The world is undergoing unprecedented changes in many of the factors that determine its fundamental properties and their in- ence on society. These changes include climate; the chemical c- position of the atmosphere; the demands of a growing human population for food and ?ber; and the mobility of organisms, ind- trial products, cultural perspectives, and information ?ows. The magnitude and widespread nature of these changes pose serious challenges in managing the ecosystem services on which society depends. Moreover, many of these changes are strongly in?uenced by human activities, so future patterns of change will continue to be in?uenced by society’s choices and governance. The purpose of this book is to provide a new framework for n- ural resource management—a framework based on stewardship of ecosystems for human well-being in a world dominated by unc- tainty and change. The goal of ecosystem stewardship is to respond to and shape change in social-ecological systems in order to s- tain the supply and opportunities for use of ecosystem services by society. The book links recent advances in the theory of resilience, sustainability, and vulnerability with practical issues of ecosystem management and governance. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students of natural resource management as well as professional managers, community leaders, and policy makers with backgrounds in a wide array of d- ciplines, including ecology, policy studies, economics, sociology, and anthropology.
In a society more concerned with how to cope with existential dread than how to make actionable changes to save the planet, a surprisingly large number of Americans identify as environmentalists. What can individual people do to lessen human impacts on the planet? This is not an easy question. Most research is focused on large-scale changes that go beyond anything an individual can accomplish, and people are left feeling defeated rather than inspired to make changes in their everyday lives. Change starts at home, and F Stuart Chapin, III has assembled a book for people who want to learn more about global changes and, more importantly, what they can do about them, starting today. Grassroots Stewardship approaches our current situation with an educated sense of hope and positivity. This book emphasizes actions by individuals, rather than governmental or corporate institutions, to trigger transformational change. Readers will learn what they can do to most significantly transform their communities and the planet with more sustainable pathways.
This volume integrates a conceptual framework with participatory methodologies to understand the complexities of dryland socio-ecological systems, and to address challenges and opportunities for stewardship of future drylands and climate change in the global south. Through several case studies, the book offers a transdisciplinary and participatory approach to understand the complexity of socio-ecological systems, to co-produce accurate resource management plans for sustained stewardship, and to drive social learning and polycentric governance. This systemic framework permits the study of human-nature interrelationships through time and in particular contexts, with a focus on achieving progress in accordance with the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. The book is divided into four main sections: 1) drylands and socio-ecological systems, 2) transdisciplinarity in drylands, 3) interculturality in drylands, and 4) the governance of drylands. Expert contributors address topics such as pastoralism and the characteristics of successful agricultural lands, the sustainable development goals and drylands, dryland modernization, and arid land governance with a focus on Mexico. The volume will be of interest to dryland researchers, sustainable development practitioners and policymakers.
This book advances Earth Stewardship toward a planetary scale, presenting a range of ecological worldviews, practices, and institutions in different parts of the world and to use them as the basis for considering what we could learn from one another, and what we could do together. Today, inter-hemispheric, intercultural, and transdisciplinary collaborations for Earth Stewardship are an imperative. Chapters document pathways that are being forged by socio-ecological research networks, religious alliances, policy actions, environmental citizenship and participation, and new forms of conservation, based on both traditional and contemporary ecological knowledge and values. “The Earth Stewardship Initiative of the Ecological Society of America fosters practices to provide a stable basis for civilization in the future. Biocultural ethic emphasizes that we are co-inhabitants in the natural world; no matter how complex our inventions may become” (Peter Raven).
Improving the dynamic relationship between nature and human well-being is a pressing issue of our time. Landscapes embody this tight interconnectedness and serve as unique sustainability learning hubs, showcased by the global rise of place-based and holistic landscape stewardship initiatives. Incorporating these exciting developments, this book explores the principles of landscape stewardship and their function in fields such as agriculture, ecological restoration and urban green infrastructure. It provides insights into the challenges and the potential of landscape stewardship and identifies future paths for the science and practice of landscape-related sustainability efforts. Aligning analytical perspectives with practical applications, it brings together contributions from leading scholars and innovative models of landscape stewardship from all around the world, making it an essential resource for anyone interested in developing sustainable human-nature relationships.
A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world's leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book's forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.
Theories of social-ecological resilience have developed over the past decades and rapidly become an important framework for governance of complex non-linear environmental problems. This book explores the resilience theories and their compatibility with law, it identifies corresponding legal features. The legal features identified, including legal measures, mechanisms, principles and approaches, form a legal design for social-ecological resilience. A legal design that can be applied to different governance situations. It can be a tool both for designing new laws, as well as for assessing the effectiveness of current laws and legal systems. In many ways environmental law has adjusted and developed new approaches to meet complex environmental problems, but law is still challenged by the complexity that characterize environmental problems and the environmental change connected with the Anthropocene. This book provides a comprehensive review of the most fundamental components of the governance framework for social-ecological resilience and the role of law.
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9789251367599
Category: Technology & Engineering
Page: 142
View: 921
The project “Developing Organizational Capacity for Ecosystem Stewardship and Livelihoods in Caribbean Small-Scale Fisheries” (StewardFish) aimed to support the implementation of the Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems initiatives in seven countries of the Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and implemented by five Caribbean regional entities. It aimed to empower fisherfolk throughout the fisheries value chains to engage in resource management, decision-making processes and sustainable livelihoods, with strengthened institutional support at all levels. The findings and conclusions of the terminal evaluations highlight the effectiveness of the project's capacity building activities, the platform for inter-agency collaboration, and the strengthening of legal and policy frameworks. Given the short time frame of the projects, as well as the interruptions due to the COVID-19, a number of recommendations are made in order to sustain the results achieved thus far, but which still require investment.
Although humans desire stability in our lives to help us understand the world and survive, nothing in nature is permanently stable. How can society anticipate and adjust to the changes we see around us? Scientists use panarchy theory to understand how systems--whether forests, electrical grids, agriculture, coastal surges, public health, or human economies and governance--interact together in unpredictable ways. Applied Panarchy, the much-anticipated successor to Lance Gunderson and C.S. Holling's seminal 2002 volume Panarchy, documents the extraordinary advances in interdisciplinary panarchy scholarship and applications over the past two decades. Intended as a text for graduate courses in environmental sciences and related fields, Applied Panarchy picks up where Panarchy left off, inspiring new generations of scholars, researchers, and professionals to put its ideas to work in practical ways.
Agroforestry (AF) is a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resources management system that, by integrating trees on farms, ranches, and in other landscapes, diversifies and increases production and promotes social, economic, and environmental benefits for land users. Further, it is receiving increasing attention as a sustainable land-management option worldwide because of its ecological, economic, and social attributes. Advances have been achieved by building on past research accomplishments and expanding AF’s stakeholder base, which now includes private/public partnerships, communities, ecologists, farmers, indigenous peoples, and policymakers in both temperate and tropical countries. AF has now been recognized as a valuable problem-solving approach to ensuring food security and rebuilding resilient rural environments. Recent studies have shown that more than 1 billion hectares of agricultural land have more than 10% tree cover. Of this area, 160 million hectares have more than 50% tree cover. Agricultural ecosystems can be further improved through AF to achieve environmental restoration, greater farm productivity, and key ecological services, including climate change mitigation and adaptation for improved rural livelihood. In fact, it is largely considered synonymous with climate smart agriculture and a remedy for many modern environmental challenges. Consequently, AF’s knowledge base is being expanded at a rapid rate, as illustrated by the increasing number and quality of scientific publications on various forms and different aspects of AF. This book offers state-of-the-art information on the fundamental concepts and history of AF and its evolution as a science, presenting a wealth of advanced research results and evaluations relating to different aspects of AF. Accordingly, it will be useful for a broad readership, including students, foresters, farmers, local communities, indigenous peoples, civil society institutions, media, policymakers and the general public.
This book advances a social-ecological theory to reconnect nature and society through sustainable transformation of interacting social and ecological systems. Social ecology develops as an interdisciplinary science by using knowledge from the social sciences, especially sociology and economics, and from natural-scientific ecology. Knowledge integration across the boundaries of social and natural sciences is not widespread, blocked by the specialisation of theories and their competing forms of explanation and interpretation. Chapters in this book describe a new social-ecological theory that connects concepts and theories from both sides to create a new interdisciplinary theory. Inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge synthesis creates possibilities to analyse global environmental problems more systematically by integrating specialized research on environmental problems. The author uses social-ecological theory to analyse and explain problems and processes of global change in modern society such as climate change and adaptation to it, ecosystem change, and transformation of the industrial energy regime , finally offering pathways of transformation to a future sustainable society.
Applying a socio-ecological framework, this book explores how the innovative approach of commons-based organic apple breeding can contribute to sustainability in agricultural and food systems more widely. As fruit breeding and cultivation systems are confronted with a range of sustainability challenges, there are calls for new and innovative breeding approaches beyond mainstream economic solutions that would mitigate these sustainability challenges. Apples, in particular, are facing serious environmental challenges, with the negative environmental impacts of modern conventional breeding and farming, loss of agrobiodiversity, low participation and diminishing diversity of market actors in the wake of privatization and economization trends result in a lack of resilience in current breeding and cultivation systems. Drawing on in-depth case study research on apple production in Germany, this book advances the innovative solution of commons-based apple breeding as a model for developing resilience in fruit breeding and cultivation. It analyzes this approach, comparing it with more conventional practices, and showcases which factors could inhibit the broad implementation of commons-based apple breeding and how they can be overcome to exploit its full potential. Contributing to the great ambition of finding sustainable solutions across all agricultural sectors, this book opens up new and interdisciplinary perspectives on fruit breeding and cultivation, which is a largely neglected issue in contemporary discussions on agriculture and food production. This book will be of great interest for students and scholars from the fields of sustainable food systems, sustainable agriculture, crop science, and resource management and in particular those that seek inspiration for innovative approaches rooted in sustainability research, social-ecological resilience, and the commons.
