Supplemental readings from the Reader

Matson, P., A. Luers, K. Seto, R. Naylor, and I. Ortiz-Monasterio. 2005. People, land use and environment in the Yaqui Valley, Sonora, Mexico. In Population, Land Use, and Environment, eds. B. Entwisle and P. Stern. Washington, D.C.: NRC.

1.4.2.1 HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS: Realistically sketched interactions - Long-term place-based interactions The most realistic human-environment interactions are place based and long term, capturing, over time, the processes of specific peoples engaging with their distinctive environment. Yet the number of places that have actually been recurrently studied as human-environment systems over periods of a decade or longer seem few in number or narrowly focused. (See also 2.4.1.1). The exceptional Yaqui Valley studies are place-based, interdisciplinary, and bring together researchers, practitioners, and land users. Now in their fifteenth year, they seek to understand land use in this NW Mexico region, the consequences of land management decisions, and ways to harmonize environment and development.

Meadows, D. 1999. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. Hartland, VT: Sustainability Institute.

2.3.3.1 ANALYSIS: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES, PROCESSES: Guidance: Interventions, institutions, governance - Interventions Human-environment systems are complicated and where to intervene to best encourage a sustainability transition is not obvious. Often the choice is made by a combination of precedent (improve on what was done before), ease of implementation (simplicity, low cost, existing program), or recent experience (especially of extreme events). In general, interventions are rarely made in underlying human-environment processes but rather to ameliorate consequences or to undertake adaptive responses. The Reading, by an early proponent of systems analysis as well as a policy advocate for sustainability, provides a generic list of leverage points for effective interventions. Leverage points that emphasize the nature and purpose of systems are most powerful, followed by those that address institutions, norms, and rules, then the many characteristics of flows, and finally the material content of stocks.

van Kerkhoff, L., and L. Lebel. 2006. Linking knowledge and action for sustainable development. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 31(1):445-477.

3.1.1 MOVING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION: Knowledge transfers Moving knowledge into action requires a transfer of such knowledge from the knowledge producers to the users or practitioners of that knowledge. Three basic models exist. In the first, science is curiosity-driven, and the best of basic science may or may not have practical use, but will eventually trickle down into practice. An alternative model is translational, it assumes that much scientific knowledge is useful, but it needs to be translated into language and applications that practitioners can use. For example, major efforts in health emphasize translation and new scientific journals are devoted to the topic. A third model is interactive, knowledge and utility transfers move back and forth leading at their best to the coproduction of knowledge and actions for sustainability. The Reading examines the conventional views and critiques of knowledge transfers and efforts to improve the process of linking knowledge to action. It seeks to understand the relationships between research-based knowledge and action as areas of shared responsibility that are embedded within larger systems of power and knowledge that evolve and change over time.