What is the Problem? Usefulness, the cultural turn, and social research for natural resource management

This paper aims to introduce the Decision Support System (DSS), which is an area informatics approach to area studies, and the research network complex based on DSS's application in Thailand. In particular, the paper presents and discusses current activities of the DSS research network at the national level in Thailand rather than being a theoretical and analytical study of the DSS mechanism or its cases. DSS has wide applications in Thailand, extending to various fields such as agricultural and natural resource management, economic and social management, historical and cultural preservation, and so on. DSS generally refers to a support system embedded into a computer system for providing intellectual resources with the appropriate numerical model necessary for decision making in production activities. Agricultural and natural resources have been the foundation of social and economic development in Thailand since the country's first national plan in the1960s. Decision making to maintain agricultural productivity as well as to protect natural resources requires well-integrated data sets. The Thailand Research Fund(TRF) established a DSS research and development network (TRF-DSS) in 2002 to help various research teams in Thailand develop DSS tools and components for addressing agricultural and natural resource management issues. Using a "systems"approach, the DSS framework allows researchers and users to identify and integrate key components as well as to define databases and model-base management systems. This paper focuses on the TRF-DSS research and development network, which consists of 12 universities, two line agencies in Thailand, and a line agency in Cambodia. During 2002–10, a total of 59 research projects were granted a budget allocation of 140.1 million baht, and a budget of 15.4 million baht was allocated to support activities of the network. In addition, 10 projects were funded to carry out post-project activities, with a total budget of 1.5 million baht. More than 20 DSS tools were developed and implemented by various users, ranging from policy makers to provincial and local government agencies engaged in short- and long-term planning and management. Most DSS tools were designed to allow the integration of biophysical and socioeconomic data as well as the decision support modules for alternatives evaluation and analysis. These approaches support the choices of dynamic simulation models as well as multi-criteria analyses for modelbase software development. They also allow users to evaluate various alternatives in agricultural and natural resource management. Networking is a powerful platform for DSS research and development and maybe applied to other types of research and development agenda in Thailand, such as area study projects. DSS tools contribute to an understanding of sustainability of production systems against a background of climate change, poverty reduction, and food security.

The 19 chapters included in this book provide an overview of research conducted within the framework of the collaborative research programme on 'Regional Food Security Policies for Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Economies' (RESPONSE). The programme aimed to identify strategic options for agricultural and rural development in less-favoured areas and policy instruments than enhance rural household's investments in improved and sustainable natural resource management. Through the study of less-favoured areas in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, development pathways allowing for the careful adjustment of resource use strategies at the field, farm-household and village levels are explored. The book consists of five sections under the following headings: (i) development strategies for poor people in less-favoured areas; (ii) resource management options; (iii) livelihoods and food security; (iv) markets and institutional development; and (v) strategies and policy priorities. This text is intended for researchers and students as well as policy makers and economists. The book has a subject index.

The concept of broader participation of stakeholders and more inclusive decision making has been increasingly recognized in many countries both at national and international level. Effective stakeholder engagement in a complex resource system is fundamental to ensure the successful implementation of policies at the ground level. Particularly when the multi-purpose values of the whole Lake Tana ecosystem are considered, there are multiple stakeholders with diverse interests in and power over natural resource use, management and governance. Therefore, a clear understanding of the potential roles and contributions of the many different stakeholders of the Lake Tana social-ecological system is a fundamental prerequisite for successful participatory natural resource management and governance. Stakeholder analysis is a basic tool for achieving this understanding. The overall objective of this chapter is therefore, to provide a preliminary description of stakeholders’ interest in and influence over natural resource use, management, governance and policy process in the Lake Tana sub-basin. It depicts the stakeholders’ landscape based on focus group discussions, key informant interviews and stakeholder identification and analysis workshop which was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of experts from different stakeholder groups (governmental, research, academic and NGOs). The results can help inform and assist policy makers in the development of sustainable natural resource management policy, taking into account the interest and influence of a wide range of stakeholders. The chapter begins with a brief introduction of the Lake Tana context. It then presents the concept of stakeholder and stakeholder engagement followed by the rationale for stakeholder identification and analysis.

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of Natural Resource Management (SDA) in improving the national economy with a descriptive qualitative approach. The Data was obtained through in-depth interviews, document analysis, and case studies from several countries that have implemented different natural resources management policies. The results showed that countries with sustainability-based natural resource management policies, such as the implementation of strict regulations, transparency of governance, and downstream industries, were able to increase the contribution of natural resources to national economic growth. Conversely, countries that still rely on exports of raw materials with no added value tend to face economic volatility due to fluctuations in global market prices. In addition, inequality in the distribution of Natural Resources benefits is also a major problem, where most of the benefits are only enjoyed by a few parties, while the affected local communities do not get the corresponding benefits. Therefore, the study recommends strengthening regulation, investment in the processing industry, as well as the application of circular economy principles to ensure sustainable and inclusive management of Natural Resources.

SUMMARYCommunity-based natural resource management (CBNRM) projects and policies often aim to improve the livelihoods of rural people who depend on natural resources, and to promote democratic decision making and equitable benefit distribution at the local level. However, a growing number of critics argue that CBNRM is susceptible to elite capture. This paper contributes to the debate on elite capture under CBNRM by studying joint forest management (JFM) in Andhra Pradesh (India) and, in particular, the case of Mohammed Nagar village. The paper addresses the following four questions: (1) How has the Indian Government formally addressed the risk of elite capture? (2) What actually happened over time when formal structures of JFM interacted with the pre-existing social structure in Mohammed Nagar? (3) When JFM results in elite capture, is this owing to the formal structures and/or the pre-existing social structure? (4) How can CBNRM be designed to avoid or minimize elite capture? Based on a reading of official government documents, the Indian Government has addressed the risk of elite capture, by ensuring representation of different social groups in the decision making bodies, regular elections, collective action in rule making and implementation, and transparency in record keeping. Nevertheless, during Mohammed Nagar's 10 years of JFM history elite capture did occur. This confirms that elite capture is a possible outcome of CBNRM. Yet, the subsequent fall of elite capture in the village also indicates that this is not necessarily a permanent outcome, and that CBNRM may in fact promote democratic and equitable resource management in the long-term. In Mohammed Nagar elite capture was largely owing to pre-existing social structures and to weaknesses in the official rules that were meant to safeguard the interests of marginalized groups. Accordingly, in CBNRM project design and implementation, pre-existing social structures' potential promotion of elite capture need to be taken into account and formal measures that might alleviate the adverse effects and/or reduce this risk must be identified.

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the gap between demands for participatory approaches in natural resource management (NRM) policies and lack of such approaches in the work of environmental authorities. The analysis draws on practice theory, using the case of NRM practice created by Swedish County Administrative Board (CAB) officials. The data originate from officials’ reflections during courses designed to strengthen their participatory and collaborative competences. Based on practice theory, officials are seen as participants of a routinised practice in which their interpretations of their work and roles are socially constructed. The analysis shows that the objective of this practice is to protect nature and mitigate resistance from stakeholders through information. These interpretations have acquired a reified nature, making them taken for granted. This stabilises the practice, maintaining the gap between demands in national policies and their implementation. To enable change in the CAB practice, the objective constructed by officials needs to be reinterpreted to produce a rule of law that can be justified and which concurrently permits stakeholder participation. To achieve changes in NRM officials’ practice, these need to be seen in their institutional context and comprise the whole system, from international/EU auditing levels to Swedish CABs and the officials’ everyday activities.

Management of natural resources and preservation of ecological balance are perceived today as essential elements of rural development. The recently multiplying environmental ministries in developing countries are intended not only to correct the damages resulting from uncontrolled urbanization and industrialization, but to address ecosystemic degradation in the countryside. The aptitude demonstrated by numerous peasant societies for exploiting their environments over the long term while preserving their potential should be recognized and their specific, detailed knowledge incorporated into environmental protection projects. It is a mistake to conclude that peasants do not care about environmental problems; they often lack the resources to take needed action. Active participation of impoverished rural dwellers requires that measures taken do not reduce their incomes or resources in the short term. Rural development projects must assure protection of the environment while taking into account the interests of diverse categories of rural dwellers, such as farmers, herders, or wood cutters. There has been considerable progress in the past 2 decades in understanding the functioning of cultivated and pasture ecosystems and in developing techniques to limit damage to them. A vast effort is now needed to understand the economic, social, and cultural functions of customs and practices of different social groups involved in agricultural development and territorial management in order to prioritize problems and arrive at a consensus of all those affected concerning environmental protection. Social science research is needed into marketing of agricultural products, circulation of cooking fuels, village-town relations, and migration in order to determine the effects of these phenomena on management and conservation of natural resources in rural areas. Experimental research should be directed toward finding practical solutions to problems encountered by rural cultivators. Different research organizations should coordinate their programs to avoid duplication of effort, and developing countries should be furnished access to new techniques resulting from research conducted by developed countries. Local populations must be involved in reforestation, water conservation, and other projects at every stage from preliminary planning to execution, if such plans are to succeed. Local populations themselves should be able to care for equipment and infrastructure involved in these efforts. Improved techniques of environmental protection must also be developed at the micro level of individual farms and pastures. National governments must redefine their role so that they become facilitators of local action without coercively imposing programs from above.

This chapter introduces the 4th part of this book on natural resource management. It describes statistical software used for data analysis. Some important aspects to consider in selecting the appropriate statistical software package in natural resource management research are discussed.

The management of natural resources has become a crucial agenda item at the community level of every country, due to the importance of a community’s direct involvement in the stewardship of these resources. The sustainable management of natural resources is not easy without the involvement of the community. To know the attitudes of residents in the communities in close proximity to Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) towards natural resource sustainable management policy, a study of CKNP in northern Pakistan was conducted. This is the first community study for this park. It is difficult to overstate the economic and geographic importance of this national resource to the Pakistani people at local and national levels, as well as at the international level. This is the world’s highest public park; as a natural resource it is not only important to the local community, it also has great relevance internationally. The study attempted to gauge the attitudes of the local community towards the sustainable management practices of CKNP. The results of this study showed generally positive attitudes towards the park. The majority of respondents revealed that the park’s primary appeal is its geographic location. Households were afraid that pollution in the park will gradually destroy the park’s natural resources. For sustainable management of the CKNP, community members expressed willingness to contribute to the betterment of park through volunteerism. Community members praised the government’s supportive actions, including budgetary support and public-awareness campaigns. As such, the positive attitude of the community towards the CKNP also revealed new insights for the community-centered sustainable management of natural resources in developing countries. This study also provides a research gap for future work relating to the sustainable management of community-based natural resources to consider more factors beside the factors used in this study.

Natural resource management is an important thing that should be done by the community for survival. Consciously of many ways in the management of natural resources has resulted in environmental damage, coupled with government policies that give permission without good supervision to entrepreneurs or private individuals in natural resource management adds a long list of environmental damage. In the last three decades, governments tend to ignore the phenomenon of legal pluralism in the legal development policy, preparation of legal instruments, as well as the implementation of the law through political neglect of the fact legal pluralism. So the product of legislation, especially those that set natural resource management, normatively ignore and displace the rights of indigenous peoples and local over control, management, and utilization of natural resources. Moreover, with deprivation of the rights of indigenous peoples’ customary rights and the implementation of development without taking into consideration the pattern of spatial planning, more and enlarge the conflict between the government and society.

Natural resource management is an important thing that should be done by the community for survival. Consciously of many ways in the management of natural resources has resulted in environmental damage, coupled with government policies that give permission without good supervision to entrepreneurs or private individuals in natural resource management adds a long list of environmental damage. In the last three decades, governments tend to ignore the phenomenon of legal pluralism in the legal development policy, preparation of legal instruments, as well as the implementation of the law through political neglect of the fact legal pluralism. So the product of legislation, especially those that set natural resource management, normatively ignore and displace the rights of indigenous peoples and local over control, management, and utilization of natural resources. Moreover, with deprivation of the rights of indigenous peoples’ customary rights and the implementation of development without taking into consideration the pattern of spatial planning, more and enlarge the conflict between the government and society.

The growing human population accelerates alterations in land use and land cover (LULC) over time, putting tremendous strain on natural resources. Monitoring and assessing LULC change over large areas is critical in a variety of fields, including natural resource management and climate change research. LULC change has emerged as a critical concern for policymakers and environmentalists. As the need for the reliable estimation of LULC maps from remote sensing data grows, it is critical to comprehend how different machine learning classifiers perform. The primary goal of the present study was to classify LULC on the Google Earth Engine platform using three different machine learning algorithms—namely, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and classification and regression trees (CART)—and to compare their performance using accuracy assessments. The LULC of the study area was classified via supervised classification. For improved classification accuracy, NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) and NDWI (normalized difference water index) indices were also derived and included. For the years 2016, 2018, and 2020, multitemporal Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 data with spatial resolutions of 10 m and 30 m were used for the LULC classification. ‘Water bodies’, ‘forest’, ‘barren land’, ‘vegetation’, and ‘built-up’ were the major land use classes. The average overall accuracy of SVM, RF, and CART classifiers for Landsat-8 images was 90.88%, 94.85%, and 82.88%, respectively, and 93.8%, 95.8%, and 86.4% for Sentinel-2 images. These results indicate that RF classifiers outperform both SVM and CART classifiers in terms of accuracy.

Lessons are synthesized from chapters in this book, and a possible way forward is suggested for meeting priority assessment challenges under the multiple objectives of Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centers, National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and other research institutions. Over time, agricultural research system goals and objectives have broadened in directions that challenge previous priority assessment tools. Meanwhile, the CGIAR Centers have independently developed their priority assessment approaches over time, and substantial differences in approaches have evolved. However, a common set of challenges and good practices is evident across the various exercises, which can be best handled if explicitly considered during the design of priority assessment efforts. Adherence to a few basic identified priority assessment principles may help improve consistency in methods across institutes and programmes. So as to help expand the application of these principles, the chapter provides brief suggestions for priority assessment methods that incorporate impacts of natural resource management and policy-oriented research.

The management of natural and biological resources must be carried out by the central and regional governments to seek financing for development. The management of natural and biological resources should synergize with its preservation and the environment. The common problem encountered when managing natural and biological resources lies in its improper management that caused damage to the environment such as doing disharmonize exploitation with environmental interest. Accordingly, This study employed a sociological juridical study to capture the implications of authority reformulation management of natural and biological resources of the conservation district in Probolinggo. The findings revealed that the management reformulation of Natural and biological resources Management results in the limitation of regional authority in managing their natural resources. This was certainly different from the concept mandated by regional autonomy. Thus, It is feared that this will affect the development plans carried out in the area, affecting the welfare of the community. As a conservation district, Probolinggo Regency has tried to optimize the regional potential in the development of conservation-minded areas. This commitment is written in regional regulations, regulating not only the use of natural and biological resources but the clarity of regional authority in managing these resources as well

A particular assessment strategy for strengthening how these interventions contribute to efficient resource use involves introducing a modern Natural Energy resource and Environmental Politics framework to priorities design improvements and adaptation and growth. Assessment is essential to identify change, promote a sufficiently flexible adaptive approach to address the threat of instability and promote person, group, institutional and political formation. Based on changing approaches to Natural Energy resource management, a set of principles has been developed for assessment in NRM are based on the following: addresses system-specific evaluation, objective connects with impact, assesses the underlying principles and expectations underpinning key strategy or system objectives; is focused on realistic implementation in the Natural Energy resource, political/institutional, environmental, socio-cultural and technical contexts, develop practical and appropriate evaluation criteria for tracking and assessing the change, require both quantitative and qualitative approaches in analytical humanism to ensure a rigorous and comprehensive assessment and incorporates various (i.e., social, economic, environmental, political, and technological) seasons change. The proposed paper establishes a Heuristic Sustainability Natural Energy resource Management approaches to integrate these concepts and sometimes recognizes NRM policy’s multiple levels and networking features. The simulation results show the Heuristic Sustainability Natural Energy resource Management approach achieves 95% community-based analysis, 98% performance analysis, a 96% cost, a 13% resiliency, and a 97% Efficiency in representing the Natural Energy resource management.