Integrated management of natural resources: dealing with ambiguous issues, multiple actors and diverging frames

Area of Science:

• Environmental Management
• Resource Systems Analysis
• Decision Science

Background:

• Complex natural resource management faces significant uncertainty due to incomplete scientific knowledge.
• Divergent user perspectives on resource value create ambiguity, with multiple plausible interpretations of issues.
• Traditional problem-solving approaches are insufficient for these complex, uncertain environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore adaptive strategies for managing natural resources amidst uncertainty and ambiguity.
• To investigate the role of interdisciplinary negotiation and mutual frame acknowledgment in environmental management.
• To highlight the shift from predefined solutions to continuous learning and adaptation processes.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual framework development for adaptive environmental management.
• Analysis of multi-actor negotiation dynamics in resource management scenarios.
• Exploration of the function of expert contributions in facilitating joint learning.
• Consideration of behavioral simulations as a tool for multi-actor engagement.

Main Results:

• Effective environmental management necessitates reciprocal acknowledgment and connection of differing user frames.
• Successful strategies involve revising, enlarging, or reframing perspectives to support common action.
• Expert contributions are vital for supporting negotiation and joint learning, not for providing absolute predictability.
• Behavioral simulations can effectively stimulate multi-actor learning and negotiation.

Conclusions:

• Environmental management in complex systems requires a paradigm shift towards continuous negotiation and mutual learning.
• Addressing ambiguity through reciprocal frame acknowledgment is crucial for achieving common action.
• Experts should facilitate, rather than dictate, solutions by supporting collaborative processes.