Fit-for-Purpose Institutions? An Evaluation of Biodiversity Conservation in the Agricultural Landscape of the Tasmanian Midlands, Australia

Abstract

Biodiversity loss is a globally significant problem. Institutional failure to halt this loss suggests current arrangements are not fit for the purpose of conserving biodiversity. The objective of this paper is to diagnose institutional fitness for conserving biodiversity in the Tasmanian Midlands of Australia, a 2 highly modified agricultural landscape with critically endangered biodiversity values. This paper presents and applies a novel diagnostic framework that adopts a broad view of institutional fit, drawing on concepts from adaptive governance, institutional theory, and public administration, and finds four areas of poor fit that can guide reform efforts. The first is a narrow framing of biodiversity objectives, leading to neglect of key social and ecological concerns. Second, the interplay of current arrangements fails to buffer key economic and political drivers, and compromises adaptive capacity. Third, limited government authority and embedded power relations raise questions about the effectiveness and fairness of current approaches. Finally, the reluctance of governments to devolve authority and decision--making powers to self--organizing networks constrains adaptation. This suite of fit problems constrains achievement of biodiversity conservation, particularly in dealing with landscape multifunctionality, the need to balance private landholder rights and responsibilities, and the need to consider how to respond to emerging novel and hybrid ecosystems.

A gramática das instituições como ferramenta de análise do desenho institucional

“…Ainda na temática ambiental, o estudo de Clement e coautores analisa as políticas de conservação da biodiversidade na Austrália (Clement et al, 2015). É importante considerar que o estudo proposto identifica que, mesmo existindo formalmente políticas em torno do tema, a designação de papéis e responsabilidades para determinados atores sociais é pouco clara e, com isso, fragiliza a estratégia política, dado que dilui a noção de alocação de autoridade para a política ambiental.…”

Organizational capacity and ecological restoration

“…1). The resulting Clement et al's model is similar to the most recent New Zealand model (Brown et al 2017), especially regarding indicators and groupings related to “Practice.” The Clement's model was used to diagnose the capacity of local organizations to achieve biodiversity conservation aims of landscape‐scale programs in an agricultural region of Tasmania, Australia (Clement et al 2017). Applying the model allowed researchers to identify a suite of constraints caused by the central structure of the program, including a narrow framing of the program objectives and a lack of devolved decision‐making.…”

Improving Water Management in Pakistan Using Social-Ecological Systems Research

“…Institutions include the rules, norms and strategies shaping decisionmaking by individuals and organisations (Scott 2014). A critical institutional analysis undertaken with social actors as research partners can identify institutional arrangements that are performing well, as well as those that are not delivering well according to the purpose we would seek from them (Cleaver and de Koning 2015;Clement et al 2017). The approach facilitates social learning towards institutional designs that can more effectively deliver on, for example, sustainable groundwater development and use.…”