Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa

In most regions in West Africa, livelihoods depend heavily on forest ecosystem goods and services, often in interplay with agricultural and livestock production systems. Numerous drivers of change are creating a range of fundamental economic, ecological, social and political challenges for the gover...

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Main Authors: Brockhaus, Maria, Djoudi, H., Kambire, H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Ubiquity Press, Ltd. 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94341
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author Brockhaus, Maria
Djoudi, H.
Kambire, H.
author_browse Brockhaus, Maria
Djoudi, H.
Kambire, H.
author_facet Brockhaus, Maria
Djoudi, H.
Kambire, H.
author_sort Brockhaus, Maria
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In most regions in West Africa, livelihoods depend heavily on forest ecosystem goods and services, often in interplay with agricultural and livestock production systems. Numerous drivers of change are creating a range of fundamental economic, ecological, social and political challenges for the governance of forest commons. Climate change and its impacts on countries’ and regions’ development add a new dimension to an already challenging situation. Governance systems are challenged to set a frame for formulating, financing and implementing adaptation strategies at multiple layers, often in a context of ongoing institutional changes such as decentralisation. A deeper understanding of actors, institutions and networks is needed to overcome barriers in socio-ecological systems to adaptation and enable or enhance adaptive capacity. In this paper, we explore the relationship between governance and adaptive capacity, and characterise and assess the effects of a set of variables and indicators related to two core variables: Institutional flexibility, and individual and organisational understandings and perceptions. We present a comparative analysis with multiple methods based on a number of case studies undertaken at different levels in Burkina Faso and Mali. One of the key findings indicates the importance and influence of discourses and narratives, and how they affect adaptive capacity at different levels. Revealing the ideological character of discourses can help to enable adaptive capacity, as it would break the influence of the actors that employ these narratives to pursuit their own interests.
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spelling CGSpace943412025-11-12T05:30:43Z Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa Brockhaus, Maria Djoudi, H. Kambire, H. adaptation capacity climate change decentralization ecosystems governance networking perceptions In most regions in West Africa, livelihoods depend heavily on forest ecosystem goods and services, often in interplay with agricultural and livestock production systems. Numerous drivers of change are creating a range of fundamental economic, ecological, social and political challenges for the governance of forest commons. Climate change and its impacts on countries’ and regions’ development add a new dimension to an already challenging situation. Governance systems are challenged to set a frame for formulating, financing and implementing adaptation strategies at multiple layers, often in a context of ongoing institutional changes such as decentralisation. A deeper understanding of actors, institutions and networks is needed to overcome barriers in socio-ecological systems to adaptation and enable or enhance adaptive capacity. In this paper, we explore the relationship between governance and adaptive capacity, and characterise and assess the effects of a set of variables and indicators related to two core variables: Institutional flexibility, and individual and organisational understandings and perceptions. We present a comparative analysis with multiple methods based on a number of case studies undertaken at different levels in Burkina Faso and Mali. One of the key findings indicates the importance and influence of discourses and narratives, and how they affect adaptive capacity at different levels. Revealing the ideological character of discourses can help to enable adaptive capacity, as it would break the influence of the actors that employ these narratives to pursuit their own interests. 2012 2018-07-03T10:57:22Z 2018-07-03T10:57:22Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94341 en Open Access application/pdf Ubiquity Press, Ltd. Brockhaus, M., Djoudi, H., Kambire, H. . 2012. Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa International Journal of the Commons, 6 (2) : 179-199.
spellingShingle adaptation
capacity
climate change
decentralization
ecosystems
governance
networking
perceptions
Brockhaus, Maria
Djoudi, H.
Kambire, H.
Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa
title Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa
title_full Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa
title_fullStr Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa
title_short Multi-level governance and adaptive capacity in West Africa
title_sort multi level governance and adaptive capacity in west africa
topic adaptation
capacity
climate change
decentralization
ecosystems
governance
networking
perceptions
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/94341
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