Leader: Dr Tim Lynam, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems,
Townsville
Full title: Assessing options for multiple use of savanna
regions
Project 3.3.6
Introduction | Objectives | Rationale | Approach and
Methods | Outcomes | Outputs | More information |
In a world characterised by change and uncertainty one of the
most useful contributions that science can make is through
expanding the set of options people have available to them for
achieving their goals or aspirations. A key factor that constrains
the sets of options available to people is the set of rules that
define “what actions (or outcomes) are required, prohibited,
or permitted [1] .” The multiple use in savanna regions project
will use case studies in Queensland and the Northern Territories to
examine the utility of the Institutional Analysis and Development
(IAD) framework as a simple tool to guide policy analysts and
decision makers through a process of designing, testing and
evaluating rules designed to achieve social objectives. The project
will use a mix of literature reviews, stakeholder consultation,
field data collection, modelling and experimentation. The project
will deliver:
- detailed descriptions of the key components of a policy
situation (data on the rules governing resource use, the
participants, positions, actions, potential outcomes, information
and payoffs associated with a set of rules as well as the
attributes of the bio-physical and social world in which the rules
are implemented) for two savanna case studies;
- a clear assessment of the potential utility of the IAD
framework as a tool for policy planning and analysis and guidelines
for its use.
[1] Ostrom
E., R. Gardner and J. Walker, 1994. Rules, games and common-pool
resources. University of Michigan Press, Anne Arbor, USA.
The project has the following objectives:
- Implement one additional savanna case study to explore the
utility of the IAD framework for institutional analysis;
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the IAD framework as a
tool for policy use in the savanna regions of northern
Australia;
- Develop and disseminate a simple protocol for the
implementation of the IAD framework (or similar framework if
changes are required) in the context of savanna regions and
multiple use of resources.
- Complete simple recommendations for the tourism industry from
the Savanna Way research.
The project will produce tools and guidelines for the use of
these tools (the IAD framework, multi-agent simulation models,
future scenarios and economic experimentation tools) that will
contribute to identifying “policy and management options for
regional planning and development.”
We recognise that with any set of resources there are a number
of possible uses and a number of possible users. Alongside such
factors as knowledge, infrastructure, finance and natural capital,
rules constrain the set of uses and the potential users. This
project will use a simple framework (the IAD framework) to guide
the analysis of how current rules and pending changes in these
rules (as defined by local stakeholders) constrain who can use
resources and how these resource can be used. The resulting
empirically tested framework will provide a simple to use mechanism
that will assist in the evaluation and testing of strategies for
sustainable and socially desirable development and use of resource
systems.
The project has taken water as the resource of primary focus.
This is a strategic decision of significant importance. One of the
principle determinants of savanna structure and function is water.
As importantly water is a fundamental determinant of the spatial
and temporal patterns of savanna landscape and resource use. Water
therefore controls (to a large extent) the structure, function and
use of savannas[1]. Through managing water we manage the savannas. Water
is also a very difficult resource to manage; its location, amount
and ownership are often unclear or uncertain. Rules that define the
multiple use of water resources [2] are therefore the most difficult
case. If we can successfully contribute a framework or tool for use
with designing rules of use for water that lead to socially
desirable outcomes then we can feel confident that it would work
for most other resource management situations.
With the departure of Romy Greiner we have had to restructure
the project team. This has provided a great opportunity to enhance
the capacity of people living in the savannas. Anna Straton of
CSIRO in Darwin, in collaboration with Sue Jackson will lead the
one case study (Daly River). The project will bring in additional
expertise to strengthen her analysis as well as to provide the
Darwin team and their stakeholders with access to cutting edge
tools and approaches so that their analytical options are expanded.
We expect therefore to significantly contribute to the development
of productive and capable people working in the savannas
– both researchers and decision makers.
[1] We
acknowledge the importance and interplay with other factors such as
fire, soil nutrients and human use.
[2] We see
multiple use as being the interaction among multiple users and
multiple uses.
The general approach being adopted in the project is simple and
the specific methods are all standard. We have identified a second
case study additional to the Etheridge Shire in Queensland case
study that was completed in 2004. This is the Daly River in NT. In
each case specific water use or allocation problems have been
identified and the rules pertaining to these have been established.
Local stakeholders in the Daly River case have been engaged and
have agreed to participate. Following a period of review of the
pertinent formal rule sets (legislation, management plans), which
make up the formal “ rules in use ” of the IAD
framework, as well as stakeholder perceptions of these the project
teams will identify the components of the system in relation to the
IAD framework, what Ostrom calls the action arena . These
are as follows:
- The biophysical attributes of the system and the attributes of
the community or social system in which the rules are imposed.
- The participants in the situation. Who are the key
stakeholders or actors?
- The positions of the participants in the process.
Positions align participants with authorised sets of actions. For
example a Community Reference Group member would have a set of
actions associated with that position such as reviewing and
potentially rejecting a development plan.
- The actions that participants can take. For example sell
their water allocation. These are the actions that the set of rules
allow.
- Potential outcomes . In this component the outcomes that
participants can potentially achieve through their actions are
defined.
- Transformation functions. This terminology is unclear
but essentially refers to the functions that link outcomes to
actions. For example the benefit and cost functions for a given
action set.
- Information . The set of information available to a
participant at a stage in the process.
- Payoffs. The methods that assign costs and benefits for
each action. They are the costs and benefits associated with each
outcome.
The actors in the IAD process are analysed in detail and
through the project we would identify their preferences over
outcomes as well as their ability to process information, the
criteria they use to make decisions and the resources each has to
engage in the process and or achieve outcomes.
Each of these analyses will be conducted in a participatory mode
with the actors involved in the rule change or action situation.
Rigorous use of standard social science methods (focus group
interviews, structured and semi-structured interviews) will be used
in combination with literature reviews and expert informant
interviews. All procedures for data collection will be reviewed by
the CSIRO team prior to their being used. The participatory
approach adopted is an important part of the projects communication
and engagement strategy. The methods and process actively engage
the key stakeholders in each case study thus simultaneously using
their real world roles and experience whilst having them experience
the research process.
Having collected this baseline information on the policy
situation the research team will work with the stakeholders to
explore how participants, positions, actions, outcomes,
transformation functions, information or payoffs would change with
proposed changes in the formal rule set. Formal rule set changes
will be elicited from the pertinent stakeholders (decision makers).
These explorations will be conducted in three different ways. The
first will incorporate the same suite of social science methods
used to develop the baseline data sets (interviews etc.). The
second approach will be through the use of an experimental
economics process lead by John Ward of CSIRO’s Policy and
Economic Research Unit (PERU). In this laboratory experimental
system a computer based experimental “game” is set up
which is then used with the key stakeholders in the system to
elicit their responses to formal rule changes. The third approach
will use a multi-agent computer simulation approach to predicting
changes in the rule change situation (i.e. changes in participants,
positions, actions etc.). By using these three methods the team
will be able to triangulate or cross check the results and hence
test the robustness of the elicited responses.
Finally the team will synthesise their findings in regards to a)
the data describing the components of the system and b) the
implementation of the IAD framework and present these as a report,
scientific paper and a simple set of guidelines for using the IAD
framework.
Throughout the project the existing stakeholder advisory group
will be used to guide the research and keep it relevant to key
stakeholders.
Policy analysis is complex and the outcomes of any policy highly
uncertain. Therefore to efficiently bring about socially desirable
changes in management or human behaviour, policies and policy
instruments need to be carefully crafted to achieve their ends.
There is little room for adaptive testing of policies in the real
world. The major contribution of this project will therefore be to
test, and provide to decision makers, a reliable framework for
designing and thereafter testing policies or policy instruments in
relation to natural resource management or use. By effectively
using the framework policy makers can explore the implications of
policies or policy instruments before they are enacted.
In addition the project will generate a set of baseline data for
each of two key policy cases in addition to the existing case.
- Empirically tested framework for policy or policy instrument
analysis (based on the IAD framework) with guidelines for use in
the Australian context.
- Case study data sets that capture the essential elements of the
two case studies.
- Final report in which the process and results of the use of the
framework as well as the exploration of future changes in rule sets
are simply and clearly described.
- A scientific paper on the application of the framework in
Australia.
- Simple summary of the recommendations and methods identified
and used in the Savanna Way component of the project.
