Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research

Challenges of governance often constitute critical obstacles to efforts to equitably improve livelihoods in social-ecological systems. Yet, just as often, these challenges go unspoken, or are viewed as fixed parts of the context, beyond the scope of influence of agricultural, development, or natural...

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Autores principales: Apgar, J.M., Cohen, Philippa J., Ratner, B.D., de Silva, Sanjiv, Buisson, Marie-Charlotte, Longley, Catherine, Bastakoti, Ram C., Mapedza, Everisto D.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Resilience Alliance, Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81166
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author Apgar, J.M.
Cohen, Philippa J.
Ratner, B.D.
de Silva, Sanjiv
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte
Longley, Catherine
Bastakoti, Ram C.
Mapedza, Everisto D.
author_browse Apgar, J.M.
Bastakoti, Ram C.
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte
Cohen, Philippa J.
Longley, Catherine
Mapedza, Everisto D.
Ratner, B.D.
de Silva, Sanjiv
author_facet Apgar, J.M.
Cohen, Philippa J.
Ratner, B.D.
de Silva, Sanjiv
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte
Longley, Catherine
Bastakoti, Ram C.
Mapedza, Everisto D.
author_sort Apgar, J.M.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Challenges of governance often constitute critical obstacles to efforts to equitably improve livelihoods in social-ecological systems. Yet, just as often, these challenges go unspoken, or are viewed as fixed parts of the context, beyond the scope of influence of agricultural, development, or natural resource management initiatives. What does it take to get governance obstacles and opportunities out in the open, creating the space for constructive dialogue and collective action that can help to address them? We respond to this question by comparing experiences of participatory action research (PAR) in coastal and floodplain systems in four countries (Zambia, Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, and Cambodia) with a focus on understanding how to build more equitable governance arrangements. We found that governance improvement was often an implicit or secondary objective of initiatives that initially sought to address more technical natural resource or livelihood-related development challenges. We argue that using PAR principles of ownership, equity, shared analysis, and feedback built trust and helped to identify and act upon opportunities to address more difficult-to-shift dimensions of governance particularly in terms of stakeholder representation, distribution of authority, and accountability. Our findings suggest that the engaged and embedded approach of researcher-facilitators can help move from identifying opportunities for governance change to supporting stakeholders as they build more equitable governance arrangements.
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spelling CGSpace811662025-10-14T15:09:09Z Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research Apgar, J.M. Cohen, Philippa J. Ratner, B.D. de Silva, Sanjiv Buisson, Marie-Charlotte Longley, Catherine Bastakoti, Ram C. Mapedza, Everisto D. aquatic environment agricultural systems equity participatory approaches collective action research governance authorities resource management floodplains living standards ownership stakeholders accountability ecological factors ecology Challenges of governance often constitute critical obstacles to efforts to equitably improve livelihoods in social-ecological systems. Yet, just as often, these challenges go unspoken, or are viewed as fixed parts of the context, beyond the scope of influence of agricultural, development, or natural resource management initiatives. What does it take to get governance obstacles and opportunities out in the open, creating the space for constructive dialogue and collective action that can help to address them? We respond to this question by comparing experiences of participatory action research (PAR) in coastal and floodplain systems in four countries (Zambia, Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, and Cambodia) with a focus on understanding how to build more equitable governance arrangements. We found that governance improvement was often an implicit or secondary objective of initiatives that initially sought to address more technical natural resource or livelihood-related development challenges. We argue that using PAR principles of ownership, equity, shared analysis, and feedback built trust and helped to identify and act upon opportunities to address more difficult-to-shift dimensions of governance particularly in terms of stakeholder representation, distribution of authority, and accountability. Our findings suggest that the engaged and embedded approach of researcher-facilitators can help move from identifying opportunities for governance change to supporting stakeholders as they build more equitable governance arrangements. 2017 2017-05-23T05:27:59Z 2017-05-23T05:27:59Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81166 en Open Access Resilience Alliance, Inc. Apgar, J. M.; Cohen, P. J.; Ratner, B. D.; de Silva, Sanjiv; Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; Longley, C.; Bastakoti, Ram C.; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017. Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research. Ecology and Society, 22(1):1-13. doi: 10.5751/ES-08929-220109
spellingShingle aquatic environment
agricultural systems
equity
participatory approaches
collective action
research
governance
authorities
resource management
floodplains
living standards
ownership
stakeholders
accountability
ecological factors
ecology
Apgar, J.M.
Cohen, Philippa J.
Ratner, B.D.
de Silva, Sanjiv
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte
Longley, Catherine
Bastakoti, Ram C.
Mapedza, Everisto D.
Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
title Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
title_full Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
title_fullStr Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
title_full_unstemmed Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
title_short Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
title_sort identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research
topic aquatic environment
agricultural systems
equity
participatory approaches
collective action
research
governance
authorities
resource management
floodplains
living standards
ownership
stakeholders
accountability
ecological factors
ecology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81166
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