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Global change is threatening the production and livelihoods of millions of smallholders. The capacity of smallholders to deal with such changes is influenced by the increasingly complex trade networks that connect them to local and global markets. Moreover, the social relationships (e.g., trust, reciprocity) in which these trade networks are embedded likely influence smallholders' capacity to respond to change. However, the prevalence and influence of such "social embeddedness" of trading across different fisheries and agricultural small-scale food systems is still largely unknown. Here, we characterize the social embeddedness of trade networks in small-scale food systems across different production and institutional contexts. We then explore how actors in small-scale food systems could respond to environmental changes in relation to their existing trade networks. We used a methodology based on the qualitative comparison of three different case studies of small-scale fisheries and agriculture in Mexico and South Africa. We analyzed and compared expert interviews among case studies and against the backdrop of embeddedness theory and a previous empirical study. We found key similarities in the level of social embeddedness of trade networks across cases. For example, business relationships characterized by stability and trust prevailed, whereby smallholders are often interdependent through networks of connected traders. There were also differences across cases, such as the higher formalization of business relationships in the agricultural cases, and the influence of institutional and country-specific factors on trade structures. Actors mostly responded to environmental change based on their existing trade networks, although these networks were also subject to change. The findings allowed us to propose more detailed hypotheses outlining how social embeddedness in trade networks play different roles in responding to environmental changes. These hypotheses aim to inspire future research toward the improved understanding of trade networks' influence on small-scale food systems' resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics and adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems are heavily contingent on system structure, which is established through geography, institutions, interactions, and movement. Contrasting views of system structure, as hierarchies and single-level networks respectively, have tended to emphasize the role of either top-down or lateral (peer-to-peer) connections. The concept of a heterarchy aims to capture both top-down and lateral connections on orthogonal axes and has been proposed as a way of unifying alternative approaches to measuring structure, but it has not been fully operationalized for quantifying and comparing system structures. We developed a simple approach to consistently quantifying heterarchical structure across different kinds of networks. We first calculated suitable metrics, including modularity and a hierarchy score, for a wide range of both simulated and real-world systems including food webs, biological, infrastructure, and social networks. Metrics were corrected for differences in size and magnitude. The results were then visualized as a heterarchy matrix. We compared the angle (degrees) and Euclidian distance of each simulated and real-world network from the center of the matrix between network groups. All networks showed distinct placement on the heterarchy matrix. Relative to one another, food webs were laterally polycentric, social networks were mainly pyramidal and coordinated polycentric, and biological networks were pyramidal and laterally polycentric. Our test of concept, although relatively basic, provides strong evidence that system structure cannot be fully understood as purely laterally connected or purely hierarchical. System resilience requires a tradeoff between modularity, aiding redundancy and collaboration; and hierarchy, aiding efficient action. Our approach has the potential to provide a robust, accessible methodology to quantify system structure that allows for universal contextualization, a key step within fields such as resilience and sustainability science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks are frequently cited as vital for facilitating successful adaptation and transformation in linked social--ecological systems to overcome pressing resource management challenges. Yet confusion remains over the precise nature of adaptation vs. transformation and the specific social network structures that facilitate these processes. Here, we adopt a network perspective to theorize a continuum of structural capacities in social--ecological systems that set the stage for effective adaptation and transformation. We begin by drawing on the resilience literature and the multilayered action situation to link processes of change in social--ecological systems to decision making across multiple layers of rules underpinning societal organization. We then present a framework that hypothesizes seven specific social--ecological network configurations that lay the structural foundation necessary for facilitating adaptation and transformation, given the type and magnitude of human action required. A key contribution of the framework is explicit consideration of how social networks relate to ecological structures and the particular environmental problem at hand. Of the seven configurations identified, three are linked to capacities conducive to adaptation and three to transformation, and one is hypothesized to be important for facilitating both processes. We discuss how our theoretical framework can be applied in practice by highlighting existing empirical examples from related environmental governance contexts. Further extension of our hypotheses, particularly as more data become available, can ultimately help guide the design of institutional arrangements to be more effective at dealing with change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When environmental processes cut across socioeconomic boundaries, traditional top-down government approaches struggle to effectively manage and conserve ecosystems. In such cases, governance arrangements that foster multiactor collaboration are needed. The effectiveness of such arrangements, however, depends on how well any ecological interdependencies across governed ecosystems are aligned with patterns of collaboration. This inherent interdisciplinary and complex problem has impeded progress in developing a better understanding of how to govern ecosystems for conservation in an increasingly interconnected world. We argue for the development of empirically informed theories, which are not only able to transcend disciplinary boundaries, but are also explicit in taking these complex social-ecological interdependences into account. We show how this emerging research frontier can be significantly improved by incorporating recent advances in stochastic modeling of multilevel social networks. An empirical case study from an agricultural landscape in Madagascar is reanalyzed to demonstrate these improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant benefits can arise from collaborative forms of governance that foster self-organization and flexibility. Likewise, governance systems that fit with the extent and complexity of the system under management are considered essential to our ability to solve environmental problems. However, from an empirical perspective the fundamental question of whether self-organized (bottomup) collaborative forms of governance are able to accomplish adequate fit is unresolved. We used new theory and methodological approaches underpinned by interdisciplinary network analysis to address this gap by investigating three governance challenges that relate to the problem of fit: shared management of ecological resources, management of interconnected ecological resources, and crossscale management. We first identified a set of social-ecological network configurations that represent the hypothesized ways in which collaborative arrangements can contribute to addressing these challenges. Using social and ecological data from a large-scale biodiversity conservation initiative in Australia, we empirically determined how well the observed patterns of stakeholder interactions reflect these network configurations. We found that stakeholders collaborate to manage individual parcels of native vegetation, but not for the management of interconnected parcels. In addition, our data show that the collaborative arrangements enable management across different scales (local, regional, supraregional). Our study provides empirical support for the ability of collaborative forms of governance to address the problem of fit, but also suggests that in some cases the establishment of bottom-up collaborative arrangements would likely benefit from specific guidance to facilitate the establishment of collaborations that better align with the ways ecological resources are interconnected across the landscape. In our case study region, this would improve the capacity of stakeholders to detect both the intended and unintended off-site impacts of management actions. Our approach offers an avenue for empirical evaluations of collaborative governance so that preconditions for effectiveness of environmental programs can be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both global and local environmental problems call for the transformation of many contemporary and unsustainable governance approaches. Therefore, recent interest has sprung up around factors that facilitate and hinder societies from transforming governance of natural resources. Using a social-network approach, we study links between informal power structures and knowledge sharing and consensus building. We examine how this interaction may have affected the (in)ability of a community to move from open-access to some form of collective action for resource management. Individuals occupying central positions in a knowledge network can be instrumental in determining which knowledge and interpretation of ecological signals is most dominant. If the same individuals are also influential in other areas, they are highly likely to become opinion leaders. We use this notion of opinion leaders to frame our study. The study is set in a rural fishing community in East Africa where access to fishing equipment is of utmost importance for generating household income, but such gear ownership is not evenly distributed in the village. Hence, we use gear-exchange networks to explore power. Our results show a clear and strong relationship between centrality in the knowledge network and in-degree centrality (reflecting gear-lending capacity) in the gear-exchange network, supporting the idea that opinion leaders exist. We also indicate that a majority of these potential opinion leaders demonstrate little recognition of declining fisheries. We relate our findings to existing theories of influence and governance transformability at the community level, and explore ideas about how social networks can help identify potential change agents in communities experiencing inertia with respect to collective action for improved resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks among actors and stakeholders are gaining attention in studies of natural resource management, particularly those of adaptive management based on different forms of participation and co-management. In this sense, social networks have primarily been envisioned as enabling different actors to collaborate and coordinate management efforts. Here, we continue the discussion initiated by Newman and Dale (2005), which highlighted the fact that not all social networks are created equal. We discuss the relation between some structural characteristics and functions of social networks with respect to natural resource management, thus focusing on structural implications that are often overlooked when studying social networks within the context of natural resource management. We present several network measures used to quantify structural characteristics of social networks and link them to a number of features such as learning, leadership, and trust, which are identified as important in natural resource management. We show schematically that there may be inherent juxtapositions among different structural characteristics that need to be balanced in what we envision as social network structures conducive to adaptive comanagement of natural resources. We argue that it is essential to develop an understanding of the effects that different structural characteristics of social networks have on natural resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social networks is one factor determining the flow of information within communities and as such may be important in determining successful implementation of community based management. We mapped the social network used for communication of knowledge and information related to natural resource extraction among villagers in a coastal seascape in Kenya. We further identified subgroups and examined their interrelations while measuring to what extent personal attributes such as occupation can explain observed group structure. Finally, we compared the local ecological knowledge held by villagers of different occupations with the structure of the communication network to map how well this structure can explain distribution of ecological knowledge among them. Results show that communication occurs primarily between fishermen who use the same gear type, which may inhibit exchange of ecological knowledge within the community. This may partly explain why the community has been unsuccessful in regulating resource extraction, especially since potentially influential groups of nonfishermen have a limited communication with the various fisher groups. Analysis of network structure also shows that groups most central, and hence potentially most influential, are dominated in numbers by migrant deep sea fishermen, hypothetically less motivated to initiate collective action for resource management. Hence, we conclude that a lack of collective action to remedy an unsustainable situation may be attributed to various different but distinct aspects of the specific structure of the social network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal models used to study the resilience of social-ecological systems have not explicitly included important structural characteristics of this type of system. In this paper, we propose a network perspective for social-ecological systems that enables us to better focus on the structure of interactions between identifiable components of the system. This network perspective might be useful for developing formal models and comparing case studies of social-ecological systems. Based on an analysis of the case studies in this special issue, we identify three types of social-ecological networks: (1) ecosystems that are connected by people through flows of information or materials, (2) ecosystem networks that are disconnected and fragmented by the actions of people, and (3) artificial ecological networks created by people, such as irrigation systems. Each of these three archytypal social-ecological networks faces different problems that influence its resilience as it responds to the addition or removal of connections that affect its coordination or the diffusion of system attributes such as information or disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including multiscalar and boundary-spanning nature of water resources; challenges for addressing nonpoint source pollution; and collaboration among actors in multilevel water governance arrangements.

Local governments, or municipalities, play a key role in water governance around the world owing to the many administrative competencies they hold, ranging from water service delivery to urban planning. However, the ability of municipalities to carry out their competencies effectively depends in large part on the characteristics of the institutional arrangements in which they are embedded. In particular, the relationship between municipalities and watershed governance institutions has received little attention in the literature on polycentric and multilevel governance. Drawing on insights from diverse cases around the world, we argue that empirical research must pay closer attention to the links, or lack thereof, between municipalities and watershed governance institutions to improve the sustainability of water governance outcomes in practice. We identify a set of critical issues affecting municipalities' engagement in governance at the watershed scale that broadly apply across different contexts, and which we argue deserve more attention in future research: (1) disconnect and ambiguities of authority across hierarchical levels; (2) internal and external challenges to municipalities engaging in effective collaborations; (3) barriers to expanding the scope of traditional municipal affairs; and (4) misalignment of biophysical, institutional, and political timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of institutional fit in social-ecological systems has been empirically documented and conceptually discussed for decades, yet there is a shortage of approaches to systematically and quantitatively examine the level of fit. We address this gap, focusing on spatial fit in an urban and peri-urban regional landscape. Such landscapes typically exhibit significant fragmentation of remnant habitats, which can limit critical species dispersal. This may have detrimental effects on species persistence and ecosystem functioning if land use is planned without consideration of the spatial patterns of fragmentation. Managing habitat fragmentation is particularly challenging when the scale of fragmentation reaches beyond the control of single managers, thereby requiring different actors to coordinate their activities to address the problem at the appropriate scale. We present a research approach that maps patterns of collaborations between actors who manage different parts of a landscape, and then relates these patterns to structures of ecological connectivity. We applied our approach to evaluate the fit between a collaborative wetland management network comprising all 26 municipalities in the Stockholm County in Sweden and an ecologically defined network of dispersed but ecologically interconnected wetlands. Many wetlands in this landscape are either intersected by the boundary between two or more municipalities, or are located close to such boundaries, which implies a degree of ecological interconnectedness and a need for intermunicipal coordination related to wetland management across boundaries. We first estimated the level of ecological connectivity between wetlands in neighboring municipalities, and then used this estimate to elaborate the level of social-ecological fit vis-à-vis intermunicipal collaboration. We found that the level of fit was generally weak. Also, we identified critical misalignments of ecological connectivity and intermunicipal collaboration, respectively, as well as collaborations that represented an adequate alignment. These findings inform on where to most effectively allocate limited resources of collaborative capacity to enhance the level of social-ecological fit. Our approach and results are illustrated using maps, which facilitates the potential application of this method in land use planning practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable fisheries management plays a critical role in supporting healthy marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of millions of people. An emerging view on fisheries management emphasizes the need to manage fisheries as complex social-ecological systems. Yet, our understanding of the outcomes of fisheries management from a social-ecological perspective is limited in comparison to that provided by either the biophysical or the social perspective alone. In the Baltic Sea, management interventions focused on ecosystem recovery contributed to unintended changes from 1996 to 2009 in the fishing strategy diversity practiced by Swedish fishers. We evaluate how the changes in strategy diversification affected the capacity of Swedish fishers to adapt to future ecosystem changes. To do this, we constructed and analyzed social-ecological fisheries networks. Our analysis confirmed the previously reported development of a narrower combination of fishing strategies among large-scale fishers, parallel with a diversification in small-scale fishers' strategies. However, the results demonstrated that switching fishing strategies has, in fact, increased in magnitude, and the fishers were more equally distributed in different fishing strategies in 2009 than in 1996. Further, we detected a development toward lower ecological dependency between fishing strategies within the community, although the strategies remained connected through ecological interactions. In conclusion, our analysis of the social-ecological interdependencies suggests that the previously reported changes in the fishing strategy diversity increased the adaptability of the Swedish Baltic Sea fishers to changing ecological conditions. On the other hand, the changes may have made the Baltic Sea more vulnerable to poor management. This empirical study emphasizes the importance of a social-ecological approach on fisheries research and management. Our results show that appreciating the complexity and changing nature of fisher behavior is crucial when assessing fisheries management outcomes, and when designing policies that aim to maintain adaptability in the uncertain and dynamic fish industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive comanagement is at an important cross-road: different research paths forward are possible, and a diagnostic approach has been identified as a promising one. Accordingly, we operationalize a diagnostic approach, using a framework, to set a new direction for adaptive comanagement research. We set out three main first-tier variables: antecedents, process, and outcomes, and these main variables are situated within a fourth: the setting. Within each of these variables, significant depth of study may be achieved by investigating second- and third-tier variables. Causal relationships among variables, and particularly related to the outcomes of adaptive comanagement, may also be investigated at varying depths using the diagnostic framework and associated nomenclature. We believe that the diagnostic approach we describe offers a unifying methodological approach to advancing adaptive comanagement research as well as similar approaches. There are significant benefits to be gained, including building a database of case studies using this common framework, advancing theory, and ultimately, improving social and ecological outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reviewed the literature on leadership in linked social-ecological systems and combined it with the literature on institutional entrepreneurship in complex adaptive systems to develop a new theory of transformative agency in linked social-ecological systems. Although there is evidence of the importance of strategic agency in introducing innovation and transforming approaches to management and governance of such systems, there is no coherent theory to explain the wide diversity of strategies identified. Using Holling's adaptive cycle as a model of phases present in innovation and transformation of resilient social-ecological systems, overlaid by Dorado's model of opportunity context (opaque, hazy, transparent) in complex adaptive systems, we propose a more coherent theory of strategic agency, which links particular strategies, on the part of transformative agents, to phases of system change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]