Browsing by Author "Basurto, X"

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Open Access
A systematic approach to institutional analysis: Applying Crawford and Ostrom's grammar
(Political Research Quarterly, 2010-10-07) Basurto, X; Kingsley, G; McQueen, K; Smith, M; Weible, CM
In 1995, Crawford and Ostrom proposed a grammatical syntax for examining institutional statements (i.e., rules, norms, and strategies) as part of the institutional analysis and development framework. This article constitutes the first attempt at applying the grammatical syntax to code institutional statements using two pieces of U.S. legislation. The authors illustrate how the grammatical syntax can serve as a basis for collecting, presenting, and analyzing data in a way that is reliable and conveys valid and substantive meaning for the researcher. The article concludes by describing some implementation challenges and ideas for future theoretical and field research. © 2010 University of Utah.
Open Access
A Systematic Approach to Studying Fisheries Governance
(GLOBAL POLICY, 2012-05) Basurto, X; Nenadovic, M
Open Access
Achieving coordination of decentralized fisheries governance through collaborative arrangements: A case study of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve in Mexico
(Marine Policy, 2020-07-01) Méndez-Medina, C; Schmook, B; Basurto, X; Fulton, S; Espinoza-Tenorio, A
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Decentralization of fisheries management in Mexico has created overlapping state agencies without clearly defined responsibilities. This has generated a management dilemma for national fisheries enforcement, due to ambiguity in implementation and legislation among agencies. Through a case study in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, in the Yucatan Peninsula, we explore how local actors have addressed problems resulting from the implementation of these decentralized policies. We focus on local Community Surveillance Committees to understand how cooperation occurs at the local level to enforce fisheries regulations. Through a systematic review of fisheries policies in Mexico, we describe the political context to understand the implications of decentralization. The first author conducted ethnographic fieldwork from 2013 to 2017 in three fishing communities and attended meetings with actors involved in local fisheries management. As part of fieldwork, 42 in-depth interviews with fishers and representatives from state agencies were conducted. Using a polycentric approach, we look beyond the performance of individual fishing cooperatives to focus on the relationships among governance actors. We found factors strengthening the Sian Ka'an surveillance system are local actors' capacity to create rules, their relative autonomy from the government, and the existence of more than one decision-making center. We highlight that ambiguity in the implementation of decentralization also enabled local actors to be innovative and fill gaps in the national fisheries policies enforcement system, through diverse configurations of institutional arrangements. In this case study, those arrangements are the result of a constant process of social innovation and improvement in the fishery's organization.
Open Access
An organizational framework for effective conservation organizations
(Biological Conservation, 2022-03-01) Jiménez, I; Basurto, X
There is a scarcity of studies on how to design conservation organizations to improve biodiversity outcomes. We use information from four conservation organizations (African Parks, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, and Rewilding Argentina) to update and describe an organizational framework for effective conservation organizations. This framework includes (1) clear and shared proactive vision inspired by innovative on-site senior leadership; (2) high contextuality based on shared leadership, on-the-ground administrative autonomy, and practice-based learning; (3) outstanding and well-communicated conservation outcomes; (4) linkages across-scales to access varied types of resources (i.e. political, social and economic); and (5) long-term financial viability. All these attributes form a dynamic and self-reinforcing “virtuous cycle,” with each attribute being both cause and effect at different moments in time, though the whole process is jump-started by on-site senior leaders. We believe that our framework can help to identify key questions that will facilitate the design and assessment of private and public conservation organizations towards improved effectiveness.
Open Access
Basurto's Final Word
(ICES Journal of Marine Science, 2017-08-31) Basurto, X
Open Access
Beyond the Tragedy of the Commons.
(Economia delle fonti di energia e dell'ambiente, 2009) Basurto, X; Ostrom, Elinor
To move beyond Hardin’s tragedy of the commons, it is fundamental to avoid falling into either of two analytical and policy traps: (1) deriving and recommending “panaceas” or (2) asserting “my case is unique.” We can move beyond both traps by self-consciously building diagnostic theory to help unpack and understand the complex interrelationship between social and biophysical factors at different levels of analysis. We need to look for commonalities and differences across studies. This understanding will be augmented if the rich detail produced from case studies is used together with theory to find patterned structures among cases. In this paper, we briefly illustrate important steps of how we can go about diagnosing the emergence and sustainability of self-organization in the fishing context of the Gulf of California, Mexico. By doing so, we are able to move away from the universality proposed by Hardin and understand how two out of three fisheries were able to successfully self-organize, and why one of them continues to be robust over time.
Open Access
Biological and ecological mechanisms supporting marine self-governance: The Seri Callo de Hacha Fishery in Mexico
(Ecology and Society, 2008-12-01) Basurto, X
My goal was to describe how biological and ecological factors give shape to fishing practices that can contribute to the successful self-governance of a small-scale fishing system in the Gulf of California, Mexico. The analysis was based on a comparison of the main ecological and biological indicators that fishers claim to use to govern their day-to-day decision making about fishing and data collected in situ. I found that certain indicators allow fishers to learn about differences and characteristics of the resource system and its units. Fishers use such information to guide their day-to-day fishing decisions. More importantly, these decisions appear unable to shape the reproductive viability of the fishery because no indicators were correlated to the reproductive cycle of the target species. As a result, the fishing practices constitute a number of mechanisms that might provide short-term buffering capacity against perturbations or stress factors that otherwise would threaten the overall sustainability and self-governance of the system. The particular biological circumstances that shape the harvesting practices might also act as a precursor of self-governance because they provide fishers with enough incentives to meet the costs of organizing the necessary rule structure that underlies a successful self-governance system.
Open Access
Bureaucratic barriers limit local participatory governance in protected areas in Costa Rica
(Conservation and Society, 2013-01-01) Basurto, X
The importance of local participation in biodiversity governance was recently recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through the incorporation of Indigenous Peoples' and Local Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs) as a protected area category. This paper explores what barriers ICCAs might face in their successful implementation within already existing protected area systems. I look at this issue in the context of the decentralisation of biodiversity governance in Costa Rica and examine the internal makeup of four different conservation areas within the National System of Conservation Areas. My findings suggest that it is not enough to enact legal reforms allowing and encouraging local participation. Successfully involving local participation requires attention to the class-based relationships within the protected area bureaucracy that create incentives (or not) to link with the local rural citizenry affected by these areas. In three out of four conservation areas, the dominant social class and urban-rural dynamics combined with a lack of accountability mechanisms have discouraged any real rural involvement and empowerment for decision-making. The strategy of the one area that succeeded at sorting these obstacles to incorporate local participation is described in detail.
Open Access
Commercial diving and the Callo de Hacha fishery in Seri territory
(Journal of the Southwest, 2006-12-01) Basurto, X
Open Access
Community‐based conservation strategies to end open access: The case of Fish Refuges in Mexico
(Conservation Science and Practice, 2021-01) Quintana, ACE; Basurto, X
Open Access
Conceptualizing and operationalizing human wellbeing for ecosystem assessment and management
(Environmental Science and Policy, 2016-12-01) Breslow, SJ; Sojka, B; Barnea, R; Basurto, X; Carothers, C; Charnley, S; Coulthard, S; Dolšak, N; Donatuto, J; García-Quijano, C; Hicks, CC; Levine, A; Mascia, MB; Norman, K; Poe, M; Satterfield, T; Martin, KS; Levin, PS
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd There is growing interest in assessing the effects of changing environmental conditions and management actions on human wellbeing. A challenge is to translate social science expertise regarding these relationships into terms usable by environmental scientists, policymakers, and managers. Here, we present a comprehensive, structured, and transparent conceptual framework of human wellbeing designed to guide the development of indicators and a complementary social science research agenda for ecosystem-based management. Our framework grew out of an effort to develop social indicators for an integrated ecosystem assessment (IEA) of the California Current large marine ecosystem. Drawing from scholarship in international development, anthropology, geography, and political science, we define human wellbeing as a state of being with others and the environment, which arises when human needs are met, when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals, and when individuals and communities enjoy a satisfactory quality of life. We propose four major social science-based constituents of wellbeing: connections, capabilities, conditions, and cross-cutting domains. The latter includes the domains of equity and justice, security, resilience, and sustainability, which may be assessed through cross-cutting analyses of other constituents. We outline a process for identifying policy-relevant attributes of wellbeing that can guide ecosystem assessments. To operationalize the framework, we provide a detailed table of attributes and a large database of available indicators, which may be used to develop measures suited to a variety of management needs and social goals. Finally, we discuss four guidelines for operationalizing human wellbeing measures in ecosystem assessments, including considerations for context, feasibility, indicators and research, and social difference. Developed for the U.S. west coast, the framework may be adapted for other regions, management needs, and scales with appropriate modifications.
Open Access
Conceptualizing responsible exits in conservation philanthropy
(Conservation Science and Practice, 2023-05-01) Le Cornu, E; Gruby, RL; Blackwatters, JE; Enrici, A; Basurto, X; Betsill, M
Conservation philanthropy has grown significantly in the past decade. As the number of philanthropic-supported conservation initiatives increases, so too will the frequency of exits—the ending of funding relationships. A trend toward “strategic philanthropy,” where foundations fund time-limited grants, is already contributing to near-constant exits. We draw attention to exits as a critical and ubiquitous—yet understudied—part of conservation grantmaking processes that can have tremendous impacts on the people and places foundations invest in. This paper begins to address this research gap with the first empirical study of exit processes in the context of ocean conservation philanthropy. We draw on an analysis of interviews and a knowledge co-production workshop with donors representing 36 foundations investing in ocean conservation globally to: (1) develop a conceptual framework that broadens and clarifies definitions of exits and provides a common language to characterize exits along varied dimensions, and (2) derive best practices for exiting responsibly. This paper provides timely guidance for environmental philanthropy broadly, including the need to think about exits early and often as an integral part of the grantmaking strategy. Responsible giving must include responsible exits.
Open Access
Contribution of Subsidies and Participatory Governance to Fishers’ Adaptive Capacity
(Journal of Environment and Development, 2016-12-01) Nenadović, M; Basurto, X; Weaver, AH
© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. The need for strengthening fishers' adaptive capacity has been proposed in the literature as an important component of effective fisheries governance arrangements in the presence of rising numbers of external drivers of change. Within the context of small-scale fisheries, government subsidies have been the main tool used for increasing adaptive capacity. We examine the relationship among adaptive capacity, subsidy programs, and fishers' participation in fisheries management, as a potentially important mediating factor affecting outcomes using a data set from two periods of a fishing community in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Our results show a correlation between those fishers with access to decision-making venues and their reception of subsidies, yet the effect of participation and subsidies on fishers' adaptive capacity is limited. This appears to be due to the authorities' lack of commitment to strengthening fishers' adaptive capacity through subsidies programs, and fishers' lack of trust in the governance processes.
Open Access
Cooperative and noncooperative strategies for small-scale fisheries' self-governance in the globalization era: Implications for conservation
(Ecology and Society, 2013-12-01) Basurto, X; Bennett, A; Weaver, AH; Rodriguez-Van Dyck, S; Aceves-Bueno, JS
Fishing cooperatives (co-ops) and patron-client relationships are the most common cooperative and noncooperative strategies for self-governance for small-scale fisheries around the world. We studied what drives fishers to choose between these two self-governance arrangements in 12 communities in the Gulf of California, Mexico. The communities depend on similar fishing resources, are located in contiguous portions of the coast, fish roughly the same species, have similar socioeconomic characteristics, and sell to similar markets, yet half of the fisheries are organized around co-ops and the other half work through patron-client arrangements. Using participant observation, in-depth interviews of key informants between 1995-2008, and a survey of 55% of the fisheries in the study area, we found that the presence of high transaction costs of commercialization, the desire to acquire fishing licenses, and the existence of traditions of successful collective action among fishing groups within each community strongly influence fishers' choices regarding membership in fishing co-ops. We also examined the implications of our findings for conservation of fishing resources. Given that the emergence of co-ops was associated with high transaction costs of commercialization, we hypothesize that cooperative strategies are more likely than patron-client strategies to emerge in communities in isolated locations. In an era of globalization, in which the rate of development and urbanization will increase in coastal areas, patron-client strategies are likely to become more prevalent among fisheries, but such self-governance strategies are thought to be less conducive to conservation behaviors. © 2013 by the author(s).
Open Access
Crafting analytical tools to study institutional change
(Journal of Institutional Economics, 2011-09-01) Ostrom, E; Basurto, X
Most powerful analytical tools used in the social sciences are well suited for studying static situations. Static and mechanistic analysis, however, is not adequate to understand the changing world in which we live. In order to adequately address the most pressing social and environmental challenges looming ahead, we need to develop analytical tools for analyzing dynamic situations -particularly institutional change. In this paper, we develop an analytical tool to study institutional change, more specifically, the evolution of rules and norms. We believe that in order for such an analytical tool to be useful to develop a general theory of institutional change, it needs to enable the analyst to concisely record the processes of change in multiple specific settings so that lessons from such settings can eventually be integrated into a more general predictive theory of change. Copyright © The JOIE Foundation 2010.
Open Access
Defining Small-Scale Fisheries and Examining the Role of Science in Shaping Perceptions of Who and What Counts: A Systematic Review
(Frontiers in Marine Science, 2019-05-07) Smith, H; Basurto, X
Open Access
Describing the diversity of community supported fishery programs in North America
(Marine Policy, 2016-04-01) Bolton, AE; Dubik, BA; Stoll, JS; Basurto, X
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. This research investigates organizational diversity within Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) in North America. Generally understood as the direct marketing of seafood through pre-arranged deliveries, CSFs have increased in number and geographic distribution since their origin in 2007. Despite, or because of, this rapid growth, fundamental questions remain unanswered about what organizational structures and business practices currently constitute the term 'CSF'. This research draws on interview data from 22 CSFs to highlight the diversity within the CSF movement and inform ongoing debates about appropriate paths for their continued growth. Interview data is used to describe key areas of convergence and divergence among the goals, business practices, and structures of CSFs. Three general types of CSF are identified based on this analysis: harvester focused, consumer focused and species focused. Each type is described through a short illustrative case study. Overall results indicate that the term 'CSF' does not currently refer to a specific structure or type of organization, but rather an approach to seafood marketing used by a variety of organizations with broadly similar production philosophies centered on engaging and informing consumers around traceable, domestically sourced seafood. Acknowledgment of CSFs as diverse and socially embedded organizations is necessary to understanding their potential benefits.
Open Access
Disturbance, response, and persistence in self-organized forested communities: Analysis of robustness and resilience in five communities in Southern Indiana
(Ecology and Society, 2010-12-01) Fleischman, FD; Boenning, K; Garcia-Lopez, GA; Mincey, S; Schmitt-Harsh, M; Daedlow, K; Lopez, MC; Basurto, X; Fischer, B; Ostrom, E
We develop an analytic framework for the analysis of robustness in social-ecological systems (SESs) over time. We argue that social robustness is affected by the disturbances that communities face and the way they respond to them. Using Ostrom's ontological framework for SESs, we classify the major factors influencing the disturbances and responses faced by five Indiana intentional communities over a 15-year time frame. Our empirical results indicate that operational and collective-choice rules, leadership and entrepreneurship, monitoring and sanctioning, economic values, number of users, and norms/social capital are key variables that need to be at the core of future theoretical work on robustness of self-organized systems. © 2010 by the author(s).
Open Access
Ecology and the science of small-scale fisheries: A synthetic review of research effort for the Anthropocene
(Biological Conservation, 2021-02-01) Smith, H; Garcia Lozano, A; Baker, D; Blondin, H; Hamilton, J; Choi, J; Basurto, X; Silliman, B
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Human-driven changes to aquatic environments threaten small-scale fisheries (SSFs). Ensuring a livable future for SSFs in the Anthropocene requires incorporating ecological knowledge of these diverse multi-species systems beyond the long-standing reliance on populations, a management paradigm adopted from industrial fisheries. Assessing the state of ecological knowledge on SSFs is timely as we enter the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science and Sustainable Development and with the upcoming International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. Synthesizing research effort can help identify existing knowledge gaps and relatively well-researched ‘bright spots’ that can inform strategies to achieve global sustainability commitments. Yet trends in ecological research of SSFs are not well understood compared to better-studied industrial fisheries. To address this void, we conducted a synthetic review of SSF publications in ecology journals (n = 302), synthesizing trends in research subjects and methodologies over time. Wide geographic and habitat disparities in the coverage of publications are identified, with marine fisheries in Latin American receiving the greatest coverage while inland and Asian fisheries are understudied relative to the global distribution of SSFs. Bony fish and invertebrates received substantial coverage compared to endangered cartilaginous fishes. Studies have increasingly focused on human dimensions and ecosystem ecology compared to earlier emphasis on population ecology. Methodologically, studies rarely incorporate experiments despite their efficacy in testing interventions. To achieve a ‘wider view’ of fisheries that is reflective of the needs of SSFs in the Anthropocene, future ecological studies should expand their geographic, taxonomic, and methodological breadth to better assess understudied SSF interactions.
Open Access
Effective climate change adaptation means supporting community autonomy
(Nature Climate Change, 2022-03-01) Pisor, AC; Basurto, X; Douglass, KG; Mach, KJ; Ready, E; Tylianakis, JM; Hazel, A; Kline, MA; Kramer, KL; Lansing, JS; Moritz, M; Smaldino, PE; Thornton, TF; Jones, JH

Browsing by Author "Basurto, X"

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