Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- 1 Adapting institutions, adaptive governance and complexity: an introduction
- Part I Adapting local institutions, networks, leadership and learning
- 2 Knowledge, social networks and leadership: setting the stage for the development of adaptive institutions?
- 3 Adaptive capacity of local indigenous institutions: the case of the taboo forests of southern Madagascar
- 4 Adapting to change: tracing farmers’ responses to disturbances in irrigation systems in Nepal
- 5 Creating incentives for increased public engagement in ecosystem management through urban commons
- Part II Adapting and governing public institutions for uncertainty and complexity
- Part III Adapting multi-level institutions to environmental crisis
- Index
- References
2 - Knowledge, social networks and leadership: setting the stage for the development of adaptive institutions?
from Part I - Adapting local institutions, networks, leadership and learning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- 1 Adapting institutions, adaptive governance and complexity: an introduction
- Part I Adapting local institutions, networks, leadership and learning
- 2 Knowledge, social networks and leadership: setting the stage for the development of adaptive institutions?
- 3 Adaptive capacity of local indigenous institutions: the case of the taboo forests of southern Madagascar
- 4 Adapting to change: tracing farmers’ responses to disturbances in irrigation systems in Nepal
- 5 Creating incentives for increased public engagement in ecosystem management through urban commons
- Part II Adapting and governing public institutions for uncertainty and complexity
- Part III Adapting multi-level institutions to environmental crisis
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Institutions, be they formal or informal (North 1990, Ostrom 1990), guide the behaviour and interactions of people. This is a fact of particular importance when studying local-level collaborative management of common-pool resources (that is, co-management: e.g. Carlsson and Berkes 2005). However, given the inherent unpredictability of natural systems (Levin 1998), institutions need to be flexible enough to deal with ecological changes and surprises. In effect, the institutions need to be adaptive – an insight permeating the chapters of this book.
Social networks are increasingly cited as instrumental in enabling communities to adaptively respond to environmental change and to initiate and sustain successful co-management of natural resources (e.g. Olsson 2004a, Folke et al. 2005). Social networks are, for example, one factor determining the flow of information within communities and, as such, are important in determining possibilities for continuing learning and making sense of environmental feedbacks. They also offer a valuable tool for identifying social groups, influential actors and patterns of communications.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Adapting InstitutionsGovernance, Complexity and Social-Ecological Resilience, pp. 11 - 36Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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