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Abstract Urban green infrastructure (UGI) and nature-based solutions are increasingly recognized as instruments to address urban sustainability challenges, yet rely on a good understanding of complex social-ecological system (SES) to function adequately. Adaptive co-management (ACM), engaging a broad variety of stakeholders in collaborative learning, is an effective strategy to improve the resilience of a SES. However, ACM studies have been criticized for neglecting the urban context, while also offering little clarity on process objectives and outcomes. To address these knowledge gaps, while also drawing attention to the important issue of socially inclusive UGI development, we present a guiding framework and approach to encourage the ACM of UGI featuring two main components. Firstly, a Learning Alliance (LA) serves as an instrument for collaborative learning and experimentation across different scales. To facilitate upscaling, we propose to establish a complementary Urban Learning Lab (ULL) to facilitate a regular exchange between the LA and legitimate peripheral networks and stakeholders in the city region. Secondly, a stepwise approach to SES analysis serves to engage a representative group of stakeholders in the LAs and ULLs, and support the processes of setting LA objectives and monitoring of adaptive capacity. We illustrate our approach to the ACM of UGI with a case study of LivadaLAB in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Applying the framework and approach, we demonstrate increased adaptive capacity of the SES around UGI as indicated by: 1) improved overall stakeholder salience, in particular for previously disempowered actor groups, 2) increased number and strength of connections between stakeholders, and 3) the consideration of a broader range of sustainable development objectives by stakeholders in their daily practice. Highlights • Learning Alliances are a suitable tool for adaptive co-management. • Urban Learning Labs facilitate the upscaling of co-produced knowledge. • Tools for stakeholder analysis can be used to analyse adaptive capacity. • The Stakeholder Monitoring Graph visualizes stakeholder empowerment over time. • The collaborative learning platforms resulted in double- and triple-loop learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-property cooperation has the potential to enhance the effectiveness of environmental management actions that cut across property boundaries. Online tools can facilitate this and overcome barriers to landholder engagement in collaborative management. However, collaborative online tools need to be designed and tailored to users' needs and values, and landholder participation in the development process is critical to ensuring uptake and long-term use. This article presents a case study from the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia, where landholders have been involved in participatory development of a new online collaboration tool. The case study results highlight the significance of issues such as internet access, privacy, technical proficiency and differing stakeholder objectives. A landholder survey identified mapping and the uploading of monitoring data as important functions for the online tool, but these were not rated as highly as functions relating to data security, sharing settings and key term searches. Consequently, we recommend that a future online collaboration tool for the region is not framed specifically as a mapping or citizen science tool, but rather as an adaptive collaboration and communication tool that can incorporate a variety of data types and formats and be modified over time in line with changing landholder needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses attention on monitoring and evaluation approaches that will help resource managers to manage for change and uncertainty in adaptive co-management (ACM). ACM is a learning-by-doing approach that aims to build flexible community-based natural resource governance systems through collaborative or otherwise participatory means. We describe the framework for monitoring and evaluation that we developed and applied in ten African countries, which includes fixed indicators and measures for co-management performance monitoring, a process evaluation element, a platform for repeat ecological surveillance, and a longitudinal household survey. We comment on the usefulness of this framework, and its applicability to a wide range of geographic contexts. We then present a four step model to assist managers in applying the framework to specific co-management problems. The model suggests a cascade approach to defining key evaluations questions at a systems, network, individual and synthesis level. We illustrate the application of our model and framework by means of a case study of a co-managed agroforestry program in western Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Lost or discarded fishing nets are a significant component of marine debris which has trans-boundary impacts in large marine ecosystems. Such ‘ghost nets’ cause the by-catch of marine fauna and require retrieval from coastlines where they wash up. Identifying the causes of discarded nets and feasible intervention points requires analysis of a complex value chain and the stakeholders within it, yet no studies have attempted this. In this paper we combine Value Chain Analysis, commonly applied to understand value-adding for a commodity, with elements of Life Cycle Assessment and social network analysis to examine the drivers, stakeholders, economic, environmental and social costs and benefits in the life of a trawl net. We use the Arafura Sea as a case study, which is shared by Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, and is the focus of a Trans-boundary Diagnostic Assessment (TDA) within the Arafura–Timor Seas Ecosystem Action program (ATSEA). We follow a trawl net through four sub-systems: manufacture of webbing in South Korea, fishing and loss by an Indonesian vessel, retrieval as ghost net on the northern Australian coastline by Indigenous rangers, and disposal or re-cycling as ‘GhostNet Art’ by Indigenous artists. Primary stakeholders along the value chain incur economic and social benefits, and economic and environmental costs. There is an anomaly in the chain between Indonesian fishermen and Indigenous rangers, artists and communities due to the lack of market linkages between these primary stakeholders. The first ‘nexus of influence’ where reductions in net losses and environmental costs can be achieved is through interactions between GhostNets Australia, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Australian Government, which can influence Indonesian fishery management institutions and fishing crews. The second nexus is via the international art market which by publicising GhostNet Art can raise awareness amongst fish consumers about the impacts of ghost nets, and hence influence Indonesian fishing companies. GhostNets Australia is a key bridging organisation in the network, linking stakeholders across scales and sub-systems. Feasible preventative interventions are discussed to rectify the anomaly in the value chain. The importance of GhostNets Australia and ATSEA in the evolving adaptive co-management and trans-boundary governance of fisheries is highlighted. However, the prevention of ghost nets will result in trade-offs in benefits for the livelihoods of primary stakeholders. The utility of the method for analysing marine debris in TDAs, and ATSEA in particular, is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Social learning has become a central theme in natural resource management. This growing interest is underpinned by a number of assertions about the outcomes of social learning, and about the processes that support these outcomes. Yet researchers and practitioners who seek to engage with social learning through the natural resource management literature often become disorientated by the myriad processes and outcomes that are identified. We trace the roots of current assertions about the processes and outcomes of social learning in natural resource management, and assess the extent to which there is an emerging consensus on these assertions. Results suggest that, on the one hand, social learning is described as taking place through deliberative interactions amongst multiple stakeholders. During these interactions, it is argued that participants learn to work together and build relationships that allow for collective action. On the other hand, social learning is described as occurring through deliberate experimentation and reflective practice. During these iterative cycles of action, monitoring and reflection, participants learn how to cope with uncertainty when managing complex systems. Both of these processes, and their associated outcomes, are referred to as social learning. Where, therefore, should researchers and practitioners focus their attention? Results suggest that there is an emerging consensus that processes that support social learning involve sustained interaction between stakeholders, on-going deliberation and the sharing of knowledge in a trusting environment. There is also an emerging consensus that the key outcome of such learning is improved decision making underpinned by a growing awareness of human–environment interactions, better relationships and improved problem-solving capacities for participants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The recognition of complexity and uncertainty in natural resource management has lead to the development of a wealth of conceptual frameworks aimed at integrated assessment and complex systems monitoring. Relatively less attention has however been given to methodological approaches that might facilitate learning as part of the monitoring process. This paper reviews the monitoring literature relevant to adaptive co-management, with a focus on the synergies between existing monitoring frameworks, collaborative monitoring approaches and social learning. The paper discusses the role of monitoring in environmental management in general, and the challenges posed by scale and complexity when monitoring in adaptive co-management. Existing conceptual frameworks for monitoring relevant to adaptive co-management are reviewed, as are lessons from experiences with collaborative monitoring. The paper concludes by offering a methodological approach to monitoring that actively seeks to engender reflexive learning as a means to deal with uncertainty in natural resource management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Over a period of some 20 years, different aspects of co-management (the sharing of power and responsibility between the government and local resource users) have come to the forefront. The paper focuses on a selection of these: knowledge generation, bridging organizations, social learning, and the emergence of adaptive co-management. Co-management can be considered a knowledge partnership. Different levels of organization, from local to international, have comparative advantages in the generation and mobilization of knowledge acquired at different scales. Bridging organizations provide a forum for the interaction of these different kinds of knowledge, and the coordination of other tasks that enable co-operation: accessing resources, bringing together different actors, building trust, resolving conflict, and networking. Social learning is one of these tasks, essential both for the co-operation of partners and an outcome of the co-operation of partners. It occurs most efficiently through joint problem solving and reflection within learning networks. Through successive rounds of learning and problem solving, learning networks can incorporate new knowledge to deal with problems at increasingly larger scales, with the result that maturing co-management arrangements become adaptive co-management in time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: ‘Good’ governance and adaptive co-management hold broad appeal due to their positive connotations and ‘noble ethical claims’. This paper poses a fundamental question: is adaptive co-management ethical? In pursuing an answer to this question, the concept of adaptive co-management is succinctly summarized and three ethical perspectives (deontology, teleology and existentialism) are explored. The case of adaptive co-management in Cambodia is described and subsequently considered through the lens of ethical triangulation. The case illuminates important ethical considerations and directs attention towards the need for meditative thinking which increases the value of tradition, ecology, and culture. Giving ethics a central position makes clear the potential for adaptive co-management to be an agent for governance, which is good, right and authentic as well as an arena to embrace uncertainty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Environmental risks pose a threat to the achievement of ecosystem outcomes in Results- or Outcome-based Agreements for endangered species conservation on agricultural lands. As a result, environmental risks can deter prospective land managers from participating in Results-based Agreements if not addressed. This qualitative case study examines a Results-based Agreement program implemented by the South of the Divide Conservation Action Program (SODCAP Inc.) in Southwestern Saskatchewan. We contribute to understanding the nature of environmental risks in Results-based Agreements and how SODCAP Inc., an emergent leader in grassroots-focused conservation governance in Southwestern Saskatchewan, works with land managers to address environmental risks. Using drought as an example of environmental risks, the study finds that drought is a common occurrence in the study area; therefore, land managers consider it a critical determinant when deciding to participate in Results-based Agreements. The study also reveals that environmental risks affect land managers involved with Results-based Agreements both by limiting their ability to achieve ecosystem targets and by forcing them to incur extra costs (i.e., extra management and opportunity costs) in their attempt to meet ecosystem targets under drought conditions. Finally, the case study illustrates a participatory and result-enhancing approach adopted by SODCAP Inc., which draws several parallels with adaptive co-management, to manage environmental risks. Our study findings contribute to a relatively limited body of scholarship in environmental risk management in Results-based Agreements. In addition to the study's policy relevance, it also calls for studies into conservation programs that are result-enhancing. • Environmental risks limit land managers' ability to achieve ecosystem targets. • Environmental risks force land managers to incur extra management and opportunity costs. • Environmental risks deter land managers from participating in Results-based Agreements. • Adaptive co-management of environmental risks has the potential to reduce risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biosphere faces an uncertain future! Embracing change, uncertainty and complexity calls for creative transformative pathways. Biosphere stewardship provides a novel multi actor approach towards sustainability. Despite the critical role of individual environmental stewards, biosphere stewardship emphasizes the importance of collective action, and therefore governance. Biosphere stewardship denotes novel governance configurations with the capacity to effectively approach to sustainability transformation. In this paper we seek to advance understanding of how biosphere stewardship actively shapes trajectories of change to foster social-ecological resilience and human wellbeing. Considering the crucial role of governance and more specifically its two pillars of collaboration and learning, we conduct our study of biosphere stewardship through the lens of adaptive co-management. We first set out a framework for diagnosing and analyzing the process of biosphere stewardship. Secondly, we provide evidenced-based insights from applying the framework in four UNESCO biosphere reserves situated in Canada and Sweden to shed light on how active collective shaping of biosphere stewardship occurs and what it produces. In view of the lack of framework for environmental stewardship, we suggest that the present study makes a considerable contribution by providing an appropriate holistic and systemic framework with operational measures. The study also highlights how the comprehensive and consensual understanding of stewardship is proving to be a means of catalyzing biosphere stewardship by enabling effective crafting of policy design and strategic interventions. Moreover, the application of the framework to four case studies reveals the importance of the governance process attributes (collaboration and learning) in mediating outcomes from biosphere stewardship. Finally, the framework provides the basis to address new stewardship enquiries, which require further research in this field. • We present a framework for diagnosing and analyzing biosphere stewardship process. • We provide insights from applying the framework in four UNESCO biosphere reserves. • The framework helps understand how biosphere stewardship shapes transformation. • Consensual understanding of stewardship can catalyze biosphere stewardship process. • Collaboration and learning mediate outcomes from biosphere stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]