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  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ? illustrated with René Magritte’s paintings

Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ? ! From outer space the world appears as a pale blue dot It has appeared so for the past billion years and will likely appear so for the next billion 

 Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ? But on the ground, changes are apparent... The planet is on fire Climate change is inevitable Fisheries are collapsing Forests are in decline Species are going extinct Poverty persists

The world is going to hell in a handbasket... So what’s new ? It has always been doing that The unprecedented scale of the problem is what’s new But only a few of the problems are really global... The world has always been plagued by local problems... Most are a whole bunch of worldwide local problems...  nothing is new  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ?

We have become a culture of CONTROL FREAKS The main problem may simply be that society has convinced itself that we can and should control what is going on The difference lies in our own expectations...  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ?

Consider whether an extreme laissez-faire ‘hands-off’ approach may be as good a management strategy as any This may appear radical but treat it for now as a straw man for analysis 0 1 λ Perhaps we should be tending more towards the laissez-faire end of the management continuum rather than to the other extreme where policies and interventions are actively imposed Suspend your disbelief Laissez-faire CAC  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ?

Complex systems which have persisted for a long time show a remarkable degree of resilience – they tend to self-correct Many of these systems are not sentient and have no manager But they do have feedback mechanisms – and these reveal adaptive behaviour Human systems involve sentient beings and often seem to involve policy interventions But the key point in a complex system is that causality disappears and it may be impossible to tell whether any particular policy intervention has produced the expected result ?  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ?

Intuitively, adaptation is an internal concept – treating it as an external tool is problematic ADAPTATION has become a key aspect of dealing with sustainability and human welfare Adaptive Co-Management Adaptive management is too often treated as a policy tool...  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ?

The Specific Problem So we begin with a blank slate... and this means we must entertain the possibility that all efforts at policy intervention in a complex system may be futile... and look for ways to deal with the problems of ecosystem collapse and inherent human suffering But let us join the control freaks...  Problem: Bio-economic Systems are in Peril ?