Unpacking “Participation” in the Adaptive Management of Social–ecological Systems: a Critical Review

By Lindsay C. Stringer, A. Dougill, Evan D. G. Fraser, Klaus Hubacek, C. Prell, M. Reed. 2006

704 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Adaptive management has the potential to make environmental management more democratic through the involvement of different stakeholders. In this article, we examine three case studies at different scales that followed adaptive management processes, critically reflecting upon the role of stakeholder participation in each case. Specifically, we examine at which stages different types of stakeholders can play key roles and the ways that each might be involved. We show that a range of participatory mechanisms can be employed at different stages of the adaptive cycle, and can work together to create conditions for social learning and favorable outcomes for diverse stakeholders. This analysis highlights the need for greater reflection on case study research in order to further refine participatory processes within adaptive management. This should not only address the shortcomings and successes of adaptive management as a form of democratic environmental governance, but should also unpack the links between science, institutions, knowledge, and power.

Subfields: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/20b9f4de8b211368abcfc91a0d845b0c7b81cc4b

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In General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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Citations in the corpus

What is social learning (2010, background): “…Ison and Watson 2007, Mostert et al. 2007, Pahl-Wostl et al. 2007a,b, Steyaert and Ollivier 2007, Tàbara and Pahl-Wostl 2007, Pahl-Wostl et al. 2008) and elsewhere, including work by the authors of this article (e.g., Reed et al. 2006, Stringer et al. 2006, Prell et al. 2008; Newig et al. 2010).”
Who's in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management. (2009, background): “In contrast, participatory natural resource management and development literature advocates on-going and evolving involvement of stakeholders beyond stakeholder analysis, at every stage of the project cycle (Fraser et al., 2006; Stringer et al., 2006).”
Public Participation and Institutional Fit: A Social–Psychological Perspective (2013, methodology): “For that, we need to look more closely at human cognition and behavior.”
Exploring Panarchy in Alpine Grasslands: an Application of Adaptive Cycle Concepts to the Conservation of a Cultural Landscape (2012, background): “Adaptive management to secure desired ecosystem services (e.g., Stringer et al. 2006) is not a new concept.”
Participatory Scenario Planning for Protected Areas Management under the Ecosystem Services Framework: the Doñana Social-Ecological System in Southwestern Spain (2011, methodology): “The combination of different participative methods has been recommended for both the management of social-ecological systems and environmental management (Stringer et al. 2006, Lynam et al. 2007) and has previously been successfully applied (see Jessel and Jacobs 2005, Pereira et al. 2005).”
Adaptation and development pathways for different types of farmers (2019, background): “No single transformation pathway will be appropriate in all situations, and it is difficult to generalize from one farmer to another (Fraser et al. 2006; Stringer et al. 2006; Scoones et al. 2018).”
An Analytical Framework of Social Learning Facilitated by Participatory Methods (2014, methodology): “Stimulating social learning through participatory methods gained growing attention in environmental management (Stringer et al. 2006; Folke et al. 2005).”
Stakeholder mapping for the governance of biosecurity: a literature review (2015, background): “researcher to practitioner) is the most appropriate mode of communication (Stringer et al. 2006).”