Social Network Analysis (SNA), a quantitative approach to the study of social relations, has recently emerged as a key tool for understanding the governance of natural resources. Bringing together contributions from a range of researchers in the field, this is the first book to fully explore the potential applications of SNA in the context of natural resource management. Topics covered include the role of SNA in stakeholder selection; improving fisheries management and conservation; the effect of social network ties on public satisfaction and agrarian communication networks. Numerous case studies link SNA concepts to the theories underlying natural resource governance, such as social learning, adaptive co-management and social movements theory. Reflecting on the challenges and opportunities associated with this evolving field, this is an ideal resource for students and researchers involved in many areas of natural resource management, environmental biology, sustainability science and sociology.

This book is an outcome of the keynote/lead papers presented by the experts from different disciplines in the Indian Ecological Society International Conference 2016 on “Natural Resource Management: Ecological Perspectives”, organized at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, India. The book captures the essence of natural resource management from the intra and interdisciplinary perspectives of agricultural sciences (entomology, plant pathology, plant breeding and genetics, agronomy and soil sciences), social sciences (resource economics, agricultural extension education), medical sciences, and environmental sciences to stimulate discussion on the ecological perspectives of natural resource management. Wide-ranging topics on land and water resources, biodiversity, integrated farming system, role of microbes in agriculture, climate change and its impact on human health and crop pests, exploiting chemical ecology for pest management, human disease-causing pesticides, beneficial insects like lac insects, integrated pest management, resistance management in insect pests and Bt cotton , and diffusion and adoption of ecologically sustainable technologies at individual and organizational level are covered in the book.. The book will serve the professionals, researchers, academia, government, industry and students.

In this edited open access book leading scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds wrestle with social science integration opportunities and challenges. This book explores the growing concern of how best to achieve effective integration of the social science disciplines as a means for furthering natural resource social science and environmental problem solving. The chapters provide an overview of the history, vision, advances, examples and methods that could lead to integration. The quest for integration among the social sciences is not new. Some argue that the social sciences have lagged in their advancements and contributions to society due to their inability to address integration related issues. Integration merits debate for a number of reasons. First, natural resource issues are complex and are affected by multiple proximate driving social factors. Single disciplinary studies focused at one level are unlikely to provide explanations that represent this complexity and are limited in their ability to inform policy recommendations. Complex problems are best explored across disciplines that examine social-ecological phenomenon from different scales. Second, multi-disciplinary initiatives such as those with physical and biological scientists are necessary to understand the scope of the social sciences. Too frequently there is a belief that one social scientist on a multi-disciplinary team provides adequate social science representation. Third, more complete models of human behavior will be achieved through a synthesis of diverse social science perspectives.

This book is about the gender dimensions of natural resource exploitation and management, with a focus on Asia. It explores the uneasy negotiations between theory, policy and practice that are often evident within the realm of gender, environment and natural resource management, especially where gender is understood as a political, negotiated and contested element of social relationships. It offers a critical feminist perspective on gender relations and natural resource management in the context of contemporary policy concerns: decentralized governance, the elimination of poverty and themainstreaming of gender. Through a combination of strong conceptual argument and empirical material from a variety of political economic and ecological contexts (including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam), the book examines gender-environment linkages within shifting configurations of resource access and control. The book will serve as a core resource for students of gender studies and natural resource management, and as supplementary reading for a wide range of disciplines including geography, environmental studies, sociology and development. It also provides a stimulating collection of ideas for professionals looking to incorporate gender issues within their practice in sustainable development. Published with IDRC.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, understanding the need for policy makers at the national level to entrain the behavioral and social sciences in addressing the challenges of global climate change, called on the National Research Council to organize two workshops to showcase some of the decision-relevant contributions that these sciences have already made and can advance with future efforts. The workshops focused on two broad areas: (1) mitigation (behavioral elements of a strategy to reduce the net future human influence on climate) and (2) adaptation (behavioral and social determinants of societal capacity to minimize the damage from climate changes that are not avoided). Facilitating Climate Change Responses documents the information presented in the workshop presentations and discussions. This material illustrates some of the ways the behavioral and social sciences can contribute to the new era of climate research.

Conflicts over natural resources abound in India, where much of the population is dependent on these resources for their livelihoods. Issues of governance and management are complicated by the competing claims of parallel legal systems, including state, customary, religious, project and local laws. Whereas much has been written about property rights, this unique collection takes a legal anthropological perspective to explore how the coexistence and interaction between multiple legal orders provide bases for claiming property rights. It examines how hybrid legal institutions have developed over time in India and how these impact on justice in the governance and distribution of natural resources. The book brings together original case studies that offer fresh perspectives on the governance of forests, water, fisheries and agricultural land in a diverse range of social and spatial contexts. This brand new research provides a timely and persuasive overview of the fundamental role of parallel legal systems in shaping how people manage natural resources. It will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of environmental law, property law, environmental politics, anthropology, sociology and geography.