Logo image
Back
Exploring human-nature interaction on the coastal floodplain in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta through the lens of Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Exploring human-nature interaction on the coastal floodplain in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta through the lens of Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework

Animesh K Gain, Md Ashik-Ur-Rahman and Athanasios Vafeidis
Environmental Research Communications, Vol.1(5), 51003
2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab2407
pdf
Published1.23 MBDownloadView
Open Access

Abstract

coastal floodplain Ganges-Brahmaputra delta human-nature interaction Ostrom's diagnostic approach social-ecological system
This study diagnoses temporal and spatial variations in the performance of different social-ecological systems (SES) in coastal floodplain management in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. We go beyond common pool resource management problems and address the management of local public goods. In the assessment, we consider recent developments in the framework initially developed by Elinor Ostrom. The main variables of the framework that we use are resource systems, the environment, the governance system and actors. The focal SES is defined based on guiding questions relating to the definition of the key problem, system boundaries, and action situations. According to our results, the performance of resource systems and the environment deteriorated in 1960-79 compared to the performance prior to 1960. The condition reached a low point during 1980-1999 but improved slightly after 1999. The horizontal network structure of local governance was active until 1960. Due to the introduction of the 'tidal river management' approach in the 90 s, the performance of the resource system and the environment has slightly improved, as has the involvement of government and non-government organizations. Our results also show that overall SES performance is comparatively better <in the case of locally managed floodplains than it is for those managed by government agencies. Our new approaches, such as the recent development of the diagnostic framework, the guiding questions for defining focal SES, and application of the framework to local public goods can potentially be used in the fields of sustainability science and SES science. The qualitative performance of each of the selected indicators is useful for identifying intervention options to achieve a sustainable outcome for the coastal floodplain SES.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#2 Zero Hunger
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
#13 Climate Action
#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Metrics

10 File views/ downloads
70 Record Views
24 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
6 Social Sciences
6.153 Climate Change
6.153.558 Climate Change Adaptation
Web Of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
Logo image