Sustainability Science Seminar Institutions and the Governance of Coupled Human and Environmental Systems Nov. 8th, 2010 Sustainability Science Seminar Marci Baranski, Karina Benessaiah, Arijit Guha, Beth Mercer-Taylor, Chad Monfreda, Christina Wong

What insights do CPRs provide for wider sustainability issues? Do the lessons learned from communal-management of extractable natural resources apply when examining management of other resources such as the oceans, atmosphere and knowledge? [Nature of the resource] 2) To what extent can the lessons learned from studying small-scale systems be applied to larger scales, regional or global? [ Scale of governance] 3) How can the rules and norms which govern CPRs be given room to shift and change in the face of fast-moving global environmental change? [Rapidly emerging problems]

Part I Nature of the resource Q: intros? How to present q’s for discussion?

Beyond the Local Diversity of CPR case-studies yet mostly drawn from small to medium scale natural resource based contexts Are insights from these CPR examples useful under different conditions for other types of resources? Most CPRs are organized around extractable natural resources (e.g., timber, groundwater, grazing lands, etc.) Common assumption that resource are extractable predictable, finite supply

Substractability of use High Low Threat/Threshold Substractability of use High Low Common-Pool Resources E.g., Oceans, Forests, Libraries (?) Public Good E.g., Knowledge, Atmosphere Difficulty of exclusion Private Good E.g., Crops, Fish, Timber Toll/Club Good E.g., Theatre, Small Lake, National Parks USA (?) Low Differences in spatial & functional scales (fish vs. local fishery vs. oceans) & time scales (stock vs. flows), institutional arrangements Points out to the difficulty of separating resource (environment) from institutions shaping them (social)- common-pool resources are an emergent property of human-environment systems

Pollution How do we regulate resources that have fuzzy boundaries and are not extracting but generating negative externalities? Knowledge and digital commons Internet- private goods (computers) underlying public good (network) Over and Under provision issue- enclosure of the commons More people= more ideas- underuse an issue not overuse…North/South divide

Cross-scale governance Part II Cross-scale governance Q: intros? How to present q’s for discussion? 7

Challenges of Global Environmental Governance Small-Scale Large-Scale Environmental Resource -Clear boundaries -Provisioning -High predictability -Fuzzy boundaries -Provisioning / regulating -High uncertainty Social Institutions -Face-to-face interactions -Shared norms -Developed over long-period -Impersonal / Bureaucratic -Diverse cultures / interests -Newly emergent

Examples of Institutional Interaction Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Compliance, Shifting Global Context Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Global Monitoring, Bottom-up Contributions

Trust in Institutional Interactions

Rapidly emerging problems Part III Rapidly emerging problems

Classical model: Tipping points Challenges in resource management in the face of a rapidly changing system Example: Climate change impacts reindeer in Russian Arctic economic impact on indigenous reindeer herders Requires adaptation to environment, new resource management Implications for governance? http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/warm-winters-distress-reindeer-herders-in-russian-arctic-1915088.html

Emerging challenges Social “tipping points” caused by environmental pressures Example: Climate change refugees Migration Lack of trust, lack of shared cultural norms Requires social adaptation, governance Biermann and Boas. Preparing for a Warmer World: Towards a Global Governance System to Protect Climate Refugees. Global Environmental Politics, Volume 10, Number 1, February 2010, pp. 60-88

What insights do CPRs provide for wider sustainability issues (i. e What insights do CPRs provide for wider sustainability issues (i.e., managing CHES for sustainability)? Do the lessons learned from communal management of extractable natural resources apply when examining management of other resources such as the oceans, atmosphere and knowledge? [Nature of the resource] 2) To what extent can the lessons learned from studying small-scale systems be applied to larger scales — regional or global? [ Scale of governance] 3) How can the rules and norms which govern CPRs be given room to shift and change in the face of fast-moving global environmental change? [Rapidly-emerging, uncertain problems]