146
J. Zscheischler and S. Rogga
8.1 Sustainable Land Management—A Normative
Orientation for Transformation
Land is an essential but limited “resource” to humans. Demand for land and landbased goods is increasing, and will continue to increase in the future due to a growing
world population, economic growth, the energy transition, changes in consumption
patterns, and, not least, climate change. As a result, it is assumed that there will
be greater land use competition and more environmental degradation in the future
(Haberl et al. 2014; Niewöhner et al. 2016).
Land has therefore become a key issue of sustainable development, since land
use causes many sustainability problems. In the search for sustainable and socially
responsible solutions that take into account complex interactions between different
demands, associated actors and their (often conflicting) interests, perceptions and
values, many scientists increasingly promote and discuss the concept of sustainable
land management (SLM).
1
Although SLM is not a clearly defined term, there are some common features
that can be summarised as follows: SLM provides a normative orientation for policymaking and management; it takes a holistic systems perspective and addresses
complex socio-ecological interactions and dynamics. SLM also takes into account
multi-level and cross-sectoral approaches that stress social learning, experimentation, negotiation and the harmonisation of different goals; SLM involves multiple
actor groups (e.g. Hurni 2000; Schwilch et al. 2012; Weith et al. 2013; Fritz-Vietta
et al. 2017; Nölting and Mann 2018).
In general, SLM can be regarded as a concept of change and transformation
building on the idea of adaptive resource co-management (see Armitage et al. 2009).
It aims to achieve “a change in understanding that goes beyond the individual to
become situated within wider social units or communities of practice” through social
interactions between actors within social networks (Reed et al. 2010). In this context,
the role of transdisciplinarity is highlighted by several authors (e.g. Hurni 2000;
Nölting and Mann 2018).
However, beyond underlining the importance of transdisciplinarity, there is an
“apparent lack of a practical, structured (yet flexible) methodology for fostering
SLM in diverse contexts” (Schwilch et al. 2012). Thus, it is an open question how
transformation and socio-technical change towards SLM can be effectively designed
and supported.
The aim of transdisciplinary (research) processes (TDR) is to provide socially
robust orientation for sustainable solutions. However, the initiation and management
of innovation processes plays a central role in developing, testing and implementing
such solutions. And yet very few studies explicitly address SLM innovations. A lot of
scholarly work has been conducted on innovation processes in general, but it can be
1 A literature review shows that there has been an increase in the number of publications on SLM
over the past decade. A “scopus” search for the term “sustainable land management” generated 168
articles in April 2019.
J. Zscheischler and S. Rogga
8.1 Sustainable Land Management—A Normative
Orientation for Transformation
Land is an essential but limited “resource” to humans. Demand for land and landbased goods is increasing, and will continue to increase in the future due to a growing
world population, economic growth, the energy transition, changes in consumption
patterns, and, not least, climate change. As a result, it is assumed that there will
be greater land use competition and more environmental degradation in the future
(Haberl et al. 2014; Niewöhner et al. 2016).
Land has therefore become a key issue of sustainable development, since land
use causes many sustainability problems. In the search for sustainable and socially
responsible solutions that take into account complex interactions between different
demands, associated actors and their (often conflicting) interests, perceptions and
values, many scientists increasingly promote and discuss the concept of sustainable
land management (SLM).
1
Although SLM is not a clearly defined term, there are some common features
that can be summarised as follows: SLM provides a normative orientation for policymaking and management; it takes a holistic systems perspective and addresses
complex socio-ecological interactions and dynamics. SLM also takes into account
multi-level and cross-sectoral approaches that stress social learning, experimentation, negotiation and the harmonisation of different goals; SLM involves multiple
actor groups (e.g. Hurni 2000; Schwilch et al. 2012; Weith et al. 2013; Fritz-Vietta
et al. 2017; Nölting and Mann 2018).
In general, SLM can be regarded as a concept of change and transformation
building on the idea of adaptive resource co-management (see Armitage et al. 2009).
It aims to achieve “a change in understanding that goes beyond the individual to
become situated within wider social units or communities of practice” through social
interactions between actors within social networks (Reed et al. 2010). In this context,
the role of transdisciplinarity is highlighted by several authors (e.g. Hurni 2000;
Nölting and Mann 2018).
However, beyond underlining the importance of transdisciplinarity, there is an
“apparent lack of a practical, structured (yet flexible) methodology for fostering
SLM in diverse contexts” (Schwilch et al. 2012). Thus, it is an open question how
transformation and socio-technical change towards SLM can be effectively designed
and supported.
The aim of transdisciplinary (research) processes (TDR) is to provide socially
robust orientation for sustainable solutions. However, the initiation and management
of innovation processes plays a central role in developing, testing and implementing
such solutions. And yet very few studies explicitly address SLM innovations. A lot of
scholarly work has been conducted on innovation processes in general, but it can be
1 A literature review shows that there has been an increase in the number of publications on SLM
over the past decade. A “scopus” search for the term “sustainable land management” generated 168
articles in April 2019.