Skip to content

Recognising ecological and institutional landscapes in adaptive governance of natural resources

Shkaruba, Anton, Viktar Kireyeu. 2012. Recognising ecological and institutional landscapes in adaptive governance of natural resources. Forest Policy and Economics, . in press

Abstract

 

Spatially explicit information has become a de-facto standard for the analysis of natural systems. However, social science is much slower to pick up this approach, and with a few exceptions, governance structures are analysed out of the spatial contexts, despite spatial fit issues being recognised as central to the study of environmental institutions. Another problem arising from the limited use/low awareness of spatial analysis tools is that studies of social–ecological systems are rarely done consistently for a large area; instead they tend to rely on case studies that are often chosen for their idiosyncrasies. As a result, our knowledge of social–ecological systems is somewhat distorted. This study provides an account of quantitative and qualitative spatially-explicit analyses of a resource governance system, and in doing so offers a methodology for integrating biophysical and institutional dimensions of a social–ecological system in the evaluation of its adaptability. The focus is on forest systems, the scale is a nation (Belarus) and the unit of analysis is a square kilometre forest patch.

Keywords

Socio-ecological systems; Vulnerability mapping; Adaptive governance; Earth System Governance; Forest ecosystems; Belarus

 

You might like these publication categories

Recent publications

The Politics and Governance of Decarbonization: The Interplay between State and Non-State Actors in Sweden

This book examines how, and under what conditions, states – in collaboration with non-state actors – can govern a societal…

Sustaining Development in Small Islands: Climate Change, Geopolitical Security, and the Permissive Liberal Order

The viability of small island developing states (SIDS) is threatened by three distinct processes – a backlash against globalisation; rising…

Institutionalising Multispecies Justice

Multispecies Justice (MSJ) is a theory and practice seeking to correct the defects making dominant theories of justice incapable of…