scholarly journals Thinking outside the box: embracing social complexity in aquaculture carrying capacity estimations

Author(s):  
Lotta Clara Kluger ◽  
Ramón Filgueira

Abstract With ever-expanding marine aquaculture, calls for sustainable development become louder. The concept of aquaculture carrying capacity (CC) emerged 30 years ago to frame development, though so far, most studies have focused on the production and ecological components, leaving aside the social perspective. Often, estimations are carried out a posteriori, once aquaculture is already in place, hence ignoring relevant voices potentially opposing the onset of aquaculture implementation. We argue that CC should be multidimensional, iterative, inclusive, and just. Hence, the evaluative scope of CC needs to be broadened by moving from industry-driven, Western-based approaches towards an inclusive vision taking into consideration historical, cultural, and socio-economic concerns of all stakeholders of a given area. To this end, we suggest guidelines to frame a safe operating space for aquaculture based on a multi-criteria, multi-stakeholder approach, while embracing the social-ecological dynamics of aquaculture settings by applying an adaptive approach and acknowledging the critical role of place-based constraints. Rather than producing a box-checking exercise, CC approaches should proactively engage with aquaculture-produced outcomes at multiple scales, embracing complexity, and uncertainty. Scoping CC with the voices of all relevant societal groups, ideally before aquaculture implementation, provides the unique opportunity to jointly develop truly sustainable aquaculture.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Max Koch

Growth-dependent welfare states contribute to climate emergency. The ecological economics, degrowth, and sustainable welfare literatures demonstrate that to re-embed Western production and consumption patterns in environmental limits, an encompassing social-ecological transformation would need to be initiated very soon. This article focuses on the potential roles of the welfare state and social policy in this transformation, applying the concepts of ‘sustainable welfare’ and ‘safe-operating space’. Based on two Swedish studies, it also provides an empirical analysis of the popularity of selected eco-social policies designed to steer the economy and society towards this space: maximum and basic incomes, taxes on wealth and meat, as well as working time reductions. In analogy to the historical role of the state in reconstituting the welfare-work nexus in the post-WWII era and its present engagement in the context of the Covid-19 crisis, it is argued that a more interventionist state is required to grapple with climate emergency.


2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (11) ◽  
pp. 1902-1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Guan ◽  
John F. Dower ◽  
Pierre Pepin

Spatial structures of larval fish in the Strait of Georgia (British Columbia, Canada) were quantified in the springs of 2009 and 2010 to investigate linkages to environmental heterogeneity at multiple scales. By applying a multiscale approach, principal coordinate neighborhood matrices, spatial variability was decomposed into three predefined scale categories: broad scale (>40 km), medium scale (20∼40 km), and fine scale (<20 km). Spatial variations in larval density of the three dominant fish taxa with different early life histories (Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), and northern smoothtongue (Leuroglossus schmidti)) were mainly structured at broad and medium scales, with scale-dependent associations with environmental descriptors varying interannually and among species. Larval distributions in the central-southern Strait were mainly associated with salinity, temperature, and vertical stability of the top 50 m of the water column on the medium scale. Our results emphasize the critical role of local estuarine circulation, especially at medium spatial scale, in structuring hierarchical spatial distributions of fish larvae in the Strait of Georgia and suggest the role of fundamental differences in life-history traits in influencing the formation and maintenance of larval spatial structures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Isoda

As a frontal node in the primate social brain, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays a critical role in coordinating one's own behavior with respect to that of others. Current literature demonstrates that single neurons in the MPFC encode behavior-related variables such as intentions, actions, and rewards, specifically for self and other, and that the MPFC comes into play when reflecting upon oneself and others. The social moderator account of MPFC function can explain maladaptive social cognition in people with autism spectrum disorder, which tips the balance in favor of self-centered perspectives rather than taking into consideration the perspective of others. Several strands of evidence suggest a hypothesis that the MPFC represents different other mental models, depending on the context at hand, to better predict others’ emotions and behaviors. This hypothesis also accounts for aberrant MPFC activity in autistic individuals while they are mentalizing others. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Neuroscience, Volume 44 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angioletta Voghera ◽  
Benedetta Giudice

In the light of the current changing global scenarios, green infrastructure is obtaining increasing relevance in planning policies, especially due to its ecological, environmental and social components which contribute to pursuing sustainable and resilient planning and designing of cities and territories. The issue of green infrastructure is framed within the conceptual contexts of sustainability and resilience, which are described through the analysis of their common aspects and differences with a particular focus on planning elements. In particular, the paper uses two distinct case studies of green infrastructure as representative: the green infrastructure of the Region Languedoc-Roussillon in France and the one of the Province of Turin in Italy. The analysis of two case studies focuses on the evaluation process carried on about the social-ecological system and describes the methodologies and the social-ecological indicators used to define the green infrastructure network. We related these indicators to their possible contribution to the measurement of sustainability and resilience. The analysis of this relationship led us to outline some conclusive considerations on the complex role of the design of green infrastructure with reference to sustainability and resilience.


SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402091951
Author(s):  
Jimoh Amzat

The rate of early marriage is 87% in northwest Nigeria, although it is 56% in Kaduna. One major issue is that early marriage is often rationalized as a religious norm. This study explores the role of faith leaders in advancing the cause of adolescent girls regarding the timing of marriage in Kaduna state. This qualitative study took place in three local government areas: Chikun (Mixed Christians and Muslims), Makarfi (majority Muslims), and Zangon-Kataf (majority Christians) were purposively selected to have a variety of mixed religious contexts. Using purposive sampling methods, the researcher conducted 24 focus group discussions with adolescent girls, 24 in-depth interviews with faith leaders, and 12 key informant interviews with other stakeholders. The study used a framework method for analyzing qualitative data. The study found that faith leaders play essential roles in rationalizing or discouraging early marriage through preaching and other activities. The study identifies three categories of faith leaders concerning early marriage. Some are proactive, discoursing about it. The second category is the passive faith leaders, somehow indifferent but has never preached against or in favor of early marriage. The last set consists of faith leaders promoting early marriage—who think early marriage is still beneficial. The study recommends that considering the social position of faith leaders and critical role in sanctioning marital unions, they could be considered as a vital link in efforts to curtail early marriage.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002246692092613
Author(s):  
Mati Zakai-Mashiach ◽  
Esther Dromi ◽  
Michal Al-Yagon

This study examined the natural social interest of 193 (95 boys, 98 girls) typically developing preschoolers aged 41 to 77 months ( M = 61.71 years, SD = 8.48 years) toward their included peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; N = 16, M = 66.8, SD = 8.80). A hierarchical linear model examined the role of endogenous (within-child) and exogenous (environmental) variables in explaining typically developing children’s natural social behaviors. Results indicated the significant contribution of three variables: (a) typically developing children’s prosocial behaviors, (b) teachers’ attitudes about their training regarding inclusion, and (c) areas of inclusion support needed by the specific child with ASD. Discussion highlighted possible interactions among these variables within the social–ecological theoretical framework, for explaining peer relations of typically developing children with peers with ASD in regular preschools.


2011 ◽  
pp. 3153-3158
Author(s):  
Angela Lacerda Nobre

It is critical to distinguish between mainstream traditional management theory and the myriad of complementary approaches that have contributed to the development of alternative approaches to organisational and management theory. The dominant stream of management theory is still largely influenced by the command and control paradigm developed over a century ago by early theorists such as Weber, Taylor, and Fayol. Though the control paradigm today is closely connected to a technocratic and functionalistic perspective of management science, there is a growing awareness of the dangers of assuming a reductive and limited view of organisational complexity. In other words, it is important to recognise the role of bureaucratic, functional, and procedural-like aspects of organisational life, though it is critical to complement these perspectives with richer and more human-centred interpretations of organisational reality. This critical role is performed by, among others, communities of practice theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999; Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002; Brown & Duguid, 1991). In order to better understand the developments in terms of management thinking, it is relevant to revise the sequence of the different schools of thought that influenced the social sciences throughout the 20th century.


Author(s):  
Angela Lacerda Nobre

It is critical to distinguish between mainstream traditional management theory and the myriad of complementary approaches that have contributed to the development of alternative approaches to organisational and management theory. The dominant stream of management theory is still largely influenced by the command and control paradigm developed over a century ago by early theorists such as Weber, Taylor, and Fayol. Though the control paradigm today is closely connected to a technocratic and functionalistic perspective of management science, there is a growing awareness of the dangers of assuming a reductive and limited view of organisational complexity. In other words, it is important to recognise the role of bureaucratic, functional, and procedural-like aspects of organisational life, though it is critical to complement these perspectives with richer and more human-centred interpretations of organisational reality. This critical role is performed by, among others, communities of practice theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999; Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002; Brown & Duguid, 1991). In order to better understand the developments in terms of management thinking, it is relevant to revise the sequence of the different schools of thought that influenced the social sciences throughout the 20th century.


Author(s):  
Sarah Harris

This chapter documents the critical role of service providers in the development of today's digital media systems. It illustrates how an ethnographic approach to media infrastructures helps to connect hard infrastructural forms, such as wires, transmissions towers, and buildings, with soft infrastructural forms, including institutions, protocols, and social practices. It then focuses on circumvention practices in Turkey. The work of Turkey's cybercafé operators forms a key component of Internet infrastructure, critically shaping the social topography of media in the country. The cafés and their operators coordinate disparate technologies and communities and are sites where different protocols are negotiated. At the same time, in these locations, state infrastructural control, surveillance, and censorship can be undermined.


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