Your search found 6 records
1 Apgar, J. M.; Cohen, P. J.; Ratner, B. D.; de Silva, Sanjiv; Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; Longley, C.; Bastakoti, Ram C.; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017. Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research. Ecology and Society, 22(1):1-13. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08929-220109]
Aquatic environment ; Agricultural systems ; Equity ; Participatory approaches ; Collective action ; Research ; Governance ; Authorities ; Resource management ; Floodplains ; Living standards ; Ownership ; Stakeholders ; Accountability ; Ecological factors / Zambia / Solomon Islands / Bangladesh / Cambodia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047980)
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss1/art9/ES-2016-8929.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H047980.pdf
(156 KB)
Challenges of governance often constitute critical obstacles to efforts to equitably improve livelihoods in social-ecological systems. Yet, just as often, these challenges go unspoken, or are viewed as fixed parts of the context, beyond the scope of influence of agricultural, development, or natural resource management initiatives. What does it take to get governance obstacles and opportunities out in the open, creating the space for constructive dialogue and collective action that can help to address them? We respond to this question by comparing experiences of participatory action research (PAR) in coastal and floodplain systems in four countries (Zambia, Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, and Cambodia) with a focus on understanding how to build more equitable governance arrangements. We found that governance improvement was often an implicit or secondary objective of initiatives that initially sought to address more technical natural resource or livelihood-related development challenges. We argue that using PAR principles of ownership, equity, shared analysis, and feedback built trust and helped to identify and act upon opportunities to address more difficult-to-shift dimensions of governance particularly in terms of stakeholder representation, distribution of authority, and accountability. Our findings suggest that the engaged and embedded approach of researcher-facilitators can help move from identifying opportunities for governance change to supporting stakeholders as they build more equitable governance arrangements.
2 Freed, S.; Barman, B.; Dubois, M.; Flor, R. J.; Funge-Smith, S.; Gregory, R.; Hadi, B. A. R.; Halwart, M.; Haque, M.; Jagadish, S. V. K.; Joffre, O. M.; Karim, M.; Kura, Y.; McCartney, Matthew; Mondal, M.; Nguyen, V. K.; Sinclair, F.; Stuart, A. M.; Tezzo, X.; Yadav, S.; Cohen, P. J.. 2020. Maintaining diversity of integrated rice and fish production confers adaptability of food systems to global change. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4:576179. [doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.576179]
Food systems ; Inland fisheries ; Ricefield aquaculture ; Food production ; Fishery production ; Agropisciculture ; Agricultural practices ; Diversification ; Community involvement ; Food security ; Nutrition security ; Food policies ; Shrimp culture ; Biodiversity conservation ; Sustainable Development Goals ; Green revolution ; Agroecology ; Livelihoods ; Case studies / Cambodia / Bangladesh / Myanmar / Vietnam
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050055)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.576179/pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050055.pdf
(1.92 MB) (1.92 MB)
Rice and fish are preferred foods, critical for healthy and nutritious diets, and provide the foundations of local and national economies across Asia. Although transformations, or “revolutions,” in agriculture and aquaculture over the past half-century have primarily relied upon intensified monoculture to increase rice and fish production, agroecological approaches that support biodiversity and utilize natural processes are particularly relevant for achieving a transformation toward food systems with more inclusive, nutrition-sensitive, and ecologically sound outcomes. Rice and fish production are frequently integrated within the same physical, temporal, and social spaces, with substantial variation amongst the types of production practice and their extent. In Cambodia, rice field fisheries that strongly rely upon natural processes persist in up to 80% of rice farmland, whereas more input and infrastructure dependent rice-shrimp culture is expanding within the rice farmland of Vietnam. We demonstrate how a diverse suite of integrated production practices contribute to sustainable and nutrition-sensitive food systems policy, research, and practice. We first develop a typology of integrated production practices illustrating the nature and degree of: (a) fish stocking, (b) water management, (c) use of synthetic inputs, and (d) institutions that control access to fish. Second, we summarize recent research and innovations that have improved the performance of each type of practice. Third, we synthesize data on the prevalence, outcomes, and trajectories of these practices in four South and Southeast Asian countries that rely heavily on fish and rice for food and nutrition security. Focusing on changes since the food systems transformation brought about by the Green Revolution, we illustrate how integrated production practices continue to serve a variety of objectives to varying degrees: food and nutrition security, rural livelihood diversification and income improvement, and biodiversity conservation. Five shifts to support contemporary food system transformations [i.e., disaggregating (1) production practices and (2) objectives, (3) utilizing diverse metrics, (4) valuing emergent, place-based innovation, (5) building adaptive capacity] would accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 2, specifically through ensuring ecosystem maintenance, sustainable food production, and resilient agricultural practices with the capacity to adapt to global change.
3 Lawless, S.; Cohen, P. J.; Mangubhai, S.; Kleiber, D.; Morrison, T. H. 2021. Gender equality is diluted in commitments made to small-scale fisheries. World Development, 140:105348. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105348]
Gender equality ; Small-scale fisheries ; Sustainable Development Goals ; Goal 5 Gender equality ; Gender equity ; Women ; Strategies ; Environmental management ; Governance ; Policies ; Livelihoods ; Communities ; Nongovernmental organizations / Pacific Islands / Fiji / Solomon Islands / Vanuatu
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050221)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20304769/pdfft?md5=14344cbecec1db5a72e7f6356159a53e&pid=1-s2.0-S0305750X20304769-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050221.pdf
(1.42 MB) (1.42 MB)
Gender equality is a mainstream principle of good environmental governance and sustainable development. Progress toward gender equality in the fisheries sector is critical for effective and equitable development outcomes in coastal countries. However, while commitments to gender equality have surged at global, regional and national levels, little is known about how this principle is constructed, and implemented across different geographies and contexts. Consequently, progress toward gender equality is difficult to assess and navigate. To identify influential policy instruments (n = 76), we conducted key-informant interviews with governance actors engaged in small-scale fisheries (n = 26) and gender and development (n = 9) sectors across the Pacific Islands region. We systematically analysed these instruments according to (1) representations of gender and gender equality, (2) rationales for pursing gender, and (3) gender strategies and actions. We found that fisheries policy instruments frequently narrowed the concept of gender to a focus on women, whereas gender and development policy instruments considered gender as diverse social identities, norms and relations. In fisheries policy instruments, rationales for pursuing gender equality diverged substantially yet, overall the principle was predominantly pursued for instrumental (i.e., improved environmental outcomes) rather than intrinsic (i.e., an inherent value in fairness) reasons. Over two-thirds of gender equality strategies focused on an organization’s own human resourcing and project assessments, rather than on direct action within communities, or for women and men reliant on fisheries. Our findings illustrate gender equality commitments and investments to be narrow and outdated. Critical shifts in dominant gender equality narratives and objectives, and an embrace of multi-level strategies, provide opportunities for fisheries governance and development agendas to rise to current best practice, and ultimately make meaningful (opposed to rhetorical) progress toward gender equality. The methodological approach we develop holds value for other development sectors to critically examine, and subsequently enhance, commitment toward gender equality.
4 Lawless, S.; Cohen, P. J.; McDougall, C.; Mangubhai, S.; Song, A. M.; Morrison, T. H. 2022. Tinker, tailor or transform: gender equality amidst social-ecological change. Global Environmental Change, 72:102434. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102434]
Gender equality ; Social aspects ; Ecological factors ; Small-scale fisheries ; Environmental management ; Governance ; Sustainability ; Women ; Livelihoods ; Equity ; Policies / Pacific Islands / Vanuatu / Solomon Islands / Fiji
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050786)
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050786.pdf
(6.14 MB)
Global visions of environmental change consider gender equality to be a foundation of sustainable social-ecological systems. Similarly, social-ecological systems frameworks position gender equality as both a precursor to, and a product of, system sustainability. Yet, the degree to which gender equality is being advanced through social-ecological systems change is uncertain. We use the case of small-scale fisheries in the Pacific Islands region to explore the proposition that different social-ecological narratives: (1) ecological, (2) social-ecological, and (3) social, shape the gender equality priorities, intentions and impacts of implementing organizations. We conducted interviews with regional and national fisheries experts (n = 71) and analyzed gender commitments made within policies (n = 29) that influence small-scale fisheries. To explore these data, we developed a ‘Tinker-Tailor-Transform’ gender assessment typology. We find that implementing organizations aligned with the social-ecological and social narratives considered social (i.e., human-centric) goals to be equally or more important than ecological (i.e., eco-centric) goals. Yet in action, gender equality was pursued instrumentally to achieve ecological goals and/or shallow project performance targets. These results highlight that although commitments to gender equality were common, when operationalized commitments become diluted and reoriented. Across all three narratives, organizations mostly ‘Tinkered’ with gender equality in impact, for example, including more women in spaces that otherwise tended to be dominated by men. Impacts predominately focused on the individual (i.e., changing women) rather than driving communal-to-societal level change. We discuss three interrelated opportunities for organizations in applying the ‘Tinker-Tailor-Transform’ assessment typology, including its utility to assist organizations to orient toward intrinsic goals; challenge or reconfigure system attributes that perpetuate gender inequalities; and consciously interrogate discursive positions and beliefs to unsettle habituated policies, initiatives and theories of change.
5 Simmance, F. A.; Cohen, P. J.; Huchery, C.; Sutcliffe, S.; Suri, S. K.; Tezzo, X.; Thilsted, S. H.; Oosterveer, P.; McDougall, C.; Ahern, M.; Freed, S.; Byrd, K. A.; Wesana, J.; Cowx, I. G.; Mills, D. J.; Akester, M.; Chan, C. Y.; Nagoli, J.; Wate, J. T.; Phillips, M. J. 2022. Nudging fisheries and aquaculture research towards food systems. Fish and Fisheries, 23(1):34-53. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12597]
Fisheries ; Aquaculture ; Research ; Food systems ; Food security ; Sustainability ; Food production ; Food safety ; Policies ; Nutrition security ; Climate change ; Livelihoods
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051330)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/faf.12597
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051330.pdf
(2.17 MB) (2.17 MB)
Food system is a powerful concept for understanding and responding to nutrition and sustainability challenges. Food systems integrate social, economic, environmental and health aspects of food production through to consumption. Aquatic foods are an essential part of food systems providing an accessible source of nutrition for millions of people. Yet, it is unclear to what degree research across diverse disciplines concerning aquatic foods has engaged food systems, and the value this concept has added. We conducted a systematic review of fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic food literature (2017–2019) to determine the following: the characteristics of this research; the food systems components and interrelations with which research engaged; and the insights generated on nutrition, justice, sustainability and climate change. Sixty five of the 88 reviewed articles focussed on production and supply chains, with 23 considering human nutrition. Only 13% of studies examined low- and middle-income countries that are most vulnerable to undernutrition. One third of articles looked beyond finfish to other aquatic foods, which illuminated values of local knowledge systems and diverse foods for nutrition. When aggregated, reviewed articles examined the full range of food system drivers—biophysical and environmental (34%), demographic (24%) and socio-cultural (27%)—but rarely examined interactions between drivers. Future research that examines a diversity of species in diets, system-wide flows of nutrients, trade-offs amongst objectives, and the nutritional needs of vulnerable social groups would be nudging closer to the ambitions of the food systems concept, which is necessary to address the global challenges of equity, nutrition and sustainability.
6 Ratner, B. D.; Dubois, Mark J.; Morrison, T. H.; Tezzo, X.; Song, A. M.; Mbaru, E.; Chimatiro, S. K.; Cohen, P. J.. 2022. A framework to guide research engagement in the policy process, with application to small-scale fisheries. Ecology and Society, 27(4):45. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-13604-270445]
Small-scale fisheries ; Research ; Policies ; Governance ; Partnerships ; Frameworks ; Decision making ; Stakeholders ; Social aspects ; Ecological factors ; Political aspects ; Fish trade / Pacific Islands / Africa South of Sahara / Myanmar
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051642)
https://ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss4/art45/ES-2022-13604.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051642.pdf
(0.30 MB) (305 KB)
Research-engaged decision making and policy reform processes are critical to advancing resilience, adaptation, and transformation in social-ecological systems under stress. Here we propose a new conceptual framework to assess opportunities for research engagement in the policy process, building upon existing understandings of power dynamics and the political economy of policy reform. We retrospectively examine three cases of research engagement in small-scale fisheries policy and decision making, at national level (Myanmar) and at regional level (Pacific Islands region and sub-Saharan Africa), to illustrate application of the framework and highlight different modes of research engagement. We conclude with four principles for designing research to constructively and iteratively engage in policy and institutional reform: (a) nurture multi-stakeholder coalitions for change at different points in the policy cycle, (b) engage a range of forms and spaces of power, (c) embed research communications to support and respond to dialogue, and (d) employ evaluation in a cycle of action, learning, and adaptation. The framework and principles can be used to identify entry points for research engagement and to reflect critically upon the choices that researchers make as actors within complex processes of change.
Powered by DB/Text WebPublisher, from Inmagic WebPublisher PRO