The adaptive cycle metaphor provides insight into how and why social-ecological systems change. Literature on 'resilience thinking' has built upon this foundation and further developed the concepts of resilience, adaptation, and transformation to describe social-ecological system behavior. The resilience-thinking literature also describes systems that do not change, even when such change is desirable, as being in a trapped state. However, relatively little research has explored why such systems are trapped and how to free them. This thesis is the product of doctoral research which resolves how to identify, evaluate, and free a system caught in a maladaptive system trap. The study setting is water management in Grenada, a small island developing state in the southeastern Caribbean. Four research questions guide this study: (1) To what extent is Grenadian water management in a trap?, (2) To what extent is Grenadian water management transformable?, (3) Do current and recent interventions effectively foster or utilize transformability?, and (4) Which interventions should be pursued to facilitate transformation of water management in Grenada?. The study is informed by literature on social-ecological systems and integrated water resources management. Methodologically, the study is an explanatory single-case study of water management in Grenada, conducted from 2012 to 2013. The study utilizes data from semi-structured interviews (n=19), a questionnaire (n=180), a document review (n>200), and observation. The general strategy was to evaluate attempts to transform Grenadian water management within the 3-phase transformation framework described in the resilience-thinking literature. 'Points of failure' in transformation are defined as the cause(s) of a trap, and interventions to relieve the points of failure are proposed. Results indicate Grenadian water management is in a rigidity trap, although it exhibits some capacity to transform. A key point of failure of attempts to transform the Grenadian water sector into an integrated and holistic management system has been an inability to seize windows of opportunity to pass key legislation. I conclude the primary cause for this failure is poor fit among the problem, as perceived by various stakeholders, the proposed solution prescribed by water sector reform proponents, and political reality. In addition, reform proponents focus on advocating for reform to water sector professionals and do little to broker passage of legislation politically. Finally, reform proponents also assume legislation will be effectively implemented, which is not certain. Contributions specific to the Grenadian setting include a post-mortem on why efforts to reform the water sector have failed, described above. Five recommendations are made for future interventions to foster transformation of Grenadian water management: (1) engage residents as part of a vision to create political pressure for proposed solutions, (2) frame the problem with substantial resident input and focus, (3) craft solutions which take advantage of political realities such as funding restrictions, (4) anticipate and prepare for crises, and (5) enlist one or more people or organizations to serve as brokers. Empirical contributions include support for the three-streams framework of seizing windows of opportunity as fundamental to explain transformation of social-ecological systems. The primary conceptual contribution is the development of resilience thinking to illuminate ways to free trapped systems. I begin by providing a nomenclature to quantify and describe traps, which includes the type of trap, the degree of persistence and undesirability of the trap, and recent changes in these properties. Then, I develop a framework to assess transformability of a given system based on the existing 3-phase framework of transformation. When applied empirically, this framework illuminates points of failure of transformation, which I define as the cause of a given trap. Once identified, specific strategies can be devised to foster transformation and to break free of a trap.

In landscape ecology, it is widely acknowledged that landscape is as much a social and cultural entity as it is biophysical, and that people and place must be jointly considered to fully understand the evolution of spatial pattern. This thesis explores the overlapping biophysical and human dimensions of landscape in the context of an (i) ecological and (ii) ethnoecological classification on the local landscape of the Tayal Mrqwang indigenous people in north central Taiwan. The goal of the ecological classification was to identify ecosystem types for a ~3000 acre landscape by relating vegetation patterns to gradients of physiography, soil, humidity, light, pixel brightness, and human modification across 76 transect sample plots. Using multivariate analyses, seven ecosystem types were identified, ranging from xeric through submesic pine, bamboo, alder, and laurel forests to mesic evergreen broadleaved and mixed coniferous forests. At the broad scale, ecosystems were distributed along gradients of elevation, soil, humidity and human modification, while factors related to local variability in physiography and soil development were more important at the fine scale (i.e., within elevational ecoregions). Within lower elevation sites in particular, patterns of forest variation and soil development were resonant of ancestral practices, including shifting cultivation, terrace farming, arboriculture, and selective extraction. The objective of the ethnoecological classification was to explore whether the Mrqwang people categorize landscape variation according to systematic or multidimensional knowledge structures. Results of interviews and free-listing exercises revealed an unsystematized classification that recognizes a continuum of forest variation through the intersection of three overlapping categories: history of disturbance, topography and substrate, vegetation. These categories are modified through land tenure and toponyms. The classification appears accommodating of personal experience, and it is theorized that this flexibility results in dynamic knowledge that evolves with time, generating variable characterizations of forest variation rather than formalized categories. The thesis concludes that despite the lack of formalization, the Tayal are nonetheless highly cognizant of how current forest variation coincides with the environment and the activities of their ancestors. This knowledge represents immense local expertise and must not be excluded from conservation and co-management projects in the local area. / NSERC CGS-D

<p>Recent research has indicated a significant increase in the crystal methamphetamine abuse in the Western Cape. The study aimed to provide an understanding of the interaction of the social and historical contexts in relation to the life experiences and perceptions of a young person residing in the Cape Flats. Primarily the study aimed to explore the factors that influenced the participant to use crystal methamphetamine. It adopted a social constructionist epistemological perspective and employed Bronfenbrenner&rsquo / s ecological systems theory as the theoretical framework. The subsystems of the ecological systems theory include the individual who is influenced by the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem and the chronosystem. This was a qualitative research study that&nbsp / employed an intensive case study. Data was obtained through series intensive semi-structured interviews that were approximately 40 - 70 minutes in duration. The participant is a coloured female, aged 28 years from a high-risk community in the Cape Flats. Prior to the interview process, relevant permission was obtained from the participant, which allowed the interviews to be conducted and recorded. The data was then analysed using a narrative analysis. The themes that emerged from the research findings include: childhood trauma / sexual abuse during childhood / social milieu and norms / adolescent delinquency / the cycle of abuse / understanding crystal methamphetamine use and the consequences of crystal methamphetamine use. Findings with regard to the individual factors included psychological well-being, depression and negative affectivity, feelings of hopelessness, suicidal ideations, loneliness, past abuse of legal substances, adolescence, delinquency and childhood sexual abuse. The influential factors that emerged within the microsystem were lack of family support, dysfunctional family dynamics, childhood abandonment, uninvolved parents, several custodial parents, childhood disequilibrium, parental modelling and family drug use. Further findings within the microsystem included peer influence viz. direct persuasion of drug use, peer exposure of drugs, experimentation, delinquent behaviour, gang-related involvement and peer group acceptance. The mesosystemic findings included, lack of emotional support or attachments, social support, lack of structure as well as relocating to numerous schools and homes. Findings located in the exosystem were the availability and accessibility of drugs in all the communities in which the participant lived. Findings in the macrosystem included the social environment of the individual, including the social norms of the community and the home setting as well as the norm of violence, crime and gangsterism. The information and knowledge accumulated would optimistically contribute to addressing the paucity of qualitative literature and present knowledge to&nbsp / improve intervention and prevention strategies.</p>

The draining of the Iraqi Marshlands is an example of the reorganization of a linked social-ecological system (SES) following a collapse. The goal of this study was to examine the utility of resilience as a water management tool through a case study of the Marshlands. Using the Four-Step Framework by Walker et al. (2002), it analyzed the Marshlands through the metaphor of the adaptive cycle, explored three possible future scenarios, created two models to characterize the system, and reviewed the implications of the analysis for water management in the Marshlands and resilience. This study found that resilience, and the Framework, could offer new perspectives for managing complex SESs. However, resilience is not useful during times of intense violent conflict, like war. It also found that there are resilient pathways to help the Marshlands reorganize. However, the Marshlands are very vulnerable and require strong institutional support to keep them from disappearing.

The adaptive cycle metaphor provides insight into how and why social-ecological systems change. Literature on 'resilience thinking' has built upon this foundation and further developed the concepts of resilience, adaptation, and transformation to describe social-ecological system behavior. The resilience-thinking literature also describes systems that do not change, even when such change is desirable, as being in a trapped state. However, relatively little research has explored why such systems are trapped and how to free them. This thesis is the product of doctoral research which resolves how to identify, evaluate, and free a system caught in a maladaptive system trap. The study setting is water management in Grenada, a small island developing state in the southeastern Caribbean. Four research questions guide this study: (1) To what extent is Grenadian water management in a trap?, (2) To what extent is Grenadian water management transformable?, (3) Do current and recent interventions effectively foster or utilize transformability?, and (4) Which interventions should be pursued to facilitate transformation of water management in Grenada?. The study is informed by literature on social-ecological systems and integrated water resources management. Methodologically, the study is an explanatory single-case study of water management in Grenada, conducted from 2012 to 2013. The study utilizes data from semi-structured interviews (n=19), a questionnaire (n=180), a document review (n>200), and observation. The general strategy was to evaluate attempts to transform Grenadian water management within the 3-phase transformation framework described in the resilience-thinking literature. 'Points of failure' in transformation are defined as the cause(s) of a trap, and interventions to relieve the points of failure are proposed. Results indicate Grenadian water management is in a rigidity trap, although it exhibits some capacity to transform. A key point of failure of attempts to transform the Grenadian water sector into an integrated and holistic management system has been an inability to seize windows of opportunity to pass key legislation. I conclude the primary cause for this failure is poor fit among the problem, as perceived by various stakeholders, the proposed solution prescribed by water sector reform proponents, and political reality. In addition, reform proponents focus on advocating for reform to water sector professionals and do little to broker passage of legislation politically. Finally, reform proponents also assume legislation will be effectively implemented, which is not certain. Contributions specific to the Grenadian setting include a post-mortem on why efforts to reform the water sector have failed, described above. Five recommendations are made for future interventions to foster transformation of Grenadian water management: (1) engage residents as part of a vision to create political pressure for proposed solutions, (2) frame the problem with substantial resident input and focus, (3) craft solutions which take advantage of political realities such as funding restrictions, (4) anticipate and prepare for crises, and (5) enlist one or more people or organizations to serve as brokers. Empirical contributions include support for the three-streams framework of seizing windows of opportunity as fundamental to explain transformation of social-ecological systems. The primary conceptual contribution is the development of resilience thinking to illuminate ways to free trapped systems. I begin by providing a nomenclature to quantify and describe traps, which includes the type of trap, the degree of persistence and undesirability of the trap, and recent changes in these properties. Then, I develop a framework to assess transformability of a given system based on the existing 3-phase framework of transformation. When applied empirically, this framework illuminates points of failure of transformation, which I define as the cause of a given trap. Once identified, specific strategies can be devised to foster transformation and to break free of a trap.

This qualitative study was designed to explore the experiences and perceptions of a group of mothers whose elementary school-aged children met the criteria for intellectual giftedness in an Ontario school board. Guided by Beach and Mitchell’s image theory and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the study sought to identify (a) the meanings mothers ascribed to the concept of giftedness, (b) their experiences of the assessment, identification and placement process, and (c) the factors deemed important to educational decision making. A postpositivist orientation and rigorous qualitative research methods were employed. Data were collected in two phases: an internet-based survey comprised of demographic items and open ended questions, followed by in-depth interviews with five purposefully selected participants. Resultant data from 45 surveys and 15 interviews were coded and organized according to the survey questions and central elements of the theoretical framework. Eight research findings revealed that the experience of mothering gifted children was complex, challenging, emotional, and at times, isolating. Many mothers struggled with the concept of giftedness and how it pertained to their children. As mothers navigated the assessment, identification and placement process, the lack of accessible, timely, and consistent information from the school board posed a considerable barrier, prompting many to reach out to other parents of gifted children for information and support. Factors deemed important to decision making about educational placement included maternal perceptions related to the various options, child specific and practical considerations, and the attainability of specialized gifted programming. Educational decision making was identified as the most difficult aspect of the maternal experience. Given that the study participants were unusually well educated and well resourced, the findings were particularly revealing. The study findings add to a small but growing body of research that furthers our understanding of image theory in real life decision making. In addition, the findings give voice to the experience of mothering children identified as gifted, thus making a valuable and original contribution to the literature.

O extrativismo apresenta-se como uma oportunidade de ação que contribui para o desenvolvimento rural sustentável. O extrativismo do jaborandi representa um recurso de natureza comum, governado por diversos atores e sob influência do mercado. O jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, é um arbusto que ocorre no sub-bosque de florestas na região de transição entre os biomas Amazônia, Cerrado e Caatinga. Das suas folhas, é extraída a pilocarpina, usada, principalmente, no tratamento do glaucoma. As folhas do jaborandi são oriundas, em sua maioria, do extrativismo, no Piauí, Maranhão e Pará. O objetivo deste estudo foi compreender o sistema socioecológico (SES) e a governança do extrativismo do jaborandi e sua influência sobre a sustentabilidade da atividade na Amazônia e áreas de transição com o Cerrado e Caatinga. Já os objetivos específicos foram: 1) descrever os SESs do extrativismo do jaborandi; 2) caracterizar a governança dos SESs; 3) analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SESs com a sustentabilidade do extrativismo do jaborandi. Para tanto, utilizou-se o Institutional Analysis & Development - IAD framework e os princípios de governança dos SESs robustos, analisando a governança e a sustentabilidade do SES do extrativismo do jaborandi. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo de análise institucional multiescalar, sendo a maior escala o Sistema Socioecológico “extrativismo do jaborandi”, considerada como toda a área de ocorrência do extrativismo. A escala mediana, regional, os dois subsistemas que correspondem à região amazônica e transição. O nível local foi caracterizado por quatro subsistemas socioecológicos: SES Agroextrativista Cocais, SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia e SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia. Os métodos constaram de análises qualitativas de dados secundários e dados primários - coletados em entrevistas realizadas com os atores do extrativismo do jaborandi. Observou-se a influência das políticas desenvolvimentistas sobre a devastação de parte da matriz florestal de ocorrência do jaborandi. Além disso, o mercado de pilocarpina teve larga influência sobre o extrativismo, com destaque para a domesticação da espécie e o desenvolvimento da pilocarpina sintética. Desde o ano de 2009, o Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi também influencia o extrativismo, em busca de tornar a atividade mais sustentável. Identificou-se diferença de capacidade de suporte das populações de jaborandi entre o Subsistema Socioecológico Transição, que apresenta baixa capacidade, devido às condições edafoclimáticas mais severas, ao Subsistema Amazônia, onde as condições são mais favoráveis. Na região de transição, os extrativistas são agricultores familiares e residem próximos ao recurso, enquanto que, na Amazônia, os extrativistas, em sua maioria, são urbanos e, para acessarem o recurso, precisam organizar-se em equipes e fazerem uma expedição até as áreas de manejo, que são distantes e são áreas protegidas. Ao caracterizar a governança multiescalar dos SESs, encontrou-se um complexo arranjo institucional, composto por regras formais e informais de múltiplos níveis. Muitas das regras não são colocadas em uso, atribui-se esse fenômeno a não participação dos extrativistas na formulação dessas regras, à falta de monitoramento e sanções efetivas. Percebeu-se que quando os extrativistas participam de arenas de escolha coletiva, eles têm maiores ganhos. Evidenciou-se que onde há participação governamental, há maior governança. Ao analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SES com a sustentabilidade, ficou evidente que o SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia é mais sustentável do que os SES Agroextrativista Cocais e SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, onde a capacidade de suporte e os arranjos institucionais são frágeis. Enquanto que o SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia é parcialmente sustentável, por fragilidades de acesso ao recurso. Conclui-se que a governança, através das organizações e arranjos institucionais, bem como os SES, principalmente no que se refere à capacidade de suporte, atores envolvidos e organização social, influenciam na sustentabilidade das múltiplas escalas do extrativismo do jaborandi. / Forest management of non-wood products has the potential to contribute to sustainable rural development. The forest management of jaborandi is a common-pool resource, governed by different actors and under the influence of market. Jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, is a scrub that occurs in the forest floor of forests in the transition region between the biomes of Amazon, Cerrado and Caatinga. Pilocarpine, which is extracted from its leaves, is used mainly in the treatment of glaucoma. The jaborandi leaves come, mostly, from forest management in Piauí, Maranhão and Pará. The objective of this study was to understand the socio-ecological system (SES) and the governance of jaborandi’s management and its influence on the sustainability of the activity in the Amazon and transition areas of the Cerrado and Caatinga. The specific objectives were: 1) to describe the SES of jaborandi´s management; 2) to characterize the governance of the SESs; 3) to analyse the relationship of the governance of different SESs with the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. For this purpose, the IAD framework and the principles of governance of robust SESs were used, analysing the governance of SESs and the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. This research is a study of multiescalar institutional analysis, in which the major scale is the socio-ecological system “jaborandi´s management”, which covers the entire area of leaves collection. The median scale, regional, are the two subsystems that are the Amazon and Transition region. The local level was characterized by four socio-ecological subsystems: Agroextractivist Cocais, Agroextractivist Multiethnic Transition, Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon and Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon. The methods consisted of qualitative analysis of secondary data and primary data - collected in interviews with the actors of the jaborandi´s management. The influence of developmentalism policies was observed over the devastation of part of the forest area of the jaborandi´s occurrence. In addition, the pilocarpine market had wide influence on the jaborandi´s management, highlighting the domestication of the species and the development of synthetic pilocarpine. Since year 2009, Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi (Jaborandi Enhancement Project) has also influenced the management, seeking to make the activity more sustainable. There was a difference in the support capacity of populations between jaborandi Subsystem socioecological Transition, which has low capacity due to the most severe climate and soil conditions, and the Amazon subsystem, where conditions are more favorable. In the transition region, the leaves collectors are family farmers and reside near the resource, while in the Amazon, the leaves collectors are mostly urban dwellers and to access the resource they need to organize themselves into teams and make an expedition to the harvesting areas, which are distant and protected areas. To characterize the multiescalar governance of SES, a complex institutional arrangement has been identified, consisting of formal and informal rules of multiple levels. Many of the rules are not applied, which phenomenon is attributed to the non-participation of leaves collectors in the formulation of these rules, the lack of monitoring and effective sanctions. It has been observed that when the leaves collectors participate in collective choice arenas, they have greater benefits. It has been perceived that where there is government close participation, there is greater governance. By analysing the relationship of the governance of different SESs and sustainability, it became clear that the SES Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon is more sustainable than the SES Agroextrativist Cocais and SES Agroextrativist Multiethnic Transition, where the support capacity and institutional arrangements are fragile. While the SES Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon is partially sustainable, there are weaknesses in access to the resource. The conclusion points out that the governance, through organizations and institutional arrangements, as well as the SES, especially with regard to support capacity, stakeholders involvement and social organization, influence the sustainability of multiple scales of jaborandi´s management.

abstract: Having a child with special needs can be overwhelming, emotionally draining and extremely stressful for parents and their family members. Research identifies the support systems families need in order to have quality-of-life. The current study uses mixed methods to evaluate the degree to which parents and other primary caregivers in Arizona view the educational and health related services that their child with special needs and/or other health impairments received when they entered kindergarten. It evaluated the degree to which the caregivers themselves perceived the support/services that they received in order to access quality of life for themselves, their child with special needs and other family members. Finally, the research identified reoccurring themes to better understand the intricacies involved within these support systems/services that promoted or hindered positive family and child outcomes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2017

abstract: Sustainability depends in part on our capacity to resolve dilemmas of the commons in Coupled Infrastructure Systems (CIS). Thus, we need to know more about how to incentivize individuals to take collective action to manage shared resources. Moreover, given that we will experience new and more extreme weather events due to climate change, we need to learn how to increase the robustness of CIS to those shocks. This dissertation studies irrigation systems to contribute to the development of an empirically based theory of commons governance for robust systems. I first studied the eight institutional design principles (DPs) for long enduring systems of shared resources that the Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom proposed in 1990. I performed a critical literature review of 64 studies that looked at the institutional configuration of CIS, and based on my findings I propose some modifications of their definitions and application in research and policy making. I then studied how the revisited design principles, when analyzed conjointly with biophysical and ethnographic characteristics of CISs, perform to avoid over-appropriation, poverty and critical conflicts among users of an irrigation system. After carrying out a meta-analysis of 28 cases around the world, I found that particular combinations of those variables related to population size, countries corruption, the condition of water storage, monitoring of users behavior, and involving users in the decision making process for the commons governance, were sufficient to obtain the desired outcomes. The two last studies were based on the Peruvian Piura Basin, a CIS that has been exposed to environmental shocks for decades. I used secondary and primary data to carry out a longitudinal study using as guidance the robustness framework, and different hypothesis from prominent collapse theories to draw potential explanations. I then developed a dynamic model that shows how at the current situation it is more effective to invest in rules enforcement than in the improvement of the physical infrastructure (e.g. reservoir). Finally, I explored different strategies to increase the robustness of the system, through enabling collective action in the Basin. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2017

O extrativismo apresenta-se como uma oportunidade de ação que contribui para o desenvolvimento rural sustentável. O extrativismo do jaborandi representa um recurso de natureza comum, governado por diversos atores e sob influência do mercado. O jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, é um arbusto que ocorre no sub-bosque de florestas na região de transição entre os biomas Amazônia, Cerrado e Caatinga. Das suas folhas, é extraída a pilocarpina, usada, principalmente, no tratamento do glaucoma. As folhas do jaborandi são oriundas, em sua maioria, do extrativismo, no Piauí, Maranhão e Pará. O objetivo deste estudo foi compreender o sistema socioecológico (SES) e a governança do extrativismo do jaborandi e sua influência sobre a sustentabilidade da atividade na Amazônia e áreas de transição com o Cerrado e Caatinga. Já os objetivos específicos foram: 1) descrever os SESs do extrativismo do jaborandi; 2) caracterizar a governança dos SESs; 3) analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SESs com a sustentabilidade do extrativismo do jaborandi. Para tanto, utilizou-se o Institutional Analysis & Development - IAD framework e os princípios de governança dos SESs robustos, analisando a governança e a sustentabilidade do SES do extrativismo do jaborandi. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo de análise institucional multiescalar, sendo a maior escala o Sistema Socioecológico “extrativismo do jaborandi”, considerada como toda a área de ocorrência do extrativismo. A escala mediana, regional, os dois subsistemas que correspondem à região amazônica e transição. O nível local foi caracterizado por quatro subsistemas socioecológicos: SES Agroextrativista Cocais, SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia e SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia. Os métodos constaram de análises qualitativas de dados secundários e dados primários - coletados em entrevistas realizadas com os atores do extrativismo do jaborandi. Observou-se a influência das políticas desenvolvimentistas sobre a devastação de parte da matriz florestal de ocorrência do jaborandi. Além disso, o mercado de pilocarpina teve larga influência sobre o extrativismo, com destaque para a domesticação da espécie e o desenvolvimento da pilocarpina sintética. Desde o ano de 2009, o Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi também influencia o extrativismo, em busca de tornar a atividade mais sustentável. Identificou-se diferença de capacidade de suporte das populações de jaborandi entre o Subsistema Socioecológico Transição, que apresenta baixa capacidade, devido às condições edafoclimáticas mais severas, ao Subsistema Amazônia, onde as condições são mais favoráveis. Na região de transição, os extrativistas são agricultores familiares e residem próximos ao recurso, enquanto que, na Amazônia, os extrativistas, em sua maioria, são urbanos e, para acessarem o recurso, precisam organizar-se em equipes e fazerem uma expedição até as áreas de manejo, que são distantes e são áreas protegidas. Ao caracterizar a governança multiescalar dos SESs, encontrou-se um complexo arranjo institucional, composto por regras formais e informais de múltiplos níveis. Muitas das regras não são colocadas em uso, atribui-se esse fenômeno a não participação dos extrativistas na formulação dessas regras, à falta de monitoramento e sanções efetivas. Percebeu-se que quando os extrativistas participam de arenas de escolha coletiva, eles têm maiores ganhos. Evidenciou-se que onde há participação governamental, há maior governança. Ao analisar a relação da governança dos diferentes SES com a sustentabilidade, ficou evidente que o SES Expedicionário Flona Carajás Amazônia é mais sustentável do que os SES Agroextrativista Cocais e SES Agroextrativista Pluriétnico Transição, onde a capacidade de suporte e os arranjos institucionais são frágeis. Enquanto que o SES Expedicionário Pluriétnico Amazônia é parcialmente sustentável, por fragilidades de acesso ao recurso. Conclui-se que a governança, através das organizações e arranjos institucionais, bem como os SES, principalmente no que se refere à capacidade de suporte, atores envolvidos e organização social, influenciam na sustentabilidade das múltiplas escalas do extrativismo do jaborandi. / Forest management of non-wood products has the potential to contribute to sustainable rural development. The forest management of jaborandi is a common-pool resource, governed by different actors and under the influence of market. Jaborandi, Pilocarpus microphyllus Stapf ex Wardlew, is a scrub that occurs in the forest floor of forests in the transition region between the biomes of Amazon, Cerrado and Caatinga. Pilocarpine, which is extracted from its leaves, is used mainly in the treatment of glaucoma. The jaborandi leaves come, mostly, from forest management in Piauí, Maranhão and Pará. The objective of this study was to understand the socio-ecological system (SES) and the governance of jaborandi’s management and its influence on the sustainability of the activity in the Amazon and transition areas of the Cerrado and Caatinga. The specific objectives were: 1) to describe the SES of jaborandi´s management; 2) to characterize the governance of the SESs; 3) to analyse the relationship of the governance of different SESs with the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. For this purpose, the IAD framework and the principles of governance of robust SESs were used, analysing the governance of SESs and the sustainability of jaborandi´s management. This research is a study of multiescalar institutional analysis, in which the major scale is the socio-ecological system “jaborandi´s management”, which covers the entire area of leaves collection. The median scale, regional, are the two subsystems that are the Amazon and Transition region. The local level was characterized by four socio-ecological subsystems: Agroextractivist Cocais, Agroextractivist Multiethnic Transition, Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon and Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon. The methods consisted of qualitative analysis of secondary data and primary data - collected in interviews with the actors of the jaborandi´s management. The influence of developmentalism policies was observed over the devastation of part of the forest area of the jaborandi´s occurrence. In addition, the pilocarpine market had wide influence on the jaborandi´s management, highlighting the domestication of the species and the development of synthetic pilocarpine. Since year 2009, Projeto de Valorização do Jaborandi (Jaborandi Enhancement Project) has also influenced the management, seeking to make the activity more sustainable. There was a difference in the support capacity of populations between jaborandi Subsystem socioecological Transition, which has low capacity due to the most severe climate and soil conditions, and the Amazon subsystem, where conditions are more favorable. In the transition region, the leaves collectors are family farmers and reside near the resource, while in the Amazon, the leaves collectors are mostly urban dwellers and to access the resource they need to organize themselves into teams and make an expedition to the harvesting areas, which are distant and protected areas. To characterize the multiescalar governance of SES, a complex institutional arrangement has been identified, consisting of formal and informal rules of multiple levels. Many of the rules are not applied, which phenomenon is attributed to the non-participation of leaves collectors in the formulation of these rules, the lack of monitoring and effective sanctions. It has been observed that when the leaves collectors participate in collective choice arenas, they have greater benefits. It has been perceived that where there is government close participation, there is greater governance. By analysing the relationship of the governance of different SESs and sustainability, it became clear that the SES Expeditionary Flona Carajás Amazon is more sustainable than the SES Agroextrativist Cocais and SES Agroextrativist Multiethnic Transition, where the support capacity and institutional arrangements are fragile. While the SES Expeditionary Multiethnic Amazon is partially sustainable, there are weaknesses in access to the resource. The conclusion points out that the governance, through organizations and institutional arrangements, as well as the SES, especially with regard to support capacity, stakeholders involvement and social organization, influence the sustainability of multiple scales of jaborandi´s management.