Browsing by Autor "Foster Brown"

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Crossing boundaries for environmental science and management: combining interdisciplinary, interorganizational and international collaboration
(Cambridge University Press, 2010) Stephen G. Perz; Silvia Brilhante; Foster Brown; Andrea Chávez Michaelsen; Elsa Mendoza; Veronica Passos; Raul Pinedo; Juan Fernando Reyes; Daniel Rojas; Galia Selaya
SUMMARY Literature on environmental science and management endorses crossing boundaries between disciplines, types of organizations and countries for environmental conservation. A literature review on interdisciplinarity, interorganizational networks and international cooperation highlights their justifying rationales and strategic practices. Crossing boundaries implies substantial challenges to managing collaboration itself, notably politics and uncertainty. Challenges to collaboration become compounded when crossing multiple boundaries simultaneously, here illustrated using the case of three projects in the south-western Amazon. Strategic practices such as net brokering and organizational courtships are highly important when crossing multiple boundaries. There are important commonalities in strategic practices for crossing different boundaries, such as recognizing grievances to manage politics, constituting functional redundancies in networks to manage uncertainty and non-aligned collaboration to manage both difficulties.
Describing complex interactions of social-ecological systems for tipping point assessments: an analytical framework
(Frontiers Media, 2023) Rebecca Froese; Alberto Andrino; Renzo Giudice; Benjamin Stuch; Simone Kilian Salas; Jürgen Böhner; Diana Boy; Jens Boy; Foster Brown; Elisa Díaz García
Humans play an interconnecting role in social-ecological systems (SES), they are part of these systems and act as agents of their destruction and regulation. This study aims to provide an analytical framework, which combines the concept of SES with the concept of tipping dynamics. As a result, we propose an analytical framework describing relevant dynamics and feedbacks within SES based on two matrixes: the “tipping matrix” and the “cross-impact matrix.” We take the Southwestern Amazon as an example for tropical regions at large and apply the proposed analytical framework to identify key underlying sub-systems within the study region: the soil ecosystem, the household livelihood system, the regional social system, and the regional climate system, which are interconnected through a network of feedbacks. We consider these sub-systems as tipping elements (TE), which when put under stress, can cross a tipping point (TP), resulting in a qualitative and potentially irreversible change of the respective TE. By systematically assessing linkages and feedbacks within and between TEs, our proposed analytical framework can provide an entry point for empirically assessing tipping point dynamics such as “tipping cascades,” which means that the crossing of a TP in one TE may force the tipping of another TE. Policy implications: The proposed joint description of the structure and dynamics within and across SES in respect to characteristics of tipping point dynamics promotes a better understanding of human-nature interactions and critical linkages within regional SES that may be used for effectively informing and directing empirical tipping point assessments, monitoring or intervention purposes. Thereby, the framework can inform policy-making for enhancing the resilience of regional SES.
Economically important species dominate aboveground carbon storage in forests of southwestern Amazonia
(Resilience Alliance, 2017) N. Galia Selaya; Pieter A. Zuidema; Christopher Baraloto; Vincent Antoine Vos; Roel Brienen; Nigel C. A. Pitman; Foster Brown; Amy E. Duchelle; Alejandro Araujo‐Murakami; Luis A. Oliveira Carillo
Selaya, N. G., P. A. Zuidema, C. Baraloto, V. A. Vos, R. J. W. Brienen, N. Pitman, F. Brown, A. E. Duchelle, A. Araujo-Murakami, L. A. Oliveira Carillo, G. H. Vasquez Colomo, S. Meo Chupinagua, H. Fuentes Nay, and S. Perz. 2017. Economically important species dominate aboveground carbon storage in forests of southwestern Amazonia. Ecology and Society 22(2):40. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09297-220240
Multi-Actor adaptation plan to cope with forests under increasing risk of extensive fires (MAP-FIRE)
(2019) Liana O. Anderson; Luiz E. O. C. Aragão; Víctor Marchezini; Sonaira Souza da Silva; Marisa Gesteira Fonseca; Galia Selaya; Foster Brown; Cândida Leite; Guillermo Rioja-Ballivián; Eddy Mendoza
Wildfires, caused by the interaction of social and climate systems, are currently one of the major driver of reduction of Amazonian carbon stocks and biodiversity. This process is also an important threat to the well-being of the ~25 million Amazonian inhabitants, imposing great economic losses in the impacted areas. Most Earth System Models predict increasing occurrence and intensity of droughts in the Amazon which is strongly interlinked with wildfires. The fire-related socio-environmental disaster risks are particularly critical in the tri-national frontier of Madre de Dios (Peru), Acre (Brazil) and Pando (Bolivia), known as MAP, the focal region of this study. For achieving a sustainable future, we propose a conceptual framework, based on four strategic working packages (WP): WP1- to develop a comprehensive understanding of current and future fire probability as well as quantifying the fire impacts; WP2- to produce a diagnostic and identify challenges and bottlenecks of operational and community-based strategies of wildfire risk management in the MAP region; WP3-to contribute towards the increase of risk awareness and capacity building of intergenerational social groups; and WP4- to influence conservation strategies and policies, providing technical reports for governments, improving their terminology, methods of data sharing and streams of information. Our results of a pessimistic climateâ€ landâ€ use projection suggest an increase of more than 100% of the area with high fire probability. Moreover, we have estimated an economic loss of approximately US$ 16 million per year due to fire impacts. Operational strategies for mitigating fire occurrence differ in the three MAP countries: in Acre, governmental actions are aligned among many environmental secretariats, which not being so structured in the two other countries. Community-based strategies will be assessed on high schools' communities. The schools' selection was defined based on their proximity with high concentrated hot pixels areas. Currently the schools' directors are being contacted to be invited for being part of the study. We expect that during the next two years, this project will contribute to identifying bottom-up initiatives and creating participatory methodologies to strengthen the science-police-citizen interface in order to mitigate mega-fires in this region.
Participatory Action Research for Conservation and Development: Experiences from the Amazon
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2021) Stephen G. Perz; Marliz Arteaga; Andrea Baudoin Farah; Foster Brown; Elsa Mendoza; Yara Araújo Pereira de Paula; Leonor Mercedes Perales Yabar; Alan dos Santos Pimentel; Sabina Cerruto Ribeiro; Guillermo Rioja-Ballivián
Research that features participation and action orientation, such as participatory action research (PAR), is especially valuable in contexts where there is rapid change, high social inequality, and great uncertainty about the future, which drives stakeholder demands for information to support their goals. The Amazon offers such a context, for it is a region where diverse stakeholders engage in contestation over environmental governance to address issues such as climate change to achieve conservation and sustainable development. Stakeholder mobilization has changed the terms by which research is conducted, from the definition of priority topics to the application of findings. Due to stakeholder mobilization, more and more research in the Amazon is now necessarily participatory, for stakeholders routinely issue demands about how the research will be conducted and for what purpose. In this paper, we provide an overview of several experiences of implementing methods such as PAR by different teams or networks, focusing on the complementary contributions of outside researchers and local stakeholders. The heart of the paper reports on three broad types of experiences focusing on conservation and development in the Amazon: (1) participatory data collection for co-production of knowledge for environmental governance, (2) inclusive environmental monitoring systems, and (3) innovative models of knowledge exchange to facilitate collective action. Within each type, we report multiple experiences with distinct approaches to participation and action in research. These experiences constitute models that can be replicated in other places for broader impact to support conservation and development.
RELATOS DE EXPERIÊNCIAS DOS PROJETOS DE PESQUISA MAP-FIRE E ACRE-QUEIMADAS: DIAGNÓSTICO E PERSPECTIVAS DE MITIGAÇÃO ENVOLVENDO A SOCIEDADE PARA REDUÇÃO DO RISCO E DE IMPACTOS ASSOCIADOS A INCÊNDIOS FLORESTAIS
(2020) Liana O. Anderson; Gleiciane Pismel; Yara Araújo Pereira de Paula; Galia Selaya; João Reis; Eddy M. Rojas; Guillermo Rioja-Ballivián; Juan Fernando Reyes; Víctor Marchezini; Foster Brown
Neste relato de experiências trazemos uma breve revisão da literatura, em sua maioria de artigos e relatórios técnicos produzidos pelos projetos de Pesquisa MAP-FIRE e Acre-Queimadas sobre a ocorrência e impactos de incêndios florestais na Amazônia, com detalhamento para a região MAP (Madre de Dios - Peru, Acre – Brasil e Pando-Bolívia). Os incêndios em áreas de agropecuária ou de floresta trazem impactos socioeconômicos e ambientais, e vem aumentando sua ocorrência nos últimos anos, sendo intensificadas em anos em que há seca extrema ou flexibilização da fiscalização. Enquadra-se nesse último caso o ano de 2019, em que se observou no Estado do Acre um aumento de 80% da área queimada em relação ao ano anterior, impactando a qualidade do ar por mais de 30 dias em alguns municípios. Para entendermos como prevenir ou mitigar as consequências a ocorrência de tais eventos, é necessário realizar um diagnóstico da governança, envolvendo as comunidades locais. Estas, uma vez incluídas na elaboração de planos estratégicos para monitorar, mitigar e combater as queimadas e incêndios florestais terão sua vulnerabilidade reduzida e sua capacidade de autoproteção aumentada. Para isso, o diálogo entre ciência e sociedade é imprescindível. Convidamos o leitor interessado em participar do projeto a entrar em contato com os autores.
Road building, land use and climate change: prospects for environmental governance in the Amazon
(Royal Society, 2008) Stephen G. Perz; Silvia Brilhante; Foster Brown; Marcellus M. Caldas; Santos Ikeda; Elsa Mendoza; Christine Overdevest; Vera Reis; Juan Fernando Reyes; Daniel Rojas
Some coupled land-climate models predict a dieback of Amazon forest during the twenty-first century due to climate change, but human land use in the region has already reduced the forest cover. The causation behind land use is complex, and includes economic, institutional, political and demographic factors. Pre-eminent among these factors is road building, which facilitates human access to natural resources that beget forest fragmentation. While official government road projects have received considerable attention, unofficial road building by interest groups is expanding more rapidly, especially where official roads are being paved, yielding highly fragmented forest mosaics. Effective governance of natural resources in the Amazon requires a combination of state oversight and community participation in a 'hybrid' model of governance. The MAP Initiative in the southwestern Amazon provides an example of an innovative hybrid approach to environmental governance. It embodies a polycentric structure that includes government agencies, NGOs, universities and communities in a planning process that links scientific data to public deliberations in order to mitigate the effects of new infrastructure and climate change.