An integrated framework for assessing coastal community vulnerability across cultures, oceans and scales
- Aswani, Shankar, Howard, J A E, Gasalla, Maria A, Jennings, Sarah M, Malherbe, W, Martins, I M, Salim, Shyam S
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A E , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah M , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim, Shyam S
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123063 , vital:35402 , https://doi.10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795
- Description: Across the globe, many coastal communities rely on marine resources for their food security (FS), income and livelihoods and with predicted trends in human populations, the number of people reliant on these resources is likely to increase (FAO, 2012). However, the effects of climate change including increased variability are already being experienced by coastal communities and appear to be accelerating (Doney et al., 2012). Depending on a range of factors, including location, these changes are having mild to severe impacts on communities both in direct and indirect ways (Miller et al., 2010). Communities in coastal areas, for instance, are particularly at risk due to sea level rise but also through their dependence on marine resources that are impacted by multiple climate change pressures. A change in the availability and condition of marine resources has consequences on the livelihoods of fishing populations or those who depend directly on fishing as a source of food (Badjeck, Allison, Halls, & Dulvy, 2010).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A E , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah M , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim, Shyam S
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123063 , vital:35402 , https://doi.10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795
- Description: Across the globe, many coastal communities rely on marine resources for their food security (FS), income and livelihoods and with predicted trends in human populations, the number of people reliant on these resources is likely to increase (FAO, 2012). However, the effects of climate change including increased variability are already being experienced by coastal communities and appear to be accelerating (Doney et al., 2012). Depending on a range of factors, including location, these changes are having mild to severe impacts on communities both in direct and indirect ways (Miller et al., 2010). Communities in coastal areas, for instance, are particularly at risk due to sea level rise but also through their dependence on marine resources that are impacted by multiple climate change pressures. A change in the availability and condition of marine resources has consequences on the livelihoods of fishing populations or those who depend directly on fishing as a source of food (Badjeck, Allison, Halls, & Dulvy, 2010).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Global trends of local ecological knowledge and future implications
- Aswani, Shankar, Lemahieu, Anne, Sauer, Warwick H H
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Lemahieu, Anne , Sauer, Warwick H H
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70504 , vital:29668 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195440
- Description: Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local resilience capacities from this loss. In this global literature review, we analyse the drivers of various types of local and indigenous ecological knowledge transformation and assess the directionality of the reported change. Results of this analysis show a global impoverishment of local and indigenous knowledge with 77% of papers reporting the loss of knowledge driven by globalization, modernization, and market integration. The recording of this loss, however, is not symmetrical, with losses being recorded more strongly in medicinal and ethnobotanical knowledge. Persistence of knowledge (15% of the studies) occurred in studies where traditional practices were being maintained consiously and where hybrid knowledge was being produced as a resut of certain types of incentives created by economic development. This review provides some insights into local and indigenous ecological knowledge change, its causes and implications, and recommends venues for the development of replicable and comparative research. The larger implication of these results is that because of the interconnection between cultural and biological diversity, the loss of local and indigenous knowledge is likely to critically threaten effective conservation of biodiversity, particularly in community-based conservation local efforts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Lemahieu, Anne , Sauer, Warwick H H
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70504 , vital:29668 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195440
- Description: Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local resilience capacities from this loss. In this global literature review, we analyse the drivers of various types of local and indigenous ecological knowledge transformation and assess the directionality of the reported change. Results of this analysis show a global impoverishment of local and indigenous knowledge with 77% of papers reporting the loss of knowledge driven by globalization, modernization, and market integration. The recording of this loss, however, is not symmetrical, with losses being recorded more strongly in medicinal and ethnobotanical knowledge. Persistence of knowledge (15% of the studies) occurred in studies where traditional practices were being maintained consiously and where hybrid knowledge was being produced as a resut of certain types of incentives created by economic development. This review provides some insights into local and indigenous ecological knowledge change, its causes and implications, and recommends venues for the development of replicable and comparative research. The larger implication of these results is that because of the interconnection between cultural and biological diversity, the loss of local and indigenous knowledge is likely to critically threaten effective conservation of biodiversity, particularly in community-based conservation local efforts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Limitations of the random response technique and a call to implement the ballot box method for estimating recreational angler compliance using surveys:
- Bova, Christopher S, Aswani, Shankar, Farthing, Matthew W, Potts, Warren M
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S , Aswani, Shankar , Farthing, Matthew W , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145359 , vital:38431 , DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2018.06.017
- Description: Accurate estimation of the levels of non-compliance to fishing regulations is crucial in ensuring that long term sustainability goals of fisheries are met. When requesting information regarding sensitive behaviour, such as an angler’s non-compliance to regulations through direct questioning methods (DQM), their responses can be influenced by social desirability bias (SDB). Literature in human dimensions research on methods for controlling this bias is limited. There has been an emerging prevalence in the use of the random response technique (RRT), which is a method aimed at reducing SDB in questions regarding sensitive behaviour, although it has never been validated against observed data in an environmental resource use context. An alternative to the RRT, the use of a ballot box method (BBM) has been successfully implemented to reduce SDB in contingent valuation studies and is introduced in this paper as a method for reducing SDB in face-to-face survey responses regarding sensitive behaviour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Bova, Christopher S , Aswani, Shankar , Farthing, Matthew W , Potts, Warren M
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145359 , vital:38431 , DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2018.06.017
- Description: Accurate estimation of the levels of non-compliance to fishing regulations is crucial in ensuring that long term sustainability goals of fisheries are met. When requesting information regarding sensitive behaviour, such as an angler’s non-compliance to regulations through direct questioning methods (DQM), their responses can be influenced by social desirability bias (SDB). Literature in human dimensions research on methods for controlling this bias is limited. There has been an emerging prevalence in the use of the random response technique (RRT), which is a method aimed at reducing SDB in questions regarding sensitive behaviour, although it has never been validated against observed data in an environmental resource use context. An alternative to the RRT, the use of a ballot box method (BBM) has been successfully implemented to reduce SDB in contingent valuation studies and is introduced in this paper as a method for reducing SDB in face-to-face survey responses regarding sensitive behaviour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Local perceptions of environmental changes in fishing communities of southwest Madagascar:
- Lemahieu, Anne, Scott, Lucy E P, Malherbe, Willem, Mahatante, Paubert T, Randrianarimanana, José V, Aswani, Shankar
- Authors: Lemahieu, Anne , Scott, Lucy E P , Malherbe, Willem , Mahatante, Paubert T , Randrianarimanana, José V , Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145370 , vital:38432 , DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.06.012
- Description: Southwest Madagascar is a region that is significantly impacted upon by climate change. As in a lot of developing countries, the livelihoods of many communities in this region are dependent on fishing. This makes these communities particularly vulnerable to climate-related changes. We conducted a survey in two coastal fishing communities in the Toliara Province, Ambola and Ambotsibotsike. Using a free listing exercise, semi-structured interviews and focus group methods, we documented local perceptions of environmental changes and responses to changes. Results were compared, taking into account the differences in the degree of remoteness, market exposure and religiosity. Time periods that respondents reported as having had a high degree of change were compared to time periods of historical records of cyclones occurring in Toliara Province.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Lemahieu, Anne , Scott, Lucy E P , Malherbe, Willem , Mahatante, Paubert T , Randrianarimanana, José V , Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145370 , vital:38432 , DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.06.012
- Description: Southwest Madagascar is a region that is significantly impacted upon by climate change. As in a lot of developing countries, the livelihoods of many communities in this region are dependent on fishing. This makes these communities particularly vulnerable to climate-related changes. We conducted a survey in two coastal fishing communities in the Toliara Province, Ambola and Ambotsibotsike. Using a free listing exercise, semi-structured interviews and focus group methods, we documented local perceptions of environmental changes and responses to changes. Results were compared, taking into account the differences in the degree of remoteness, market exposure and religiosity. Time periods that respondents reported as having had a high degree of change were compared to time periods of historical records of cyclones occurring in Toliara Province.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Marine resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene
- Aswani, Shankar, Basurto, Xavier, Ferse, Sebastian, Glaser, Marion, Campbell, Lisa, Cinner, Joshua E, Dalton, Tracey, Jenkins, Lekelia D, Miller, Marc L, Pollnac, Richard, McGill University, Christie, Patrick
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Basurto, Xavier , Ferse, Sebastian , Glaser, Marion , Campbell, Lisa , Cinner, Joshua E , Dalton, Tracey , Jenkins, Lekelia D , Miller, Marc L , Pollnac, Richard , McGill University , Christie, Patrick
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124987 , vital:35716 , https://doi.10.1017/S0376892917000431
- Description: Because the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize the roles of various environmental social science disciplines in better understanding the interaction between humans and tropical marine ecosystems in developing nations where issues arising from human–coastal interactions are particularly pronounced. We focus on: (1) the application of the environmental social sciences in marine resource management and conservation; (2) the development of ‘new’ socially equitable marine conservation; (3) repopulating the seascape; (4) incorporating multi-scale dynamics of marine social–ecological systems; and (5) envisioning the future of marine resource management and conservation for producing policies and projects for comprehensive and successful resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Basurto, Xavier , Ferse, Sebastian , Glaser, Marion , Campbell, Lisa , Cinner, Joshua E , Dalton, Tracey , Jenkins, Lekelia D , Miller, Marc L , Pollnac, Richard , McGill University , Christie, Patrick
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124987 , vital:35716 , https://doi.10.1017/S0376892917000431
- Description: Because the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize the roles of various environmental social science disciplines in better understanding the interaction between humans and tropical marine ecosystems in developing nations where issues arising from human–coastal interactions are particularly pronounced. We focus on: (1) the application of the environmental social sciences in marine resource management and conservation; (2) the development of ‘new’ socially equitable marine conservation; (3) repopulating the seascape; (4) incorporating multi-scale dynamics of marine social–ecological systems; and (5) envisioning the future of marine resource management and conservation for producing policies and projects for comprehensive and successful resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Variation in perception of environmental change in nine Solomon Islands communities: implications for securing fairness in community-based adaptation
- Ensor, Jonathan Edward, Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth, Hoddy, Eric Timothy, Aswani, Shankar, Albert, Simon, Vaccaro, Ismael, Benedict, Jason Jon, Beare, Douglas James
- Authors: Ensor, Jonathan Edward , Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth , Hoddy, Eric Timothy , Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Vaccaro, Ismael , Benedict, Jason Jon , Beare, Douglas James
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145380 , vital:38433 , DOI: 10.1007/s10113-017-1242-1
- Description: Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Ensor, Jonathan Edward , Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth , Hoddy, Eric Timothy , Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Vaccaro, Ismael , Benedict, Jason Jon , Beare, Douglas James
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145380 , vital:38433 , DOI: 10.1007/s10113-017-1242-1
- Description: Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »