scholarly journals Necessary but challenging: Multiple disciplinary approaches to solving conservation problems

FACETS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Dick ◽  
Andrew M. Rous ◽  
Vivian M. Nguyen ◽  
Steven J. Cooke

Contemporary conservation problems are typically positioned at the interface of complex ecological and human systems. Traditional approaches aiming to compartmentalize a phenomenon within the confines of a single discipline and failing to engage non-science partners are outmoded and cannot identify solutions that have traction in the social, economic, and political arenas in which conservation actions must operate. As a result, conservation science teams must adopt multiple disciplinary approaches that bridge not only academic disciplines but also the political and social realms and engage relevant partners. Five reasons are presented that outline why conservation problems demand multiple disciplinary approaches in order to move forward because: (i) socio-ecological systems are complex, (ii) multiple perspectives are better than one, (iii) the results of research must influence practice, (iv) the heterogeneity of scale necessitates it, and (v) conservation involves compromise. Presenting reasons that support multiple disciplinarity demands a review of the barriers that impede this process, as we are far from attaining a model or framework that is applicable in all contexts. Two challenges that impede multiple disciplinarity are discussed, in addition to pragmatic solutions that conservation scientists and practitioners can adopt in their work. Overall, conservation researchers and practitioners are encouraged to explore the multiple disciplinary dimensions of their respective realms to more effectively solve problems in biodiversity and sustainability.

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Robert J. Bast

The 1524 uprising of evangelical artisans in Augsburg on behalf of the Franciscan preacher Johann Schilling counts as a turning point of the Reformation movement in that city. Relying on chronicles, government reports, and interrogation records, previous scholarship—none better than Jörg Rogge’s— has exposed the egalitarian theology and the social, economic, and political critique that united Schilling’s supporters. Yet the source of their ideology has always been unclear, for Schilling left behind neither treatises nor sermon transcriptions. That lacuna can be filled in part by re-examining sources largely overlooked: the four pamphlets published in 1524 by the weaver Ulrich (Utz) Richsner. A contextual reading of those pamphlets suggests a close collaboration between Schilling and Richsner, and a much more central role for Richsner in the movement around Schilling than has yet been recognized. La révolte en 1524 des artisans évangéliques d’Augsbourg pour le compte du prédicateur franciscain Johann Schilling est considérée comme un tournant dans le mouvement de réforme de cette ville. En se basant sur des chroniques, des rapports gouvernementaux et des minutes d’interrogatoires, la recherche — incluant les travaux inégalés de Jörg Rogge — a mis en lumière la théologie égalitaire ainsi que la critique sociale, économique et politique qui ont rassemblé les partisans de Schilling. Toutefois, les sources de cette pensée n’ont jamais été clarifiées, puisque Schilling n’a laissé ni écrits, ni transcriptions de sermons. Cette lacune peut être partiellement comblée en réexaminant des sources qui jusqu’à maintenant ont été négligées, c’est-à-dire les quatre libelles publiés en 1524 par le tisserand Ulrich (Utz) Richsner. Une lecture de ces textes dans leur contexte suggère une collaboration étroite entre Schilling et Richsner, ainsi qu’un rôle beaucoup plus important de Richsner dans le mouvement entourant le procès de Schilling, deux aspects méritant davantage notre attention.


Author(s):  
George O. Tsobanoglou ◽  
Eirini Ioanna Vlachopoulou

Even though the study of the commons has been expanding rapidly in the past years, and there have been multiple cases of successful local conservation initiatives, still, significant gaps in knowledge remain. The Social-Ecological Systems framework attempts to analyse the linkages between the “human system” (society) and the “natural system” (ecosystems). In every conservation attempt, the interactions and feedback between the two systems become evident. By examining thoroughly this relationship through the SES lens, we can develop a deep and holistic understanding of the processes that should be taken into consideration before the implementation of conservation actions. This study, through the exploration of the fisheries management procedures in Japan, attempts to develop an understanding of how the adoption of the Social-Ecological Systems approach could promote local development in the insular periphery of the developed world, in countries like Greece, where public participation in the decision-making processes is limited.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1947-1966
Author(s):  
Michael Kaplan

Drawing on the century-long preoccupation with premodern or “primitive” economic forms that has shaped the social sciences, this essay argues that the political economy of social networking platforms is structured like a potlatch. Understanding this structure and its dynamics is indispensable for grasping the social, economic and cultural preconditions and implications of communicative capitalism.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-158
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dawson ◽  
Lawrence D. Bobo

By the time you read this issue of the Du Bois Review, it will be nearly a year after the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina swept the Gulf Coast and roiled the nation. While this issue does not concentrate on the disaster, (the next issue of the DBR will be devoted solely to research on the social, economic, and political ramifications of the Katrina disaster), the editors would be amiss if we did not comment on an event that once again exposed the deadly fault lines of the American racial order. The loss of the lives of nearly 1500 citizens, the many more tens of thousands whose lives were wrecked, and the destruction of a major American city as we know it, all had clear racial overtones as the story unfolded. Indeed, the racial story of the disaster does not end with the tragic loss of life, the disruption of hundred of thousands of lives, nor the physical, social, economic, and political collapse of an American urban jewel. The political map of the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana (and probably Texas), and the region is being rewritten as the large Black and overwhelmingly Democratic population of New Orleans was dispersed out of Louisiana, with states such as Texas becoming the perhaps permanent recipients of a large share of the evacuees.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-5
Author(s):  
Siavash Rokni

Where to begin? Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social restrictions that followed, our perceptions of and relationship to work have been shaken to their core. Indeed, we live in a society where consistent and constant production is part of our daily reality. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a mirror, showing us our obsession with productivity and exacerbating the dangers associated with a system that has been known to be dysfunctional for several decades: capitalism. The pandemic and what has followed have also resulted in the whole world living an experience of collective ambiguity. This experience of ambiguity is felt differently depending on our privileges, be they social, economic, political, or racial. Despite this ambiguity, our politicians across the political spectrum have continued to insist on the relaunching of the economy and incited the population to continue to produce in order to ultimately to save the capitalist system. Even at university, we continue to adapt—for good or bad—to this new reality that is supposedly “temporary”.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-383
Author(s):  
Oliver Mtapuri

This article makes an entrée into the social protection arena by exploring the political, technical, social, economic, legal and environmental dimensions of social protection using the ecology of human development as a foundation. As a point of departure, it argues that a clear understanding of the ‘total environment’ is critical in the design, formulation and implementation of social protection programmes. The method used for purposes of compiling this article is a desk study in which documents on social protection interventions used in Zimbabwe were reviewed. The key contribution of the article is a framework which may assist countries in the global south to understand social protection in general and to guide policy implementation and practice in particular. Some of the key lessons learnt from the Zimbabwean experience include the need to interrogate all interventions for feasibility, efficiency, effectiveness, dependency-reduction, appropriateness, sustain-ability, gender-sensitivity, incorruptibility, provision of exit mechanisms, administrative costs and adequacy of resources.


2018 ◽  
pp. 194-219
Author(s):  
Mizuki Sakamoto ◽  
Tatsuo Nakajima

We now typically live in modern cities, where ubiquitous computing technologies such as advanced sensing enhance various aspects of our everyday lives. For example, smart phones offer necessary information to make our everyday lives convenient anytime, anywhere in the city; energy management and traffic management have become smarter, making our everyday lives more convenient and efficient. However, from a citizen perspective, the well-being of citizens needs to be more essential than merely achieving efficient and convenient smart city infrastructures. We think that this issue is particularly crucial for establishing the next generation of smart city design. In this chapter, we propose a social infrastructure named flourished crowdsourcing to make our society flourish, so diverse citizens will live comfortably and happily. To achieve a flourishing society, one of the most essential issues is making diverse citizens activists who will participate in socially collective activities. Traditional approaches such as gamification typically make it possible to guide the social activities of the average number of citizens, but it is not easy to maintain activities for diverse citizens. By incorporating fictionality into the real space, our approach is to increase the social awareness of citizens to achieve a flourishing society within each citizen's community so that they see the necessity of their contribution. To design and analyze fictionality, we also propose a gameful digital rhetoric as design abstractions. The design abstractions are extremely different from traditional approaches; designers can explicitly focus on the enhancement of the meaning in the real space from multiple perspectives; thus designers can change the meaning incrementally according to rapidly changing social situations or citizens' diverse preferences.


Author(s):  
George O. Tsobanoglou ◽  
Eirini Ioanna Vlachopoulou

Even though the study of the commons has been expanding rapidly in the past years, and there have been multiple cases of successful local conservation initiatives, still, significant gaps in knowledge remain. The Social-Ecological Systems framework attempts to analyse the linkages between the “human system” (society) and the “natural system” (ecosystems). In every conservation attempt, the interactions and feedback between the two systems become evident. By examining thoroughly this relationship through the SES lens, we can develop a deep and holistic understanding of the processes that should be taken into consideration before the implementation of conservation actions. This study, through the exploration of the fisheries management procedures in Japan, attempts to develop an understanding of how the adoption of the Social-Ecological Systems approach could promote local development in the insular periphery of the developed world, in countries like Greece, where public participation in the decision-making processes is limited.


Author(s):  
R. B. Bernstein

The founding fathers were born into a remarkable variety of families, occupations, religious loyalties, and geographic settings: from landed gentry destined to join the ruling elite, to middling or common sorts who chose the law or medicine as a professional path to distinction, or immigrants from other parts of the British Empire. They lived within and were shaped by three interlocking contexts—the intellectual world of the transatlantic Enlightenment; the political context within which Americans sought to preserve and improve the best of the Anglo-American constitutional heritage; and the social, economic, and cultural context formed as a result of their living on the Atlantic world’s periphery.


Author(s):  
Reinaldo Pacheco da Costa

In the 1980s, coinciding with the struggle for Brazil's re-democratisation, the Solidarity Economy movement emerged as an alternative to an economic plan that resulted in massive unemployment and economic stagnation. In this context, workers organizations based in self-management principles arose as a comprehensive economic, political and social movement. The Social Economic Incubators (SEI) support the creation of solidarity economic ventures (SEVs) in low-income communities through an incubation process conducted by universities to help generating income and jobs. This chapter gives an overview of these incubators, starting with a discussion of their historical evolution and political scene; presenting the political and pedagogical process adopted within the incubators and its methodology regarding the social economic ventures; and showing how these incubators were supported by the government and the civil society. Finally, the chapter discusses the results and benefits of the incubation process, not only in economic terms, but also in its educational, cultural and political nature.


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