecosystem functioning and subsequently, loss of important ecosystem services. Knowing when important processes, such as herbivory, are becoming fragile is important because it can provide an opportunity for managers to avoid such undesirable ecosystem changes. This study investigates the impact of artisanal fishing on three important functional groups of herbivores (grazers, scrapers and bioeroders) on five coral-dominated reefs outside Zanzibar, Tanzania. Fishing pressure was assessed through interviews with households and fishermen and compared with ecological data for each of the three focal functional groups. The ecological status of the groups were assessed through analysis of species richness, -abundance, -biomass and demographic structure; variables relating to functional performance and in a wider sense ecosystem resilience. The results showed a negative correlation between fishing pressure and fish biomass, -abundance, and diversity. Moreover, fishing had a negative influence on the demographic structure of functional groups, particularly for bioeroders, manifesting as a skewness towards smaller individuals within species populations. Fishing pressure also correlated positively with sea urchin abundances suggesting a compensatory response within the guild of herbivores, which could explain the low abundances of macro algae on all of the investigated reefs. This study shows that artisanal fishing can have significant impacts on herbivores which may erode the resilience on coral reefs. Moreover, it illustrates how functional groups may help to expose potential vulnerability of coral reefs by mechanistically linking the diversity and identity of species to ecosystem processes.
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| 14. |
- Lokrantz, Jerker, et al.
(författare)
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Impacts of artisanal fishing on key functional groups and the potential vulnerability of coral reefs
- 2010
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - Online. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 36:4, s. 327-337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fishing can have major impacts on the structure of coral reef ecosystems. Overfishing of herbivores is particularly detrimental, as it makes the coral system more likely to undergo shifts to macroalgal dominance in the event of coral mass mortality. Knowing when important processes, such as herbivory, are becoming brittle is important because it can provide an opportunity for managers to avoid undesirable ecosystem-level changes. This study investigates the impact of artisanal fishing on three important functional groups of herbivores (grazers, scrapers and excavators) on five coral-dominated reefs outside Zanzibar (Tanzania). There was a negative correlation between fishing pressure and fish biomass, abundance, diversity and species richness. Moreover, fishing had a negative influence on the demographic structure of functional groups, particularly excavators, manifesting itself as a skewness towards smaller individuals within populations. Artisanal fishing can have significant impacts on key functional groups of herbivorous reef fishes which may increase the vulnerability of coral reefs to undesirable ecosystem shifts.
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