IV. SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH - GENERAL

Published social science studies on social and ecological resilience, indicators for sustainable forest communities, etc.  and notes about each one (by Rachel Neugarten.) Some articles are copyright protected so you have to be a member of this workspace (and logged in) to view them.

(Back to Annotated Bibliography)

Adger, N.W. 2000.Social and ecological resilience: are they related? Progress in Human Geography 24(3): 347-364.

• defines resilience, vulnerability
• no clear conclusion
• Vietnam mangroves: changed management, loss of mangrove, decreased environmental & social stability
• Coastal communities = more diverse ecologically & economically = more resilient? (vs. mineral-dependent communities, which are specialized, less resilient)
• Resource dependent communities inherently vulnerable / unstable

Beckley, T., J. Parkins, and R.C. Stedman. 2002.Indicators of forest-community sustainability: The evolution of research. The Forestry Chronicle 78(5): 626-636.

• profile (snapshot, quantitative) indicators vs. process (causal, qualitative) indicators

Charnley, S. 2006.The Northwest Forest Plan as a model for broad-scale ecosystem management: A social perspective. Conservation Biology. 20(2): 330-340.

• socioeconomic monitoring conducted to evaluate NW Forest Plan progress in first 10 years
• mixed success - key assumptions flawed, capacity limited
• recommend decision makers ensure natural resource management policies are socially acceptable,
• land management agencies have capacity to achieve management goals,
• and social, economic goals are based on accurate assumptions about the relations between resources managed and well-being of local communities

Force, J.E., G.E. Machlis, L. Zhang, and A. Kearney. 1993.The relationship between timber production, local historical events, and community social change: a quantitative case study. Forest Science 39(4):722-742.

• relationship between timber production & community stability isn't straightforward, can be inverted
• influenced by other factors (e.g. local historical events)
• variables: # employees, churches, marriages, arrests
• historical events: economic development (non-timber), timber development, natural disasters, social unrest
• independent variables: mill production, natural disasters, national forest harvest, jobs

Parkins, J.R., R.C. Stedman, and J. Varghese. 2001.Moving towards local-level indicators of sustainability in forest-based communities: A mixed-method approach. Social Indicators Research 56(1): 43-72.

• recommend objective (GDP, average household income) PLUS subjective (contentment, ability to buy what you want) indicators