Whole decision network analysis for coastal ecosystems (WD-NACE)

In Kenya we will also be working with the local support of UNEP and of KMFRI. The analytical tools we will use will be chosen from a range including Social Network Mapping and Agent-Based Modelling. The entire project will work within the social framework of the concept of Adaptive Co-Management.

The research will integrate locally-grounded climate change knowledge and knowledge about global economic forces with local-generated knowledge about ecosystem quality, resource health, resource use, household income and local power and knowledge networks. This will provide a single database which will help make explicit an understanding of the drivers of resource use patterns which can then be targeted towards creating locally validated knowledge about poverty reduction,

The overall aim is to help decision takers at ‘policy-making’ levels (both in situ and internationally) to be able to understand better what knowledge resource user decision takers (at the local level) have, and how that knowledge is used to determine action (i.e. how the actions of individual actors influences ecosystem services and poverty alleviation but also how these ‘outputs’ in turn influence individual action).

Main findings/expected findings
It is an expected outcome of WD-NACE that the conceptual framework that links ecosystem and livelihoods domains, knowledge networks and decision-making structures will be further developed and improved. In developing such a framework (or ‘model’), we would expect that it could be applied to a range of settings.

The research will integrate climate change knowledge, knowledge about poverty reduction, and knowledge about global economic forces into the understanding of the resource use patterns and the likely implications that should be considered by policy-making institutions, including DFID as well as international organizations like UNEP, UNDP and WFP.

We will hold two project-start-up workshops in Kenya (Nairobi/ Mombassa and in Bangladesh (Dhaka and in the Sunderaban region). At project end we hope to hold three ‘Costal Commons workshops’: in Kenya and in Bangladesh and also in the UK for funders.

Key personnel
Principal Investigators: Prof Dave Raffaelli, Environment department, University of York and Dr Richard Taylor, SEI Oxford Office.

Mr Mostafa Aktheruzzaman, Sushilon, Bangladesh;
Dr Sukaina Bharwani, SEI Oxford Office;
Ms Tahia Devisscher, SEI Oxford Office;
Dr John Forrester, University of York, Stockholm Environment Institute & York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis (YCCSA);
Mr Ahmadul Hassan, CEGIS, Bangladesh;
Dr Dweijen Mallick, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies;
Ms Neela Matin, University of York, Stockholm Environment Institute;
Dr David Obura, CORDIO East Africa;
Dr Atiq Rahman, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies;
Dr Carolyn Snell, University of York, Dept of Social Policy & Social Work;
Dr Samarthia Thankappan, University of York, Environment Dept;
Mr Corrado Topi, University of York, Stockholm Environment Institute; and
Mr Innocent Wanyonyi, CORDIO East Africa.

Partner organisations: The University of York; The Stockholm
Environment Institute (SEI); Costal Oceans Research Development in the
Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa; Bangladesh Centre for Advanced
Studies (BCAS); Centre for Environmental and Geographic
Information Services (CEGIS), Bangladesh; and Sushilon, Bangladesh.

Funder: ESPA

This project is part of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Programme (ESPA) programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), as part of the UK’s Living with Environmental Change Programme (LWEC) (Reference numbers NE/I002448/1 and NE/I00288X/1).