Challenges for a sustainable resource use: Uncertainty,trade, and climate policies

We integrate new challenges to thinking about resource markets and sustainable resource use policies in a general framework. The challenges, emerging from six papers that JEEM publishes in a special issue, are (i) demand uncertainty and stockpiling, (ii) international trade and resource dependence, (iii) deforestation, and (iv) intertemporal effects of climate change policies (“Green Paradox”). We discuss new insights and results on these issues by fitting them into the Hotelling model of non-renewable resource depletion.     

Tourism policy,biodiversity conservation and management: a case of the Kruger National Park,South Africa

Management of Kruger National Park (KNP) has recently made considerable progress in developing new policies to address biodiversity conservation and management challenges. These include tourism, water provision and elephant management policies. This study examines the integration of these three policies with regard to biodiversity conservation and management. Findings indicate that in their current fragmented form, the three policies actually undermine opportunities for effective biodiversity conservation and management in the KNP. This can be reversed by adopting a new management approach based on an environmental matrix organizational framework. Such a framework provides a mechanism for integrated policymaking and implementation and for improving biodiversity conservation and management in the KNP. The study concludes that an integrated approach is necessary due to the interlinkages between policies that affect biodiversity conservation at the KNP.     

Economic growth,international trade,and the depletion or conservation of renewable natural resources

Conservation of renewable natural resources and promotion of economic growth are both sustainable development goals. Here, we study the interdependency between economic growth, international trade, and the use of renewable natural resources—under alternative institutional settings of either open access or full property rights—in an endogenous growth model. We find that if the resource is depleted over time, consumption growth is reduced. Economic growth and international trade only impact resource use when the resource is harvested under full property rights. Then, widening international trade can lead countries to shift from conservation to depletion. Changes in the institutional setting of resource use in one country may have repercussions on trading partners. Our results indicate potential trade-offs between the sustainable development goals and imply that policies focusing on resource use or trade (e.g., international trade bans or certified trade) are not sufficient to prevent resource depletion.     

Would hotelling kill the electric car?

In this paper, we show that the potential for endogenous technological change in alternative energy sources may alter the behaviour of resource-owning firms. When technological progress in an alternative energy source can occur through learning-by-doing, resource owners face competing incentives to extract rents from the resource and to prevent expansion of the new technology. We show that in such a context, it is not necessarily the case that scarcity-driven higher traditional energy prices over time will induce alternative energy supply as resources are exhausted. Rather, we show that as we increase the learning potential in the substitute technology, lower equilibrium energy prices prevail and there may be increased resource extraction and greenhouse gas emissions. We show that the effectiveness and the incidence of emissions reduction policies may be altered by increased potential for technological change. Our results suggest that treating finite resource rents as endogenous consequences of both technological progress and policy changes will be important for the accurate assessment of climate change policy.     

Green markets, eco-certification, and equilibrium fraud

Consumers voluntarily pay significant price premiums to acquire unobservable environmental attributes in green markets. This paper considers the performance of eco-certification policy under circumstances where consumers cannot discern environmental attributes in goods, but are able to form rational expectations regarding the extent of illicit activities in the green market. The main results are: (i) fraud is less prevalent in green markets when entry barriers limit the number of firms; (ii) conventional environmental policies on polluting techniques increase the incidence of fraud, and can even preclude the use of non-polluting techniques which would otherwise emerge in green markets; (iii) voluntary eco-certification policies can decrease fraud, increase output, and raise profits per firm; and (iv) in cases where the socially optimal resource allocation can be supported, the optimal policy involves negative unit certification fees, positive fixed certification fees and is revenue-generating for the certifying agent.     

Research priorities for conservation and natural resource management in Oceania's small‐island developing states

For conservation science to effectively inform management, research must focus on creating the scientific knowledge required to solve conservation problems. We identified research questions that, if answered, would increase the effectiveness of conservation and natural resource management practice and policy in Oceania's small‐island developing states. We asked conservation professionals from academia, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations across the region to propose such questions and then identify which were of high priority in an online survey. We compared the high‐priority questions with research questions identified globally and for other regions. Of 270 questions proposed by respondents, 38 were considered high priority, including: What are the highest priority areas for conservation in the face of increasing resource demand and climate change? How should marine protected areas be networked to account for connectivity and climate change? What are the most effective fisheries management policies that contribute to sustainable coral reef fisheries? High‐priority questions related to the particular challenges of undertaking conservation on small‐island developing states and the need for a research agenda that is responsive to the sociocultural context of Oceania. Research priorities for Oceania relative to elsewhere were broadly similar but differed in specific issues relevant to particular conservation contexts. These differences emphasize the importance of involving local practitioners in the identification of research priorities. Priorities were reasonably well aligned among sectoral groups. Only a few questions were widely considered answered, which may indicate a smaller‐than‐expected knowledge‐action gap. We believe these questions can be used to strengthen research collaborations between scientists and practitioners working to further conservation and natural resource management in this region.     

Biosecurity threats: the design of surveillance systems,based on power and risk

We consider the problem of designing a surveillance system to detect a broad range of invasive species across a heterogeneous sampling frame. We present a model to detect a range of invertebrate invasives whilst addressing the challenges of multiple data sources, stratifying for differential risk, managing labour costs and providing sufficient power of detection. We determine the number of detection devices required and their allocation across the landscape within limiting resource constraints. The resulting plan will lead to reduced financial and ecological costs and an optimal surveillance system.     

Defending the scientific integrity of conservation‐policy processes

Government agencies faced with politically controversial decisions often discount or ignore scientific information, whether from agency staff or nongovernmental scientists. Recent developments in scientific integrity (the ability to perform, use, communicate, and publish science free from censorship or political interference) in Canada, Australia, and the United States demonstrate a similar trajectory. A perceived increase in scientific‐integrity abuses provokes concerted pressure by the scientific community, leading to efforts to improve scientific‐integrity protections under a new administration. However, protections are often inconsistently applied and are at risk of reversal under administrations publicly hostile to evidence‐based policy. We compared recent challenges to scientific integrity to determine what aspects of scientific input into conservation policy are most at risk of political distortion and what can be done to strengthen safeguards against such abuses. To ensure the integrity of outbound communications from government scientists to the public, we suggest governments strengthen scientific integrity policies, include scientists’ right to speak freely in collective‐bargaining agreements, guarantee public access to scientific information, and strengthen agency culture supporting scientific integrity. To ensure the transparency and integrity with which information from nongovernmental scientists (e.g., submitted comments or formal policy reviews) informs the policy process, we suggest governments broaden the scope of independent reviews, ensure greater diversity of expert input and transparency regarding conflicts of interest, require a substantive response to input from agencies, and engage proactively with scientific societies. For their part, scientists and scientific societies have a responsibility to engage with the public to affirm that science is a crucial resource for developing evidence‐based policy and regulations in the public interest.     

Improving Peer Review of Listings and Recovery Plans under the Endangered Species Act

Abstract: We discuss several challenges encountered in peer review of Endangered Species Act listings and recovery plans, with particular attention to Meffe et al.'s (1998) statement on independent scientific review in natural resource management. First, Endangered Species Act listing documents and recovery plans pose a diverse array of scientific questions, and we suggest that overall effectiveness of peer review may be increased by segregating the critical issues and identifying specific reviewers for each issue. Some scientific reviewers may be unfamiliar with the decision standards prescribed by the Endangered Species Act and implementing policies. Unnecessary confusion could be prevented by providing reviewers with information about these standards and by requesting that reviewers clearly differentiate their assessment of decisions that must be based on available information from recommendations for future research. Short review periods constitute another constraint on careful review, but tight deadlines are fairly intractable in the context of the Endangered Species Act. We suggest that short time frames could be partially ameliorated by narrowing the scope of issues to be treated by each reviewer, and we discuss the issue of providing monetary compensation for efficient review. Finally, Endangered Species Act listing decisions and recovery planning may profit from more frequent peer review of intermediate analyses that precede publication of formal proposals or complete plans.     

Management priorities for Magdalena Bay, Baja California, Mexico

The current lack of a working resource management plan Magdalena Bay (southern Baja California, Mexico) has weakened attempts to set priorities among resource users and has contributed to: reduced fish stocks, land and marine contamination, and declines in the ecological integrity of the bay of 170 000 ha and its vast mangrove lagoon systems. The government agencies responsible for maintaining ecological integrity and managing marine resource use have not been successful in addressing these problems due to jurisdictional ambiguities, lack of community support, and lack of manpower for monitoring and enforcing policies. A framework was designed by the authors to work toward an approach for balancing between community development and conserving ecological integrity at the local level in the peripheral and central zones of the Magdalena Bay system. The goal of this framework was to suggest a basis for setting management priorities that included the perceptions and preferences of stakeholder groups with regard to direct threats to the environmental health of the study areas. To achieve this goal a crossdisciplinary study of the central and peripheral zones was used to examine factors that influence current resource use and the environmental state in these two regions of the bay system. Insights into the preferences and perceptions of stakeholder groups with regard to management priorities were acquired using the key informant technique. The results revealed potential conflicts with regard to preferred management priorities between stakeholder groups, as well as polarities within stakeholder groups themselves.     

Social network effects on the adoption of sustainable natural resource management practices in Ethiopia

Soil loss, nutrient depletion and land degradation contribute to the skimpy performance of smallholder agriculture and pose serious policy challenges in developing countries. Surprisingly, natural resource management practices that enhance sustainability while improving productivity have not been fully adopted despite continuous efforts of promotion. Using data collected from 2901 farm households in the Farmers Innovation Fund (FIF) of the World Bank, this study examines factors delaying adoption of resource management and farming practices from the perspective of social learning and network size. Specifically, the study aims at identifying the extent to which differences in network structure matter in providing opportunities to learn about new ways of sustainable resource management practices using regression analysis. The result confirms that social network size plays a significant role in enhancing adoption of natural resource management practices. Moreover, external sources of information such as extension provision play a crucial role in enhancing adoption of resource management practices. Thus, future endeavours should link extension services to informal networks to enhance adoption of sustainable natural resource management practices.     

Development of a low-carbon economy in China

Under the pressures of climate change, many countries are trying to adapt to a low-carbon economy. In this paper, we review the development pattern of the low-carbon economy of major countries and its impact on the world economy. We then argue that economic development and abatement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in China should be balanced. The challenges that China faces should also be considered carefully. It is necessary for China to find an approach to solve the issues of climate change, which should include new technologies and establishing incentive mechanisms and reform-oriented policies. These guidelines can adjust the structure of the economy and energy use, improve energy efficiency, promote the development of alternative and renewable energy, enhance the potential of carbon sinks, and develop advanced technology to perfect a 'Clean Development Mechanism' and sustainable development through international cooperation.     

Prospects for stakeholder coordination by protected‐area managers in Europe

Growing resource demands by humans, invasive species, natural hazards, and a changing climate have created broad‐scale impacts and the need for broader‐extent conservation activities that span ownerships and even political borders. Implementing regional‐scale conservation brings great challenges, and learning how to overcome these challenges is essential for maintaining biodiversity (i.e., richness and evenness of biological communities) and ecosystem functions and services across scales and borders in the face of system change. We administered an online survey to examine factors potentially driving perspectives of protected‐area (PA) managers regarding coordination with neighboring PAs and other stakeholders (i.e., stakeholder coordination) for conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services during the next decade within diverse regions across Europe. Although >70% (n = 58) of responding PA managers indicated that climate change and invasive species are relevant for their PAs, they gave <50% probability that these threats could be mitigated through stakeholder coordination. They thought there was a >60% probability (n = 85) that stakeholder coordination would take place with the aim to improve conservation outcomes. Consistent with the foundation on which many European PAs were established, managers viewed maintaining or enhancing biodiversity as the most important (>70%; n = 61) expected benefit. Other benefits included maintaining or enhancing human resources and environmental education (range of Bayesian credibility intervals [CIs] 57–93%). They thought the main barriers to stakeholder coordination were the lack of human and economic resources (CI 59–67% chance of hindering; n = 64) followed by communication and interstakeholder differences in political structures and laws (CI 51–64% probability of hindering). European policies and strategies that address these hindering factors could be particularly effective means of enabling implementation of green infrastructure networks in which PAs are the nodes.     

Linking patch-use behavior, resource density, and growth expectations in fish

Optimality theory rests on the assumptions that short-term foraging decisions are driven by variation in environmental quality, and that these decisions have important implications for long-term fitness. These assumptions, however, are rarely tested in a field setting. We linked behavioral foraging decisions in food patches with measures of environmental quality covering larger spatial (resource density) or temporal (growth parameters) scales. In 10 lakes, we measured the food density at which benthic fish give up foraging in experimental food patches (giving-up density, GUD), quantified the biomass of benthic invertebrates, and calculated the maximum individual size (L(infinity)) of bream (Abramis brama L.), a typical benthivore in these lakes. We found positive relationships between resource density and both GUD and L(infinity), and a positive relationship between L(infinity) and GUD. Prey characterized as vulnerable to predation contributed most to the relationships between resource density and either GUD or L(infinity). A path analysis showed that resource density and L(infinity) directly explained 54% and 28%, respectively, of the variation in GUD, whereas 86% of the variation in L(infinity) was explained by resource density, with mostly indirect contribution from GUD. We conclude that the short-term foraging behavior of benthivores matched our expectations based on optimality theory by being positively linked to variables on environmental quality operating at both a larger spatial scale and a longer temporal scale.     

Constructing change: The evolution of land and resource management in Alberta,Canada

Recognizing the limitations common to both centralized and privatized management regimes, institutionalized resource management is beginning to incorporate the knowledge and skills of local resource users, coupled with the enabling policies and legislation of state systems, to arrive at cooperative approaches to resource management. These varying and dynamic approaches to resource management have been compelled largely through the recognition of the limited capabilities of existing management systems to adapt effectively to ecosystem change and the evolving needs of resource users. These cooperative approaches to management should not, however, be considered an institutional end-point, but rather a phase in the perpetual transition of a social system; each unique in character and individually variable depending on the resource being managed, the political climate in which management occurs, as well as the differing strategies employed by resource users to enact institutional change. Drawing from the experiences of the Whitefish Lake First Nation of Alberta, Canada, this paper presents a brief overview of the evolution of resource management theory, grounded in the real-world formation of the Whitefish Lake First Nation — Province of Alberta Cooperative Management Agreement.     

国内外农用地膜使用政策、执行标准与回收状况

农用地膜覆盖技术具有良好的增温、保墒、除草等作用,已成为中国农业生产上不可或缺的农艺措施,为作物增产增收和保障中国粮食安全做出了巨大贡献。由于长期重使用、轻回收,随着农用地膜的用量和覆膜年限增加,废旧地膜在土壤中的残留量逐年增多,残膜污染已严重影响农业生产和自然环境,成为影响中国农业可持续发展的突出问题。中国的农用地膜污染防治工作总体起步较晚,虽然取得了一定成效,但还面临着政策不健全,监管有难度,执行不到位,回收、替代技术不成熟等困难和问题,防治任务依然艰巨。文章通过深入分析欧美与日本发达国家农用地膜推广使用方面的相关政策及标准,总结归纳了国内外农用地膜管理和回收经验,为今后制定出台适应中国国情的农用地膜管理政策提供参考。建议:(1)推进全程监管,出台相关法律规章,明确生产、流通、使用等各环节的监管责任,建立全程监管体系,从源头上杜绝脱标地膜进入市场、铺进农田;(2)推进源头减量,开展地膜覆盖技术适宜性评价,强化地膜使用控制,对水热资源条件较好的地区,减少地膜覆盖或不再使用地膜,对资源禀赋较差的地区,提高地膜使用效率,降低使用强度;(3)推进回收利用,推动完善政府扶持、市场主导的农膜回收利用体系,探索农膜回收利用长效机制,推动建立区域性绿色补贴政策;(4)推进技术创新,依托科技平台,加大新产品、新设备的研发力度,加强可降解地膜产品和技术跟踪,制定完善评价标准体系。     

Role of Genetic Refuges in the Restoration of Native Gene Pools of Brown Trout

Abstract:  Captive-bred animals derived from native, alien, or hybrid stocks are often released in large numbers in natural settings with the intention of augmenting harvests. In brown trout ( Salmo trutta ), stocking with hatchery-reared non-native fish has been the main management strategy used to maintain or improve depleted wild brown trout populations in Iberian and other Mediterranean regions. This measure has become a serious threat to the conservation of native genetic diversity, mainly due to introgressive hybridization. Aware of this risk, the agency responsible for management of brown trout in the eastern Pyrenees (Spain) created "brown trout genetic refuges" to preserve the integrity of brown trout gene pools in this region. Within refuge areas, the prerefuge status with respect to fishing activities has been maintained, but hatchery releases have been banned completely. We evaluated this management strategy through a comparison of the stocking impact on native populations that accounted for stocking histories before and after refuge designations and fishing activities. In particular we examined the relevant scientific, cultural, and political challenges encountered. Despite agency willingness to change fishery policies to balance exploitation and conservation, acceptance of these new policies by anglers and genetic monitoring of refuge populations should also be considered. To improve management supported by genetic refuges, we suggest focusing on areas where the public is more receptive, considering the situation of local native diversity, and monitoring of adjacent introgressed populations. We recommend the use of directional supportive breeding only when a population really needs to be enhanced. In any case, management strategies should be developed to allow for protection within the context of human use.     

Geography of conservation spending,biodiversity, and culture

We used linear and multivariate models to examine the associations between geography, biodiversity, per capita economic output, national spending on conservation, governance, and cultural traits in 55 countries. Cultural traits and social metrics of modernization correlated positively with national spending on conservation. The global distribution of this spending culture was poorly aligned with the distribution of biodiversity. Specifically, biodiversity was greater in the tropics where cultures tended to spend relatively less on conservation and tended to have higher collectivism, formalized and hierarchical leadership, and weaker governance. Consequently, nations lacking social traits frequently associated with modernization, environmentalism, and conservation spending have the largest component of Earth's biodiversity. This has significant implications for setting policies and priorities for resource management given that biological diversity is rapidly disappearing and cultural traits change slowly. Therefore, we suggest natural resource management adapt to and use characteristics of existing social organization rather than wait for or promote social values associated with conservation spending. Supporting biocultural traditions, engaging leaders to increase conservation commitments, cross‐national efforts that complement attributes of cultures, and avoiding interference with nature may work best to conserve nature in collective and hierarchical societies. Spending in modernized nations may be a symbolic response to a symptom of economic development and environmental degradation, and here conservation actions need to ensure that biodiversity is not being lost.     

Spatial and temporal modeling of community non-timber forest extraction

This paper examines the interaction of spatial and dynamic aspects of resource extraction from forests by local people. Highly cyclical and varied across space and time, the patterns of resource extraction resulting from the spatial–temporal model bear little resemblance to the patterns drawn from focusing either on spatial or temporal aspects of extraction alone. Ignoring this variability inaccurately depicts villagers’ dependence on different parts of the forest and could result in inappropriate policies. Similarly, the spatial links in extraction decisions imply that policies imposed in one area can have unintended consequences in other areas. Combining the spatial–temporal model with a measure of success in community forest management—the ability to avoid open-access resource degradation—characterizes the impact of incomplete property rights on patterns of resource extraction and stocks.     

Predators, prey, and transient states in the assembly of spatially structured communities

Ecological theory suggests that both dispersal limitation and resource limitation can exert strong effects on community assembly. However, empirical studies of community assembly have focused almost exclusively on communities with a single trophic level. Thus, little is known about the combined effects of dispersal and resource limitation on assembly of communities with multiple trophic levels. We performed a landscape-scale experiment using spatially arranged mesocosms to study effects of dispersal and resource limitation on the assembly dynamics of aquatic invertebrate communities with two trophic levels. We found that interplay between dispersal and resource limitation regulated the assembly of predator and prey trophic levels in these pond communities. Early in assembly, predators and prey were strongly dispersal limited, and resource (i.e., prey) availability did not influence predator colonization. Later in assembly, after predators colonized, resource limitation was the strongest driver of predator abundance, and dispersal limitation played a negligible role. Thus, habitat isolation affected predators directly by reducing predator colonization rate, and indirectly through the effect of distance on prey availability. Dispersal and resource limitation of predators resulted in a transient period in which predators were absent or rare in isolated habitats. This period may be important for understanding population dynamics of vulnerable prey species. Our findings demonstrate that dispersal and resource limitation can jointly regulate assembly dynamics in multi-trophic systems. They also highlight the need to develop a temporal picture of the assembly process in multi-trophic communities because the availability and spatial distribution of limiting resources (i.e., prey) and the distribution of predators can shift radically over time.