Growth, Collapse, and Reorganization of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: an Analysis of Institutional Resilience

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBaral, Nabinen
dc.contributor.authorStern, Marc J.en
dc.contributor.authorHeinen, J. T.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.date.accessed2014-05-12en
dc.date.accessioned2014-05-14T14:17:18Zen
dc.date.available2014-05-14T14:17:18Zen
dc.date.issued2010en
dc.description.abstractCommunity-based conservation institutions can be conceptualized as complex adaptive systems that pass through a cycle of growth, maturation, collapse, and reorganization. We test the applicability of this four-phase adaptive cycle in the institutional context of the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal. We use the adaptive cycle to assess changes in structures and processes and to explore the past, present, and possible future trends in ACA. We focus on the crisis brought about by the Maoist insurgency and changes that took place in ACA during and after this period. Our analysis suggests that the conservation institution has passed through one and a half forms of the adaptive cycle in five major historical periods in the Annapurna region since 1960. It also appears to have been resilient to the insurgency because the system maintained its identity throughout, avoided alternative undesirable states, and entered into the reorganization phase following collapse. All forms of capital and institutional performance decreased to some extent during collapse, but flexible nested governance structures, including the devolution of responsibility to local entities, the maintenance of capital stocks, the retention of institutional memory, and the perceptions of institutional legitimacy among constituencies, facilitated reorganization. The institutional system is reorganizing along the original regime, but it has also developed an alternative pathway that will transform it in the near term. We evaluate the usefulness, strengths, and weaknesses of the adaptive cycle analogy in this application.en
dc.description.sponsorshipRufford Small Grants Foundation, UKen
dc.description.sponsorshipSigma Xi, USAen
dc.description.sponsorshipSigma Xi - VT Chapteren
dc.identifier.citationBaral, N., M. J. Stern, and J. T. Heinen. 2010. Growth, collapse, and reorganization of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: an analysis of institutional resilience. Ecology and Society 15(3): 10. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss3/art10/en
dc.identifier.issn1708-3087en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/47995en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss3/art10/en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherResilience Allianceen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectannapurnaen
dc.subjectadaptive cycleen
dc.subjectcommunity-based conservationen
dc.subjectprotected areasen
dc.subjectmanagementen
dc.subjectresilienceen
dc.subjectsocial-ecological systemen
dc.subjectsustainability scienceen
dc.subjectsocial-ecological systemsen
dc.subjectmanagementen
dc.subjectissuesen
dc.subjectecologyen
dc.subjectenvironmental studiesen
dc.titleGrowth, Collapse, and Reorganization of the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: an Analysis of Institutional Resilienceen
dc.title.serialEcology and Societyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ES-2010-3534.pdf
Size:
217.43 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Main article
Download

Collections

Scholarly Works, Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation