The Invisible Wand: Adaptive Co-Management in Bio-Economic Systems

1.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy THE INVISIBLE WAND Adaptive Co-Management as an Emergent Strategy in Complex Bio-Economic Systems A Paper written by Jack Ruitenbeek and Cynthia Cartier Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Occasional Paper No. 34, October 2001 Presentation by Rowan B. Martin illustrated with René Magritte’s paintings

2.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy

3.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy Complex systems produce surprises Emergence happens at a system level but not at an individual level Emergence might be seen rather as a property of a complex system, since strategies apply to individuals

4.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy The question of emergence is critical for a very simple reason – If ACM is naturally emergent, policy interventions are likely to do more harm than good If it is not, then it may be prescribed as a policy tool and we may design ways to make it work

5.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy Forest management in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India Land co-management by over 1,000 village-level co-operatives Mangroves management by coastal communities in Thailand Marine and coral reef management in Palau Coastal fisheries management in Fiji, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga Forest management in the North Uplands of Vietnam Forest co-management in Hainan, China There are a number of cases where ACM regimes have evolved without apparent external intervention –

6. Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy Some general findings from these studies – 1. Conditions were more stable and sustainable where the co-management regimes had undergone a natural evolution

7.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy 2. National management rules seen as relevant and subsequently adopted as local rules appear to have better compliance than either purely national or purely local community rules

8.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy 3. Where regimes have been imposed by central governments, none of the models (e.g. co-management, private ownership, state control) appear to generate local well-being or resource protection

9.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy Some conjectures – 1. As simple systems evolve through time into complicated systems and eventually complex systems, they will adopt management strategies which are progressively more adaptive – culminating in some form of ACM

10.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy 2. Systems that mismatch the level of complexity to the management regime will fail . . .

11.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy . . . whether the management regime was evolving within the system – or whether it was imposed BLUEPRINT

12.  Proposition: Adaptive Co-Management is an Emergent Strategy ACM Some conjectures – • Premature introduction of ACM as a policy intervention may lead to system failure because it disrupts existing • evolutionary processes