scholarly journals Ecosystem services and ecological degradation of communal wetlands in a South African biodiversity hotspot

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 181770 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Owethu Pantshwa ◽  
Falko T. Buschke
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Personal Benefit ◽  
Administrative Area ◽  
Gender Based

Wetlands provide important ecosystem services to rural communities. However, wetlands are often on communal land, so they may become degraded when individual users act to maximize their personal benefit from ecosystem services without bearing the full environmental costs of their actions. Although it is possible to manage communal resources sustainably, this depends on the dynamics of the socio-ecological system. In this study, we used a structured questionnaire to examine whether demographic characteristics of a rural community and the propensity for partaking in damage-causing activities affected the benefits obtained from the wetlands. Responses from 50 households in the rural Hlabathi administrative area within the Maputo-Albany-Pondoland Biodiversity Hotspot, South Africa, indicated that the entire community obtains some benefits from wetlands; most notably regulating ecosystem services. However, males were more likely to benefit from wetlands, which highlights a potential power imbalance. Respondents were more likely to blame others for wetland degradation, although there was no link between the damage-causing activities and benefits from wetlands. The high dependence on ecosystem services by community members, when combined with gender-based power imbalances and the propensity to blame others, could jeopardize the sustainable use of communal wetlands. Therefore, we describe how strong leadership could nurture a sustainable social–ecological system by integrating ecological information and social empowerment into a multi-level governance system.

scholarly journals Adaptive governance, ecosystem management, and natural capital

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (24) ◽  
pp. 7369-7374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisen Schultz ◽  
Carl Folke ◽  
Henrik Österblom ◽  
Per Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Adaptive Governance ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
Global Impacts

To gain insights into the effects of adaptive governance on natural capital, we compare three well-studied initiatives; a landscape in Southern Sweden, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and fisheries in the Southern Ocean. We assess changes in natural capital and ecosystem services related to these social–ecological governance approaches to ecosystem management and investigate their capacity to respond to change and new challenges. The adaptive governance initiatives are compared with other efforts aimed at conservation and sustainable use of natural capital: Natura 2000 in Europe, lobster fisheries in the Gulf of Maine, North America, and fisheries in Europe. In contrast to these efforts, we found that the adaptive governance cases developed capacity to perform ecosystem management, manage multiple ecosystem services, and monitor, communicate, and respond to ecosystem-wide changes at landscape and seascape levels with visible effects on natural capital. They enabled actors to collaborate across diverse interests, sectors, and institutional arrangements and detect opportunities and problems as they developed while nurturing adaptive capacity to deal with them. They all spanned local to international levels of decision making, thus representing multilevel governance systems for managing natural capital. As with any governance system, internal changes and external drivers of global impacts and demands will continue to challenge the long-term success of such initiatives.

scholarly journals Social-Ecological System constraints of Protected Areas. A case study of Mexican protected forests

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-244
Author(s):  
Hakizimana Eugene ◽  
Arturo Lara Rivero ◽  
Ignacio Llamas Huitron
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Protected Forests

Protected Areas are worldwide accepted as conservation policy instrument. However, effectiveness of this instrument for sustainability management of protected resources is still problematic. It is in this context this paper investigates Social-Ecological System constraints which lead to unsuccessful situations in protected forests in Mexico. To achieve this objective, a methodology of E. Ostrom SES framework to carry out meta-analysis of case studies of Mexican forests is used. The results show that constraints are imbedded into attributes of governance of these resources by local communities through a set of variables whose patterns of interactions lead to successful or unsuccessful situations. These variables are variables characterizing governance system and variables characterizing actors’ system. The interactions of these variables lead to successful situations in case studies in which local community members highly participate in governance system.

scholarly journals Matsulu: A community in developmental fermentation and fusion

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Visser ◽  
Rian Terblanche
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Mission Statement ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Personal Agency ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Theatre For Development ◽  
University Of Pretoria

Since 2004, the Drama Department (University of Pretoria) has engaged in the development and execution of Theatre-for-Development projects in accordance with the mission statement of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), as well as the White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management for South Africa (1998) – shifting governmental approach to this sensitive socio-economical issue from cure to prevention – to interrogate issues concerning the environment, sustainable use of resources and subsequently: conservation, within developing urban and rural communities. Theatrefor-Development (TFD) utilizes theatre to disseminate developmental messages.This paper should be seen as not so much as a report of an end result, but as research in progress. Continued projects addressing the issues of conservation, the environment, development and sustainability will in future lead to more definite reporting on results. The paper investigates the ability of TFD to affect changes of behaviour and encourage personal agency and empowerment in community members concerning waste management and the sustainable use of resources within a developing rural society.It will not claim to be definitive; results and conclusions can not be generalized.

scholarly journals Soil Diversity (Pedodiversity) and Ecosystem Services

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena A. Mikhailova ◽  
Hamdi A. Zurqani ◽  
Christopher J. Post ◽  
Mark A. Schlautman ◽  
Gregory C. Post
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Soil Survey ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Soil Taxonomy ◽  
Extrinsic Factors ◽  
Business Decision ◽  
Soil Diversity

Soil ecosystem services (ES) (e.g., provisioning, regulation/maintenance, and cultural) and ecosystem disservices (ED) are dependent on soil diversity/pedodiversity (variability of soils), which needs to be accounted for in the economic analysis and business decision-making. The concept of pedodiversity (biotic + abiotic) is highly complex and can be broadly interpreted because it is formed from the interaction of atmospheric diversity (abiotic + biotic), biodiversity (biotic), hydrodiversity (abiotic + biotic), and lithodiversity (abiotic) within ecosphere and anthroposphere. Pedodiversity is influenced by intrinsic (within the soil) and extrinsic (outside soil) factors, which are also relevant to ES/ED. Pedodiversity concepts and measures may need to be adapted to the ES framework and business applications. Currently, there are four main approaches to analyze pedodiversity: taxonomic (diversity of soil classes), genetic (diversity of genetic horizons), parametric (diversity of soil properties), and functional (soil behavior under different uses). The objective of this article is to illustrate the application of pedodiversity concepts and measures to value ES/ED with examples based on the contiguous United States (U.S.), its administrative units, and the systems of soil classification (e.g., U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Taxonomy, Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database). This study is based on a combination of original research and literature review examples. Taxonomic pedodiversity in the contiguous U.S. exhibits high soil diversity, with 11 soil orders, 65 suborders, 317 great groups, 2026 subgroups, and 19,602 series. The ranking of “soil order abundance” (area of each soil order within the U.S.) expressed as the proportion of the total area is: (1) Mollisols (27%), (2) Alfisols (17%), (3) Entisols (14%), (4) Inceptisols and Aridisols (11% each), (5) Spodosols (3%), (6) Vertisols (2%), and (7) Histosols and Andisols (1% each). Taxonomic, genetic, parametric, and functional pedodiversity are an essential context for analyzing, interpreting, and reporting ES/ED within the ES framework. Although each approach can be used separately, three of these approaches (genetic, parametric, and functional) fall within the “umbrella” of taxonomic pedodiversity, which separates soils based on properties important to potential use. Extrinsic factors play a major role in pedodiversity and should be accounted for in ES/ED valuation based on various databases (e.g., National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) databases). Pedodiversity is crucial in identifying soil capacity (pedocapacity) and “hotspots” of ES/ED as part of business decision making to provide more sustainable use of soil resources. Pedodiversity is not a static construct but is highly dynamic, and various human activities (e.g., agriculture, urbanization) can lead to soil degradation and even soil extinction.

scholarly journals Developing a Framework for Mobile Learning Adoption and Sustainable Development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Moya ◽  
Mar Camacho
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Mobile Learning ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
First Century ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Business Policy ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Strategic Management Framework ◽  
Future Education

AbstractLearning innovation for future education often includes digital approaches to enhance learning and to contribute to the development of twenty-first-century skills. There is evidence that mobile learning provides positive outcomes. However, there is a recognized lack of research in the field of frameworks and models that contributes to highlighting mobile learning rewards. This study aims to investigate the main characteristics of a strategic framework for the adaption and sustainable use of mobile learning. This study is based on a systematic review of 15 investigations published between 2009 and 2018. An adaptation of the strategic management framework by Jauch and Glueck (Business policy and strategic management, McGraw-Hill, London, 1988) was developed to show the results. The framework has a pedagogical foundation. Leaders, teachers, learners, families, and community members are identified as the key pillars upholding and maximizing mobile learning. The proposed framework is envisaged to serve as a guide for the educational community in implementing sustainable mobile learning.

Assessing policies to mitigate abandonment of shade-grown coffee production in forest systems amid low and uncertain prices

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Heidi J. Albers ◽  
Stephanie Brockmann ◽  
Beatriz Ávalos-Sartorio
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Coffee Production ◽  
Certification Programs ◽  
Coffee Farmers ◽  
Effective Policy

Abstract Low and highly variable prices plague the coffee market, generating concerns that coffee farmers producing in shade systems under natural forests, as in biodiversity hotspot Oaxaca, Mexico, will abandon production and contribute to deforestation and reduced ecosystem services. Using stakeholder information, we build a setting-informed model to analyze farmers' decisions to abandon shade-grown coffee production and their reactions to policy to reduce abandonment. Exploring price premiums for bird-friendly certified coffee, payments for ecosystem services, and price floors as policies, we find that once a farmer is on the path toward abandonment, it is difficult to reverse. However, implementing policies early that are low cost to farmers – price floors and no-cost certification programs – can stem abandonment. Considering the abandonment that policy avoids per dollar spent, price floors are the most cost-effective policy, yet governments prefer certification programs that push costs onto international coffee consumers who pay the price premium.

scholarly journals Working with community researchers to enhance rural community engagement around Private Water Supplies: an exploration of the benefits and challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 146879412097888
Author(s):  
Rachel Creaney ◽  
Mags Currie ◽  
Paul Teedon ◽  
Karin Helwig
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Employment Opportunities

This project employed community researchers as a means of improving community engagement around their Private Water Supplies (PWS) in rural Scotland. In this paper, we reflect on working with community researchers in terms of the benefits and challenges of the approach for future rural research that seeks to improve community engagement. The paper (1) critiques the involvement of community researchers for rural community engagement, drawing on the experiences in this project and (2) provides suggestions for good practice for working with community researchers in rural communities’ research. We offer some context in terms of the role of community members in research, the importance of PWS, our approach to community researchers, followed by the methodological approach and findings and our conclusions to highlight that community researchers can be beneficial for enhancing community engagement, employability, and social capital. Future community researcher approaches need to be fully funded to ensure core researchers can fulfil their duty of care, which should not stop when data collection is finished. Community researchers need to be supported in two main ways: as continuing faces of the project after the official project end date and to transfer their newly acquired skills to future employment opportunities.

scholarly journals Challenges and Opportunities of Aligning Forest Function Mapping and the Ecosystem Service Concept in Germany

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 691 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Tiemann ◽  
Irene Ring
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Mapping Method ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Governance System ◽  
German States ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Forest Function ◽  
Function Mapping

In the context of considering natural capital in decision-making, the ecosystem services concept is steadily increasing in importance. This also holds for the forest sector in Germany. This development calls for a harmonisation of approaches and terms used in the forest sector, as well as being made compatible with the ecosystem services concept and relevant classifications. In Germany, and a number of Central European countries, a common way to assess the multifunctional benefits of forests is the forest function mapping method. Due to the federal multi-level governance system in Germany, each state has its own classification of forest functions and mapping. A first objective of this paper is to align the various forest function categories across German states as a basis to relate them to the ecosystem services concept. Second, this bottom-up approach is combined with a top-down approach, building on the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). The aim is to develop a harmonised, methodological framework, suitable for accounting forest-related ecosystem services, as a step towards future ecosystem services monitoring and reporting commitments in the forest sector. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of the ecosystem services concept for forest management are discussed and ways forward are elaborated.

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