Institutional Constraints to Collaborative Ecosystem Management within a Wetlands Conservation Partnership

摘要

The resource management paradigm is in a state of transition from the conventional sustained yield and multiple use management paradigm toward ecosystem management (Cortner and Moote 1999; Yaffee 1999; Chapin et al. 2010; Folke et al. 2011). The sustained yield and multiple use management paradigm was based on the view of humans as separate from nature and a belief in human mastery over nature (Cortner et al. 1998). This paradigm also relied on expert science and centralized institutions with the aim of enhancing efficiency and output maximization of economically valuable resources, including timber and water resources (Daniels and Walker 1996; Yaffee 1999). This over-emphasis on the predictable supply of commodity outputs has resulted in biodiversity crisis (Grumbine 1994; Chapin et al. 2010). Since the concept of sustainable development emerged in the 1980s, the paradigm of the ecosystem management has been gaining recognition as an alternative to the conventional paradigm (Cortner and Moote 1999). The turn toward ecosystem management in recent decades is a response to the biodiversity crises created by the narrow focus of conventional management approaches, as well as changing societal values, and new scientific insights from recent disciplines such as conservation biology and landscape ecology (Grumbine 1994; Cortner and Moote 1999).Ecosystem management is a holistic approach to resource management that addresses the sustainability of human and ecological communities (Endter-Wada et al. 1998). In this regard, ecosystem management departs from the narrow focus of the conventional paradigm by emphasizing the pursuit of integrated management goals that cover social, ecological, and economic dimensions (Keogh and Blahna 2005). As Stein and Gelburd (1998, 74) have succinctly stated, “The goal of the ecosystem approach is to restore and sustain the health, productivity, and biological diversity of ecosystems and the overall quality of life through a natural resource management approach that is fully integrated with social and economic goals.” The ecosystem management paradigm considers humans an integral part of nature (Folke et al. 2011), and it recognizes the uncertainties that characterize the dynamic interaction between social and ecological systems (Yaffee 1996). In view of these uncertainties, ecosystem management highlights the need for interdisciplinary science and adaptive management processes (Cortner et al. 1998; Butler and Koontz 2005). Ecosystem management also emphasizes a bioregional approach that considers resource management issues across multiple political and administrative boundaries (Lee 1999). Examination of resource management goals across multiple spatial and temporal scales reveals significant conflicts and other organizational challenges that cannot be managed through conventional top-down institutional mechanisms (Daniels and Walker 1996; Bonnell and Koontz 2007). In this regard, collaborative decision-making is increasingly relied upon as a means of dealing with conflicts among the multiple stakeholders in ecosystem management (Imperial 1999; Wondolleck and Yaffee 2000; Keogh and Blahna 2005).Besides the influence of the ecosystem management paradigm, the turn toward collaborative resource management is also fueled by the increasing devolution of decision-making authority and implementation responsibilities to state and non-state actors at lower administrative levels (Steel and Weber 2001). In this regard, co-management or collaboration can be seen as a form of governance (Carlsson and Berkes 2005), defined as “the whole of public as well as private interactions to solve societal problems and create societal opportunities” (Berkes 2010, 491). Collaborative decision-making entails the use of multiparty and multidisciplinary approaches to problem-solving (Yaffee 1996). Keogh and Blahna (2005) contend that collaboration goes beyond public involvement. Collaborative processes are characterized by inclusiv