THE INVISIBLE WAND Adaptive Co-Management as an Emergent Strategy in Complex Bio-Economic Systems A Paper written by Jack Ruitenbeek and Cynthia Cartier Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Occasional Paper No. 34, October 2001 Presentation by Rowan B. Martin  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited illustrated with René Magritte’s paintings

A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited  Adaptive co-management is now being seen as a panacea Some care is needed The epicycles of planetary motion, lunar motion and the earth’s rotation all interlink to influence circles of motion on our earth... for forestry, fisheries and many other bio-economic systems

 A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited We are all part of that panarchy How we see ourselves within the panarchy influences our actions and overall outlook. We can choose three potential rôles – Economic systems, ecological systems, social systems and the political and institutional settings in which they occur are all among these circles – which we may now call the panarchy

As observers we can attempt to describe how the panarchy works  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

As designers, we might prescribe how to influence a system... but we need to be aware that, in this rôle, we are no more than active agents within a slightly larger system  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

As players, we have multiple rôles within the system

Each and every one of us is a researcher, philosopher, consumer, polluter, diplomat, citizen, teacher and student  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

We test out strategies in each of these rôles as we play this game of life

A Reality Check Adaptive Co-Management is not just some strategy which we can impose on a group of innocent bystanders It is something that emerges naturally from a complex bio-economic system There may well exist an invisible wand, driven by individuals’ altruistic dispositions to the common good, that causes ACM to happen  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

If ACM does so emerge, there are some important implications for analysis and policy-making... The rôle of policy is no longer simply to introduce ACM into a system It is to protect the conditions for emergence  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

A further function of policy is to introduce consciousness into the ACM regime through education and enablement i.e. dezombification  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

Finally, these individuals must be aware that they are capable of changing the rules of that system if necessary Policy recognises that individuals are working within a complex system, are capable of learning within that system and can adapt their strategies as a result of such learning  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

The new science will emerge in its own way, in its own good time Systematic Cultural Change This paper began with the theme that we may be on the verge of a major change in scientific paradigm The science of complexity is gaining currency and deterministic science is limited to addressing problems of simpler systems It is tempting to precribe the use of complex systems science in all areas of human experience. This will not get us very far.  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

There still remain too many cultural barriers which will continue to work against the adoption of the science of complexity as a leading scientific paradigm... Reductionist science is alive and well We are still taught to think inside a box rather than to think creatively outside of the box  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

Cause-and-effect models of all interactions still prevail Complex systems science requires that we downplay these relationships and accept surprises – but many parts of society would cease to function if this paradigm were discarded It will take at least one generation to overcome these entrenched concepts  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

On the other hand, there is nothing preventing any of us adopting the viewpoint of the science of complexity within our broader panarchy  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited

We should not be surprised if today’s generation, in one fell swoop, overcomes all of the presumed barriers set before it Complex systems do, after all, produce surprises And if history has taught us one thing, cultural changes can be very swift – especially when that culture faces a crisis THE END  A Grain of Salt: ACM Revisited