Addressing Social Inequalities

in Coastal Ecosystems

Stephen B. Olsen
Director

COASTAL RESOURCES CENTER

University of Rhode Island
 Outline of This Talk
 The evolving features of coastal
management & coastal governance
 Social inequity as a driver in complex
coastal ecosystems
 Strategies for integrating social inequity
issues into the next generation of the
practice
 Ecosystems
 Are places
 Are living systems
 Include both the environment & people
 Are also termed social-environmental
systems
Coastal Ecosystems Are Complex

Fig. 1c
Scale
Fig. 1b
The End of Climatic Stability
 A Game Changer

A nearly total rethinking of many decisions

will be required… as past practices and
routine ways of managing and coping
increasingly prove counterproductive

Informing Decisions in a Changing

Climate
The National Research Council, 2009
 Management or Governance?
Management is the process by which human and material resources
are harnessed to achieve a known goal within a known institutional
structure.

Governance addresses the formal and informal arrangements,

institutions and mores by which societal issues are addressed.
Governance questions the fundamental goals, the institutional
processes and the structures that are the basis for planning and
decision-making. Governance sets the stage within which
management occurs.

Olsen, 2003
 Governance
The formal and informal arrangements,
institutions, and mores that structure & influence:

 How resources or an environment are utilized

 How problems,opportunities are evaluated, analyzed

 What behavior is acceptable or forbidden

 What rules & sanctions are applied to affect how

natural resources are distributed and used
 Sources and Mechanisms of
Governance

Markets Civil Society

Government

Economic Legal/Political Social

Mechanisms Mechanisms Mechanisms

Human Uses of Ecosystems

Source:A Handbook on Governance and Socioeconomics of Large Marine Ecosystems
(Olsen et al, 2006)
Coastal Ecosystem Governance
 Works to sustain the flows of ecosystem goods
& services
 Is driven by explicit goals, executed by policies,
protocols and practices
 The environment & associated human
population must be addressed simultaneously
 Is concerned primarily with instigating changes
in human behavior
 In Practice
• The purpose and justification of coastal
ecosystem governance is the
demonstration of meaningful progress
towards defined goals
• That address issues that are seen to be
significant to long term ecosystem (people
and environment) well-being
Multiple Interdependencies in
Complex Systems

Things should be made as simple as

possible – but not simpler
Einstein
Environmental Social
Issues Issues

Institutional
Issues
Classic Environmental Issues
 Loss of environmental goods & services
 Critical habitats and biodiversity
 Responses to coastal hazards
 Over-exploitation of fisheries
 Degraded water quality
 Inappropriate siting of structures
 The cumulative impact of individually
insignificant actions
 Classic Social Issues
 Conflicts among human activities
 Conflicts among classes & ethnic groups
 Corruption and injustice
 Loss of public access to the shore; unequal
competition among water-dependent
businesses
 Conflicts over goals and values
 Classic Institutional Issues
 Fragmented authorities
 Lack of capacity to effectively address issues of ecosystem
change
 Dysfunctional institutions: corruption
 Lack of political will
 Private property rights vis the common good (the taking issue)
 Knowledge and Practices to Span the Gap

Coastal Ecosystem Coastal Ecosystem

Science Governance

 Natural & social  Societal values

sciences
 Political priorities
 Reliable local
knowledge  Rules & procedures

 Description &  Legal mandates

explanation
 Bargaining &
 Experimentation accommodation

 Evaluation of options
 What Are We Learning?
 Changing behavior of key institutions and groups
is the heart of the practice
 Governments often lack power & will to make
changes
 Must understand the distribution of power among
governance mechanisms and re-balance as
necessary
 Inadequate science rarely major constraint to progress
 Sustained effort and financing is essential
 Successful practice requires growing capacities
that are initially weak or absent
Social inequity is a driver in complex
coastal ecosystems
 Inequity & Societal Health
 Inequity can be measured as the separation
between the richest and poorest 20% — e.g.,
among rich nations:
 4X: is a low degree of separation (Japan,
Scandinavia)
 8X: is a high degree of separation (UK and
the US)
(Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009)
Worse • USA

Portugal •

UK •
Greece •
Ireland • • New Zealand
Austria • France •
Germany• • Canada Australia •
Denmark • Italy •
• • Spain
Finland • Belgium
• Switzerland
Norway • Netherlands •
• Sweden
• Japan
el bor pl ai c os dna htl aehf o x ednI

Better
Low High
Income Inequality

Health & social problems are closely related to inequality among rich countries
(Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009)
Public Heath Perspective
Degree of separation is closely correlated
To many indicators of health & social issues
including:

 Child mortality
 Life expectancy
 Homicide
 Imprisonment
 Obesity
(Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009)
 Two Key Conclusions
 The differences between more and less equal
societies are large: these problems are three to ten
times more common in unequal societies

 However, once per capita wealth passes

a relatively low threshold, further economic
growth is poorly correlated to public health
& measures of fulfillment, wellbeing &
happiness
(Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009)
 Governance Perspective
Social inequity is a root cause of:
 Injustice, corruption and violence
 Violence and political instability
 Weak enforcement of official rules
 Lack of trust between groups and classes
 Resistance to public participation & power sharing
 Weak enforcement of official rules
 Lack of political will to address coastal ecosystem
issues
Implications for Practitioners of
Coastal Governance
 Many core issues in developing nations
lie in inequality rather than poverty
 The consumption ethic does not bring
health, fulfillment or wellbeing
 Sustained economic growth is reducing
prospects for more sustainable, more
equitable societies
 As We Look To The Future
 Global change will increasingly be the driver…
responses will require nested systems of governance

 As an era of climatic stability ends ….

issues of social inequality will take center stage

 The imperative is to build resilient governance

systems with capacity to learn and adapt ….
as nested systems that integrate across scales
 Strategies for Integrating The
Inequity Theme Into the Practice
• Engage society in the area of focus in
sustained, informed dialog
• Apply simplifying frameworks to guide
practitioners and stakeholders in selection
– Of priority issues and goals
– Of strategies for making progress towards
goals
– Of what to monitor to assess progress
• Build towards nested governance systems
 Governance Baselines
Assess past & current responses of governance
system to changes in ecosystem conditions in a
specific locale:

 Reconstruct long term trends in key variables

 Select case studies of governance responses
 Examine power, objectives and strategies of each
governance mechanism
 Document processes and outcomes of the
existing governance system
 Adapted from Olsen, Page, Ochoa 20
Changes in
• Ecosystems
Ecosystems Goods and
Services
• Ecosystem Resilience
• Human Activities
• Human Well being

Response To
Change
Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Looking Forward
•Timeline of Key Issues • Trend Projection and Climate
•Trends in Key Variables Strengths Change
•Governance by Era and • Selection of Issues
•Case Studies of weaknesses • Goals and Objectives
Governance of the • Selection of Partners
Processes and Outcomes existing • Selection of Variables to be
governance Monitored
system
Major Components of Parts 1 and 2 of a Governance Baseline
 Conceptual Frameworks
In complex systems where clear cause and effect
relationships are few and changing is occurring at
multiple scales of space and time simplifying
frameworks are needed:
 For visualizing the sequences of outcomes
that lead to desired conditions

 For ordering the essential actions that contribute

to the process of coastal governance
 Orders of Outcomes Framework
First Order: Second Third Order: Fourth
Enabling Order: Societal & Order:
Conditions Changes in Environmental Sustainable
Assembled Behavior Targets Ecosystem
Achieved Development

Time
 Global
Scale
Regional

National

Local End
Intermediate Outcomes Outcomes

First Order: Second Order: Third Order: Fourth Order:

Enabling Conditions Changed Behavior Attainment of Sustainable
Program Goals Ecosystem
Governmental Conditions & Uses
Changes in behavior Some targets for
commitment:
of institutions and social and/or A desirable and
authority, funding;
stakeholder groups; environmental dynamic balance
qualities maintained, between social and
Institutional capacity Changes in behaviors restored or improved. environmental
to implement; directly affecting conditions is
resources of concern; sustained.
Unambiguous goals;
Changes in
Constituencies investments
present at local and strategies.
national levels.

Time
The Four Orders of Outcomes In Ecosystem-based Governance. Adapted from Olsen, 2003
 First Order
Enabling Conditions Assembled
• Capacity to practice adaptive, ecosystem based
management

• Constituencies that understand and actively

support Program goals

• Government commitment; necessary authority,

resources and long-term funding

• Goals: specific, time-bound, inspire people of the

place
 Implications of Orders Framework
 We must focus upon the transition between the
1st and 2nd Orders
 Design for the engagement of the three
governance mechanisms
 Simplify monitoring and make it strategic
 Encourage a culture of self assessment, peer
review and adaptive management
 Resolve the absence of sustained funding for
implementation of successful initiatives
Monitoring & Evaluation Systems
 The ICM Cycle
Formal Adoption

Program
Implementation
Preparation

Assessment of
Issues

Evaluation
 The Implementation Gap
 There is no data base from which to extract data
on the status of the hundreds of ICM and coastal
protected area initiatives

 There are no internationally accepted methods

for assessing progress, however:
 Many stall at Step 3
 Of those that are formally adopted, many exist on
paper only
Benefits of a Governance Baseline
 Assesses degree to which enabling
conditions are present
 Identifies priorities for capacity building
 Suggests behavior changes that are likely
possible and not possible
 Provides reference point against which to
gauge future change
 Serves as basis for “tailoring” good
practices to the place
 Increasing The Efficiency of Our
Learning
• A global network of coastal reference sites
• A coastal IPCC
• Fresh approaches to education and
training
• Monitoring and evaluation practices that
address rapid change in complex systems
Thank You

sbo@crc.uri.edu