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"With an emphasis on the challenges of sustaining the commons across local to global scales, Making Commons Dynamic examines the empirical basis of theorising the concepts of commonisation and decommonisation as a way to understand commons as a process and offers analytical directions for policy and practice that can potentially help maintain commons as commons in the future. Focusing on commonisation-decommonisation as an analytical framework useful to examine and respond to changes in the commons, the chapter contributions explore how natural resources are commonised and decommonised through the influence of multilevel internal and external drivers, and their implications for commons governance across disparate geographical and temporal contexts. It draws from a large number of geographically diverse empirical cases -- twenty countries in North, South and Central Americas, and South- and South-East Asia. They involve a wide range of commons - related to forests, grazing, wetlands, coastal-marine, rivers and dams, aquaculture, wildlife, tourism, groundwater, surface freshwater, mountains, small islands, social movements, and climate. The book is a transdisciplinary endeavour with contributions by scholars from geography, history, sociology, anthropology, political studies, planning, human ecology, cultural and applied ecology, environmental and development studies, environmental science and technology, public policy, indigenous/Tribal studies, Latin American and Asian studies, and environmental change and governance, and authors representing the commons community, NGOs, and policy. Contributors include academics, community members, NGOs, practitioners and policy-makers. Therefore, commonisation-decommonisation lessons drawn from these chapters are well suited for contributing to the practice, policy and theory of the commons, both locally and globally"--

Much coastal fisheries literature supports the idea that shrimp aquaculture has the potential to cause considerable social and environmental destruction. The aim of the paper is to highlight the two faces of shrimp aquaculture as a wicked driver, emphasizing its potential role in activating systematic conversion of lagoon based fisheries commons to non-commons and vice versa. We use the cases of aquacultureled privatisation in Chilika Lagoon, located in the Bay of Bengal area of India, and collective action surrounding shrimp aquaculture in Northwestern Sri Lanka. For both studies, data are collected through mixed research methods, including semi-directive interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations. Our analysis shows clear evidence that shrimp aquaculture can potentially contribute to either making commons or losing commons depending on the context and influences of multi-level drivers. Aquaculture-led factors contributing to the process of losing commons in Chilika are: large-scale, individually owned aquaculture operations; encroachment of customary fishery commons; loss of commons rights (access and entitlements); breakdown of commons institutions; policy changes; caste politics and resource conflicts; ecological disturbances; change in fishing practices. In Sri Lanka, aquaculture related factors contributing to making commons are: coordinating discharge; built-in incentive for stewardship; multi-level commons institutions; collective decision-making; bottom-up management approach; mixed commons regime; and small-scale operations. ; Published version

In this study we examine poverty in local fisheries using a social-ecological resilience lens. In assessing why "fishery may rhyme with poverty", Christophe Béné suggests a typology of impoverishment processes, which includes economic exclusion, social marginalization, class exploitation, and political disempowerment as key mechanisms that accelerate poverty. We extend his analysis by exploring these four mechanisms further and by intertwining them with processes of environmental change and degradation. Our goal is to understand poverty in local fisheries as a process rooted in social and institutional factors as influenced by ecological dynamics. We argue that understanding poverty will require a focus on the social-ecological system (SES) as a whole, and addressing poverty will mean rebuilding not only collapsed stocks but the entire social-ecological system, including restoring relationships between resources and people. Information from two cases, the Chilika Lagoon on the Bay of Bengal in India, and the Paraty region on the southeastern coast of Brazil, is used to understand how fishery social-ecological systems come under pressure from drivers at multiple levels, resulting in a range of impacts and pushing the system to a breaking point or collapse. We analyze elements of what it takes for the whole system to break down or collapse and push fishers into poverty and marginalization. The Chilika SES has already broken down, and the Paraty SES is under pressure from multiple drivers of change. The two cases help contrast key dynamics in the social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental spheres, for lessons on system collapse and recovery. Rebuilding fisheries may be examined as a process of building and strengthening resilience. The challenge is to make the fishery social-ecological system more resilient, with more flexibility and options, not only within fishing activities but also within a range of other sectors.

PurposeThe plethora of contributions to social learning has resulted in a wide range of interpretations, meanings and applications of social learning, both within and across disciplines. However, advancing the concept and using social learning methods and tools in areas like disaster-shocks requires interdisciplinary consolidation of understandings. In this context, the primary focus of this paper is on the contributions of social learning to disaster risk reduction (DRR).Design/methodology/approachBy applying a three-round policy Delphi process involving 18 purposefully selected scholars and expert-practitioners, the authors collected data on the meanings of social learning for two groups of professionals, DRR and social-ecological resilience. The survey instruments included questions relating to the identification of the core elements of social learning and the prospects for enhancing social-ecological resilience.FindingsThe results revealed strong agreement that (1) the core elements of social learning indicate a collective, iterative and collaborative process that involves sharing/networking, changes in attitudes and knowledge and inclusivity; (2) social learning from disasters is unique; and (3) linkages between disciplines can be built by promoting interdisciplinarity, networks and knowledge platforms; collaboration and coordination at all levels; and teaching and practicing trust and respect. Social learning is useful in preparing for and responding to specific disaster events through communication; sharing experience, ideas and resources; creating synergies for collective action and promoting resilience.Research limitations/implicationsThe policy Delphi process involved a limited number of participants to control the quality of the data. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to identify the core elements of social learning, specifically, in the disaster-shock context. It also makes significant contributions to the interdisciplinary integration issues.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of this study are related to pre-disaster planning and mitigation through the application of social learning on disaster-shocks.Social implicationsThe social implications of this study are related to valuing social learning for the improvement of disaster planning, management, and policy formulation and implementation in reducing disaster risks.Originality/valueThe study provides a consensus view on the core elements of social learning and its role in DRR and resilience building. Relevant to all stages of DRR, social learning is best characterized as a collective, iterative and collaborative process. It can be promoted by enhancing networking and interdisciplinarity.