Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, African Climate and Development Institute, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa.
Ambio. 2020 Jan;49(1):49-61. doi: 10.1007/s13280-019-01163-4. Epub 2019 Mar 16.
Bottom-up approaches are often presented as a remedy to environmental governance problems caused by poorly aligned social institutions and fragmented ecosystems. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating how such social-ecological fit might emerge and help achieve desirable outcomes. This paper combines quantitative social-ecological network analysis with interviews to investigate whether bottom-up approaches in lake governance improve the fit. We study groups of residents seeking to improve management of a network of lakes in Bengaluru, India. Results show that 23 'lake groups' collaborate in a way that aligns with how lakes are hydrologically connected, thus strengthening the social-ecological fit. Three groups founded around 2010 have mobilized support from municipal officers and introduced an ecosystem-based approach to lake management that recognizes their ecological functions and dependence on, the broader hydrological network. These groups have also changed how other lake groups operate: groups founded after 2010 are more collaborative and more prone to contribute to social-ecological fit compared to the older lake groups. This paper demonstrates the utility of a theoretically informed method for examining the impact of bottom-up approaches, which, we argue, is important for a more informed perspective on their relevance and potential contribution to urban environmental governance.
自下而上的方法常被视为解决社会制度不匹配和生态系统碎片化导致的环境治理问题的一种补救措施。然而，缺乏实证证据表明这种社会-生态契合如何出现并有助于实现理想的结果。本文将定量的社会-生态网络分析与访谈相结合，以调查湖泊治理中的自下而上方法是否能提高契合度。我们研究了一群试图改善印度班加罗尔一个湖泊网络管理的居民。结果表明，23 个“湖泊小组”以与湖泊水力连接相一致的方式进行合作，从而加强了社会-生态契合。大约 2010 年成立的三个小组动员了市政官员的支持，并引入了一种基于生态系统的湖泊管理方法，承认了湖泊的生态功能及其对更广泛的水文网络的依赖。这些小组还改变了其他湖泊小组的运作方式：2010 年后成立的小组比老的湖泊小组更具协作性，也更倾向于促进社会-生态契合。本文展示了一种理论上有依据的方法在检验自下而上方法的影响方面的效用，我们认为，这对于更深入了解其对城市环境治理的相关性和潜在贡献具有重要意义。
