School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Department of Geography, Environment & Geomatics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Environ Manage. 2022 Sep;70(3):448-463. doi: 10.1007/s00267-022-01670-3. Epub 2022 May 26.
In many environment and resource management contexts (e.g., integrated coastal management, ecosystem-based fisheries management), indicator selection and development are perceived as a largely technical, bureaucratic, and scientific challenge. As such, choices about indicators and their application are often treated as external from everyday politics and dynamics of social power. Our aim here is to highlight the value of a relational perspective that weaves power and knowledge together in the context of indicator development and implementation. We highlight four critical dimensions of this relational perspective that may lead to better indicator process outcomes: 1) centering identity and positionality to reflect power differentials; 2) emphasizing the importance of indicator 'fit' and the politics of scale; 3) engaging rather than erasing social-ecological complexity; and 4) reflecting on social norms and relationships to foster adaptation and learning. These four dimensions are rarely considered in most indicator initiatives, including those that are more participatory in design and implementation. The dimensions we outline here emerge from the grounded experience of managers and practitioners, including indicator processes in which we are currently engaged, as well as a scoping review of the literature on indicators for coastal and marine governance and conservation specifically. However, the four dimensions and relational focus are relevant to a wide range of resource and environmental management contexts and provide a pathway to catalyze more effective indicator processes for decision-making and governance more generally.
在许多环境和资源管理背景下（例如，综合沿海管理、基于生态系统的渔业管理），指标选择和制定被视为一项主要涉及技术、官僚和科学的挑战。因此，关于指标及其应用的选择通常被视为与日常政治和社会权力动态脱节的。我们在这里的目的是强调将权力和知识编织在一起的关系视角的价值，这种视角在指标制定和实施的背景下发挥作用。我们强调了这种关系视角的四个关键维度，这些维度可能会带来更好的指标过程结果：1）以反映权力差异为中心的身份和定位；2）强调指标“适配性”和规模政治的重要性；3）参与而不是消除社会-生态复杂性；4）反思社会规范和关系，以促进适应和学习。这些维度在大多数指标倡议中很少被考虑，包括那些在设计和实施方面更具参与性的倡议。我们在这里概述的维度源于管理者和从业者的实际经验，包括我们目前正在参与的指标过程，以及对沿海和海洋治理和保护指标的文献进行的范围审查。然而，这四个维度和关系重点与广泛的资源和环境管理背景相关，并为促进更有效的指标过程以实现决策和治理提供了途径。
