| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 139, 2000 McNicoll, Geoffrey. "Managing population-environment systems: Problems of institutional design," Policy Research Division Working Paper no. 139. New York: Population Council. (PDF) Abstract In population-environment systems human activity is inherently part of the system rather than something to be minimized in order to maintain or restore "natural" environmental conditions. Issues arising in managing such systems are discussed in this paper. Three preliminary sets of problems are first dealt with. The system's boundaries must be identified, defining its human participants and its ecological content. Procedures for monitoring demographic and environmental change in the system must be set up. And consensus must be reached on how to evaluate that change. Each of these tasks calls for technical knowledge of demographic and ecological relationships (and assessment of uncertainties); in addition each has important political and administrative dimensions. Unclear or contested boundaries, large numbers of participants, complex system dynamics and outcome indicators, and unequal stakes by participants complicate the management task. Among the general problems of designing governing institutions for large and complex population-environment systems are devising compensation arrangements to remedy major asymmetries in returns to participants, enforcing compliance to agreed access rules, and building in adaptability to changing knowledge and circumstances. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
