15
and rules of multiple social actors influence the decision-making context and
together with the inherent complexity and interrelatedness of dryland SES components, their feedbacks and non-linear responses to management and climate change
across different spatial and temporal scales may trigger uncertainty related to both
the vulnerability to increasing risks associated with climate change and the resilience to the long-term provisioning of ecosystem services and human well-being.
These so-called wicked problems (a type III problem according to Rittel and
Webber 1973 cited in DeFries and Nagendra 2017) that RISZA will be tackling
have no clearly defined solutions, yet require continuous collective learning, integrated collaborative institutional designs, and adaptive, iterative pathways, towards
finding solutions both at the management, policy, and governance level (Curtin
2015; DeFries and Nagendra 2017). Ultimately, to guarantee respectful exchange
among knowledge types and diverse cultures, RISZA commits to follow the established ethical codes to protect human rights (see United Nations Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and the regulations of the WIPO “World Intellectual Property Organization”)
and to adopt the scheme of basic agreements on human studies established by the
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the USA. It is important to note that transdisciplinary and intercultural endeavors must require a commitment to true ethical
academic procedures where the individual becomes part of a research team and
considers the participation of all actors involved throughout all the project’s stages:
from the establishment of objectives to the final co-authorship of research results.
Part IV: The Governance of Drylands
Drylands are the home for a large amalgamation of geological, biological, and cultural diversity (Stafford Smith et al. 2009). For local populations, they consist of
meaningful places representing history, memory, and identity, where accumulated
experiences and knowledge are weaved into objects, songs, rituals, stories, and
other social practices (Martínez-Tagüeña and Torres Cubillas 2018). The creation of
stable institutions with high institutional capacity implying clearly defined equitable rules, and openness for shared learning as a basis for collective action related to
sustainable resource use is essential for the conservation of the biotic and cultural
diversity (Ostrom 2000). Hence, the study of governance is fundamental in order to
understand the processes of interaction between social actors involved in public
affairs that require decision-making and the formulation of public policies.
Governance is considered an emerging pattern of interaction among social actors,
their objectives, and the instruments used to direct socio-ecological processes within
a particular policy area (Kofinas 2009). The governance of complex systems is produced at various scales from local to global and by different sectors including civil,
public, and private (Rhodes 1997).
For fisheries, governance proposals have been suggested through the implementation of SES in order to evaluate their sustainability (Leslie et al. 2015). In defined
SES, like national protected areas or in specific environmental themes, governance
systems have been analyzed to assess their performance and relevance (Martínez
1 Introduction: International Network for the Sustainability…
and rules of multiple social actors influence the decision-making context and
together with the inherent complexity and interrelatedness of dryland SES components, their feedbacks and non-linear responses to management and climate change
across different spatial and temporal scales may trigger uncertainty related to both
the vulnerability to increasing risks associated with climate change and the resilience to the long-term provisioning of ecosystem services and human well-being.
These so-called wicked problems (a type III problem according to Rittel and
Webber 1973 cited in DeFries and Nagendra 2017) that RISZA will be tackling
have no clearly defined solutions, yet require continuous collective learning, integrated collaborative institutional designs, and adaptive, iterative pathways, towards
finding solutions both at the management, policy, and governance level (Curtin
2015; DeFries and Nagendra 2017). Ultimately, to guarantee respectful exchange
among knowledge types and diverse cultures, RISZA commits to follow the established ethical codes to protect human rights (see United Nations Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and the regulations of the WIPO “World Intellectual Property Organization”)
and to adopt the scheme of basic agreements on human studies established by the
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the USA. It is important to note that transdisciplinary and intercultural endeavors must require a commitment to true ethical
academic procedures where the individual becomes part of a research team and
considers the participation of all actors involved throughout all the project’s stages:
from the establishment of objectives to the final co-authorship of research results.
Part IV: The Governance of Drylands
Drylands are the home for a large amalgamation of geological, biological, and cultural diversity (Stafford Smith et al. 2009). For local populations, they consist of
meaningful places representing history, memory, and identity, where accumulated
experiences and knowledge are weaved into objects, songs, rituals, stories, and
other social practices (Martínez-Tagüeña and Torres Cubillas 2018). The creation of
stable institutions with high institutional capacity implying clearly defined equitable rules, and openness for shared learning as a basis for collective action related to
sustainable resource use is essential for the conservation of the biotic and cultural
diversity (Ostrom 2000). Hence, the study of governance is fundamental in order to
understand the processes of interaction between social actors involved in public
affairs that require decision-making and the formulation of public policies.
Governance is considered an emerging pattern of interaction among social actors,
their objectives, and the instruments used to direct socio-ecological processes within
a particular policy area (Kofinas 2009). The governance of complex systems is produced at various scales from local to global and by different sectors including civil,
public, and private (Rhodes 1997).
For fisheries, governance proposals have been suggested through the implementation of SES in order to evaluate their sustainability (Leslie et al. 2015). In defined
SES, like national protected areas or in specific environmental themes, governance
systems have been analyzed to assess their performance and relevance (Martínez
1 Introduction: International Network for the Sustainability…