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Roscher MB, Eriksson H, Harohau D, Mauli S, Kaltavara J, Boonstra WJ, van der Ploeg J. Unpacking pathways to diversified livelihoods from projects in Pacific Island coastal fisheries. Ambio 2022; 51:2107-2117. [PMID: 35316506 PMCID: PMC9378810 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-022-01727-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Livelihood diversification has become an integral focus of policies and investments aiming to reduce poverty, vulnerability, and pressure on fishery resources in coastal communities around the globe. In this regard, coastal fisheries in the Pacific Islands have long been a sector where livelihood diversification has featured prominently. Yet, despite the widespread promotion and international investment in this strategy, the ability of externally funded livelihood diversification projects to facilitate improved resource management and rural development outcomes often remains inconsistent. We argue these inconsistencies can be attributed to a conceptual ambiguity stemming from a lack of attention and awareness to the complexity of livelihood diversification. There is still much to learn about the process of livelihood diversification, both in its theoretical conceptualizations and its practical applications. Herein, we utilize a common diversity framework to clarify some of this ambiguity by distinguishing three diversification pathways. These pathways are illustrated using an ideal-typical Pacific Island coastal household and supported by examples provided in the literature that detail livelihood diversification projects in the Pacific. Through this perspective, we seek a more nuanced understanding of what is meant within the policy and practice goal of livelihood diversification. Thereby enabling more targeted and deliberate planning for development investments that facilitates outcomes in support of sustainable livelihoods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew B. Roscher
- Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Squires Way, Wollongong, NSW 2500 Australia
| | - Hampus Eriksson
- Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Squires Way, Wollongong, NSW 2500 Australia
- WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, Batu Maung, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang Malaysia
| | - Daykin Harohau
- College of Science & Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811 Australia
| | - Senoveva Mauli
- Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Squires Way, Wollongong, NSW 2500 Australia
| | - Jeremie Kaltavara
- Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Squires Way, Wollongong, NSW 2500 Australia
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Andersson E, Boonstra WJ, de la Torre Castro M, Hughes AC, Ilstedt U, Jernelöv A, Jonsson BG, Kalantari Z, Keskitalo C, Kritzberg E, Kätterer T, McNeely JA, Mohr C, Mustonen T, Ostwald M, Reyes-Garcia V, Rusch GM, Sanderson Bellamy A, Stage J, Tedengren M, Thomas DN, Wulff A, Söderström B. Ambio fit for the 2020s. Ambio 2022; 51:1091-1093. [PMID: 35181853 PMCID: PMC8931126 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-022-01710-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Erik Andersson
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
- Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, 2520 South Africa
| | - Wiebren J. Boonstra
- Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Alice C. Hughes
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Ulrik Ilstedt
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
| | | | - Bengt-Gunnar Jonsson
- Department of Natural Sciences, Mid Sweden University, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden
- Department of Fish, Wildlife and Environmental Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Zahra Kalantari
- Department of Physical Geography and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Emma Kritzberg
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| | - Thomas Kätterer
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Claudia Mohr
- Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Madelene Ostwald
- Department of Technology, Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Victoria Reyes-Garcia
- Institució Catalana de Recerca I Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | - Jesper Stage
- Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden
| | - Michael Tedengren
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Angela Wulff
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Bo Söderström
- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
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Koh NS, Hahn T, Boonstra WJ. How much of a market is involved in a biodiversity offset? A typology of biodiversity offset policies. J Environ Manage 2019; 232:679-691. [PMID: 30522073 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Revised: 10/26/2018] [Accepted: 11/18/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity offsets (BO) are increasingly promoted and adopted by governments and companies worldwide as a policy instrument to compensate for biodiversity losses from infrastructure development projects. BO are often classified as 'market-based instruments' both by proponents and critics, but this representation fails to capture the varieties of how BO policies actually operate. To provide a framing for understanding the empirical diversity of BO policy designs, we present an ideal-typical typology based on the institutions from which BO is organised: Public Agency, Mandatory Market and Voluntary Offset. With cross-case comparison and stakeholder mapping, we identified the institutional arrangements of six BO policies to analyse how the biodiversity losses and gains are decided. Based on these results, we examined how these six policies relate to the BO ideal types. Our results suggested that the government, contrary to received wisdom, plays a key role not just in enforcing mandatory policies but also in determining the supply and demand of biodiversity units, supervising the transaction or granting legitimacy to the compensation site. Mandatory BO policies can be anything from pure government regulations defining industry liabilities to liability-driven markets where choice sets for trading credits are constrained and biodiversity credit prices are negotiated under state supervision. It is important to distinguish between two processes in BO: the matching of biodiversity losses and gains (commensurability) and the trading of biodiversity credits (commodification). We conclude that the commensurability of natural capital is restricted in BO policies; biodiversity is always exchanged with biodiversity. However, different degrees of commodification are possible, depending on the policy design and role of price signals in trading credits. Like payments for ecosystem services, the price of a biodiversity credit is most commonly based on the cost of management measures rather than the 'value' of biodiversity; which corresponds to a low degree of commodification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niak Sian Koh
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, SE-114 19, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Thomas Hahn
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, SE-114 19, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Wiebren J Boonstra
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, SE-114 19, Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract
Environmental degradation is a typical unintended outcome of collective human behavior. Hardin's metaphor of the "tragedy of the commons" has become a conceived wisdom that captures the social dynamics leading to environmental degradation. Recently, "traps" has gained currency as an alternative concept to explain the rigidity of social and ecological processes that produce environmental degradation and livelihood impoverishment. The trap metaphor is, however, a great deal more complex compared to Hardin's insight. This paper takes stock of studies using the trap metaphor. It argues that the concept includes time and history in the analysis, but only as background conditions and not as a factor of causality. From a historical-sociological perspective this is remarkable since social-ecological traps are clearly path-dependent processes, which are causally produced through a conjunction of events. To prove this point the paper conceptualizes social-ecological traps as a process instead of a condition, and systematically compares history and timing in one classic and three recent studies of social-ecological traps. Based on this comparison it concludes that conjunction of social and environmental events contributes profoundly to the production of trap processes. The paper further discusses the implications of this conclusion for policy intervention and outlines how future research might generalize insights from historical-sociological studies of traps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wiebren J. Boonstra
- />Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, P.O. Box 1096, Stockholm, Sweden
- />Baltic Nest Institute, Stockholm University, P.O. Box 1096, Stockholm, Sweden
- />Nordic Centre for Research on Marine Ecosystems and Resources Under Climate Change (NorMER), University of Oslo, Blindern, P.O. Box 1066, 0316 Oslo, Norway
| | - Florianne W. de Boer
- />University College Utrecht, Utrecht University, Campusplein 1, 3584 ED Utrecht, The Netherlands
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