Integrating indigenous livelihood and lifestyle objectives in managing a natural resource

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2013-02, Vol.110 (9), p.3639-3644
• Main Authors: Plagányi, Éva Elizabeth, van Putten, Ingrid, Hutton, Trevor, Deng, Roy A., Dennis, Darren, Pascoe, Sean, Skewes, Tim, Campbell, Robert A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Sciences; Communities; Conservation of Natural Resources - economics; Decision Making; Economic models; Environment and sustainable development; Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.); Fisheries; Fisheries - economics; Fisheries management; Fisheries policy; Fisheries science; Fishery economics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geography; Humans; Industrial research; Island life; Life Style; Lifestyles; Native peoples; Natural resource management; Occupations - economics; Ocean fisheries; Papua New Guinea; Population Groups; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic Factors; Sustainability; Sustainable fisheries management
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217822110

Evaluating the success of natural resource management approaches requires methods to measure performance against biological, economic, social, and governance objectives. In fisheries, most research has focused on industrial sectors, with the contributions to global resource use by small-scale and indigenous hunters and fishers undervalued. Globally, the small-scale fisheries sector alone employs some 38 million people who share common challenges in balancing livelihood and lifestyle choices. We used as a case study a fishery with both traditional indigenous and commercial sectors to develop a framework to bridge the gap between quantitative bio-economic models and more qualitative social analyses. For many indigenous communities, communalism rather than capitalism underlies fishers’ perspectives and aspirations, and we find there are complicated and often unanticipated trade-offs between economic and social objectives. Our results highlight that market-based management options might score highly in a capitalistic society, but have negative repercussions on community coherence and equity in societies with a strong communal ethic. There are complex trade-offs between economic indicators, such as profit, and social indicators, such as lifestyle preferences. Our approach makes explicit the “triple bottom line” sustainability objectives involving trade-offs between economic, social, and biological performance, and is thus directly applicable to most natural resource management decision-making situations.