Business and government leaders from around the world are increasingly sounding the alarm about the need for effective management of business dependencies and impacts on ecosystems. As a consequence, financial institutions have recently made a formal commitment to work towards integrating...

Practitioners in the fields of sustainable development, land management, and biodiversity conservation are increasingly interested in using economic instruments that promise "win-win" solutions for conservation and human livelihoods. However, practitioners often lack guidance for selecting and...

Due to the hydrological and socio-economic complexity of water use within river basins and even sub-basins, it is a considerable challenge to manage water resources in an efficient, equitable and sustainable way. This paper shows that multi-agent simulation (MAS) is a promising approach to...

"The present paper analyzes the role of discourse in conflicts concerning nature conservation in tropical countries. We focus on the contested question as to whether and to which extent local communities should be allowed to live and use resources inside protected areas. Applying the concepts of...

This paper is an introduction to the special issue on a role of participation in dealing with the interactions between environment and fisheries. In this introduction, we explore the recent discussion on the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EBAFM) and extract important points...

Successful species conservation typically results in conflicts between wildlife protection and economic uses of natural resources as in fisheries and aquaculture. This article shows why managing these conflicts require a more comprehensive approach than currently pursued by endangered species...

In this synthesis article, we claim that institutional innovation is required for ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management (EBAFM), and that such innovation can best be achieved by engaging in a delicate process of societal decision making. Current instances of participation in...

Decentralization and devolution -- also referred to as 'rolling back the boundaries of the state' -- are important policy trends in natural resource management. Drawing a parallel with the efficient-boundary problem in industrial organization, the authors show how transaction-costs economics can...