1. |
- Cumming, Graeme S., et al.
(author)
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Research priorities for the sustainability of coral-rich western Pacific seascapes
- 2023
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In: Regional Environmental Change. - 1436-3798 .- 1436-378X. ; 23:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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2. |
- Cumming, Graeme S., et al.
(author)
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Resilience, experimentation, and scale mismatches in social-ecological landscapes
- 2013
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In: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 28:6, s. 1139-1150
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Growing a resilient landscape depends heavily on finding an appropriate match between the scales of demands on ecosystems by human societies and the scales at which ecosystems are capable of meeting these demands. While the dynamics of environmental change and ecosystem service provision form the basis of many landscape ecology studies, enhancing landscape resilience is, in many ways, a problem of establishing relevant institutions that act at appropriate scales to modify and moderate demand for ecosystem services and the resulting exploitation of ecosystems. It is also of central importance for landscape sustainability that institutions are flexible enough to adapt to changes in the external environment. The model provided by natural ecosystems suggests that it is only by encouraging and testing a diversity of approaches that we will be able to build landscapes that are resilient to future change. We advocate an approach to landscape planning that involves growing learning institutions on the one hand, and on the other, developing solutions to current problems through deliberate experimentation coupled with social learning processes.
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3. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(author)
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Social-ecological change : insights from the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 447-468
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Social-ecological systems (SES) research has emerged as an important area of sustainability science, informing and supporting pressing issues of transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. To date, much SES research has been done in or from the Global North, where the challenges and contexts for supporting sustainability transformations are substantially different from the Global South. This paper synthesises emerging insights on SES dynamics that can inform actions and advance research to support sustainability transformations specifically in the southern African context. The paper draws on work linked to members of the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), a leading SES research network in the region, synthesizing key insights with respect to the five core themes of SAPECS: (i) transdisciplinary and engaged research, (ii) ecosystem services and human well-being, (iii) governance institutions and management practices, (iv) spatial relationships and cross-scale connections, and (v) regime shifts, traps and transformations. For each theme, we focus on insights that are particularly novel, interesting or important in the southern African context, and reflect on key research gaps and emerging frontiers for SES research in the region going forward. Such place-based insights are important for understanding the variation in SES dynamics around the world, and are crucial for informing a context-sensitive global agenda to foster sustainability transformations at local to global scales.
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4. |
- Clements, Hayley S., et al.
(author)
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Cross-scale and social-ecological changes constitute main threats to private land conservation in South Africa
- 2020
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In: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 274
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Conserving biodiversity in the long term will depend in part on the capacity of Protected Areas (PAs) to cope with cross-scale, social-ecological disturbances and changes, which are becoming more frequent in a highly connected world. Direct threats to biodiversity within PAs and their interactions with broader-scale threats are both likely to vary with PA spatial and management characteristics (e.g., location, dependence on ecotourism revenues, governmental support). Private Land Conservation Areas (PLCAs) are interesting case study systems for assessing cross-scale threats to PAs and their determinants. Despite the growing number of PLCAs around the world, there is considerable uncertainty regarding the long-term capacity of these privately owned areas to conserve biodiversity. Their potential impermanence is commonly raised as a key concern. To better understand the threats to which different types of PLCAs are likely to be vulnerable, we asked 112 PLCA landholders in South Africa what they perceived as the top threats to their PLCAs. Landowners identified direct threats to the biodiversity within their PLCAs (e.g., poaching, extreme weather, inappropriate fire regimes, alien species) as well as describing broader socio-economic threats (e.g., regional crime, national legislation and politics, global economic recessions), which were noted to interact across scales. We found support for the hypothesis that patterns in the perceived multi-scale threats to a PLCA correspond with its management and spatial characteristics, including its remoteness, dependence on ecotourism or hunting revenues, and richness of megafaunal species. Understanding the threats to which different PLCAs may be vulnerable is useful for developing more nuanced, targeted strategies to build PLCA resilience to these threats (for example, by strengthening the capacity of self-funded PLCAs to cope with the threat of economic downturns through more innovative financial instruments or diversified revenue streams). Our findings highlight the importance of considering interactions between broad-scale socio-economic changes and direct threats to biodiversity, which can influence the resilience of PAs in ways that are not anticipated by more traditional, discipline-specific consideration of direct threats to the biodiversity within their boundaries.
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5. |
- Mastrángelo, Matías E., et al.
(author)
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Key knowledge gaps to achieve global sustainability goals
- 2019
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In: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 2:12, s. 1115-1121
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Regional and global assessments periodically update what we know, and highlight what remains to be known, about the linkages between people and nature that both define and depend upon the state of the environment. To guide research that better informs policy and practice, we systematically synthesize knowledge gaps from recent assessments of four regions of the globe and three key themes by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. We assess their relevance to global sustainability goals and trace their evolution relative to those identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. We found that global sustainability goals cannot be achieved without improved knowledge on feedbacks between social and ecological systems, effectiveness of governance systems and the influence of institutions on the social distribution of ecosystem services. These top research priorities have persisted for the 14 years since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Our analysis also reveals limited understanding of the role of indigenous and local knowledge in sustaining nature’s benefits to people. Our findings contribute to a policy-relevant and solution-oriented agenda for global, long-term social-ecological research.
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6. |
- Allen, Craig R., et al.
(author)
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Quantifying spatial resilience
- 2016
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In: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 53:3, s. 625-635
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 1. Anthropogenic stressors affect the ecosystems upon which humanity relies. In some cases when resilience is exceeded, relatively small linear changes in stressors can cause relatively abrupt and nonlinear changes in ecosystems. 2. Ecological regime shifts occur when resilience is exceeded and ecosystems enter a new local equilibrium that differs in its structure and function from the previous state. Ecological resilience, the amount of disturbance that a system can withstand before it shifts into an alternative stability domain, is an important framework for understanding and managing ecological systems subject to collapse and reorganization. 3. Recently, interest in the influence of spatial characteristics of landscapes on resilience has increased. Understanding how spatial structure and variation in relevant variables in landscapes affects resilience to disturbance will assist with resilience quantification, and with local and regional management. 4. Synthesis and applications. We review the history and current status of spatial resilience in the research literature, expand upon existing literature to develop a more operational definition of spatial resilience, introduce additional elements of a spatial analytical approach to understanding resilience, present a framework for resilience operationalization and provide an overview of critical knowledge and technology gaps that should be addressed for the advancement of spatial resilience theory and its applications to management and conservation.
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7. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(author)
-
The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society : an emergent community of practice
- 2023
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 19:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sustainability-focused research networks and communities of practice have emerged as a key response and strategy to build capacity and knowledge to support transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. This paper synthesises insights from the development of a community of practice on social-ecological systems (SES) research in southern Africa over the past decade, linked to the international Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS). This community consists of a network of researchers who carry out place-based SES research in the southern African region. They interact through various cross-cutting working groups and also host a variety of public colloquia and student and practitioner training events. Known as the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), its core objectives are to: (1) derive new approaches and empirical insights on SES dynamics in the southern African context; (2) have a tangible impact by mainstreaming knowledge into policy and practice; and (3) grow the community of practice engaged in SES research and governance, including researchers, students and practitioners. This paper reflects on experiences in building the SAPECS community, with the aim of supporting the development of similar networks elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Global South.
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8. |
- Cumming, Graeme S., et al.
(author)
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Network analysis in conservation biogeography : Challenges and opportunities
- 2010
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In: Diversity & distributions. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 1366-9516 .- 1472-4642. ; 16:3, s. 414-425
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ABSTRACTAims To highlight the potential value of network analysis for conservation biogeography and to focus attention on some of the challenges that lie ahead in applying it to conservation problems.Location Global.Methods We briefly review existing literature and then focus on five important challenges for the further development of network-based approaches in the field.Results Our five challenges include (i) understanding cross-scale and cross-level linkages in ecological systems (top–down and bottom–up effects, such as trophic cascades, have been demonstrated in food webs but are poorly understood in nested hierarchies such as reserve networks and stream catchments), (ii) capturing dynamic aspects of ecological systems and networks (with a few exceptions we have little grasp of how important whole-network attributes change as the composition of nodes and links changes), (iii) integrating ecological aspects of network theory with metacommunity frameworks and multiple node functions and roles (can we link the spatial patterns of habitat patches in fragmented landscapes, the parallel networks of interacting species using those patches and community-level interactions as defined by metacommunity theory in a single framework?), (iv) integrating the analysis of social and ecological networks (particularly, can they be analysed as a single interacting system?) and (v) laying an empirical foundation for network analysis in conservation biogeography (this will require a larger data bank of well-studied networks from diverse habitats and systems).Main conclusions Recent research has identified a variety of approaches that we expect to contribute to progress in each of our five challenge areas. We anticipate that some of the most exciting outcomes of attempts to meet these challenges will be frameworks that unite areas of research, such as food web analysis and metacommunity theory, that have developed independently.
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9. |
- Cumming, Graeme S., et al.
(author)
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Unifying Research on Social-Ecological Resilience and Collapse
- 2017
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In: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 32:9, s. 695-713
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ecosystems influence human societies, leading people to manage ecosystems for human benefit. Poor environmental management can lead to reduced ecological resilience and social-ecological collapse. We review research on resilience and collapse across different systems and propose a unifying social-ecological framework based on (i) a clear definition of system identity; (ii) the use of quantitative thresholds to define collapse; (iii) relating collapse processes to system structure; and (iv) explicit comparison of alternative hypotheses and models of collapse. Analysis of 17 representative cases identified 14 mechanisms, in five classes, that explain social-ecological collapse. System structure influences the kind of collapse a system may experience. Mechanistic theories of collapse that unite structure and process can make fundamental contributions to solving global environmental problems.
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10. |
- Morrison, Tiffany H., et al.
(author)
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Building blocks of polycentric governance
- 2023
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In: Policy Studies Journal. - : Wiley. - 0190-292X .- 1541-0072. ; 51:3, s. 475-499
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Success or failure of a polycentric system is a function of complex political and social processes, such as coordination between actors and venues to solve specialized policy problems. Yet there is currently no accepted method for isolating distinct processes of coordination, nor to understand how their variance affects polycentric governance performance. We develop and test a building-blocks approach that uses different patterns or “motifs” for measuring and comparing coordination longitudinally on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Our approach confirms that polycentric governance comprises an evolving substrate of interdependent venues and actors over time. However, while issue specialization and actor participation can be improved through the mobilization of venues, such a strategy can also fragment overall polycentric capacity to resolve conflict and adapt to new problems. A building-blocks approach advances understanding and practice of polycentric governance by enabling sharper diagnosis of internal dynamics in complex environmental governance systems.
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11. |
- Norström, Albert V., 1979-, et al.
(author)
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The programme on ecosystem change and society (PECS) - a decade of deepening social-ecological research through a place-based focus
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 598-608
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES research has also deepened over the past decade, and helped to shed light on key dimensions of SES dynamics (e.g. system feedbacks, aspects of system design, goals and paradigms) that can lead to tangible action for solving the major sustainability challenges of our time. We suggest four ways in which the growth of place-based SES research, fostered by networks such as PECS, has contributed to these developments, namely by: 1) shedding light on transformational change, 2) revealing the social dynamics shaping SES, 3) bringing together diverse types of knowledge, and 4) encouraging reflexive researchers.
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12. |
- Reyers, Belinda, et al.
(author)
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Getting the measure of ecosystem services : a social-ecological approach
- 2013
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In: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 1540-9295 .- 1540-9309. ; 11:5, s. 268-273
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite growing interest and investment in ecosystem services across global science and policy arenas, it remains unclear how ecosystem services - and particularly changes in those services - should be measured. The social and ecological factors, and their interactions, that create and alter ecosystem services are inherently complex. Measuring and managing ecosystem services requires a sophisticated systems-based approach that accounts for how these services are generated by interconnected social-ecological systems (SES), how different services interact with each other, and how changes in the total bundle of services influence human well-being (HWB). Furthermore, there is a need to understand how changes in HWB feedback and affect the generation of ecosystem services. Here, we outline an SES-based approach for measuring ecosystem services and explore its value for setting policy targets, developing indicators, and establishing monitoring and assessment programs.
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13. |
- Rieb, Jesse T., et al.
(author)
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When, Where, and How Nature Matters for Ecosystem Services : Challenges for the Next Generation of Ecosystem Service Models
- 2017
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In: BioScience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0006-3568 .- 1525-3244. ; 67:9, s. 820-833
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many decision-makers are looking to science to clarify how nature supports human well-being. Scientists' responses have typically focused on empirical models of the provision of ecosystem services (ES) and resulting decision-support tools. Although such tools have captured some of the complexities of ES, they can be difficult to adapt to new situations. Globally useful tools that predict the provision of multiple ES under different decision scenarios have proven challenging to develop. Questions from decision-makers and limitations of existing decision-support tools indicate three crucial research frontiers for incorporating cutting-edge ES science into decision-support tools: (1) understanding the complex dynamics of ES in space and time, (2) linking ES provision to human well-being, and (3) determining the potential for technology to substitute for or enhance ES. We explore these frontiers in-depth, explaining why each is important and how existing knowledge at their cutting edges can be incorporated to improve ES decision-making tools.
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14. |
- Shurety, Amy L., et al.
(author)
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A comparative approach to quantify the heterarchical structures of complex systems
- 2022
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In: Ecology and Society. - 1708-3087. ; 27:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The dynamics and adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems are heavily contingent on system structure, which is established through geography, institutions, interactions, and movement. Contrasting views of system structure, as hierarchies and single-level networks respectively, have tended to emphasize the role of either top-down or lateral (peer-to-peer) connections. The concept of a heterarchy aims to capture both top-down and lateral connections on orthogonal axes and has been proposed as a way of unifying alternative approaches to measuring structure, but it has not been fully operationalized for quantifying and comparing system structures. We developed a simple approach to consistently quantifying heterarchical structure across different kinds of networks. We first calculated suitable metrics, including modularity and a hierarchy score, for a wide range of both simulated and real-world systems including food webs, biological, infrastructure, and social networks. Metrics were corrected for differences in size and magnitude. The results were then visualized as a heterarchy matrix. We compared the angle (degrees) and Euclidian distance of each simulated and real-world network from the center of the matrix between network groups. All networks showed distinct placement on the heterarchy matrix. Relative to one another, food webs were laterally polycentric, social networks were mainly pyramidal and coordinated polycentric, and biological networks were pyramidal and laterally polycentric. Our test of concept, although relatively basic, provides strong evidence that system structure cannot be fully understood as purely laterally connected or purely hierarchical. System resilience requires a trade-off between modularity, aiding redundancy and collaboration; and hierarchy, aiding efficient action. Our approach has the potential to provide a robust, accessible methodology to quantify system structure that allows for universal contextualization, a key step within fields such as resilience and sustainability science.
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15. |
- Spijkers, Jessica, 1991-
(author)
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Global patterns of international fisheries conflict
- 2020
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Are international conflicts over fishery resources a growing security concern? High-profile incidences of conflict, diminishing fishery resources and climate impacts on marine systems have made the international community increasingly wary of fisheries conflict. However, we lack knowledge on conflict incidences over time, as well as the contexts in which the conflicts occur, to assess if fisheries conflict is a growing security threat. To fill that gap, this thesis aims to provide a more detailed understanding of the temporal and regional patterns of international fisheries conflict – more specifically its frequency, nature, regional occurrence over time, and its drivers. Gaining insight into these patterns can aid the development of conflict management strategies and implementation of policies to ensure future ocean security.In Paper I, I present a review of the literature on fisheries conflict, aimed at assessing to what degree existing studies have incorporated ideas from complexity and social-ecological systems theory. Making use of an initial scan of 803 relevant papers, and the subsequent intensive review of 31 fisheries conflict studies, I identify areas within the literature that would benefit from further development. First, precise definitions of fisheries conflict are lacking. Second, there is a narrowness in the methods used to assess the drivers of fisheries conflict, as the literature is largely populated by single cases of conflict assessed in a qualitative manner. Third, nonlinear and dynamic feedbacks, multiple causes, effects and intervening variables are often not explicitly recognized. Fourth, there is room for a more widespread extension of higher order concepts and associated terminology to describe complex system interactions, such as ‘feedbacks’ or ‘adaptive capacity’.In Paper II, I present findings on the characteristics of international fisheries conflict over time drawing on a global and longitudinal database I developed that logs international fisheries conflict between 1974 and 2016. The analysis shows that the frequency of fisheries conflict increased over this time period, with substantial variation in both the type of conflict and the countries involved. Before 2000, fisheries conflict involved mostly North American and European countries fighting over specific species. Since then, conflict has primarily involved Asian countries clashing over multiple species linked to illegal fishing practices. I also consider potential response strategies for the different conflict types uncovered.In Paper III, I use a multi-model approach to test for the supply-induced scarcity hypothesis (diminishing supplies of resources increases conflict) and the demand-induced scarcity hypothesis (rising demand for resources increases conflict) on international fishery conflict data. Three alternative political and economic explanatory pathways are also tested. Overall, I find that no single indicator is able to fully explain international conflict over fishery resources. For the period 1975 to 1996, I find a relationship between conflict over fishery resources and higher levels of GDP per capita. For the period 1997 to 2016, findings support the demand-induced scarcity hypothesis, with analyses also indicating that an increase in supply of fishery resources is linked to an increase in conflict occurrence.Lastly, in Paper IV, I present four future fisheries conflict scenarios. The scenarios integrate longitudinal evidence on international fisheries conflict and expert data on fishery conflict trends and drivers. The scenarios take place in the years 2030 to 2060 in the North-East Atlantic (“Scramble for the Atlantic”), the East China Sea (“The Remodeled Empire”), the coast of West Africa (“Oceanic Decolonization”), and the Arctic (“Polar Renaissance”). The aim is to illuminate how different decisions made today can lead to dramatically diverging future paths, and to inspire policy makers to work with exploratory scenario processes to build anticipatory capacity to support future ocean security.
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16. |
- Spijkers, Jessica, et al.
(author)
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Identifying predictors of international fisheries conflict
- 2021
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In: Fish and Fisheries. - : Wiley. - 1467-2960 .- 1467-2979. ; 22:4, s. 834-850
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Marine capture fishery resources are declining, and demand for them is rising. These trends are suspected to incite conflict, but their effects have not been quantitatively examined. We applied a multi-model ensemble approach to a global database of international fishery conflicts between 1974 and 2016 to test the supply-induced scarcity hypothesis (diminishing supplies of fishery resources increase fisheries conflict), the demand-induced scarcity hypothesis (rising demand for fishery resources increases fisheries conflict), and three alternative political and economic hypotheses. While no single indicator was able to fully explain international conflict over fishery resources, we found a positive relationship between increased conflict over fishery resources and higher levels of per capita GDP for the period 1975-1996. For the period 1997-2016, we found evidence supporting the demand-induced scarcity hypothesis, and the notion that an increase in supply of fishery resources is linked to an increase in conflict occurrence. By identifying significant predictors of international fisheries conflict, our analysis provides useful information for policy approaches for conflict anticipation and management.
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17. |
- Spijkers, Jessica, et al.
(author)
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Marine fisheries and future ocean conflict
- 2018
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In: Fish and Fisheries. - : Wiley. - 1467-2960 .- 1467-2979. ; 19:5, s. 798-806
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Conflict over marine fishery resources is a growing security concern. Experts expect that global changes in our climate, food systems and oceans may spark or exacerbate resource conflicts. An initial scan of 803 relevant papers and subsequent intensive review of 31 fisheries conflict studies, focused on subnational and international conflicts, suggests that four substantial scientific gaps need addressing to improve our understanding of the nature and drivers of fisheries conflict. First, fisheries conflict and levels of conflict intensity are not precisely defined. Second, complex adaptive systems thinking is underutilized but has the potential to produce more realistic causal models of fishery conflict. Third, comparative large-scale data and suitably integrative methodologies are lacking, underscoring the need for a standardized and comparable database of fisheries conflict cases to aid extrapolation beyond single case-studies. Fourth, there is room for a more widespread application of higher order concepts and associated terminology. Importantly, the four gaps highlight the homogenized nature of current methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding fishery conflict, which potentially presents us with an oversimplified understanding of these conflicts. A more nuanced understanding of the complex and dynamic nature of fishery conflict and its causes is not only scientifically critical, but increasingly relevant for policymakers and practitioners in this turbulent world.
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