Publications by year
2019
Quinn T, Bousquet F, Guerbois C, Heider L, Brown K (2019). How local water and waterbody meanings shape flood risk perception and risk management preferences.
Sustainability Science,
14(3), 565-578.
Abstract:
How local water and waterbody meanings shape flood risk perception and risk management preferences
© 2019, the Author(s). The sharp end of climate change is being, and will continue to be, experienced at the local and personal scale. How changing patterns of hazards interplay with local landscapes is an important focus of risk management, both in understanding how place-based risk is perceived and in identifying how local populations would like these risks to be managed. In this study we focus on the object of hazard and examine how different meanings associated with water and waterbodies relate to flood risk perception and preferences for flood management strategies. We present analysis of a mixed methods study with survey data (n = 707) of residents in four coastal towns in France, South Africa and UK presented alongside an in-depth study of the two French towns (semi-structured interviews n = 15 and document analysis). Our analysis unpacks the significance of relationships between the meaning of water in general, and the meaning of specific water bodies, to flood risk perceptions. Our findings indicate that general water meaning is more reliably related to flood risk perception than specific waterbody meaning, where waterbody meanings are significant for flood risk perception, positive identification with rivers relates to reduced flood risk perception. We also find that the meanings associated with water and waterbodies relate to specific preferences for different types of flood management, including insurance and local taxation. The implications for landscapes undergoing rapid change, for example as a result of changing climate and hydrological regimes, are discussed. In particular, we highlight how infrastructure interacts with sense of place in communities undergoing rapid social–ecological change and how understanding this interplay can help in the design of more fully supported adaptation strategies.
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Brown K, Adger WN, Cinner JE (2019). Moving climate change beyond the tragedy of the commons.
Global Environmental Change,
54, 61-63.
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James T, Brown K (2019). Muck and Magic: a Resilience Lens on Organic Conversions as Transformation.
Society and Natural Resources,
32(2), 133-149.
Abstract:
Muck and Magic: a Resilience Lens on Organic Conversions as Transformation
© 2018, Published with license by Taylor. &. Francis © 2018 Thomas James and Katrina Brown. Transformation creates space to consider the profound changes necessary for society to pursue just and sustainable social-ecological systems. Transformation involves profound and complex change, yet there are few empirical studies that analyze transformation across multiple spheres of a social-ecological system. This article aims to address this gap by applying a resilience lens to analyze transformation as a component of UK farmers’ conversions of farmland from conventional to organic status. Transformation is identified as profound shifts in farmer understanding and management of soil fertility. The analysis finds that these transformations involve interplay between changes and scalar processes across political, practical, and personal spheres of transformation. Changes in the political sphere contradictorily drive, enable, and constrain transformation across political, practical, and personal spheres. We conclude that the empirical resilience analysis of transformation across spheres of a social-ecological system generates insights into the critical processes and changes necessary for society to pursue sustainable futures.
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Marshall N, Adger WN, Benham C, Brown K, I Curnock M, Gurney GG, Marshall P, L Pert P, Thiault L (2019). Reef Grief: investigating the relationship between place meanings and place change on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
Sustainability Science,
14(3), 579-587.
Abstract:
Reef Grief: investigating the relationship between place meanings and place change on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
© 2019, the Author(s). It is well established that ecosystems bring meaning and well-being to individuals, often articulated through attachment to place. Degradation and threats to places and ecosystems have been shown to lead to loss of well-being. Here, we suggest that the interactions between ecosystem loss and declining well-being may involve both emotional responses associated with grief, and with observable impacts on mental health. We test these ideas on so-called ecological grief by examining individual emotional response to well-documented and publicized ecological degradation: coral bleaching and mortality in the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. The study focuses both on one off events of coral loss and the prospect of continuing decline on the self-reported well-being of residents living within the ecosystem, visitors, and those whose livelihood is dependent on the marine resource: data from face-to-face surveys of 1870 local residents, 1804 tourists, and telephone surveys of 91 fishers and 94 tourism operators. We hypothesise that the extent to which individuals experience ecological grief is dependent on the meanings or intrinsic values (such as aesthetic, scientific, or biodiversity-based values), and is moderated by their place attachment, place identity, lifestyle dependence, place-based pride, and derived well-being. Results show that around half of residents, tourists and tourist operators surveyed, and almost one quarter of fishers, report significant Reef Grief. Reef Grief is closely and positively associated with place meanings within resident and tourist populations. By contrast respondents who rated high aesthetic value of the coral ecosystem report lower levels of Reef Grief. These findings have significant implications for how individuals and populations experience ecosystem decline and loss within places that are meaningful to them. Given inevitable cumulative future impacts on ecosystems from committed climate change impacts, understanding and managing ecological grief will become increasingly important. This study seeks to lay conceptual and theoretical foundations to identify how ecological grief is manifest and related to meaningful places and the social distribution of such grief across society.
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Fortnam M, Brown K, Chaigneau T, Crona B, Daw TM, Gonçalves D, Hicks C, Revmatas M, Sandbrook C, Schulte-Herbruggen B, et al (2019). The Gendered Nature of Ecosystem Services.
Ecological Economics,
159, 312-325.
Abstract:
The Gendered Nature of Ecosystem Services
© 2019 the Authors This article assesses the extent to which our conceptualisation, understanding and empirical analysis of ecosystem services are inherently gendered; in other words, how they might be biased and unbalanced in terms of their appreciation of gender differences. We do this by empirically investigating how women and men are able to benefit from ecosystem services across eight communities in coastal Kenya and Mozambique. Our results highlight different dimensions of wellbeing affected by ecosystem services, and how these are valued differently by men and women. However, it is not just the division of costs and benefits of ecosystem services that is gendered. Using a heuristic device of the ‘ecosystem-wellbeing chain’ we explain patterns within our primary data as an outcome of gendered knowledge systems, gendered behavioural expectations, gendered access to resources and gendered institutions. We conclude that this holistic, gendered understanding of ecosystem services is important not just for how ecosystem services are conceptualised, but also for the development and implementation of sustainable and equitable policy and interventions.
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2018
Faulkner L, Brown K, Quinn T (2018). Analyzing community resilience as an emergent property of dynamic social-ecological systems.
Ecology and Society,
23(1).
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Cinner JE, Adger WN, Allison EH, Barnes ML, Brown K, Cohen PJ, Gelcich S, Hicks CC, Hughes TP, Lau J, et al (2018). Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities.
Nature Climate Change,
8(2), 117-123.
Abstract:
Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities
© 2018 the Author(s). To minimize the impacts of climate change on human wellbeing, governments, development agencies, and civil society organizations have made substantial investments in improving people's capacity to adapt to change. Yet to date, these investments have tended to focus on a very narrow understanding of adaptive capacity. Here, we propose an approach to build adaptive capacity across five domains: the assets that people can draw upon in times of need; the flexibility to change strategies; the ability to organize and act collectively; learning to recognize and respond to change; and the agency to determine whether to change or not.
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Stone-Jovicich S, Goldstein BE, Brown K, Plummer R, Olsson P (2018). Expanding the contribution of the social sciences to social-ecological resilience research. Ecology and Society, 23(1).
Brown K, Fortnam M (2018). Gender and ecosystem services: a blind spot. In (Ed)
Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation: Trade-Offs and Governance, 257-272.
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Gender and ecosystem services: a blind spot
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Brown K, Fortnam M (2018). Gender and ecosystem services: a blind spot. In Schreckenberg K, Mace G, Poudyal M (Eds.) Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation: Trade-offs and Governance, London: Routledge, 257-272.
Chaigneau T, Coulthard S, Brown K, Daw TM, Schulte-Herbrüggen B (2018). Incorporating basic needs to reconcile poverty and ecosystem services.
Conservation BiologyAbstract:
Incorporating basic needs to reconcile poverty and ecosystem services
© 2018 the Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology. Conservation managers frequently face the challenge of protecting and sustaining biodiversity without producing detrimental outcomes for (often poor) human populations that depend on ecosystem services for their well-being. However, mutually beneficial solutions are often elusive and can mask trade-offs and negative outcomes for people. To deal with such trade-offs, ecological and social thresholds need to be identified to determine the acceptable solution space for conservation. Although human well-being as a concept has recently gained prominence, conservationists still lack tools to evaluate how their actions affect it in a given context. We applied the theory of human needs to conservation by building on an extensive historical application of need approaches in international development. In an innovative participatory method that included focus groups and household surveys, we evaluated how human needs are met based on locally relevant thresholds. We then established connections between human needs and ecosystem services through key-informant focus groups. We applied our method in coastal East Africa to identify households that would not be able to meet their basic needs and to uncover the role of ecosystem services in meeting these. This enabled us to identify how benefits derived from the environment were contributing to meeting basic needs and to consider potential repercussions that could arise through changes to ecosystem service provision. We suggest our approach can help conservationists and planners balance poverty alleviation and biodiversity protection and ensure conservation measures do not, at the very least, cause serious harm to individuals. We further argue it can be used as a basis for monitoring the impacts of conservation on multidimensional poverty.
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Marshall N, Barnes ML, Birtles A, Brown K, Cinner J, Curnock M, Eakin H, Goldberg J, Gooch M, Kittinger J, et al (2018). Measuring what matters in the Great Barrier Reef.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment,
16(5), 271-277.
Abstract:
Measuring what matters in the Great Barrier Reef
© the Ecological Society of America the natural environment plays an integral role in the culture of all people. Although the cultural services provided by ecosystems are often acknowledged, these abstract qualities are difficult to capture and are rarely incorporated into environmental strategic planning. We propose an approach for decision makers to weigh different cultural values across a range of stakeholder groups. We assessed the importance of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to the lifestyle, sense of place, pride, identity, and well-being of 8300 people across multiple cultural groups, as well as each of these groups’ belief in the aesthetic, scientific, and biodiversity-based value of the GBR. The surveyed population included indigenous and non-indigenous local residents, Australians (non-local), international and domestic tourists, tourism operators, and commercial fishers. We discuss how some groups grant similar levels of importance to some values and how other groups differ in their attachment to certain values. All of the groups possessed the selected cultural values to some extent, suggesting that these values matter, and could be leveraged to secure the future of iconic ecosystems such as the GBR.
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Szaboova L, Brown K, Chaigneau T, Coulthard S, Daw TM, James T (2018). Resilience and wellbeing for sustainability. In (Ed)
Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation: Trade-Offs and Governance, 273-287.
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Resilience and wellbeing for sustainability
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Galafassi D, Daw TM, Thyresson M, Rosendo S, Chaigneau T, Bandeira S, Munyi L, Gabrielsson I, Brown K (2018). Stories in social-ecological knowledge cocreation.
Ecology and Society,
23(1).
Abstract:
Stories in social-ecological knowledge cocreation
© 2018 by the author(s). Transformations in social-ecological systems to overturn poverty and ecosystem degradation require approaches to knowledge synthesis that are inclusive and open to creative innovation. We draw on interviews with participants and in-depth process observation of an iterative knowledge cocreation process in Kenya and Mozambique that brought together scientists, community representatives, government representatives, and practitioners who had expertise or experience in poverty and/or coastal natural resource use and management. We analyze the communicative spaces opened by techniques of system diagrams and future scenarios, and provide a rich account of the emergent process of developing a “shared conceptual repertoire” as a basis for effective communication and knowledge synthesis. Our results highlight the difficulties of challenging dominant narratives and the creative potential that exists in reflecting on their underpinning assumptions. In our analysis, stories and lived experiences emerged as key means shaping the construction of shared concepts and ideas. We conclude by outlining the implications of designing knowledge cocreation processes that support the task of devising systemic interventions that are robust for a range of future scenarios. This includes embracing the role of stories in generating shared meanings and opening up spaces for exploration of knowledge assumptions that are embedded in intervention narratives.
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Blythe J, Silver J, Evans L, Armitage D, Bennett NJ, Moore ML, Morrison TH, Brown K (2018). The Dark Side of Transformation: Latent Risks in Contemporary Sustainability Discourse.
Antipode,
50(5), 1206-1223.
Abstract:
The Dark Side of Transformation: Latent Risks in Contemporary Sustainability Discourse
© 2018 the Authors. Antipode © 2018 Antipode Foundation Ltd. The notion of transformation is gaining traction in contemporary sustainability debates. New ways of theorising and supporting transformations are emerging and, so the argument goes, opening exciting spaces to (re)imagine and (re)structure radically different futures. Yet, questions remain about how the term is being translated from an academic concept into an assemblage of normative policies and practices, and how this process might shape social, political, and environmental change. Motivated by these questions, we identify five latent risks associated with discourse that frames transformation as apolitical and/or inevitable. We refer to these risks as the dark side of transformation. While we cannot predict the future of radical transformations towards sustainability, we suggest that scientists, policymakers, and practitioners need to consider such change in more inherently plural and political ways.
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2017
Marshall N, Adger N, Attwood S, Brown K, Crissman C, Cvitanovic C, De Young C, Gooch M, James C, Jessen S, et al (2017). Empirically derived guidance for social scientists to influence environmental policy.
PLoS One,
12(3).
Abstract:
Empirically derived guidance for social scientists to influence environmental policy.
Failure to stem trends of ecological disruption and associated loss of ecosystem services worldwide is partly due to the inadequate integration of the human dimension into environmental decision-making. Decision-makers need knowledge of the human dimension of resource systems and of the social consequences of decision-making if environmental management is to be effective and adaptive. Social scientists have a central role to play, but little guidance exists to help them influence decision-making processes. We distil 348 years of cumulative experience shared by 31 environmental experts across three continents into advice for social scientists seeking to increase their influence in the environmental policy arena. Results focus on the importance of process, engagement, empathy and acumen and reveal the importance of understanding and actively participating in policy processes through co-producing knowledge and building trust. The insights gained during this research might empower a science-driven cultural change in science-policy relations for the routine integration of the human dimension in environmental decision making; ultimately for an improved outlook for earth's ecosystems and the billions of people that depend on them.
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Brown K (2017). Global environmental change II: Planetary boundaries – a safe operating space for human geographers?.
Progress in Human Geography,
41(1), 118-130.
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Global environmental change II: Planetary boundaries – a safe operating space for human geographers?
© 2015, © the Author(s) 2015. This report reviews recent thinking and debates about physical limits to human activities, and particularly the concept of ‘planetary boundaries’. It looks at the scientific basis of the planetary boundaries concept and its claims for novelty, and the most recent update of the original proposition and analysis. I suggest that geographers can invigorate and inform the science of planetary boundaries by further developing conceptualizations of human-environment relations; by constructing a political ecology of planetary boundaries; by exploring alternative development pathways; and by dissecting the planetary and its relations across scales. These present crucial challenges, necessitating joined-up, dynamic and novel approaches.
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Galafassi D, Daw TM, Munyi L, Brown K, Barnaud C, Fazey I (2017). Learning about social-ecological trade-offs.
Ecology and Society,
22(1).
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Brown K, Naylor L, Quinn T (2017). Making Space for Proactive Adaptation of Rapidly Changing Coasts: a Windows of Opportunity Approach.
Sustainability,
9(8), 1408-1408.
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Morrison TH, Adger WN, Brown K, Lemos MC, Huitema D, Hughes TP (2017). Mitigation and adaptation in polycentric systems: sources of power in the pursuit of collective goals.
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change,
8(5), e479-e479.
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Brown K, Eernstman N, Huke AR, Reding N (2017). The drama of resilience: Learning, doing, and sharing for sustainability.
Ecology and Society,
22(2).
Abstract:
The drama of resilience: Learning, doing, and sharing for sustainability
© 2017 by the author(s). We discuss the use of participatory drama and transformative theatre to understand the sources of risk and resilience with coastal communities. We analyze and describe two performances developed as part of a project exploring people’s resilience to extreme weather events and to coastal dynamics in the face of climate change. We examine the process of devising the performance, which used various elicitation techniques to examine what matters to people in times of change and how people are able to respond to changes now and in the future. We discuss how creative practices such as participatory drama may contribute to the understanding of resilience, challenge assumptions, and bring new perspectives. Finally, we discuss how participatory drama informs action- and solutions-oriented work around resilience, poverty, and change.
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2016
Chaigneau T, Brown K (2016). Challenging the win-win discourse on conservation and development: Analyzing support for marine protected areas.
Ecology and Society,
21(1).
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Challenging the win-win discourse on conservation and development: Analyzing support for marine protected areas
© 2016 by the author(s). Conservation designations such as protected areas are increasing in numbers around the world, yet it is widely reported that many are failing to reach their objectives. They are frequently promoted as opportunities for win-win outcomes that can both protect biodiversity and lead to economic benefits for affected communities. This win-win view characterizes the dominant discourse surrounding many protected areas. Although this discourse and the arguments derived from it may lead to initial acceptance of conservation interventions, this study shows how it does not necessarily result in compliance and positive attitudes toward specific protected areas. Consequently, the discourse has important implications not just for making the case for protected area implementation, but also for the likelihood of protected areas reaching their objectives. We explain how the win-win discourse influences support for marine protected areas (MPAs) and, ultimately, their success. Using data from focus groups, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews at three MPA sites in the Philippines, we identified three reasons why the win-win discourse can negatively influence prolonged support for MPAs: dashed expectations, inequity, and temptation. Through an understanding of these issues, it becomes possible to suggest improvements that can be made pre-MPA implementation that can lead to prolonged support of MPAs. A focus on less tangible and economic MPA benefits, aligning MPA goals with cultural and social values, and higher levels of transparency when describing MPA outcomes are all ways in which prolonged support of MPAs can be bolstered.
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Daw TM, Hicks CC, Brown K, Chaigneau T, Januchowski-Hartley FA, Cheung WWL, Rosendo S, Crona B, Coulthard S, Sandbrook C, et al (2016). Elasticity in ecosystem services: Exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being.
Ecology and Society,
21(2).
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Elasticity in ecosystem services: Exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being
© 2016 by the author(s). Although ecosystem services are increasingly recognized as benefits people obtain from nature, we still have a poor understanding of how they actually enhance multidimensional human well-being, and how well-being is affected by ecosystem change. We develop a concept of “ecosystem service elasticity” (ES elasticity) that describes the sensitivity of human well-being to changes in ecosystems. ES Elasticity is a result of complex social and ecological dynamics and is context dependent, individually variable, and likely to demonstrate nonlinear dynamics such as thresholds and hysteresis. We present a conceptual framework that unpacks the chain of causality from ecosystem stocks through flows, goods, value, and shares to contribute to the well-being of different people. This framework builds on previous conceptualizations, but places multidimensional well-being of different people as the final element. This ultimately disaggregated approach emphasizes how different people access benefits and how benefits match their needs or aspirations. Applying this framework to case studies of individual coastal ecosystem services in East Africa illustrates a wide range of social and ecological factors that can affect ES elasticity. For example, food web and habitat dynamics affect the sensitivity of different fisheries ecosystem services to ecological change. Meanwhile high cultural significance, or lack of alternatives enhance ES elasticity, while social mechanisms that prevent access can reduce elasticity. Mapping out how chains are interlinked illustrates how different types of value and the well-being of different people are linked to each other and to common ecological stocks. We suggest that examining chains for individual ecosystem services can suggest potential interventions aimed at poverty alleviation and sustainable ecosystems while mapping out of interlinkages between chains can help to identify possible ecosystem service trade-offs and winners and losers. We discuss conceptual and practical challenges of applying such a framework and conclude on its utility as a heuristic for structuring interdisciplinary analysis of ecosystem services and human wellbeing.
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Bousquet F, Botta A, Alinovi L, Barreteau O, Bossio D, Brown K, Caron P, D Errico M, Declerck F, Dessard H, et al (2016). Resilience and development: Mobilizing for transformation.
Ecology and Society,
21(3).
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Resilience and development: Mobilizing for transformation
© 2016 by the author(s). In 2014, the Third International Conference on the resilience of social-ecological systems chose the theme “resilience and development: mobilizing for transformation.” the conference aimed specifically at fostering an encounter between the experiences and thinking focused on the issue of resilience through a social and ecological system perspective, and the experiences focused on the issue of resilience through a development perspective. In this perspectives piece, we reflect on the outcomes of the meeting and document the differences and similarities between the two perspectives as discussed during the conference, and identify bridging questions designed to guide future interactions. After the conference, we read the documents (abstracts, PowerPoints) that were prepared and left in the conference database by the participants (about 600 contributions), and searched the web for associated items, such as videos, blogs, and tweets from the conference participants. All of these documents were assessed through one lens: what do they say about resilience and development? Once the perspectives were established, we examined different themes that were significantly addressed during the conference. Our analysis paves the way for new collective developments on a set of issues: (1) Who declares/assign/cares for the resilience of what, of whom? (2) What are the models of transformations and how do they combine the respective role of agency and structure? (3) What are the combinations of measurement and assessment processes? (4) at what scale should resilience be studied? Social transformations and scientific approaches are coconstructed. For the last decades, development has been conceived as a modernization process supported by scientific rationality and technical expertise. The definition of a new perspective on development goes with a negotiation on a new scientific approach. Resilience is presently at the center of this negotiation on a new science for development.
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Brown K (2016).
Resilience, Development and Global Change. London, Routledge.
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Resilience, Development and Global Change
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2015
Baggio JA, Brown K, Hellebrandt D (2015). Boundary object or bridging concept? a citation network analysis of resilience.
Ecology and Society,
20(2).
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Boundary object or bridging concept? a citation network analysis of resilience
© 2015 by the author(s). Many recent studies observe the increasing importance, influence, and analysis of resilience as a concept to understand the capacity of a system or individual to respond to change. The term has achieved prominence in diverse scientific fields, as well as public discourse and policy arenas. As a result, resilience has been referred to as a boundary object or a bridging concept that is able to facilitate communication and understanding across disciplines, coordinate groups of actors or stakeholders, and build consensus around particular policy issues. We present a network analysis of bibliometric data to understand the extent to which resilience can be considered as a boundary object or a bridging concept in terms of its links across disciplines and scientific fields. We analyzed 994 papers and 35,952 citations between them to reveal the connectedness and links between and within fields. We analyzed the network according to different fields, modules, and sub-fields, showing a highly clustered citation network. Analyzing betweenness allowed us to identify how particular papers bridge across fields and how different fields are linked. With the exception of a few specific papers, most papers cite exclusively within their own field. We conclude that resilience is to an extent a boundary object because there are shared understandings across diverse disciplines and fields. However, it is more limited as a bridging concept because the citations across fields are concentrated among particular disciplines and papers, so the distinct fields do not widely or routinely refer to each other. There are some signs of resilience being used as an interdisciplinary concept to bridge scientific fields, particularly in social-ecological systems, which may itself constitute an emerging sub-field.
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Fisher JA, Brown K (2015). Ecosystem services concepts and approaches in conservation: Just a rhetorical tool?.
Ecological Economics,
117, 261-269.
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Ecosystem services concepts and approaches in conservation: Just a rhetorical tool?
© 2014. Many commentators have raised questions about the recent focus on ecosystem services (ES) concepts in conservation, but little empirical analysis exists. We present a novel empirical analysis using interviews and Q Methodology to examine how conservation practitioners and organisations are interpreting and using ES concepts and associated approaches. We find that these concepts are being adopted for instrumental imperatives to broaden constituencies and with an expectation of extending funding sources. We uncover concerns within conservation that the utilitarian emphases of ES concepts may compromise the ability to make non-utilitarian arguments for nature in the future. In relation to changing practice, we examine shifts in partnerships and funding, where ES ideas provide a shared language about flows of value, apparently accelerating the integration of conservation and the private sector. Whilst many respondents noted the significance of shifts related to ES ideas, some attempted to play these down, presenting their organisation's adoption of these ideas as 'just a rhetorical tool'. However, we argue that the adoption of ES concepts cannot be presented as solely rhetorical, given that these increasingly underpin and inform planning tools and policy instruments.
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Daw TM, Coulthard S, Cheung WWL, Brown K, Abunge C, Galafassi D, Peterson GD, McClanahan TR, Omukoto JO, Munyi L, et al (2015). Evaluating taboo trade-offs in ecosystems services and human well-being.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
112(22), 6949-6954.
Abstract:
Evaluating taboo trade-offs in ecosystems services and human well-being
© 2015, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Managing ecosystems for multiple ecosystem services and balancing the well-being of diverse stakeholders involves different kinds of trade-offs. Often trade-offs involve noneconomic and difficult-to-evaluate values, such as cultural identity, employment, the well-being of poor people, or particular species or ecosystem structures. Although trade-offs need to be considered for successful environmental management, they are often overlooked in favor of win-wins. Management and policy decisions demand approaches that can explicitly acknowledge and evaluate diverse trade-offs. We identified a diversity of apparent trade-offs in a small-scale tropical fishery when ecological simulations were integrated with participatory assessments of social-ecological system structure and stakeholders' well-being. Despite an apparent win-win between conservation and profitability at the aggregate scale, food production, employment, and well-being of marginalized stakeholders were differentially influenced by management decisions leading to trade-offs. Some of these trade-offs were suggested to be "taboo"trade-offs between morally incommensurable values, such as between profits and the well-being of marginalized women. These were not previously recognized as management issues. Stakeholders explored and deliberated over trade-offs supported by an interactive "toy model" representing key system trade-offs, alongside qualitative narrative scenarios of the future. The concept of taboo trade-offs suggests that psychological bias and social sensitivity may exclude key issues from decision making, which can result in policies that are difficult to implement. Our participatory modeling and scenarios approach has the potential to increase awareness of such trade-offs, promote discussion of what is acceptable, and potentially identify and reduce obstacles to management compliance.
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Ruiz-Mallén I, Corbera E, Calvo-Boyero D, Reyes-García V, Brown K (2015). How do biosphere reserves influence local vulnerability and adaptation? Evidence from Latin America.
Global Environmental Change,
33, 97-108.
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How do biosphere reserves influence local vulnerability and adaptation? Evidence from Latin America
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Resource management regulations, such as those associated with the establishment of protected areas, can increase vulnerability and compromise individual and collective agency for adaptation. In this article, we comparatively analyse how four rural communities located within two biosphere reserves in Mexico and Bolivia experience vulnerability and adaptation to global change. We use focus groups, interviews and scoring exercises to analyse the influence of reserve management practices on locally perceived changes and stresses on livelihoods, and to discuss communities' coping and adaptation strategies. We show that both reserves are perceived as a source of stress but somewhat differently. In Mexico, communities feel vulnerable to the reserve's regulations but less to climatic and economic stresses, whereas in Bolivia communities perceive the insufficient enforcement of the reserve's rules as the most relevant stress to their livelihoods. Most of household-based and collective adaptations to environmental change have been adopted without the support of the biosphere reserves. We discuss how and why the biosphere reserves contribute to local vulnerability and why their role in enhancing local adaptation is limited.
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Schoon ML, Robards MD, Brown K, Engle N, Meek CL, Biggs R (2015). Politics and the resilience of ecosystem services. In Biggs R, Schluter M, Schoon ML (Eds.)
Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 32-49.
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Politics and the resilience of ecosystem services
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2014
Brown K (2014). Global environmental change I: a social turn for resilience?.
Progress in Human Geography,
38(1), 107-117.
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Global environmental change I: a social turn for resilience?
Resilience is everywhere in contemporary debates about global environmental change. The application of resilience concepts to social and ecological systems and dilemmas has been roundly critiqued for under-theorizing social dimensions, and human geographers particularly have been an important critical voice in highlighting the omission of social, political and cultural dynamics from different resilience literatures. Here I examine whether and how resilience theory and applications are addressing these shortcomings and incorporating these social and political dimensions. My premise is that within the emerging field of resilience there are many voices expressing multiple and often contested interpretations and meanings. The field is rapidly evolving and new ideas are being tested and introduced. Importantly, resilience is here to stay and is being widely taken up and applied in policy and practice. I review theoretical and empirical published research across fields of geography, environmental change, natural resource management, and international development, concentrating on new work since 2010. I examine three emerging topics: community resilience; transformations; and resilience as an organizing concept for radical change. I find that there is still relatively little analysis of social difference and resilience, and there are continuing tensions between normative and analytical stances on resilience. These characteristics are mirrored in policy discourses and local level actions on resilience. © the Author(s) 2013.
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Pascual U, Phelps J, Garmendia E, Brown K, Corbera E, Martin A, Gomez-Baggethun E, Muradian R (2014). Social equity matters in payments for ecosystem services.
BioScience,
64(11), 1027-1036.
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Social equity matters in payments for ecosystem services
© the Author(s) 2014. Although conservation efforts have sometimes succeeded in meeting environmental goals at the expense of equity considerations, the changing context of conservation and a growing body of evidence increasingly suggest that equity considerations should be integrated into conservation planning and implementation. However, this approach is often perceived to be at odds with the prevailing focus on economic efficiency that characterizes many payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes. Drawing from examples across the literature, we show how the equity impacts of PES can create positive and negative feedbacks that influence ecological outcomes. We caution against equity-blind PES, which overlooks these relationships as a result of a primary and narrow focus on economic efficiency. We call for further analysis and better engagement between the social and ecological science communities to understand the relationships and trade-offs among efficiency, equity, and ecological outcomes.
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2013
Adger WN, Barnett J, Brown K, O'Brien K, Marshall N (2013). Cultural dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation. Nature Climate Change, 3(2), 112-117.
Brown K (2013). Social ecological resilience and human security. In (Ed) A Changing Environment for Human Security: Transformative Approaches to Research, Policy and Action, 107-116.
2012
Lynam T, Brown K (2012). Mental models in human-environment interactions: Theory, policy implications, and methodological explorations. Ecology and Society, 17(3).
Brown K (2012). Policy discourses of resilience. In (Ed) Climate Change and the Crisis of Capitalism: a Chance to Reclaim Self, Society and Nature, 37-50.
Daw TM, Cinner JE, McClanahan TR, Brown K, Stead SM, Graham NAJ, Maina J (2012). To fish or not to fish: factors at multiple scales affecting artisanal fishers' readiness to exit a declining fishery.
PLoS One,
7(2).
Abstract:
To fish or not to fish: factors at multiple scales affecting artisanal fishers' readiness to exit a declining fishery.
Globally, fisheries are challenged by the combined impacts of overfishing, degradation of ecosystems and impacts of climate change, while fisheries livelihoods are further pressured by conservation policy imperatives. Fishers' adaptive responses to these pressures, such as exiting from a fishery to pursue alternative livelihoods, determine their own vulnerability, as well as the potential for reducing fishing effort and sustaining fisheries. The willingness and ability to make particular adaptations in response to change, such as exiting from a declining fishery, is influenced by economic, cultural and institutional factors operating at scales from individual fishers to national economies. Previous studies of exit from fisheries at single or few sites, offer limited insight into the relative importance of individual and larger-scale social and economic factors. We asked 599 fishers how they would respond to hypothetical scenarios of catch declines in 28 sites in five western Indian Ocean countries. We investigated how socioeconomic variables at the individual-, household- and site-scale affected whether they would exit fisheries. Site-level factors had the greatest influence on readiness to exit, but these relationships were contrary to common predictions. Specifically, higher levels of infrastructure development and economic vitality - expected to promote exit from fisheries - were associated with less readiness to exit. This may be due to site level histories of exit from fisheries, greater specialisation of fishing households, or higher rewards from fishing in more economically developed sites due to technology, market access, catch value and government subsidies. At the individual and household scale, fishers from households with more livelihood activities, and fishers with lower catch value were more willing to exit. These results demonstrate empirically how adaptive responses to change are influenced by factors at multiple scales, and highlight the importance of understanding natural resource-based livelihoods in the context of the wider economy and society.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Marshall NA, Park SE, Adger WN, Brown K, Howden SM (2012). Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity.
Environmental Research Letters,
7(3).
Abstract:
Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity
Climate change is altering the productivity of natural resources with far-reaching implications for those who depend on them. Resource-dependent industries and communities need the capacity to adapt to a range of climate risks if they are to remain viable. In some instances, the scale and nature of the likely impacts means that transformations of function or structure will be required. Transformations represent a switch to a distinct new system where a different suite of factors become important in the design and implementation of response strategies. There is a critical gap in knowledge on understanding transformational capacity and its influences. On the basis of current knowledge on adaptive capacity we propose four foundations for measuring transformational capacity: (1)how risks and uncertainty are managed, (2)the extent of skills in planning, learning and reorganizing, (3)the level of financial and psychological flexibility to undertake change and (4)the willingness to undertake change. We test the influence of place attachment and occupational identity on transformational capacity using the Australian peanut industry, which is presently assessing significant structural change in response to predicted climatic changes. Survey data from 88% of peanut farmers in Queensland show a strong negative correlation between transformational capacity and both place attachment and occupational attachment, suggesting that whilst these factors may be important positive influences on the capacity to adapt to incremental change, they act as barriers to transformational change. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd.
Abstract.
Cinner JE, McClanahan TR, Graham NAJ, Daw TM, Maina J, Stead SM, Wamukota A, Brown K, Bodin O (2012). Vulnerability of coastal communities to key impacts of climate change on coral reef fisheries.
Global Environmental Change,
22(1), 12-20.
Abstract:
Vulnerability of coastal communities to key impacts of climate change on coral reef fisheries
Coral reefs support the livelihood of millions of people especially those engaged in marine fisheries activities. Coral reefs are highly vulnerable to climate change induced stresses that have led to substantial coral mortality over large spatial scales. Such climate change impacts have the potential to lead to declines in marine fish production and compromise the livelihoods of fisheries dependent communities. Yet few studies have examined social vulnerability in the context of changes specific to coral reef ecosystems. In this paper, we examine three dimensions of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) of 29 coastal communities across five western Indian Ocean countries to the impacts of coral bleaching on fishery returns. A key contribution is the development of a novel, network-based approach to examining sensitivity to changes in the fishery that incorporates linkages between fishery and non-fishery occupations. We find that key sources of vulnerability differ considerably within and between the five countries. Our approach allows the visualization of how these dimensions of vulnerability differ from site to site, providing important insights into the types of nuanced policy interventions that may help to reduce vulnerability at a specific location. To complement this, we develop framework of policy actions thought to reduce different aspects of vulnerability at varying spatial and temporal scales. Although our results are specific to reef fisheries impacts from coral bleaching, this approach provides a framework for other types of threats and different social-ecological systems more broadly. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract.
2011
Rosendo S, Brown K, Joubert A, Jiddawi N, Mechisso M (2011). A clash of values and approaches: a case study of marine protected area planning in Mozambique.
Ocean and Coastal Management,
54(1), 55-65.
Abstract:
A clash of values and approaches: a case study of marine protected area planning in Mozambique
Many developing countries are expanding their network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to meet ambitious marine conservation targets set globally and to develop tourism nationally. This study explores the human dimensions of MPA planning in Mozambique by engaging local resource users in a series of structured discussions about marine resource use, pressures on marine resources, ways to address such pressures, and the potential positive and negative impacts of MPAs on the management of marine resources and livelihoods, from a community perspective. Findings show that the groups and communities interviewed are at best ambivalent towards MPAs while at the same time supporting increased government regulation, including conventional fisheries management measures. The study suggests that without significant community involvement in the choice of marine conservation tools, the drive to establish MPAs to achieve biodiversity conservation and tourism development goals may be counterproductive, at least in terms of poverty alleviation and sustainable resource use. It argues that a wider range of marine conservation approaches and tools needs to be considered in addition to MPAs, taking into consideration local views and institutional capacities. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract.
Brown K, Westaway E (2011). Agency, capacity, and resilience to environmental change: Lessons from human development, well-being, and disasters.
Annual Review of Environment and Resources,
36, 321-342.
Abstract:
Agency, capacity, and resilience to environmental change: Lessons from human development, well-being, and disasters
Human agency is considered a key factor in determining how individuals and society respond to environmental change. This article synthesizes knowledge on agency, capacity, and resilience across human development, well-being, and disasters literature to provide insights to support more integrated and human-centered approaches to understanding environmental change. It draws out the key areas of agreement across these diverse fields and identifies the main points of contestation and uncertainty. This highlights the need to consider subjective and relational factors in addition to objective measures of capacity and to view these as reflexive and dynamic, as well as differentiated socially and temporally. These findings can help distinguish between coping, adaptation, and transformation as responses to environmental and other stressors. © 2011 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Daw T, Brown K, Rosendo S, Pomeroy R (2011). Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: the need to disaggregate human well-being.
Environmental Conservation,
38(4), 370-379.
Abstract:
Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: the need to disaggregate human well-being
The concept of ecosystem services (ES), the benefits humans derive from ecosystems, is increasingly applied to environmental conservation, human well-being and poverty alleviation, and to inform the development of interventions. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) implicitly recognize the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of maintaining ES, through monetary compensation from winners' to losers'. Some research into PES has examined how such schemes affect poverty, while other literature addresses trade-offs between different ES. However, much evolving ES literature adopts an aggregated perspective of humans and their well-being, which can disregard critical issues for poverty alleviation. This paper identifies four issues with examples from coastal ES in developing countries. First, different groups derive well-being benefits from different ES, creating winners and losers as ES, change. Second, dynamic mechanisms of access determine who can benefit. Third, individuals' contexts and needs determine how ES contribute to well-being. Fourth, aggregated analyses may neglect crucial poverty alleviation mechanisms such as cash-based livelihoods. To inform the development of ES interventions that contribute to poverty alleviation, disaggregated analysis is needed that focuses on who derives which benefits from ecosystems, and how such benefits contribute to the well-being of the poor. These issues present challenges in data availability and selection of how and at which scales to disaggregate. Disaggregation can be applied spatially, but should also include social groupings, such as gender, age and ethnicity, and is most important where inequality is greatest. Existing tools, such as stakeholder analysis and equity weights, can improve the relevance of ES research to poverty alleviation. © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2011.
Abstract.
Steneck RS, Hughes TP, Cinner JE, Adger WN, Arnold SN, Berkes F, Boudreau SA, Brown K, Folke C, Gunderson L, et al (2011). Creation of a Gilded Trap by the High Economic Value of the Maine Lobster Fishery.
Conservation Biology,
25(5), 904-912.
Abstract:
Creation of a Gilded Trap by the High Economic Value of the Maine Lobster Fishery
Unsustainable fishing simplifies food chains and, as with aquaculture, can result in reliance on a few economically valuable species. This lack of diversity may increase risks of ecological and economic disruptions. Centuries of intense fishing have extirpated most apex predators in the Gulf of Maine (United States and Canada), effectively creating an American lobster (Homarus americanus) monoculture. Over the past 20 years, the economic diversity of marine resources harvested in Maine has declined by almost 70%. Today, over 80% of the value of Maine's fish and seafood landings is from highly abundant lobsters. Inflation-corrected income from lobsters in Maine has steadily increased by nearly 400% since 1985. Fisheries managers, policy makers, and fishers view this as a success. However, such lucrative monocultures increase the social and ecological consequences of future declines in lobsters. In southern New England, disease and stresses related to increases in ocean temperature resulted in more than a 70% decline in lobster abundance, prompting managers to propose closing that fishery. A similar collapse in Maine could fundamentally disrupt the social and economic foundation of its coast. We suggest the current success of Maine's lobster fishery is a gilded trap. Gilded traps are a type of social trap in which collective actions resulting from economically attractive opportunities outweigh concerns over associated social and ecological risks or consequences. Large financial gain creates a strong reinforcing feedback that deepens the trap. Avoiding or escaping gilded traps requires managing for increased biological and economic diversity. This is difficult to do prior to a crisis while financial incentives for maintaining the status quo are large. The long-term challenge is to shift fisheries management away from single species toward integrated social-ecological approaches that diversify local ecosystems, societies, and economies. © 2011 Society for Conservation Biology.
Abstract.
Evans LS, Brown K, Allison EH (2011). Factors influencing adaptive marine governance in a developing country context: a case study of Southern Kenya.
Ecology and Society,
16(2).
Abstract:
Factors influencing adaptive marine governance in a developing country context: a case study of Southern Kenya
Adaptive governance can be conceptualized as distinct phases of: 1) understanding environmental change; 2) using this understanding to inform decision making; and 3) acting on decisions in a manner that sustains resilience of desirable system states. Using this analytical framework, we explore governance in practice in two case studies in Kenya, that reflect the "messiness" of contemporary coastal governance in many developing country contexts. Findings suggest that adaptive marine governance is unlikely to be a smooth process of learning, knowledge sharing, and responding. There are institutional, sociocultural, and political factors, past and present, that influence each phase of both local and state decision making. New local institutions related to fisher associations and Beach Management Units influence learning and knowledge sharing in ways contrary to those expected of institutions that enable collaborative fisheries management. Similarly, state decision making is relatively uninformed by the diverse knowledge systems available in the coastal zone, despite the rhetoric of participation. Historical relations and modes of working continue to play a significant role in mediating the potential for adaptive governance in the future. The case studies are illustrative and point to a number of institutional and political issues that would need to be addressed in processes of governance reform towards more adaptive management in developing country contexts. © 2011 by the author(s).
Abstract.
Adger WN, Brown K, Waters JJ (2011). Resilience. In Dryzek JS, Norgaard RB, Schlosberg D (Eds.)
The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 696-710.
Abstract:
Resilience
Abstract.
Adger WN, Brown K, Nelson DR, Berkes F, Eakin H, Folke C, Galvin K, Gunderson L, Goulden M, O'Brien K, et al (2011). Resilience implications of policy responses to climate change.
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change,
2(5), 757-766.
Abstract:
Resilience implications of policy responses to climate change
This article examines whether some response strategies to climate variability and change have the potential to undermine long-term resilience of social-ecological systems. We define the parameters of a resilience approach, suggesting that resilience is characterized by the ability to absorb perturbations without changing overall system function, the ability to adapt within the resources of the system itself, and the ability to learn, innovate, and change. We evaluate nine current regional climate change policy responses and examine governance, sensitivity to feedbacks, and problem framing to evaluate impacts on characteristics of a resilient system. We find that some responses, such as the increase in harvest rates to deal with pine beetle infestations in Canada and expansion of biofuels globally, have the potential to undermine long-term resilience of resource systems. Other responses, such as decentralized water planning in Brazil and tropical storm disaster management in Caribbean islands, have the potential to increase long-term resilience. We argue that there are multiple sources of resilience in most systems and hence policy should identify such sources and strengthen capacities to adapt and learn. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract.
Eriksen S, Brown K (2011). Sustainable adaptation to climate change. Climate and Development, 3(1), 3-6.
Brown K (2011). Sustainable adaptation: an oxymoron?.
Climate and Development,
3(1), 21-31.
Abstract:
Sustainable adaptation: an oxymoron?
This article provides critical reflection on the notion of sustainable adaptation. It discusses how the concept resonates with debates on sustainable development, and how the key elements of sustainable adaptation presented in the literature relate to sustainable development. It discusses three major challenges to the promotion and implementation of sustainable adaptation and achievement of its objectives. First, many current approaches to adaptation are far from sustainable. Second, the relationships between poverty reduction and adaptation to climate change are complex and highly context specific. Third, sustainable adaptation may be co-opted to support development-as-usual rather than more radical options which put social justice, equity and environmental sustainability at the core. © 2011 Earthscan.
Abstract.
2010
Corbera E, Brown K (2010). Offsetting benefits? analyzing access to forest carbon.
Environment and Planning A,
42(7), 1739-1761.
Abstract:
Offsetting benefits? analyzing access to forest carbon
Emissions trading has created new forms of exchangeable property which become commodities when traded in markets designed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and mitigate climate change. This paper analyzes a set of social processes which influence who benefits from reductions in emissions generated by primary production from forest ecosystems. Informed by commodification literature, and property and access theory, we suggest that farmers and rural communities cannot derive full benefits from carbon sequestration because they lack key structural and relational mechanisms, such as capital, knowledge, expertise, technology, and, in some cases, even labour. We illustrate this argument by examining three ongoing carbon-forestry projects in China, Ecuador, and Mexico and we highlight its implications for future forestry mitigation projects and programmes. © 2010 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.
Abstract.
Bunce M, Rosendo S, Brown K (2010). Perceptions of climate change, multiple stressors and livelihoods on marginal African coasts.
Environment, Development and Sustainability,
12(3), 407-440.
Abstract:
Perceptions of climate change, multiple stressors and livelihoods on marginal African coasts
Studies of multiple stressors in Africa often focus on vulnerable inland communities. Rising concentrations of the world's poor live in coastal rural-urban areas with direct dependencies on marine as well as terrestrial ecosystem goods and services. Using participatory methods we elicited perceptions of stressors and their sources, impacts and consequences held by coastal communities in eastern Africa (Mtwara in Tanzania and Maputo in Mozambique). Respondent-informed timelines suggest wars, economic policies and natural increase have led to natural resource-dependent populations in marginal, previously little-inhabited lowland coastal areas. Respondents (n = 91) in interviews and focus groups rank climate stressors (temperature rise/erratic rain) highest amongst human/natural stressors having negative impacts on livelihoods and wellbeing (e. g. cross-scale cost of living increases including food and fuel prices). Sources of stress and impacts were mixed in time and space, complicating objective identification of causal chains. Some appeared to be specific to coastal areas. Respondents reported farms failing and rising dependence on stressed marine resources, food and fuel prices and related dependence on traders and credit shrunk by negative global market trends. Development in the guise of tourism and conservation projects limited access to land-sea livelihoods and resources in rural-urban areas (coastal squeeze). Mental modelling clarified resource user perceptions of complex linkages from local to international levels. We underline risks of the poor in marginal coastal areas facing double or multiple exposures to multiple stressors, with climate variability suggesting the risks of climate change. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Abstract.
Bunce M, Brown K, Rosendo S (2010). Policy misfits, climate change and cross-scale vulnerability in coastal Africa: how development projects undermine resilience.
Environmental Science and Policy,
13(6), 485-497.
Abstract:
Policy misfits, climate change and cross-scale vulnerability in coastal Africa: how development projects undermine resilience
Coastal social ecological systems in eastern Africa are subject to a range of environmental, social and economic changes. They are already vulnerable to these multiple stressors, and the impacts of climate change are likely to further exacerbate their vulnerabilities. Some of these impacts may be observed and experienced already. The analysis presented in this paper is based on mixed methods empirical research exploring local perceptions of recent changes at four sites in coastal Tanzania and Mozambique. People recognise and rank a number of climate and non-climate stressors which have contributed towards more risky and less diverse livelihoods. Importantly, regional and international policy initiatives - in the form of river basin management in Mozambique and South Africa, and development of a Marine Protected Area in Tanzania - are perceived to further erode resilience and exacerbate vulnerabilities. We suggest this is a form of policy misfit, where policies developed to address a specific issue do not take account of cross-scale dynamics of change, the interactions between multiple stressors, nor longer term climate change. This policy misfit may be remedied by a move towards adaptive forms of governance, and necessitates an explicit focus on building the adaptive capacity of the poor and most vulnerable in society. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract.
Adger WN, Brown K, Conway D (2010). Progress in global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 20(4), 547-549.
Corbera E, Estrada M, Brown K (2010). Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries: Revisiting the assumptions.
Climatic Change,
100(3), 355-388.
Abstract:
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries: Revisiting the assumptions
The United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at its thirteenth meeting in 2005 (COP-11), agreed to start a work program to explore a range of policy approaches and positive incentives for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). This process was further encouraged in the 2007 COP-13 with the explicit consideration of REDD activities as a means to enhance mitigation action by developing countries in the future. This paper outlines the context of this ongoing political process by reviewing the science indicating that land-use change is a key contributor of greenhouse emissions globally and the assumptions that REDD activities may be competitive-in terms of cost effectiveness-in comparison to other mitigation options. The paper then examines REDD proposals submitted by Parties before COP-13 and identifies key economic, technological, methodological and institutional challenges associated with their implementation. These proposals are discussed in the light of major drivers of deforestation and ongoing efforts to address deforestation. This reveals another set of challenges which, if not taken into account, may undermine REDD effectiveness. The paper aims to aid the policy process and contribute to the best possible design of a REDD framework under the future climate regime. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Abstract.
Pretty J, Sutherland WJ, Ashby J, Auburn J, Baulcombe D, Bell M, Bentley J, Bickersteth S, Brown K, Burke J, et al (2010). The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture.
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability,
8(4), 219-236.
Abstract:
The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture
Despite a significant growth in food production over the past half-century, one of the most important challenges facing society today is how to feed an expected population of some nine billion by the middle of the 20th century. To meet the expected demand for food without significant increases in prices, it has been estimated that we need to produce 70-100 per cent more food, in light of the growing impacts of climate change, concerns over energy security, regional dietary shifts and the Millennium Development target of halving world poverty and hunger by 2015. The goal for the agricultural sector is no longer simply to maximize productivity, but to optimize across a far more complex landscape of production, rural development, environmental, social justice and food consumption outcomes. However, there remain significant challenges to developing national and international policies that support the wide emergence of more sustainable forms of land use and efficient agricultural production. The lack of information flow between scientists, practitioners and policy makers is known to exacerbate the difficulties, despite increased emphasis upon evidence-based policy. In this paper, we seek to improve dialogue and understanding between agricultural research and policy by identifying the 100 most important questions for global agriculture. These have been compiled using a horizon-scanning approach with leading experts and representatives of major agricultural organizations worldwide. The aim is to use sound scientific evidence to inform decision making and guide policy makers in the future direction of agricultural research priorities and policy support. If addressed, we anticipate that these questions will have a significant impact on global agricultural practices worldwide, while improving the synergy between agricultural policy, practice and research. This research forms part of the UK Government's Foresight Global Food and Farming Futures project. © 2010 Earthscan.
Abstract.
2009
Adger N, Brown K (2009). Adaptation, vulnerability and resilience: ecological and social perspectives. In Castree N, Demeritt D, Liverman D, Rhoads B (Eds.)
A Companion to Environmental Geography, Oxford: Blackwell, 109-122.
Abstract:
Adaptation, vulnerability and resilience: ecological and social perspectives
Abstract.
Brooks N, Grist N, Brown K (2009). Development futures in the context of climate change: Challenging the present and learning from the past.
Development Policy Review,
27(6), 741-765.
Abstract:
Development futures in the context of climate change: Challenging the present and learning from the past
Climate change poses a challenge to the dominant development paradigm with its concepts of modernisation, economic growth and globalisation which treat the environment as an externality and largely ignore climate variability. This article explores the extent of the challenge, drawing on archaeological evidence showing that adaptation to severe climate change can involve much more radical changes in human societies than are currently envisaged. Furthermore, short-term adaptation can result in long-term maladaptation, increasing vulnerability to climate shocks. The article argues that development urgently needs to shift its focus away from prevailing growth and yield-maximisation models towards alternatives encouraging resilience and risk-spreading. © the Authors 2009. Journal compilation © 2009 Overseas Development Institute.
Abstract.
Wolf J, Brown K, Conway D (2009). Ecological citizenship and climate change: Perceptions and practice.
Environmental Politics,
18(4), 503-521.
Abstract:
Ecological citizenship and climate change: Perceptions and practice
Ecological citizenship presents a normative account of how citizens should conduct their lives, reducing their environmental impact. Little research has characterised ecological citizenship in practice or in the context of climate change. Q methodology is applied to a case study in Canada to scrutinise how individuals respond to climate change. The results identify four factors - the communitarian, the systemist, the sceptic and the economist - three of which suggest strongly that participants act on perceived individual responsibility for climate change. Practising ecological citizenship motivates individuals' responses to climate change. The actions taken suggest that behavioural change is the result of a complex negotiation between living standards, knowledge of causes of and contributions to climate change, and perceived intensity of greenhouse gas emission. The practice of ecological citizenship involves individuals' actions as voters and consumers, and concerns the power and justice implications of a resource intensive Western lifestyle. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
Abstract.
Hultman NE, Boyd E, Roberts JT, Cole J, Corbera E, Ebeling J, Brown K, Liverman DM (2009). How can the clean development mechanism better contribute to sustainable development?. Ambio, 38(2), 120-122.
Brown K (2009). Human development and environmental governance: a reality check. In (Ed)
Governing Sustainability, 32-52.
Abstract:
Human development and environmental governance: a reality check
Abstract.
McClanahan TR, Cinner JE, Graham NAJ, Daw TM, Maina J, Stead SM, Wamukota A, Brown K, Venus V, Polunin NVC, et al (2009). Identifying reefs of hope and hopeful actions: Contextualizing environmental, ecological, and social parameters to respond effectively to climate change.
Conservation Biology,
23(3), 662-671.
Abstract:
Identifying reefs of hope and hopeful actions: Contextualizing environmental, ecological, and social parameters to respond effectively to climate change
Priorities for conservation, management, and associated activities will differ based on the interplay between nearness of ecosystems to full recovery from a disturbance (pristineness), susceptibility to climate change (environmental susceptibility [ES]), and capacity of human communities to cope with and adapt to change (social adaptive capacity [AC]). We studied 24 human communities and adjacent coral reef ecosystems in 5 countries of the southwestern Indian Ocean. We used ecological measures of abundance and diversity of fishes and corals, estimated reef pristineness, and conducted socioeconomic household surveys to determine the AC of communities adjacent to selected coral reefs. We also used Web-based oceanographic and coral mortality data to predict each site's ES to climate warming. Coral reefs of Mauritius and eastern Madagascar had low ES and consequently were not predicted to be affected strongly by warm water, although these sites were differentiated by the AC of the human community. The higher AC in Mauritius may increase the chances for successful self-initiated recovery and protective management of reefs of this island. In contrast, Madagascar may require donor support to build AC as a prerequisite to preservation efforts. The Seychelles and Kenya had high ES, but their levels of AC and disturbance differed. The high AC in the Seychelles could be used to develop alternatives to dependence on coral reef resources and reduce the effects of climate change. Pristineness weighted toward measures of fish recovery was greatest for Kenya's marine protected areas; however, most protected areas in the region were far from pristine. Conservation priorities and actions with realistic chances for success require knowledge of where socioecological systems lie among the 3 axes of environment, ecology, and society. © 2009 Society for Conservation Biology.
Abstract.
Corbera E, Soberanis CG, Brown K (2009). Institutional dimensions of Payments for Ecosystem Services: an analysis of Mexico's carbon forestry programme.
Ecological Economics,
68(3), 743-761.
Abstract:
Institutional dimensions of Payments for Ecosystem Services: an analysis of Mexico's carbon forestry programme
This article proposes a multi-dimensional framework for understanding the development and effectiveness of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes, framed around the notions of institutional design, performance and interplay. The framework is applied in the context of Mexico's Programme of Payments for Carbon, Biodiversity and Agro-forestry Services (PSA-CABSA), with an emphasis on its carbon component. The analysis shows that PSA-CABSA was promoted by civil society and its rules have been subject to continuous modifications over time. In the case of the carbon component, changes have been due to an original misunderstanding of how carbon projects should be designed, implemented, and carbon traded in actual markets. From a performance point of view, the paper shows that the programme has been well received by rural communities, and carbon payments have contributed to increase household income and to enhance forest management practices and organisational skills. The paper also highlights sources of institutional interplay with local institutions and international climate policy, and it reveals the importance of capacity and scale issues in securing an effective and fair implementation of PES. The conclusion provides some policy recommendations for the future development of PES initiatives in Mexico and elsewhere. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Boyd E, Hultman N, Timmons Roberts J, Corbera E, Cole J, Bozmoski A, Ebeling J, Tippman R, Mann P, Brown K, et al (2009). Reforming the CDM for sustainable development: lessons learned and policy futures.
Environmental Science and Policy,
12(7), 820-831.
Abstract:
Reforming the CDM for sustainable development: lessons learned and policy futures
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has successfully demonstrated that market-based mechanisms can achieve some cost effective emissions reductions in developing countries. However the distribution of CDM projects has been extremely uneven across countries and regions, and a few technologies and sectors have dominated the early stages of CDM experience. This has caused some to question whether the CDM has fallen short of its potential in contributing to sustainable development. We review the broad patterns of CDM project approvals and evaluate 10 CDM projects according to their sustainability benefits. The difficulty of defining "sustainable development" and the process of defining criteria by individual non-Annex 1 governments has meant that sustainable development concerns have been marginalized in some countries. Given these observed limitations, we present possible CDM policy futures, focusing on the main proposals for a post-2012 climate regime. Five options for enhancing the sustainable development benefits in the CDM are discussed, including proactive approaches to favour eligibility of emission reduction projects which ensure such co-benefits. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Doulton H, Brown K (2009). Ten years to prevent catastrophe?. Discourses of climate change and international development in the UK press.
Global Environmental Change,
19(2), 191-202.
Abstract:
Ten years to prevent catastrophe?. Discourses of climate change and international development in the UK press
The science of climate change is full of uncertainty, but the greater vulnerability of poor countries to the impacts of climate change is one aspect that is widely acknowledged. This paper adapts Dryzek's 'components' approach to discourse analysis to explore the media construction of climate change and development in UK 'quality' newspapers between 1997 and 2007. Eight discourses are identified from more than 150 articles, based on the entities recognised, assumptions about natural relationships, agents and their motives, rhetorical devices and normative judgements. They show a wide range of opinions regarding the impacts of climate change on development and the appropriate action to be taken. Discourses concerned with likely severe impacts have dominated coverage in the Guardian and the Independent since 1997, and in all four papers since 2006. Previously discourses proposing that climate change was a low development priority had formed the coverage in the Times and the Telegraph. The classification of different discourses allows an inductive, nuanced analysis of the factors influencing representation of climate change and development issues; an analysis which highlights the role of key events, individual actors, newspaper ideology and wider social and political factors. Overall the findings demonstrate media perceptions of a rising sense of an impending catastrophe for the developing world that is defenceless without the help of the West, perpetuating to an extent views of the poor as victims. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Adger WN, Brown K (2009). Vulnerability and Resilience to Environmental Change: Ecological and Social Perspectives. , 109-122.
Allison EH, Perry AL, Badjeck MC, Neil Adger W, Brown K, Conway D, Halls AS, Pilling GM, Reynolds JD, Andrew NL, et al (2009). Vulnerability of national economies to the impacts of climate change on fisheries.
Fish and Fisheries,
10(2), 173-196.
Abstract:
Vulnerability of national economies to the impacts of climate change on fisheries
Anthropogenic global warming has significantly influenced physical and biological processes at global and regional scales. The observed and anticipated changes in global climate present significant opportunities and challenges for societies and economies. We compare the vulnerability of 132 national economies to potential climate change impacts on their capture fisheries using an indicator-based approach. Countries in Central and Western Africa (e.g. Malawi, Guinea, Senegal, and Uganda), Peru and Colombia in north-western South America, and four tropical Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Yemen) were identified as most vulnerable. This vulnerability was due to the combined effect of predicted warming, the relative importance of fisheries to national economies and diets, and limited societal capacity to adapt to potential impacts and opportunities. Many vulnerable countries were also among the world's least developed countries whose inhabitants are among the world's poorest and twice as reliant on fish, which provides 27% of dietary protein compared to 13% in less vulnerable countries. These countries also produce 20% of the world's fish exports and are in greatest need of adaptation planning to maintain or enhance the contribution that fisheries can make to poverty reduction. Although the precise impacts and direction of climate-driven change for particular fish stocks and fisheries are uncertain, our analysis suggests they are likely to lead to either increased economic hardship or missed opportunities for development in countries that depend upon fisheries but lack the capacity to adapt. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Abstract.
Fisher J, Brown K (2009). Wind energy on the Isle of Lewis: Implications for deliberative planning.
Environment and Planning A,
41(10), 2516-2536.
Abstract:
Wind energy on the Isle of Lewis: Implications for deliberative planning
Under a new nationalist leadership, the Scottish Government has recently increased its renewable energy targets but rejected a controversial large windfarm proposal on the Isle of Lewis. This paper explores the nature of support and opposition to windfarm developments on Lewis. In doing so, we build on recent literature which has promoted a discursive approach to wind energy debates, to enable a more explanatory, rather than descriptive, analysis. A novel combination of Q methodology and more conventional qualitative work is deployed to identify and elaborate five distinct discourses on the Lewis Wind proposal. Each displays a different rationality and set of priorities on the economy, landscape, and environment, and ultimately represents a different vision of development in the Western Isles. The paper explores the challenges that such a clash of values presents to the planning process and reflects upon what can be learnt about deliberative planning from this case. © 2009 Pion Ltd.
Abstract.
2008
Corbera E, Brown K (2008). Building Institutions to Trade Ecosystem Services: Marketing Forest Carbon in Mexico.
World Development,
36(10), 1956-1979.
Abstract:
Building Institutions to Trade Ecosystem Services: Marketing Forest Carbon in Mexico
This paper analyzes institutional design, organizational capacity, and interplay in markets for ecosystem services. It examines the development of a market-based mechanism to commercialize forest carbon in Mexico through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This is compared with a State-run carbon forestry program aiming to provide emission rights to voluntary, retail-based, carbon markets. Marketing forest carbon is hampered by lack of organizational capacity in government and civil society, uncertainties in the international policy process, and the interplay with existing common property institutions in rural Mexico. The paper identifies theoretical and practical barriers to implementing institutional arrangements for forest carbon trading. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Kosoy N, Corbera E, Brown K (2008). Participation in payments for ecosystem services: Case studies from the Lacandon rainforest, Mexico.
Geoforum,
39(6), 2073-2083.
Abstract:
Participation in payments for ecosystem services: Case studies from the Lacandon rainforest, Mexico
Understanding people's willingness to participate in projects and programmes of payments for ecosystem services (PES) has not been a key analytical concern of the scholarly literature around this new field of environmental policy and practice. This paper analyses participation in four communities benefiting from payments for biodiversity and carbon fixation in Mexico, and contrasts the results for each case with neighbouring communities that do not receive payments. We take a holistic approach that accounts for procedural rules, actors' interactions, institutions and values, and individuals' characteristics. We show that the nature of PES rules and the effectiveness of communication with government officers and NGOs influence resource managers' ability and willingness to participate. We highlight community size, resource managers' ability to diversify livelihood activities and local perspectives on the conservation of common forests, particularly sacred values and intergenerational concerns on forest conservation, as critical participation drivers. This analysis provides insights on why and how these new institutions may be attractive for some resource managers and permits to draw some recommendations for the future design of PES projects and programmes. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Tompkins EL, Few R, Brown K (2008). Scenario-based stakeholder engagement: incorporating stakeholders preferences into coastal planning for climate change.
J Environ Manage,
88(4), 1580-1592.
Abstract:
Scenario-based stakeholder engagement: incorporating stakeholders preferences into coastal planning for climate change.
Climate change poses many challenges for ecosystem and resource management. In particular, coastal planners are struggling to find ways to prepare for the potential impacts of future climate change while dealing with immediate pressures. Decisions on how to respond to future risks are complicated by the long time horizons and the uncertainty associated with the distribution of impacts. Existing coastal zone management approaches in the UK either do not adequately incorporate changing stakeholder preferences, or effectively ensure that stakeholders are aware of the trade-offs inherent in any coastal management decision. Using a novel method, scenario-based stakeholder engagement, which brings together stakeholder analysis, climate change management scenarios and deliberative techniques, the necessary trade-offs associated with long term coastal planning are explored. The method is applied to two case studies of coastal planning in Christchurch Bay on the south coast of England and the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. A range of conflicting preferences exist on the ideal governance structure to manage the coast under different climate change scenarios. In addition, the results show that public understanding of the trade-offs that have to be made is critical in gaining some degree of public support for long term coastal decision-making. We conclude that scenario-based stakeholder engagement is a useful tool to facilitate coastal management planning that takes into account the complexities and challenges of climate change, and could be used in conjunction with existing approaches such as the Shoreline Management Planning process.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2007
Nelson DR, Adger WN, Brown K (2007). Adaptation to environmental change: contributions of a resilience framework.
Annual Review of Environment and Resources,
32, 395-419.
Abstract:
Adaptation to environmental change: contributions of a resilience framework
Adaptation is a process of deliberate change in anticipation of or in reaction to external stimuli and stress. The dominant research tradition on adaptation to environmental change primarily takes an actorcentered view, focusing on the agency of social actors to respond to specific environmental stimuli and emphasizing the reduction of vulnerabilities. The resilience approach is systems orientated, takes a more dynamic view, and sees adaptive capacity as a core feature of resilient social-ecological systems. The two approaches converge in identifying necessary components of adaptation. We argue that resilience provides a useful framework to analyze adaptation processes and to identify appropriate policy responses. We distinguish between incremental adjustments and transformative action and demonstrate that the sources of resilience for taking adaptive action are common across scales. These are the inherent system characteristics that absorb perturbations without losing function, networks and social capital that allow autonomous action, and resources that promote institutional learning. Copyright ©2007 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Few R, Brown K, Tompkins EL (2007). Climate change and coastal management decisions: Insights from Christchurch Bay, UK.
Coastal Management,
35(2-3), 255-270.
Abstract:
Climate change and coastal management decisions: Insights from Christchurch Bay, UK
The integration of climate change adaptation considerations into management of the coast poses major challenges for decision makers. This article reports on a case study undertaken in Christchurch Bay, UK, examining local capacity for strategic response to climate risks, with a particular focus on issues surrounding coastal defense. Drawing primarily on qualitative research with local and regional stakeholders, the analysis identifies fundamental disjunctures between generic concerns over climate change and the adaptive capacity of local management institutions. Closely linked with issues of scale, the problems highlighted here are likely to have broad and continuing relevance for future coastal management elsewhere.
Abstract.
Few R, Brown K, Tompkins EL (2007). Public participation and climate change adaptation: Avoiding the illusion of inclusion.
Climate Policy,
7(1), 46-59.
Abstract:
Public participation and climate change adaptation: Avoiding the illusion of inclusion
Public participation is commonly advocated in policy responses to climate change. Here we discuss prospects for inclusive approaches to adaptation, drawing particularly on studies of long-term coastal management in the UK and elsewhere. We affirm that public participation is an important normative goal in formulating response to climate change risks, but argue that its practice must learn from existing critiques of participatory processes in other contexts. Involving a wide range of stakeholders in decision-making presents fundamental challenges for climate policy, many of which are embedded in relations of power. In the case of anticipatory responses to climate change, these challenges are magnified because of the long-term and uncertain nature of the problem. Without due consideration of these issues, a tension between principles of public participation and anticipatory adaptation is likely to emerge and may result in an overly managed form of inclusion that is unlikely to satisfy either participatory or instrumental goals. Alternative, more narrowly instrumental, approaches to participation are more likely to succeed in this context, as long as the scope and limitations of public involvement are made explicit from the outset. © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Corbera E, Brown K, Adger NW (2007). The equity and legitimacy of markets for ecosystem services.
Development and Change,
38(4), 587-613.
Abstract:
The equity and legitimacy of markets for ecosystem services
Markets for ecosystem services are being promoted across the developing world, amidst claims that the provision of economic incentives is vital to bring about resource conservation. This article argues that equity and legitimacy are also critical dimensions in the design and implementation of such markets, if social development goals beyond economic gains are to be achieved. The article examines this issue by focusing on two communities involved in a project for carbon sequestration services of forests in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The perceived legitimacy of the activities and the distribution of economic outcomes and project-related information are found to be mediated by organizational allegiances and the history of social relations regarding access to property and forest resources. Political affiliation determines the project's legitimacy, while the poorest farmers and women have been excluded from project design and implementation. The authors argue that pitfalls such as these contribute to reinforcing existing power structures, inequities and vulnerabilities, and suggest that this is a product of the nature of emerging markets. Markets for ecosystem services are, in effect, limited in promoting more legitimate forms of decision making and a more equitable distribution of their outcomes. © Institute of Social Studies 2007.
Abstract.
2006
Lowe T, Brown K, Dessai S, Doria MDF, Haynes K, Vincent K (2006). Does tomorrow ever come? Disaster narrative and public perceptions of climate change.
PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE,
15(4), 435-457.
Author URL.
Pyhälä A, Brown K, Neil Adger W (2006). Implications of livelihood dependence on non-timber products in Peruvian Amazonia.
Ecosystems,
9(8), 1328-1341.
Abstract:
Implications of livelihood dependence on non-timber products in Peruvian Amazonia
The present and future well-being of the world's forest dwelling populations depends on their ability to gain livelihood resources from their immediate environment. Sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products has been promoted by conservationists and development agencies as a feasible strategy for forest dwellers that does not compromise the resource base. Yet surveys of actual resource use suggest that for poorer resource-dependent communities without access to markets, non-timber forest products can only ever represent a safety-net activity and a supplementary income source. Others argue that resource availability, in terms of the diversity and productivity of the forest, is the key parameter in realizing a contribution of forest products to well-being. This paper examines the scope and heterogeneity of forest product use to reveal whether resource availability necessarily provides the context for significant contributions to well-being of forest dwellers. We present data from an area of tropical rainforest, close to Iquitos in Peru, which was previously shown to have high potential value. We find, through a census survey of households within a forest reserve area, that non-timber forest products provide only a relatively small portion of income and that only a small proportion of available products are actually commercialized, despite apparent market availability. We show that the low rates of commercialization can be explained by unequal access capital assets used for extraction, to natural resources themselves, and to product markets. They are also explained by the concentration of capital-poor households on subsistence gathering activities. The value of destructive uses of forests, both logging and agriculture, remain higher than returns from non-timber products. This research demonstrates that although non-timber forest products are an important livelihood source, market integration and commercialization is not everywhere an appropriate or realistic strategy. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
Abstract.
2005
Brown K (2005). Addressing trade-offs in forest landscape restoration. In (Ed) Forest Restoration in Landscapes: Beyond Planting Trees, 59-64.
Adger WN, Brown K, Hulme M (2005). Redefining global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 15(1), 1-4.
Eriksen SH, Brown K, Kelly PM (2005). The dynamics of vulnerability: Locating coping strategies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Geographical Journal,
171(4), 287-305.
Abstract:
The dynamics of vulnerability: Locating coping strategies in Kenya and Tanzania
We investigate how smallholder farmers at two sites in Kenya and Tanzania cope with climate stress and how constraints and opportunities shape variations in coping strategies between households and over time during a drought. On the basis of this analysis, we draw out implications for adaptation and adaptive policy. We find that households where an individual was able to specialize in one favoured activity, such as employment or charcoal burning, in the context of overall diversification by the household, were often less vulnerable than households where each individual is engaged in many activities at intensity. Many households had limited access to the favoured coping options due to a lack of skill, labour and/or capital. This lack of access was compounded by social relations that led to exclusion of certain groups, especially women, from carrying out favoured activities with sufficient intensity. These households instead carried out a multitude of less favoured and frequently complementary activities, such as collecting indigenous fruit. While characterized by suitability to seasonal environmental variations and low demands on time and cash investments, these strategies often yielded marginal returns. Both the marginalization of local niche products and the commercialization of forest resources exemplify processes leading to differential vulnerability. We suggest that vulnerability can usefully be viewed in terms of the interaction of such processes, following the concept of locality. We argue that coping is a distinct component of vulnerability and that understanding the dynamism of coping and vulnerability is critical to developing adaptation measures that support people as active agents. © 2005 the Royal Geographical Society.
Abstract.
Adger WN, Brown K, Tompkins EL (2005). The political economy of cross-scale networks in resource co-management.
Ecology and Society,
10(2).
Abstract:
The political economy of cross-scale networks in resource co-management
We investigate linkages between stakeholders in resource management that occur at different spatial and institutional levels and identify the winners and losers in such interactions. So-called crossscale interactions emerge because of the benefits to individual stakeholder groups in undertaking them or the high costs of not undertaking them. Hence there are uneven gains from cross-scale interactions that are themselves an integral part of social-ecological system governance. The political economy framework outlined here suggests that the determinants of the emergence of cross-scale interactions are the exercise of relative power between stakeholders and their costs of accessing and creating linkages. Cross-scale interactions by powerful stakeholders have the potential to undermine trust in resource management arrangements. If government regulators, for example, mobilize information and resources from cross-level interactions to reinforce their authority, this often disempowers other stakeholders such as resource users. Offsetting such impacts, some cross-scale interactions can be empowering for local level user groups in creating social and political capital. These issues are illustrated with observations on resource management in a marine protected area in Tobago in the Caribbean. The case study demonstrates that the structure of the cross-scale interplay, in terms of relative winners and losers, determines its contribution to the resilience of social-ecological systems. Copyright © 2005 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance.
Abstract.
2004
Brown K (2004). Today is the time to take environmental action [3]. Nature, 431(7011).
2003
Adger WN, Huq S, Brown K, Conway D, Hulme M (2003). Adaptation to climate change in the developing world. Progress in Development Studies, 3(3), 179-195.
Muchagata M, Brown K (2003). Cows, colonists and trees: Rethinking cattle and environmental degradation in Brazilian Amazonia.
Agricultural Systems,
76(3), 797-816.
Abstract:
Cows, colonists and trees: Rethinking cattle and environmental degradation in Brazilian Amazonia
This paper examines the role of cattle production in the evolution of smallholder farming systems in a frontier region of Brazilian Amazonia. There are many incentives for smallholders to raise cattle, but the success of cattle enterprises depends on a number of factors, both endogenous and exogenous to individual farms. A key factor in the intensification of cattle production is pasture management. We identify three models of pasture management, reflecting different levels of specialisation and intensification of production systems. Contrary to conventional wisdom, our findings indicate that pasture quality and degradation are related to under-utilisation and low stocking rates. This suggests that more intensive systems may be more ecologically sustainable in some contexts. However sustainable intensification strategies, which could potentially contribute to frontier stabilisation, depend on investment in infrastructure, markets and social capital beyond the capacity of individual farms or farmers. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Brown K, Corbera E (2003). Exploring equity and sustainable development in the new carbon economy.
Climate Policy,
3(SUPPL 1).
Abstract:
Exploring equity and sustainable development in the new carbon economy
Ambitious claims have been made about the development benefits of market-based policy instruments for climate mitigation. We examine the implications of forest carbon projects for different aspects of equity and sustainable development. We apply a stakeholder multi-criteria assessment to explore the range of stakeholders, their roles, interests and perspectives, to a case study in Mexico. Two elements of equity, access to markets and forests, and legitimacy in decision-making and institutions, are discussed. Robust cross-scale institutional frameworks are necessary to ensure that objectives for equity and sustainable development are met and that already marginalised sectors of society are not excluded. These institutions are still developing and their establishment brings together many different stakeholders from government, private sector and civil society. However, the ability of the "new carbon economy" to provide real benefits for sustainable development may ultimately be constrained by the nature of the market itself. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Adger WN, Brown K, Fairbrass J, Jordan A, Paavola J, Rosendo S, Seyfang G (2003). Governance for sustainability: Towards a 'thick' analysis of environmental decisionmaking.
Environment and Planning A,
35(6), 1095-1110.
Abstract:
Governance for sustainability: Towards a 'thick' analysis of environmental decisionmaking
Environmental decisions made by individuals, civil society, and the state involve questions of economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness, equity, and political legitimacy. These four criteria are constitutive of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, which has become the dominant rhetorical device of environmental governance. We discuss the tendency for disciplinary research to focus on particular subsets of the four criteria, and argue that such a practice promotes solutions that do not acknowledge the dynamics of scale and the heterogeneity of institutional contexts. We advocate an interdisciplinary framework for the analysis of environmental decision making that seeks to identify legitimate and context-sensitive institutional solutions producing equitable, efficient, and effective outcomes. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach by using it to examine decisions concerning contested nature conservation and multiple-use commons in the management of Hickling Broad in Norfolk in the United Kingdom. We conclude that interdisciplinary approaches enable the generalisation and transfer of lessons in a way that respects the specifics and context of the issue at hand.
Abstract.
Brown K (2003). Integrating conservation and development: a case of institutional misfit.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment,
1(9), 479-487.
Abstract:
Integrating conservation and development: a case of institutional misfit
© the Ecological Society of America. Designing appropriate management institutions for the successful integration of conservation and development has proven very difficult. It appears that these activities and interventions often fail to meet either ecological or social objectives. But does this mean that we should abandon our attempts? This paper explores the concept of institutional fit to explain these problems, using an example of a protected area in the Terai region of Nepal. Integration of conservation and development goals is constrained by a lack of fit between the institutions and ecosystems, and between sets of stakeholders. To succeed, we need innovative institutions based on adaptive management, as well as more equitable and inclusionary decision making.
Abstract.
Brown K (2003). Three challenges for a real people-centred conservation.
Global Ecology and Biogeography,
12(2), 89-92.
Abstract:
Three challenges for a real people-centred conservation
Many commentators attest to a paradigm shift in biodiversity conservation, away from exclusive protected areas towards more people-centred or community-based conservation. This has been referred to as 'new conservation'. However, new conservation could be thought of as an attempt to re-label and re-package conservation and to 'get people on board' existing strategies. According to its critics even so-called new conservation policy, practice and institutions remain expert-driven, undemocratic and autocratic. I argue that for new conservation to become reality, then more fundamental changes in priority-setting, decision-making and organization are required. This paper presents three challenges for a real people-centred conservation: a more pluralist approach to understanding knowledge and values of different actors, greater deliberation and inclusion in decision-making, and a remodelling of institutions to support conservation.
Abstract.
2002
Brown K (2002). Innovations for conservation and development.
Geographical Journal,
168(1), 6-17.
Abstract:
Innovations for conservation and development
This paper examines attempts to integrate the objectives of biodiversity conservation and social and economic development through a variety of approaches associated with different forms of protected areas and generally labelled as 'integrated conservation and development'. It examines how the linkages between conservation and development are conceptualized, and the types of policy prescriptions and associated models and practice of integrating conservation and development. It identifies misconceptions about four key aspects that are common in conventional integrated conservation and development approaches. These difficulties involve the conceptualization of community, participation, empowerment and sustainability. Integrated conservation and development projects have often floundered as a result of over-simplification of these factors. It assesses attempts made to overcome these common misconceptions through examining the experiences of two innovative approaches to integrating conservation and development in the Caribbean and in Amazonia. It concludes that fundamental changes are necessary to institutions and management and decision-making strategies to address these issues and to effectively meet conservation and development objectives.
Abstract.
Tompkins E, Adger WN, Brown K (2002). Institutional networks for inclusive coastal management in Trinidad and Tobago.
Environment and Planning A,
34(6), 1095-1111.
Abstract:
Institutional networks for inclusive coastal management in Trinidad and Tobago
The authors consider the role of institutional networks in integrated and inclusive coastal- zone management in Trinidad and Tobago. Drawing on theories of social institutions, a framework for understanding the institutional prerequisites for participatory management is developed. In this framework, distinction is made between institutions at the community, formal-organisational, and national regulatory levels and the means by which institutions adapt to and learn about new issues in terms of networks of dependence and exchange are characterised. The immediate networks between actors (their spaces of dependence) are augmented by wider networks between institutions at various scales (their spaces of exchange). This framework is applied to a case study of resource management in Trinidad and Tobago. Semistructured interviews with key government urban and economic planners, fisheries regulators, and other agents in Trinidad and Tobago, and a participatory workshop for resource managers, are used to identify the percieved opportunities and constraints relating to integrated and inclusive resource management within the social institutions. The findings are analysed through an exploration of the spaces of dependence and exchange that exist in the various social networks at the different institutional scales. The prescriptive relevance of this approach is in the demonstration of the nature of change required in social institutions at all scales to facilitate integrated and inclusive resource management.
Abstract.
2001
Brown K, Lapuyade S (2001). A livelihood from the forest: Gendered visions or social economic and environmental change in southern Cameroon.
Journal of International Development,
13(8), 1131-1149.
Abstract:
A livelihood from the forest: Gendered visions or social economic and environmental change in southern Cameroon
This paper explores divergent perceptions and experiences of social, economic and environmental change of villagers in Southern Cameroon arguing that the economic crisis has impacted very differently on men and women within the same community and within households. The analysis highlights shifts in cropping patterns towards increased food crops, especially cassava and plantain, for cash. Sources of livelihood for men have diversified in the face of economic crisis, whereas women have reduced room to manoeuvre. This results in women becoming increasingly dependent on utilizing non-timber forest products for cash in order to meet their livelihood needs. However pressures on forest are increasing for a number of reasons and access to land and trees is becoming constrained, so future benefits from forest products will be contingent on clear, well defined and enforced community property rights. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract.
Neil Adger W, Benjaminsen TA, Brown K, Svarstad H (2001). Advancing a political ecology of global environmental discourses.
Development and Change,
32(4), 681-715.
Abstract:
Advancing a political ecology of global environmental discourses
In the past decade international and national environmental policy and action have been dominated by issues generally defined as global environmental problems. In this article, we identify the major discourses associated with four global environmental issues: deforestation, desertification, biodiversity use and climate change. These discourses are analysed in terms of their messages, narrative structures and policy prescriptions. We find striking parallels in the nature and structure of the discourses and in their illegibility at the local scale. In each of the four areas there is a global environmental management discourse representing a technocentric worldview by which blueprints based on external policy interventions can solve global environmental dilemmas. Each issue also has a contrasting populist discourse that portrays local actors as victims of external interventions bringing about degradation and exploitation. The managerial discourses dominate in all four issues, but important inputs are also supplied to political decisions from populist discourses. There are, in addition, heterodox ideas and denial claims in each of these areas, to a greater or lesser extent, in which the existence or severity of the environmental problem are questioned. We present evidence from location-specific research which does not fit easily with the dominant managerialist nor with the populist discourses. The research shows that policy-making institutions are distanced from the resource users and that local scale environmental management moves with a distinct dynamic and experiences alternative manifestations of environmental change and livelihood imperatives.
Abstract.
Brown K (2001). Cut and run? Evolving institutions for global forest governance.
Journal of International Development,
13(7), 893-905.
Abstract:
Cut and run? Evolving institutions for global forest governance
The unsustainable management of forests worldwide has been presented as a problem of global proportions by environmentalists since the 1970s. In the past decade the role of forests has also become a major development issue. However the international forest problem is represented differently by different interests. This paper examines aspects of the forest problem and the arguments for and against global action for forest governance. The different policy mechanisms applied and recommended are discussed, and the prospects for successful negotiation and implementation of a global agreement on forests are reviewed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Abstract.
Brown K, Ekoko F (2001). Forest encounters: Synergy among agents of forest change in southern Cameroon.
Society and Natural Resources,
14(4), 269-290.
Abstract:
Forest encounters: Synergy among agents of forest change in southern Cameroon
This article investigates how different actors and agents of forest change interact, and whether their interactions have an enhanced impact on forest management or on livelihoods of local villagers. Studies of forest cover change indicate that multiple agents and causes may speed deforestation. We disaggregate and interrogate the conventional polarization of local villagers versus external loggers and show how multiple actors interact in a dynamic context. We investigate these issues through studies of three villages in the Humid Forest Zone of Cameroon in Central Africa. We examine different actors' strategies in the face of external and internal pressures and stimuli. Economic crisis in Cameroon has impacted on local livelihoods as well as logging strategies of timber companies, and this has led to diverse alliances, conflicts, and outcomes. Our study shows that the combined action of local actors has synergistic or enhanced impacts in three ways. First, impacts are enhanced through accelerated extensification of cultivation in forest; second, through increased access to markets; and third, through increased migration to rural areas. These synergistic impacts are brought about by a number of mechanisms, of which the opening of new roads in forest areas is most important. A number of policy measures, including the effective enforcement of the legal mechanisms, clarification of property rights, and creation of spaces or platforms for negotiation between the different actors, are necessary to ameliorate the negative synergistic impacts of their interactions.
Abstract.
Brown K, Ekoko F (2001). Forest encounters: Synergy among agents of forest change in southern cameroon.
Society and Natural Resources,
14(4), 269-290.
Abstract:
Forest encounters: Synergy among agents of forest change in southern cameroon
This article investigates how different actors and agents of forest change interact, and whether their interactions have an enhanced impact on forest management or on livelihoods of local villagers. Studies of forest cover change indicate that multiple agents and causes may speed deforestation. We disaggregate and interrogate the conventional polarization of local villagers versus external loggers and show how multiple actors interact in a dynamic context. We investigate these issues through studies of three villages in the Humid Forest Zone of Cameroon in Central Africa. We examine different actors' strategies in the face of external and internal pressures and stimuli. Economic crisis in Cameroon has impacted on local livelihoods as well as logging strategies of timber companies, and this has led to diverse alliances, conflicts, and outcomes. Our study shows that the combined action of local actors has synergistic or enhanced impacts in three ways. First, impacts are enhanced through accelerated extensification of cultivation in forest; second, through increased access to markets; and third, through increased migration to rural areas. These synergistic impacts are brought about by a number of mechanisms, of which the opening of new roads in forest areas is most important. A number of policy measures, including the effective enforcement of the legal mechanisms, clarification of property rights, and creation of spaces or platforms for negotiation between the different actors, are necessary to ameliorate the negative synergistic impacts of their interactions. © 2001 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Brown K, Neil Adger W, Tompkins E, Bacon P, Shim D, Young K (2001). Trade-off analysis for marine protected area management.
Ecological Economics,
37(3), 417-434.
Abstract:
Trade-off analysis for marine protected area management
This paper outlines an approach to natural resource management that incorporates multiple objectives for protected area management within a decision-making framework. Both regulators and other major stakeholders are directly incorporated into the approach to enhance decision-making processes. We call this approach trade-off analysis. The approach uses a framework based on multi-criteria analysis (MCA) but involves stakeholders at all stages. This holistic approach is appropriate for multiple use, complex systems such as marine protected areas (MPAs), where many different users are apparently in conflict and where linkages and feedbacks between different aspects of the ecosystem and economy exist. The paper applies trade-off analysis to the case of Buccoo Reef Marine Park (BRMP) in Tobago. Stakeholder analysis is undertaken, and social, economic and ecological criteria identified. The impacts of four different development scenarios are evaluated for these criteria. Stakeholders are asked to weight different criteria and then the outcomes of different stakeholder weightings in the MCA are used to explore different management options. For BRMP, the MCA suggests consensus around development options characterised as limited tourism development for the area surrounding the park in association with the implementation of complementary environmental management. The approach has been used to enhance stakeholder involvement in decision-making and develop consensus-based approaches to management of the MPA. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
Abstract.
2000
Muchagata M, Brown K (2000). Colonist farmers' perceptions of fertility and the frontier environment in eastern Amazonia.
Agriculture and Human Values,
17(4), 371-384.
Abstract:
Colonist farmers' perceptions of fertility and the frontier environment in eastern Amazonia
Colonists, unlike indigenous peoples, are often assumed to have little knowledge of their environment. However, their perceptions of the environment and their knowledge of natural resource systems have a significant impact on their farming practices. Farmers in the frontier region of Marabá, Eastern Amazonia, understand nutrient cycling and the links between different components in farming systems. Diagrams drawn by farmers show very diversified systems, and farmers' knowledge of soil characteristics, including sub-surface features, and distribution in their localities is very detailed in comparison to pedological classifications. However, knowledge about nutrient cycling is very uneven, even between farmers from the same area. Generally, farmers were found to have very detailed knowledge of environmental resources, but very patchy knowledge of processes and functions underlying systems, and this conforms to evolutionary models of ecological knowledge. Perceptions of change in soil fertility are related to the length of settlement, and are closely linked to the presence of forest. Overall, the majority of farmers believe they will not be able to sustain cropping in the future, and as forest and fallow become scarce the most feasible option will be for them to move to other areas. Farmers are more optimistic about pasture, which is viewed as a more stable system, with the key to long-term sustainability being weed control. These findings imply that a high degree of information sharing between farmers and scientists is required to establish resource management strategies and social institutions to support sustainable development strategies at the frontier. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Abstract.
Brown K, Rosendo S (2000). Environmentalists, rubber tappers and empowerment: the politics and economics of extractive reserves.
Development and Change,
31(1), 201-227.
Abstract:
Environmentalists, rubber tappers and empowerment: the politics and economics of extractive reserves
Extractive reserves are important initiatives in tropical forest zones which seek to integrate conservation of natural resources with development and human welfare objectives. Increasingly in such initiatives empowerment of local communities is seen as both a means of achieving this integration and as an end in itself. This article presents a theoretically informed analysis of the interactions between rubber tappers and environmental organizations in the establishment and implementation of extractive reserves in Rondonia, Brazil. It distinguishes two dimensions of empowerment-political and economic-and examines how the alliances between organizations have impacted differentially on the two dimensions. The analysis suggests that these alliances have so far been more successful in enabling political rather than economic empowerment. Advances in political empowerment are shown, in the short-term at least, not to have resulted in improvements in livelihood conditions of poor forest dwellers.
Abstract.
McDonald M, Brown K (2000). Soil and water conservation projects and rural livelihoods: Options for design and research to enhance adoption and adaptation.
Land Degradation and Development,
11(4), 343-361.
Abstract:
Soil and water conservation projects and rural livelihoods: Options for design and research to enhance adoption and adaptation
This paper synthesizes the findings of a workshop which sought to consider the issues of poor uptake, adoption and adaptation of soil and water conservation techniques by farmers post-project by examining the experiences of projects which had research and extension elements. Critical factors contributing to the adoption and adaptation of soil and water conservation techniques by farmers are identified as a more flexible approach and which enables learning within projects; a process rather than output driven approach to soil and water conservation; demonstration of immediate and tangible benefits of soil and water conservation to farmers (production, income, risk-minimization); and avoiding a narrow focus on soil and water conservation-alternatives 'better land husbandry' or 'sustainable rural livelihoods' approaches. A number of areas are identified as priorities for further research which would aid the successful adoption of sustainable agricultural techniques and which should guide future research, development and extension, bringing more sustained benefits and farmers, particularly in humid and subhumid hillside regions. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Abstract.
Brown K, Rosendo S (2000). The institutional architecture of extractive reserves in Rondonia, Brazil.
Geographical Journal,
166(1), 35-48.
Abstract:
The institutional architecture of extractive reserves in Rondonia, Brazil
This paper examines the evolution and development of institutions involved in the establishment of extractive reserves. It focuses on the different actors, organizations and projects concerned with extractive reserves in Rondonia in western Amazonia, Brazil. Extractive reserves are widely seen as a means of integrating forest conservation and local socio-economic development. As such, they have gained the support of the international environmental movement, multilateral and state development organizations, and grassroots community and producer organizations. These institutions represent a vast array of diverse interests which range from conservation of biodiversity, economic and social cohesion, and regional and national development. Whilst the various actors and institutions claim mutual and complementary interests, they form shifting alliances and coalitions in order to further their interests. This paper maps these institutions and interests and describes how alliances have been formed and broken, and how this has contributed to the currently observed implementation of extractive reserves. The paper argues that extractive reserves are constrained by the dissonance or misfit in discourses and underlying worldviews, reflected by the aims and objectives, of the institutions which promote, oppose and lose and benefit from their implementation. This misfit is overcome, in part, by alliances formed between the different institutions, and in part by the creation of new institutions and projects.
Abstract.
