Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity
Rewilding can be defined as the reorganisation or regeneration of wildness in an ecologically degraded landscape with minimal ongoing intervention. While proposals for rewilding are increasingly common, they are frequently controversial and divisive amongst stakeholders. If implemented, rewilding in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Conservation Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.681545/full |
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| author | James R. A. Butler Mariella Marzano Nathalie Pettorelli Sarah M. Durant Johan T. du Toit Juliette C. Young |
| author_facet | James R. A. Butler Mariella Marzano Nathalie Pettorelli Sarah M. Durant Johan T. du Toit Juliette C. Young |
| author_sort | James R. A. Butler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Rewilding can be defined as the reorganisation or regeneration of wildness in an ecologically degraded landscape with minimal ongoing intervention. While proposals for rewilding are increasingly common, they are frequently controversial and divisive amongst stakeholders. If implemented, rewilding initiatives may alter the social-ecological systems within which they are situated and thus generate sudden and unforeseen outcomes. So far, however, much of the discourse on the planning and implementation of rewilding has focused on identifying and mitigating ecological risks. There has been little consideration of how rewilding could alter the human components of the social-ecological systems concerned, nor governance arrangements that can manage these dynamics. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a generic adaptive governance framework tailored to the characteristics of rewilding, based on principles of managing complex social-ecological systems. We integrate two complementary natural resource governance approaches that lend themselves to the contentious and unpredictable characteristics of rewilding. First, adaptive co-management builds stakeholder adaptive capacity through iterative knowledge generation, collaboration and power-sharing, and cross-scale learning networks. Second, social licence to operate establishes trust and transparency between project proponents and communities through new public-private partnerships. The proposed framework includes structural and process elements which incorporate a boundary organisation, a decision-into-practise social learning exercise for planning and design, and participatory evaluation. The latter assesses rewilding outcomes and pre-conditions for the continuation of adaptive governance and conservation conflict resolution. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T05:27:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e9291ceeaef4a3bb2a33d588fae9b0d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-611X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T05:27:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Conservation Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e9291ceeaef4a3bb2a33d588fae9b0d2022-12-21T22:01:50ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Conservation Science2673-611X2021-06-01210.3389/fcosc.2021.681545681545Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological ComplexityJames R. A. Butler0Mariella Marzano1Nathalie Pettorelli2Sarah M. Durant3Johan T. du Toit4Juliette C. Young5Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Land and Water, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaForest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, United KingdomInstitute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United KingdomInstitute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United StatesAgroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Université Bourgogne, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, FranceRewilding can be defined as the reorganisation or regeneration of wildness in an ecologically degraded landscape with minimal ongoing intervention. While proposals for rewilding are increasingly common, they are frequently controversial and divisive amongst stakeholders. If implemented, rewilding initiatives may alter the social-ecological systems within which they are situated and thus generate sudden and unforeseen outcomes. So far, however, much of the discourse on the planning and implementation of rewilding has focused on identifying and mitigating ecological risks. There has been little consideration of how rewilding could alter the human components of the social-ecological systems concerned, nor governance arrangements that can manage these dynamics. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a generic adaptive governance framework tailored to the characteristics of rewilding, based on principles of managing complex social-ecological systems. We integrate two complementary natural resource governance approaches that lend themselves to the contentious and unpredictable characteristics of rewilding. First, adaptive co-management builds stakeholder adaptive capacity through iterative knowledge generation, collaboration and power-sharing, and cross-scale learning networks. Second, social licence to operate establishes trust and transparency between project proponents and communities through new public-private partnerships. The proposed framework includes structural and process elements which incorporate a boundary organisation, a decision-into-practise social learning exercise for planning and design, and participatory evaluation. The latter assesses rewilding outcomes and pre-conditions for the continuation of adaptive governance and conservation conflict resolution.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.681545/fulladaptive capacityadaptive co-managementconflict transformationconservation conflictlivelihoodsknowledge |
| spellingShingle | James R. A. Butler Mariella Marzano Nathalie Pettorelli Sarah M. Durant Johan T. du Toit Juliette C. Young Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity Frontiers in Conservation Science adaptive capacity adaptive co-management conflict transformation conservation conflict livelihoods knowledge |
| title | Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity |
| title_full | Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity |
| title_fullStr | Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity |
| title_short | Decision-Making for Rewilding: An Adaptive Governance Framework for Social-Ecological Complexity |
| title_sort | decision making for rewilding an adaptive governance framework for social ecological complexity |
| topic | adaptive capacity adaptive co-management conflict transformation conservation conflict livelihoods knowledge |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.681545/full |
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