Search

• We link rare data on multi-actor collaboration and individual performance during the acute phase of two major wildfires. • Specific aspects of collaboration are tied to an individual's ability to perform well. • In situations of high uncertainty, agreement on goals and procedures can be more vital than the coordination of activities. • The benefits of coordination amplify when agreement is already established, or the need to agree is de-emphasized. • Study findings illustrate how institutional design attributes can affect individual performance during disaster response. Disasters occurring in the wake of extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate and anthropogenic changes and require urgent responses under uncertain and dynamic conditions. In these situations, multi-agency collaboration becomes integral to an effective response due to the need to coordinate actions across geographical scales, levels of authority and sectors of society. Consequently there is a need for more knowledge on how to enhance the effectiveness of collaborations in response to disasters. In this study we utilize extremely rare and comprehensive data on multi-stakeholder collaboration during the acute phase of two catastrophic wildfires to investigate performance in relation to four collaboration challenges: sharing information, conflict resolution, reaching agreement i.e. mutual understanding and commitment, on goals and working-methods, and coordinating activities. Our results suggest that agreement between collaborating actors is more important to individual performance than the coordination of activities, and that it is only when agreement exists that the ability to coordinate activities becomes highly important. This study allows, for the first time, insights into the detailed nuances of collaboration among individuals during rapidly evolving disaster situations. Importantly, our analysis suggests that focusing on enhancing agreement in the wake of disasters—and not only on improving coordination—could reduce the devastating effects that disasters have on people and ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters present a multitude of entangled societal challenges beyond the realms and capacities of single actors. Prior research confirms that effective collaboration is of critical significance to address such complex collective action problems. Yet, studies rarely investigate if patterns of collaboration are appropriately aligned (‘fit’) with how different challenges (tasks) are interdependent, or how levels of fit influence collective action performance. We develop a set of hypotheses specifying what constitutes a good fit between collaborative networks and task interdependency. Using unique empirical data from the response to a major wildfire in Sweden, we examine how individual actors select collaboration partners and tasks during the formation the collaborative crisis response network. Then we test if levels of fit in the established network influence performance. We show that patterns of actor and task interdependency influence the formation of collaborative networks and that a good fit seems to be associated with more effective collaboration. Our data even suggest that a good fit is more important for performance than actors’ prior crisis management experience and level of professionalization. Further, we show that actors only partially engage in actor-task configurations conducive to high performance. Our study probes the limitations of simplified accounts of collaborative disaster management by enabling more precise and theoretically informed empirical inquiries regarding the mechanisms that shape the structure and performance of collaborative networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many coastal nations, community-based arrangements for marine resource management (CBRM) are promoted by government, advocated for by non-government actors, and are seen by both as one of the most promising options to achieve sustainable use and secure inshore fisheries and aquatic resources. Although there is an abundant literature on what makes CBRM effective, is it less clear how CBRM is introduced or develops as an idea in a community, and the process of how the idea leads to the adoption of a new resource management approach with supporting institutions. Here we aim to address this gap by applying an explicit process-based approach drawing on innovation history methodology by mapping and analysing the initiation and emergence of CBRM in five fishing-dependent communities in Solomon Islands. We use insights from the literatures on diffusion of innovation and transformability to define phases of the process and help guide the inductive analysis of qualitative data. We show the CBRM institutionalisation processes were non-linear, required specific strategies to move from one phase to the next, and key elements facilitated or hindered movement. Building active support for CBRM within communities depended on the types of events that happened at the beginning of the process and actions taken to sustain this. Matching CBRM to known resource management ideas or other social problems in the community, developing legitimate institutions and decision-making processes, strong continual interactions between key actors and the rest of the community (not necessarily NGO actors), and community members witnessing benefits of CBRM, all contributed to the emergence and diffusion of CBRM in the communities, and helped to overcome barriers to transformative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Coral reefs support the livelihood of millions of people especially those engaged in marine fisheries activities. Coral reefs are highly vulnerable to climate change induced stresses that have led to substantial coral mortality over large spatial scales. Such climate change impacts have the potential to lead to declines in marine fish production and compromise the livelihoods of fisheries dependent communities. Yet few studies have examined social vulnerability in the context of changes specific to coral reef ecosystems. In this paper, we examine three dimensions of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) of 29 coastal communities across five western Indian Ocean countries to the impacts of coral bleaching on fishery returns. A key contribution is the development of a novel, network-based approach to examining sensitivity to changes in the fishery that incorporates linkages between fishery and non-fishery occupations. We find that key sources of vulnerability differ considerably within and between the five countries. Our approach allows the visualization of how these dimensions of vulnerability differ from site to site, providing important insights into the types of nuanced policy interventions that may help to reduce vulnerability at a specific location. To complement this, we develop framework of policy actions thought to reduce different aspects of vulnerability at varying spatial and temporal scales. Although our results are specific to reef fisheries impacts from coral bleaching, this approach provides a framework for other types of threats and different social-ecological systems more broadly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]