The impact of scientific information on ecosystem management: Making sense of the contextual gap between information providers and decision makers

Environmental Management

Volumn 41, Issue 5, 2008, Pages 779-791

  Van Wyk, Ernita ^a   Roux, Dirk J ^a   Drackner, Mikael ^a   McCool, Stephen F ^b  

^a Future production Chemicals Cluster   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA   (United States)

Author keywords

Culture; Ecosystem management; Learning; Scientific information; Shared understanding

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL DIVERSITY; ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT;

DECISION MAKING; ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT; INFORMATION USE; NATURAL RESOURCES;

ECOSYSTEMS;

DECISION MAKING; ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT; LEARNING; NATURAL RESOURCE; PARTICIPATORY APPROACH; PERCEPTION; PUBLIC ATTITUDE; RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE;

ARTICLE; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; DECISION MAKING; ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT; SOUTH AFRICA;

COMPREHENSION; CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES; CULTURAL DIVERSITY; DECISION MAKING; ECOSYSTEM; HUMANS; INFORMATION MANAGEMENT; KNOWLEDGE; SCIENCE; SOUTH AFRICA;

AFRICA; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

EID: 42449110670     PISSN: 0364152X     EISSN: 14321009     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00267-008-9084-8     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. Allee V (2003) The future of knowledge-increasing prosperity through value networks. Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, MA
2. Baskerville GL (1997) Advocacy, science, policy, and life in the real world. Conservation Ecology 2(2) [online] Available at: http://www. ecologyandsociety.org/vol1/iss1/art9. Accessed: October 2007
3. Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C (eds) (2003) Navigating social-ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
4. Bourdieu P (1994) Structures, habitus, power: basis for a theory of symbolic power in culture/power/history. In: Dirks NB, Eley G, Ortner SB (eds) A reader in contemporary social theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp 155-199
5. Buss AR (1974) Generational analysis: description, explanation and theory. Journal of Social Issues 30:55-71
6. Clark RN, Meidinger EE et al (1998) Integrating science and policy in natural resource management: lessons and opportunities from North America. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-441. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland OR, 22 pp
7. Costanza R, Folke C (1997) Valuing ecosystem services with efficiency, fairness, and sustainability as goals. In: Daily GC (ed) Nature's services: societal dependence on natural ecosystems. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 49-68
8. Cullen P (1990) The turbulent boundary between water science and water management. Freshwater Biology 24:201-209
9. Cullen P, Cottingham P, Doolan J, Edgar B, Ellis C, Fisher M et al (2001) Knowledge seeking strategies of natural resource professionals. Synthesis of a workshop held in Bungendore, New South Wales, June 5-7, (2001) Technical Report 2/2001, Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Australia
10. Davenport TH, Prusak L (1997) Working knowledge: how organizations manage what they know. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA
11. de la Harpe J, Ferreira J, and Potter A for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. Undated. Water management institutions - overview. Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa
12. Denisov N, Christoffersen L (2000) Impact of environmental information on decision-making processes and the environment. Occasional Article 01. UNEP/GRID-Arendal, Norway
13. Department of Environmental Affairs, Tourism (1998) National Environmental Management Act. Act no. 107 of 1998. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria, South Africa
14. Department of Water Affairs, Forestry (1997) White paper on a national water policy for South Africa. Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa
15. Department of Water Affairs, Forestry (1998) National Water Act. Act no. 36 of 1998. Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa
16. Fazey I, Fazey JA, Salisbury JG, Lindenmyer DB, Dovers S (2006) The nature and role of experiential knowledge for environmental conservation. Environmental Conservation 33:1-10
17. Friedman S (1999) Agreeing to differ: African democracy, its obstacles and prospects. Social Research 66(3):825-858
18. Funtowicz S, Ravetz J (2003) Post-normal science. Internet Encyclopaedia of Ecological Economics. Available at: http://www.ecoeco.org/pdf/pstnormsc.pdf Accessed October 10, 2006
19. Gallopín GC, Functowicz S, O'Connor M, Ravetz J (2001) Science for the twenty-first century: from social contract to the scientific core. International Journal of Social Science 168:219-229
20. Gelderblom CM, van Wilgen BW, Nel JL, Sandwith T, Botha MA, Hauck M (2003) Turning strategy into action: implementing a conservation action plan in the Cape Floristic Region. Biological Conservation 112(1-2):291-297
21. Görgens A, Pegram G, Uys M, Grobicki A, Loots L, Tanner A et al (1998) Guidelines for catchment management to achieve integrated water resources management in South Africa. WRC report no KV 108/98
22. Hill SD, Thompson D (2006) Understanding of managers' views of global environmental risk. Environmental Management 37(6):773-787
23. Holling CS (2001) Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological and social systems. Ecosystems 4:390-405
24. Holling CS, Meffe GK (1996) Command and control and the pathology of natural resource management. Conservation Biology 10:328-337
25. Hollinshead M (2002) The brain, the mind, and societal and cultural learning: the emergence of a new paradigm of future research. Futures 34:509-521
26. Kinzig AP (2001) Bridging disciplinary divides to address environmental and intellectual challenges. Ecosystems 4:709-715
27. Knight AT, Cowling RM (2006) Into the thick of it: bridging the research-implementation gap in the thicket biome through the thicket forum. South African Journal of Science 102(9):406-408
28. Kotter JP, Heskett JL (1992) Corporate culture and performance. Free Press, New York, NY
29. Kurtz CF, Snowden DJ (2003) The new dynamics of strategy: sense-making in a complex and complicated world. IBM Systems Journal 42(3):462-483
30. Lee KN (1993) Compass and gyroscope: integrating science and politics for the environment. Island Press, Washington, DC
31. Lubchenco J (1998) Entering the century of the environment: a new social contract for science. Science 279:491-497
32. Maxwell JA (1996) Qualitative research design: an interactive approach. Sage, London, UK
33. McCool SF, Schreyer RM (1977). Research utilization in wildland recreation management: a preliminary analysis. Journal of Leisure Research 9(2):98-109
34. Mohamed Salih MA (2001) African democracies and African politics. Pluto Press, London, UK
35. National Research Council (2000) How people learn - brain, mind, experience and school. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
36. Nyambe N (2005) Organizational culture and its underlying basic assumptions as a determinant of response to change. A case study of Kwazulu-Natal's conservation sector, South Africa. Doctoral thesis submitted to the Centre for Environment, Agriculture, and Development, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
37. Olsson P, Folke C, Hahn T (2004) Social-ecological transformation for ecosystem management: the development of adaptive co-management of a wetland landscape in southern Sweden. Ecology and Society. 9:2. Available at: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss4/art2. Accessed: October 2007
38. Patterson ME, Williams DR (1998) Paradigms and problems: the practice of social science in natural resource management. Society and Natural Resources 11:279-295
39. Patton MQ (2002) Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
40. Pegram G, Mazibuko G (2003) Evaluation of the role of water user associations in water management in South Africa. WRC Report No. TT 204/03
41. Pegram G, Palmer I (2001) Guidelines for financing catchment management agencies in South Africa. WRC Report No. 1044/1/01
42. Pierce SM, Cowling RM, Knight AT, Lombard AT, Rouget M, Wolf T (2005) Systematic conservation planning products for land-use planning: interpretation for implementation. Biological Conservation 125:441-458
43. Redford KH, Taber A (2000) Writing the wrongs: developing a safe-fail culture in conservation. Conservation Biology 14:1567-1568
44. Rogers KH (1998) Managing science/management partnerships: A challenge of adaptive management. Conservation Ecology [on-line] 2 (2) R1. Available at: http://www.consecol.org/vol2/iss2/resp1. Accessed:
45. Rogers KH, Bestbier R (1997) Development of a protocol for the definition of the desired state of riverine systems in South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria, South Africa
46. Rogers KH, Biggs H (1999) Integrating indicators, endpoints and value systems in strategic management of the rivers of the Kruger National Park. Freshwater Biology 41:439-451
47. Rogers KH, Roux D, Biggs H (2000) Challenges for catchment management agencies: lessons from bureaucracies, business and resource management. Water SA 26(4):505-511. Available at: http://www.wrc.org.za. Accessed: October 2007
48. Roux DJ (2004) From monitoring design to operational program: facilitating the transition under resource-limited conditions. In: Wiersma GB (ed) Environmental monitoring. CRC Press, London, pp 631-648
49. Roux DJ, Rogers KH, Biggs HC, Ashton PJ, Sergeant A (2006) Bridging the science-management divide: moving from unidirectional knowledge transfer to knowledge interfacing and sharing. Ecology and Society 11(1):4. Available at: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art4/. Accessed: October 2007
50. Sayer JA, Campbell BM (2004) The Science of sustainable development: local livelihoods and the global environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
51. Saywell DL, Cotton AP (1999) Spreading the word. Practical guidelines for research dissemination strategies. Interim findings. Water, Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University, UK
52. Schein EH (1996) Three cultures of management: the key to organizational learning. Sloan Management Review 38(1):9-20
53. Schein EH (1992) Organisational culture and leadership. Second edition. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA
54. Senge P, Kleiner A, Roberts C, Ross R, Smith B (1999) A fifth discipline resource: the dance of change. Nicolas Brealey Publishing, London, UK
55. Senge P (1990) The Fifth discipline. The art and practice of the learning organisation. Doubleday/Currency, New York, NY
56. Smircich L (1983) Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly 28(3):339-358
57. Snowden, Undated D. Cynefin, a sense of time and place: an ecological approach to sense making and learning in formal and informal communities. Available at: http://www.knowledgeboard.com/library/cynefin.pdf. Accessed: October 2006
58. Snyder WM, Wenger E (2004) Our world as a learning system: a communities of practice approach. In: Conner ML, Clawson JG (eds) Clawson creating a learning culture. Strategy, technology and practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, Chapter 2
59. Stankey GH, Bormann BT, Ryan C, Schindler B, Sturtevant V, Clark RN, et al (2003) Adaptive management and the Northwest Forest Plan: rhetoric and reality. Journal of Forestry 102:40-46
60. Stankey GH, Clark RN, Bormann BT (2005) Adaptive management of natural resources: theory, concepts, and management institutions. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-654. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR, 73 pp
61. State-of-Rivers Reporting Initiative (1994) River health programme. Available at: http://www.csir.co.za/rhp/. Accessed: October 2007
62. Strauss A, Corbin J (1998) Basics of qualitative research. Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Second edition. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
63. Strydom WF, Hill L, Godfrey L (2004) Assessment of the impact of information: a study to better understand the impact of environmental information on decision-making. CSIR report ENV-P-I-2004-028. Pretoria, South Africa
64. Strydom WF, Van Wyk E, Maree G, and Maluleke TP (2002) The evolution of State-of-Rivers reporting in South Africa. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, Cape Town, Africa, December 5-7, (2002) Available at: http://www.saasta.ac.za/scicom/pcst7_papers. shtml. Accessed: February 2008
65. Van Wilgen BW, Breen CM, Jaganyi JJ, Rogers KH, Roux DJ, Sherwill T, van Wyk E et al (2003) Principles and processes for supporting stakeholder participation in integrated river management. WRC Report No. 1062/1/03
66. Walters CJ (1998) Improving links between ecosystem scientists and managers. In: Pace ML, Groffman PM (eds) Successes, limitations and frontiers in ecosystem science. Springer, Philadelphia, PA, pp 272-286
67. Weber JR, Word CS (2001) The communication process as evaluative context: what do nonscientists hear when scientists speak? Bioscience 51(6):487-495
68. Wenger E (2004) Communities of practice and social learning systems. In: Starkey K, Tempest S, McKinley A (eds) How organizations learn. Second edition. Thompson, Australia, Chapter 12
69. Westley F (1995) Governing design: the management of social systems and ecosystem management. In: Gunderson L, Holling CS, Light S (eds) Barriers and bridges to the renewal of ecosystems and institutions. Columbia University Press, New York, NY, pp 391-427
70. Wilson EO (1998) Consilience: the unity of knowledge. Abacus, London, UK
71. Zahra S, George G (2002) Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualisation, and extension. Academy of Management Review 27(2):185-203
72. Zimmerman MA, Ramirez-Valles J, Washienko KM, Walker B, Dyer S (1996) The development of a measure of enculturation for Native American youth. American Journal of Community Psychology 24(2):295-310