The overall purpose of this research was to investigate barriers to and opportunities for adaptive co-management of artisanal fisheries in coastal Uruguay, with comparisons to Paraty (Southeastern Brazil). Following a qualitative approach, two case studies were developed; one in the Piriápolis area (Río de la Plata coast) and one in Praia Grande/Ilha do Araújo (Rio de Janeiro State), the former with more depth than the latter. Findings indicate that, first, artisanal fisheries have been under a social-ecological crisis (e.g. catches have been declining; fishing effort has increased; relationships among fishers have been eroded), opening windows of opportunity for alternative management. Second, a multilevel social capital analysis conducted by studying the relationships embedded in the bonding, bridging, and linking networks among fishery stakeholders (artisanal fishers, fish buyers, unions, universities, NGOs, government agencies) enabled the identification of more barriers than opportunities for co-management. For example, fishers are only weakly organized, and these bonding connections at the local level were undermined by conflict-laden linking relationships. Third, fishers from the two sites stated that they would like to be involved in resource management, and the proposed fisheries law in Uruguay (before the Parliament) would be an enabling policy for a consultative degree of participation, through the creation of national and zonal councils. Nevertheless, the negative impact that external agents have had on fishing communities are among the causes of low fisher participation. Fourth, findings from a participatory research initiative involving fishery stakeholders in Piriápolis (creating a multi-stakeholder body, POPA) showed that this approach can help overcome some of the barriers to co-management. These barriers include conflict-ridden relationships between fishers and the fisheries agency; stakeholders’ lack of capacity; and weak fisher organization. Moreover, the case showed that participatory research can pave the way for adaptive co-management by injecting a dynamic learning element into the early stages of the collaborative process. These findings, as well as the multilevel conception of social capital, represent contributions to adaptive co-management theory. The thesis identified contributions to policy based on the barriers and opportunities found for this transition, and suggested areas for further research.

The overall purpose of this research was to investigate barriers to and opportunities for adaptive co-management of artisanal fisheries in coastal Uruguay, with comparisons to Paraty (Southeastern Brazil). Following a qualitative approach, two case studies were developed; one in the Piriápolis area (Río de la Plata coast) and one in Praia Grande/Ilha do Araújo (Rio de Janeiro State), the former with more depth than the latter. Findings indicate that, first, artisanal fisheries have been under a social-ecological crisis (e.g. catches have been declining; fishing effort has increased; relationships among fishers have been eroded), opening windows of opportunity for alternative management. Second, a multilevel social capital analysis conducted by studying the relationships embedded in the bonding, bridging, and linking networks among fishery stakeholders (artisanal fishers, fish buyers, unions, universities, NGOs, government agencies) enabled the identification of more barriers than opportunities for co-management. For example, fishers are only weakly organized, and these bonding connections at the local level were undermined by conflict-laden linking relationships. Third, fishers from the two sites stated that they would like to be involved in resource management, and the proposed fisheries law in Uruguay (before the Parliament) would be an enabling policy for a consultative degree of participation, through the creation of national and zonal councils. Nevertheless, the negative impact that external agents have had on fishing communities are among the causes of low fisher participation. Fourth, findings from a participatory research initiative involving fishery stakeholders in Piriápolis (creating a multi-stakeholder body, POPA) showed that this approach can help overcome some of the barriers to co-management. These barriers include conflict-ridden relationships between fishers and the fisheries agency; stakeholders’ lack of capacity; and weak fisher organization. Moreover, the case showed that participatory research can pave the way for adaptive co-management by injecting a dynamic learning element into the early stages of the collaborative process. These findings, as well as the multilevel conception of social capital, represent contributions to adaptive co-management theory. The thesis identified contributions to policy based on the barriers and opportunities found for this transition, and suggested areas for further research.

Although there is a growing literature on resilience and collaborative approaches to ecosystem management, there are relatively few empirical case studies on the process of adaptive governance. Moreover, previous research offers limited insights into the conditions that facilitate new ecosystem management trajectories. By analyzing the emergence of an adaptive co-management initiative in Bali, the UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape of Bali Province, this dissertation seeks to contribute to recent research on institutional governance approaches to enhance ecosystem management and social well-being. To that end, it addresses two questions. First, it identifies and explores three primary characteristics that fostered a new multi-level adaptive governance approach to cultural landscape management in Bali: the widespread perception of environmental crisis on the island that triggered collective action and the political will for a new form of ecosystem management; the emergence of a shared ideology--articulated in the Balinese Hindu philosophy of tri hita karana, or "the three causes of prosperity"--that unified diverse actors and actor networks and established a common platform for ecological resource management; and context-specific governance strategies that built on existing institutions and local-level initiatives. The second question centers on an analysis of the emergence of the management plan for the World Heritage site in Bali. The management plan was developed to support the Balinese subak in its struggle to adapt to current and future pressures that threaten to undermine the island's unique social-ecological system. For centuries, the subak have maintained Bali's terraced rice paddy landscape as a network of semi-autonomous irrigation associations, mediated through water temples. The adaptive co-management plan draws on principles of adaptive governance to connect subaks with other actors and actor groups across multiple institutional levels and regional jurisdictions. Research findings support the likelihood that the World Heritage initiative can promote transformative change in cultural landscape management in Bali. As the initiative develops, it will provide a fertile site for future research on adaptive governance, to better understand interdependent social-ecological relationships and the evolution of adaptive co-management approaches.

abstract: With global environmental systems under increasing Anthropogenic influence, conservationists and environmental managers are under immense pressure to protect and recover the world’s imperiled species and ecosystems. This effort is often motivated by a sense of moral responsibility, either to nature itself, or to the end of promoting human wellbeing over the long run. In other words, it is the purview of environmental ethics, a branch of applied philosophy that emerged in the 1970s and that for decades has been devoted to understanding and defending an attitude of respect for nature, usually for its own sake. Yet from the very start, environmental ethics has promoted itself as contributing to the resolution of real-world management and policy problems. By most accounts, however, the field has historically failed to deliver on this original promise, and environmental ethicists continue to miss opportunities to make intellectual inroads with key environmental decisionmakers. Inspired by classical and contemporary American philosophers such as Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and Richard Rorty, I defend in this dissertation the virtues of a more explicitly pragmatic approach to environmental ethics. Specifically, I argue that environmental pragmatism is not only commensurate with pro-environmental attitudes but that it is more likely to lead to viable and sustainable outcomes, particularly in the context of eco-social resilience-building activities (e.g., local experimentation, adaptation, cooperation). In doing so, I call for a recasting of environmental ethics, a project that entails: 1) a conceptual reorientation involving the application of pragmatism applied to environmental problems; 2) a methodological approach linking a pragmatist environmentalism to the tradition and process of adaptive co-management; and 3) an empirical study of stakeholder values and perspectives in conservation collaboratives in Arizona. I conclude that a more pragmatic environmental ethics has the potential to bring a powerful set of ethical and methodological tools to bear in real-world management contexts and, where appropriate, can ground and justify coordinated conservation efforts. Finally, this research responds to critics who suggest that, because it strays too far from the ideological purity of traditional environmental ethics, the pragmatic decision-making process will, in the long run, weaken rather than bolster our commitment to conservation and environmental protection. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biology 2019

A principal purpose of this thesis is to present an economic evaluation of ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem health is adopted to ascertain the status of ecosystems. Ecosystem health is considered in part an economic concept and defined as a function of utility through the ecosystem services that satisfy various needs, subject to preserving the integrity of the adaptive cycle. In order to quantify the utility supplied by ecosystem services the novel utility index Ecosystem Outcome Protection Year (ECOPY) is developed. By forming this index, an evaluation can be performed using cost utility analysis, which avoids monetizing these benefits. An attempt is made to ascertain an appropriate approach for ecosystem management. It is reasoned that expert intuition can determine some kind of macro-regularities in ecosystems despite their complex dynamics. Hence, these inferences could be used for ecosystem management. Adaptive co-management is introduced as a means to bring about the collaboration of experts as resource co-managers. The concept of informed intuition is developed to bring about a systematic approach to learning and evaluation where the mental models of experts are transcribed using fuzzy cognitive mapping. However, it is argued that ecosystems as complex adaptive systems are non-ergodic and full of surprises. Accordingly, abduction, the logic of creative conjecture is systematically developed, for the purposes of maintaining mental model flexibility. This systematic application of abduction with an informed intuition forms the proposed abductive process of research, which is grounded in Shacklean potential surprise, a non-probabilistic function. To demonstrate this novel research process, a post-classical economic evaluation of Te Waihora lake ecosystem is undertaken, which employs the ECOPY index and potential surprise method. This empirical case study reveals various cost-effective management actions for improving lake health, which went beyond the intuitions of resource co-managers. This indicated the potential of the approach, which is considered a significant contribution for the methodological development of ecosystem management.

Managing natural resources and socio-ecological systems sustainably is one of the greatest challenges for society today. In order to deal with the complexities and uncertainties inherent to this challenge, adaptive management, collaborative (participatory) management and adaptive co-management have been advocated as governing tools instead of a traditional top-down approach. Much research has advocated that the crucial element of these three alternative management approaches is social learning. While a lot of research has investigated the preconditions, contents and outcomes of social learning, little is known about the processes of social learning. This thesis explores how social learning processes unfolded in a regional collaborative project, the Resolve project, carried out in Sweden. The methodological approach used is action research. The data was collected mainly by observing the project team’s internal workshops and also through observing interviews and official workshops in which diverse local stakeholders participated. The present study makes several noteworthy contributions to existing knowledge about social learning by providing detailed descriptions of social learning processes. The significant findings of thesis were that social learning was facilitated and encouraged through the opportunity to ask critical questions and to engage in collective decision-making. These findings enhance our understanding of social learning processes.

In the pursuit of renewable energy, wind turbines are used to achieve global and national environmental goals. The establishment of this power production has escalated in Sweden, with the aim of phasing out the use of fossil fuels. The electricity generated may be classified as clean, but the infrastructure not only causes landscape changes, but also threatens ecosystems and their services that contribute to human well-being. The effects on ecosystem services are cross-border, and therefore require cooperation at different institutional scales. This study examines documents at national, regional, and local level to map the existing knowledge about wind power's effects on ecosystem services, and how ecosystem services are expressed in planning. A certain common delineation of the effects can be deduced between the different levels of cultural and supporting services. Planning for wind power at the local level has been shown in Piteå municipality to include a few of the ecosystem services that have been defined. However, there is a lack of an in-depth connection between the affected areas, and any ecosystem services these areas can provide.

To achieve true sustainability, planners must balance the interests of environmental protection, economic development, and social equity. In a critically changing, complex ecosystem such as Louisiana’s coast, challenges to achieve the perfect equilibrium are further compounded. Following the logic of emerging adaptive co-management literature, the planning framework for Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan could be transformed into a more collaborative, democratic process. Adaptive co-management is a regime which provides power to local citizens, often in possession of invaluable traditional ecological knowledge. In general, it focuses on constant learning and collaboration. Through power-sharing and participatory action, we embrace science, but step back from technocracy. We utilize local knowledge, and combine it with expertise.

A ideia de conservar áreas de renomada beleza natural contribuiu para a criação de várias áreas protegidas no Mundo. No Brasil, essas áreas são denominadas as Unidades de Conservação (UC). Muitas delas estão ameaçadas quanto a seu papel básico de proteção/conservação da biodiversidade. Isso acontece graças a diversos fatores: falta de recursos financeiros e humanos, regularização fundiária incompleta, presença de atividades humanas conflitantes dentro e no entorno dos territórios das UC, problemas de gestão, entre outros. No estado de São Paulo, grande parte das UC integrais possuem moradores e comunidades tradicionais em seus territórios. No entanto, ainda é pequena a participação dessas populações nos processos decisórios de gestão de UC. O caso do Parque Estadual da Ilha do Cardoso (PEIC) se destaca pela diferença quanto às opções de gestão. Além do fato de que seu plano de manejo foi elaborado conjuntamente com as comunidades residentes no Parque, essas participaram ativamente das reuniões do Conselho Consultivo (CC), arena social de discussão e negociação sobre as regras de gestão do Parque. Nesse processo a comunidade do Marujá se destaca, dentre todas as comunidades do PEIC, por apresentar uma Associação de Moradores que é participante do CC. Durante dez anos (1998-2008) o PEIC e a comunidade do Marujá construíram um modelo de resolução de conflitos, principalmente ligado a problemas com o turismo no Parque. No entanto, ainda não estão claras quais foram as opções de gestão escolhidas para a obtenção destes resultados. Portanto, esta dissertação analisou como se pode traduzir o resultado exitoso de uma UC com comunidades, como o PEIC, em um modelo de gestão? Constatou-se que o PEIC seguiu como modelo a cogestão adaptativa, caracterizado pela possibilidade de complementaridade entre Estado e sociedade civil. No caso do PEIC, a cogestão adaptativa gerou um padrão de governança, corroborado pelo reconhecimento da importância histórica das comunidades tradicionais do Parque, na proteção e gestão, dos recursos naturais de uso comum da UC. Além disso, esse modelo auxiliou a gestão da UC a lidar com a polissemia de seu sistema socioecológico. Além de demonstrar a importância de se promover o estreitamento do capital social, para a resolução de conflitos relativos ao sistema socioecológico da UC. / Many protect areas (PA) around the World were created based on the idea of protecting areas with outstanding scenic beauty. In Brazil, many of them were threatened in basic conservation issues. It occurs due to many factors, e.g.: lack of financial and human resources, problems with PA limits, conflicts among human activities within and near the PA area, problems with PA management, among others. In São Paulo State, many of the PA (73%) has traditional communities living inside their limits. Besides this, the management process with the participation of these communities remains low. The Cardoso Island State Park (CISP) management case is outstanding among the others PA with six communities (São Paulo State). CISP had a management plan that was made with the communities participation. Those communities attended the Park Advisory Council (PAC). This PAC was a social arena, where the management rules were discussed and negotiated, among different social actors and the Park director. Among all communities, Marujá is one which stands out. This community has Residents Association that is active in the PAC. During ten years (1998-2008) the CISP and Marujá community had built up a conflicts resolution model, mainly related to tourism problems. However, it remains unclear which management alternatives were chosen for achieve these goals. Though this dissertation seeks to analyze how a successful management results can be translated in a management model? The CISP has developed an adaptive co-management model. This model is characterized as a synergy between State and civil society. In CISP, this management model had built up a governance system, which had recognized the historical importance of those traditional communities for the protection and management of common pool natural resources. In addition, it had helped this PA to lead with it socio-ecological system. The CISP management model had showed how the social capital strengthen is important to conflict resolution of PAs socio-ecological systems.

A ideia de conservar áreas de renomada beleza natural contribuiu para a criação de várias áreas protegidas no Mundo. No Brasil, essas áreas são denominadas as Unidades de Conservação (UC). Muitas delas estão ameaçadas quanto a seu papel básico de proteção/conservação da biodiversidade. Isso acontece graças a diversos fatores: falta de recursos financeiros e humanos, regularização fundiária incompleta, presença de atividades humanas conflitantes dentro e no entorno dos territórios das UC, problemas de gestão, entre outros. No estado de São Paulo, grande parte das UC integrais possuem moradores e comunidades tradicionais em seus territórios. No entanto, ainda é pequena a participação dessas populações nos processos decisórios de gestão de UC. O caso do Parque Estadual da Ilha do Cardoso (PEIC) se destaca pela diferença quanto às opções de gestão. Além do fato de que seu plano de manejo foi elaborado conjuntamente com as comunidades residentes no Parque, essas participaram ativamente das reuniões do Conselho Consultivo (CC), arena social de discussão e negociação sobre as regras de gestão do Parque. Nesse processo a comunidade do Marujá se destaca, dentre todas as comunidades do PEIC, por apresentar uma Associação de Moradores que é participante do CC. Durante dez anos (1998-2008) o PEIC e a comunidade do Marujá construíram um modelo de resolução de conflitos, principalmente ligado a problemas com o turismo no Parque. No entanto, ainda não estão claras quais foram as opções de gestão escolhidas para a obtenção destes resultados. Portanto, esta dissertação analisou como se pode traduzir o resultado exitoso de uma UC com comunidades, como o PEIC, em um modelo de gestão? Constatou-se que o PEIC seguiu como modelo a cogestão adaptativa, caracterizado pela possibilidade de complementaridade entre Estado e sociedade civil. No caso do PEIC, a cogestão adaptativa gerou um padrão de governança, corroborado pelo reconhecimento da importância histórica das comunidades tradicionais do Parque, na proteção e gestão, dos recursos naturais de uso comum da UC. Além disso, esse modelo auxiliou a gestão da UC a lidar com a polissemia de seu sistema socioecológico. Além de demonstrar a importância de se promover o estreitamento do capital social, para a resolução de conflitos relativos ao sistema socioecológico da UC. / Many protect areas (PA) around the World were created based on the idea of protecting areas with outstanding scenic beauty. In Brazil, many of them were threatened in basic conservation issues. It occurs due to many factors, e.g.: lack of financial and human resources, problems with PA limits, conflicts among human activities within and near the PA area, problems with PA management, among others. In São Paulo State, many of the PA (73%) has traditional communities living inside their limits. Besides this, the management process with the participation of these communities remains low. The Cardoso Island State Park (CISP) management case is outstanding among the others PA with six communities (São Paulo State). CISP had a management plan that was made with the communities participation. Those communities attended the Park Advisory Council (PAC). This PAC was a social arena, where the management rules were discussed and negotiated, among different social actors and the Park director. Among all communities, Marujá is one which stands out. This community has Residents Association that is active in the PAC. During ten years (1998-2008) the CISP and Marujá community had built up a conflicts resolution model, mainly related to tourism problems. However, it remains unclear which management alternatives were chosen for achieve these goals. Though this dissertation seeks to analyze how a successful management results can be translated in a management model? The CISP has developed an adaptive co-management model. This model is characterized as a synergy between State and civil society. In CISP, this management model had built up a governance system, which had recognized the historical importance of those traditional communities for the protection and management of common pool natural resources. In addition, it had helped this PA to lead with it socio-ecological system. The CISP management model had showed how the social capital strengthen is important to conflict resolution of PAs socio-ecological systems.