Spatial Tools for Integrated and Inclusive Landscape Governance: Toward a New Research Agenda

Participatory and Spatially Explicit Assessment to Envision the Future of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change Scenarios on Selected Ecosystem Services in Southwestern Ghana

Settlement expansion and commercial agriculture affect landscape sustainability and ecosystem service provision. Integrated landscape approaches are promoted to negotiate trade-offs between competing land uses and their reconciliation. Incorporating local perceptions of landscape dynamics as basis for such negotiations is particularly relevant for sub-Saharan Africa, where most people depend on natural ecosystems for livelihoods and well-being. This study applied participatory scenario building and spatially explicit simulation to unravel perceptions of the potential impact of rubber and settlement expansion on the provision of selected ecosystem services in southwestern Ghana under a business-as-usual scenario. We collected data in workshops and expert surveys on locally relevant ecosystem services, their indicator values, and the probable land-use transitions. The data was translated into an assessment matrix and integrated into a spatially explicit modeling platform, allowing visualization and comparison of the impact on ecosystem service provision of land-use scenarios under rubber plantation and settlement expansion. The results show the capacity of current (2020) and future land-use patterns to provide locally relevant ecosystem services, indicating a decline in capacity of ecosystem service provisioning in the future compared to the 2020 land-use patterns, a threat to the benefits humans derive from ecosystems. This highlights urgent need for policies and measures to control the drivers of land-use/land-cover change. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of diversifying land-use/land-cover types for sustainable landscape development. The paper contributes new insights into how spatially explicit and semi-quantitative methods can make stakeholder perceptions of landscape dynamics explicit as a basis for implementing integrated landscape approaches.

A Multimethodological Approach to Assist the Design of Systemic Governance in Agroextractivist Settlement Projects in the Brazilian Amazon Landscape

Coping with complex landscape situations in the Anthropocene increasingly demands innovative governance practices that can be facilitated by investment in new epistemological and methodological approaches and capacities. This paper explores the use of a multimethodological research approach organized as a systemic co-inquiry to assist in the design of systemic governance for Agroextractivist Settlement Projects (PAEs) in the municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon. In the PAEs, the systemic co-inquiry was conducted alongside interested and influential stakeholders through the combined use of the Soft Systems Methodology and Strategic Options Development and Analysis problem structuring methods. The use of these methods and their tools allowed stakeholders to articulate major issues around the situation of concern, engaging in reflective practices about the opportunities of governing the PAEs systemically. By valuing stakeholder perspectives and participation in all phases of the research, the proposed multimethodology approach helped them express their views on the problem situation and allowed for their active engagement in the design of systemic governance of the PAEs. As a result of adopting a multimethodological approach, distinctive albeit coupled realms of governing are explored, a key issue when designing systemic governance practices of social-ecological systems such as the PAEs.

Making Landscapes Negotiable: Q-methodology as a Boundary-Spanning and Empowering Diagnostic

Landscapes are conceptually fuzzy and rich, and subject to plural framings. They are places of inquiry and intervention for scientists and practitioners, but also concepts bound to peoples' dynamic identities, knowledge systems, inspiration, and well-being. These varying interpretations change the way landscapes function and evolve. Developed in the 1930s, Q-methodology is increasingly recognized for being useful in documenting and interrogating environmental discourses. Yet its application in the context of how integrated landscape approaches better navigate land-use dilemmas is still in its infancy. Based on our experience and emerging literature, such as the papers in this special collection, this article discusses the value of Q-methodology in addressing landscape sustainability issues. Q-methodology helps unravel and communicate common and contradicting landscape imaginaries and narratives in translational and boundary-spanning ways, thus bridging actors' different understandings of problems and solutions and revealing common or differentiated entry points for negotiating trade-offs between competing land uses. The methodology can be empowering for marginalized people by uncovering their views and aspirational values to decision-makers and policymakers. We argue that this potential can be further strengthened by using Q to identify counter-hegemonic discourses and alliances that combat injustices regarding whose knowledge and visions count. In this way, applying Q-methodology in integrated landscape approaches can become a key tool for transitioning toward just, inclusive, and sustainable landscapes.

Elephants in the Room - Analyzing Local Discourses for Sustainable Management of Bannerghatta National Park, South India

Landscape governance challenges, particularly in peri-urban contexts like the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) region in South India, exemplify 'wicked' problems due to their inherent complexities. These challenges arise from a mix of conflicting interests, policy ambiguities, and sociocultural dynamics, which often blur the definition of problems and hinder effective solutions. Despite apparent options for resolution, stakeholder disagreements and deep uncertainties about implementation strategies complicate governance. This study, therefore, has two broad objectives. The first objective is to analyze the local discourses surrounding planned policy interventions around the BNP region in South India. Based on the findings, the second objective is to draw insights for sustainable natural resource governance research and practice. We applied Q-methodology to understand the discourses that underpin various conflicts in the rapidly urbanizing elephant corridor at BNP. We elicited information on how various local actors frame solutions to current collective action challenges in the BNP landscape and their perspectives on the proposed eco-sensitive zone notification, as well as the functioning of current policy interventions concerning conservation and development. The study uncovers the micropolitics and power regimes underpinning various natural resource governance challenges and demonstrates the utility of the Q-methodology in bringing diverse perspectives together in response to 'wicked' governance challenges.

Linking Forest Ecosystem Services to the SDGs: Semi-quantitative Mapping of Perceptions towards Integrated Decision-making

With this study, we test and present the results of a reproducible semi-quantitative methodological approach, which enables us to map perceptions of complex systems, linking the forest ecosystem services (FES) of a given spatial level to the wider policy domains represented by the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a participative process, we used integrated forest management and FES as entry point concepts to support and inform dialog towards a normative desired future as framed by the SDGs, taking into account interdependencies across sectors and policy domains. The scales used in the test were national (Switzerland) and international but it is possible to use the approach at any level of integration, especially the landscape one in the case of forest or other ecosystem issues to be transdisciplinary solved. We stress that the semi-quantitative aspects of the approach - be it the ranking of the importance of FES across the different SDGs, or the positive or negative weighting of interactions among these FES in cross-impact matrices - enable the perceptions held by actors to be more explicit and significant for governance or goal prioritization. The results illustrate the perceptions of selected actors on the effects of integrated forest management and provide a basis for multi-actor deliberation on emerging potential synergies or conflicts, thereby genuinely supporting science-policy-practice dialog, which is crucial to foster integrated decision-making.

Re-examining Geospatial Online Participatory Tools for Environmental Planning

Geospatial online participatory tools, or geo-OPTs, are increasingly used worldwide for engaging the public in planning. Yet, despite growth in the adoption and use of geo-OPTs, and the growing scholarship to accompany it, our understanding of their ability to support public participation in environmental planning is still underdeveloped. In this paper, we investigate the application of a geo-OPT by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), a leading water management agency in the United States, in three contextually and geographically diverse cases. Through a combination of document analysis, interviews, and participant observation, we examine the processes and dynamics associated with the development and use of the geo-OPT Crowdsource Reporter. Our findings highlight the importance of managing geo-OPTs not in isolation or as a panacea but rather as part of a broader planning process that recognizes the complexity and significance of communication in geo-OPT processes. Although it may be tempting and seemingly simple to create and launch these online tools, our research reveals how a lack of intention early on may lead to underuse or misapplication of the tool. More significantly, real damage can be done, like increased public frustration and alienation, resulting in breakdown in communications or even worsening public relations for federal agencies.

Integrating local and scientific knowledge: The need for decolonising knowledge for conservation and natural resource management

Integrating Indigenous and local knowledge in conservation and natural resource management (NRM) initiatives is necessary to achieve sustainability, equity, and responsiveness to local realities and needs. Knowledge integration is the starting point for converging different knowledge systems and enabling knowledge co-production. This process is also a key prerequisite towards decolonising the research process. However, power imbalances may perpetuate dominant forms of knowledge over others, obstruct knowledge integration, and eventually cause the loss of knowledge of the marginal and less powerful knowledge holders. Despite increasing interest in knowledge integration for conservation, NRM, and landscape governance, documentation of integration processes remains fragmented and somewhat scarce. This semi-systematic literature review contributes to filling this gap by synthesising methods, procedures, opportunities, and challenges regarding integrating and decolonising knowledge for conservation and NRM in Southern Africa. The findings demonstrate that despite an increasing number of studies seeking to integrate Indigenous and local knowledge and scientific knowledge relevant to conservation and NRM, methods, procedures, and opportunities are poorly and vaguely documented, and challenges and colonial legacies are often overlooked. Documentation, valuing Indigenous and local knowledge, addressing power relations, and collaboration across knowledge systems are missing steps towards efficient knowledge integration. The paper concludes that there is a need for further research and relevant policies. These should address methods and implications for equitable knowledge integration processes and move beyond knowledge sharing and mutual learning towards decolonising knowledge for conservation and NRM.