Unraveling the water and land nexus through inter- and transdisciplinary research: sustainable land management in a semi-arid watershed in Brazil’s Northeast

For decades, large reservoirs have been built for hydropower plants in Brazil’s São Francisco River Basin. Rural development has been a simultaneous goal with a primary focus on irrigation. Irrigated agriculture, however, has suffered from poor soils, insufficient water management strategies, and a disregard for integrating grazing-based smallholdings outside of the irrigation schemes. Recurrent droughts are distressing all sectors. This synthesis assessed sustainable land management options by investigating the aquatic and terrestrial land use systems alongside their underlying ecosystem functions and services. Decisions about the allocation of scarce water proved to be both the major issue of land use discourses and driver of practices. The primarily hydroelectricity-focused water management practice cannot be maintained at the same level in the long run, as it has become ever more adverse towards competing water usages. The increasing use of the water and adjacent land also constitutes a major potential threat to water quality. Managed water level fluctuations should generally mimic natural patterns. Wind and solar power generation are suitable complements to agricultural land use. Cycling scarce nutrients between aquatic and terrestrial sectors is ambitious but promising, ultimately improving the generally poor soils in the area. Smart management of biodiversity can foster intensively-irrigated cropping, although the non-irrigated Caatinga ecosystem needs better management of its conflicting uses. Aims and responsibilities of multi-level planning and management require clarification and coordination between sectors, while practices of public participation should be revised in order to better support a comprehensive and transparent transition towards sustainability.     

‘Complex crisis’ and the rise of collaborative natural resource governance: institutional trajectory of a wildlife governance experience in Ghana

Natural resource governance is underpinned by institutions which evolve ‘circumstantially’ over time. An attempt at understanding the contemporary institutions and governance structure of a resource requires an in-depth ethnographic enquiry. Adapting a four-phase institutional analysis framework, this study discusses the evolution and adaptation of wildlife governance structures and institutions using the unique experience of Boabeng–Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in Ghana. The study adopted a transdisciplinary research approach which was participatory and consultative. The key observations are that: wildlife institutions have gone through three main evolutionary phases, a pre-collaborative phase, which was exclusively underpinned by informal institutions; a critical juncture stage, where contextual challenges led to an adaptive response; the third and contemporary phase is a collaborative governance regime, where the erstwhile informal institutions have been complemented by formal state structures and institutions to synergistically enhance viability of the wildlife species. In spite of the problems posed to community members by the monkeys (wildlife), the study still observes a cordial human–wildlife relationship. Based on the study outcomes, we derive four key conclusions which have implications for institutionalism and natural resource governance.     

Sustainability education and a new master’s degree, the master of sustainability science: the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS) at the University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo started its Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS), offering a master of sustainability science degree, in 2007. The GPSS curriculum consists of: (1) knowledge and concept oriented courses, which cover sustainability-related subjects from a holistic viewpoint; (2) experiential learning and skills oriented practical courses, which offer practical exercises to acquire the skills and sensibility required of future leaders; and (3) the Master’s thesis, for which students are encouraged to address complex sustainability problems through a transdisciplinary approach. Sustainability science is not a discipline that can be defined simply by the subjects it deals with, but is an academic field characterized by core principles that include holistic thinking, transdisciplinarity, and respect for diversity. The GPSS has been designed so that students may gain the capacity to understand and practice these principles. The present paper describes how the GPSS has defined sustainability education and designed its curriculum accordingly.