Adaptive Collaborative Approaches in Natural Resource Governance：Rethinking Participation, Learning and Innovation

The purpose of this book is to showcase a range of approaches that consider learning and collaboration as central processes in agriculture and natural resources governance and management. These include four related and overlapping adaptive collaborative approaches – Adaptive Collaborative Management, Participatory Action Research, Social Learning and Innovation Systems. Despite these being generated in different institutional domains with somewhat diverse epistemological and policy orientations, the authors show that there are common themes among these approaches.
The book presents a review of various adaptive and collaborative approaches to management developed to cope with the social and biophysical complexity of natural resource systems, including case studies from Bangladesh, Ecuador, Nepal and Zimbabwe. The contexts range from farmer field schools, to floodplain management and community forestry. The authors provide rich accounts of how adaptive collaborative approaches were applied to synergise different types of learning, foster collaboration among stakeholders, and nurture innovative development processes. Through its introduction and conclusion chapters, the book establishes a clear theoretical approach and identifies a set of practical methodologies for combining different systems of knowledge in a way that generates and maximizes innovation and the translation of research into practice.

Hemant R. Ojha is a founder of Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) and ForestAction Nepal. He is also a fellow at University of Melbourne and Australian National University.
Andy Hall is Director of LINK Limited and Senior Researcher at UNU-MERIT and Visiting Professor at Open University, UK.
Rasheed Sulaiman V is Director of the Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy, Hyderabad, India.

1. Adaptive Collaborative Approaches in Natural Resource Governance: An Introduction. Hemant R. Ojha, Andy Hall and Rasheed Sulaiman V
2. Adaptive Collaborative Approaches: Traditions, Foundations and Frontiers. Hemant R. Ojha and Andy Hall
3. The Ups and Downs of Institutional Learning: Reflections on the Emergence and Conduct of Adaptive Collaborative Management at the Centre for International Forestry Research. Carol J. Pierce Colfer
4. Learning in the Social Wild: Farmers Field School and Politics of Agricultural Science and Development in Ecuador. Stephen Sherwood, Marc Schut and Cees Leeuwis
5. Learning through Networking: Enabling Adaptive Learning Network of Local Communities for Integrated Floodplain Management in Bangladesh. Parvin Sultana and Paul Thompson
6. Learning in Contested Landscapes: Applying Adaptive Collaborative Management in Forested Landscapes of Zimbabwe. Tendayi Mutimukuru-Maravanyika and Frank Matose
7. Learning to Improve Livelihoods: Applying Adaptive Collaborative Approach to Forest Governance in Nepal. Mani Ram Banjade
8. Learning through Action: Reflections on Action Research in Natural Resource Management. Robert Fisher
9. Confronting Challenges in Applying Adaptive Collaborative Approaches: Lessons from Practice. Hemant R. Ojha and Andy Hall
10. Moving Forward with Adaptive Collaborative Approaches. Hemant R. Ojha, Andy Hall and Rasheed Sulaiman V
Index