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JEOD - Vol. 6, Issue 1 (2017)
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AT T R I B U T I O N 3 . 0
Editorial: Community-Based, Collaborative Solutions
to Sustainable Economic Development in and around
Biosphere Reserves
This is the introductory article to the JEOD Special Issue on “Community-Based, Collaborative
Solutions to Sustainable Economic Development in and around Biosphere Reserves”. In introducing
the topic, we make the case for joining the experience of practitioners and scholars in the writing
of the issue articles. We outline an institutionalist approach to the study of sustainable development
in UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserves (BRs) and highlight how this can help explaining the
emergence of a variety of experiences from which practitioners can extract major lessons to solve
common problems of collective action within BRs. The editorial concludes by presenting issues for
further research.
BIOSPHERE RESERVES; SOCIAL CAPITAL; SOCIAL ENTERPRISE; COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT;
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; OSTROM
COLIN CAMPBELL
Assist Social Capital CIC, Scotland (UK)
colin@social-capital.net
SILVIA SACCHETTI
Department of Sociology and Social Research,
University of Trento (Italy)
silvia.sacchetti@unitn.it
ABSTRACT
AUTHOR
KEY-WORDS
JEL
Classification: L31; M16; Q01; Q38 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5947/jeod.2017.001
Volume 6, Issue 1 (2017) 1-9 | Published online 18 October 2017
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank all the authors, and the anonymous reviewers for the insight they have brought with their
comments. Our thanks also go to Barbara Franchini for final editorial advice and Michela Angeli for editing assistance.
Editorial: Community-Based, Collaborative Solutions to Sustainable Economic Development in and around Biosphere Reserves
Colin Campbell and Silvia Sacchetti
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1. Introduction
The issue is completely devoted to the topic of community-based, collaborative solutions to
the sustainable development of Biosphere Reserves. In interactions with participants in academic
and practitioner workshops on sustainable development and social economy organisations, it
is quite striking to notice how many scholars and operators appreciate and apply cooperative,
community-based frameworks to their work. The idea in the choice of contributions for this
Special Issue was to join practice and theory, with the aim of starting a common reflection with
practitioners, policy makers and academic researchers on issues that are often addressed without
opening appropriate lines of communication between these spheres.
The topic relates closely to the discussions on “Economics in and around Biosphere Reserves”
chaired by one of the guest editors, Colin Campbell, at the 4th World Congress of Biosphere
Reserves held in Lima, Peru in March 2016. The Lima conference set out a new vision for the Man
and Biosphere (MAB) Programme, for the decade 2016-2025, which mainstreams UNESCO
Biosphere Reserves as models for national/regional demonstration of sustainable development
within national and global agendas for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Although cooperative, community-based approaches seem to be widespread these days, this
has not always been the case. Despite recent popularity, the application of cooperative, community
based frameworks to instances of social and natural justice is a relatively recent phenomenon. Only
in the mid-1990s, a literature appeared that broadened conceptual tools that, until then, had been
polarised between those who favoured state-led regulation and neo-liberal approaches centred on
free market. The study of solutions to the management of natural resources took a radical turn after
the work of Elinor Ostrom (1990), who identified the conditions under which a “third alternative”
is possible. This alternative is based on the ability of individuals to cooperate and to self-organise to
establish rules that everyone is asked to respect.
Before these conceptual tools developed, in 1971 UNESCO launched the Man and the Biosphere
(MAB) Programme (Ishwaran, Persic and Tri, 2008; Coetzer, Witkowski and Erasmus, 2014).
Out of this framework emerged the concept for context-specific conservation (Ishwaran, Persic
and Tri, 2008), as well as the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) (Ishwaran, 2009).
The concept is considered as an international tool for cooperation related to nature conservation,
interdisciplinary research and education as well as the basis for developing a sustainable long-term
approach for improving the relationship between the environment and the people living within it
(Ishwaran, Persic and Tri, 2008; Coetzer, Witkowski and Erasmus, 2014).
In general, the Biosphere Reserve (BR) framework and concept have shifted over time from an initial
prioritisation of conservation and research towards the idea of sustainable development where the BR
fulfils three main functions: (i) conservation role; (ii) logistic support function; and (iii) development role
(UNESCO, 1996; Ishwaran, Persic and Tri, 2008; Coetzer, Witkowski and Erasmus, 2014).
More recently, the Madrid Action Plan (MAP) (UNESCO, 2008) emphasised the role of
BRs as “training grounds” (Learning Laboratories - LLabs) to develop sustainable development
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principles translated into local contexts whereby greater local participation and “social learning”
are to be integrated (Reed and Massie, 2013) and shared across the World Network of Biosphere
Reserves (Ishwaran, Persic and Tri, 2008). As Ishwaran, Persic and Tri advocated (2008, 6): “It is the
authors’ expectation that the next 5–10 years of experimentation with biosphere reserves as learning
laboratories for sustainable development will generate a significant pool of data, information and
knowledge about local level practices that give context-specific expression to the global concept of
the biosphere reserve”.
After about a decade from that statement, we hope that this Special Issue provides some initial
indications on the experimental experiences enabled by the UNESCO MAB Programme, with the
intent of highlighting the factors that made them more or less successful.
2. The role of cooperative institutions
Biosphere Reserves are “commons” at all effects: access cannot be restricted and the use of
one individual subtracts to the possibility of another individual to use the resource. Therefore,
without a deep knowledge of their nature, and definition of appropriate principles for interaction,
the resources produced by the common are overused to the detriment of each and every user. The
danger called for by Hardin (1968) in his seminal piece The tragedy of the commons reinstates that
resource overuse undermines the resilience of the common, which loses its qualities and ceases to be
a resource for the community.
In parallel, institutional economist and political scientists have long studied how shared
understanding, cooperation and trust within communities of interests are the pre-conditions for
the collective management of commons and their resilience. Specifically, Ostrom (1990) argued
in favour of self-defined rules by which the community of users and beneficiaries understand the
common advantages of cooperating, and share their sedimented knowledge to define and enforce
shared rules for the use of common pool of resources. The scholarly work of Ostrom and colleagues
argues against the use and imposition of top-down rules, disconnected from the customs and ability
to find commonly beneficial solutions of interested parties. She, in fact, argues that participatory
solutions are more promptly respected and enforced.
The conceptual background provided by institutional theory points to one major challenge for
policy makers and communities: to endogenously develop a model for the sustainable use of the
resources produced by BRs. This implies creating the contextual features and the rules that best
serve the development of socio-economic activities (such as sustainable tourism, forestry, waste
management, housing, and welfare services) without compromising the ability of the BR system
and its population to re-produce and thrive in the long run.
As a reply to this challenge, more recently, Sacchetti and Campbell (2015) have identified
(on this Journal) a framework for studying community development. The framework emphasises
the role of social enterprise and public engagement in fostering a space of cooperative relations
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amongst communities of interest, which can enhance common welfare. In parallel, the role of
social enterprise and public engagement is central in the Social Enterprise & Biosphere (SEBR)
Development Framework applied to BR development and launched by the social enterprise Assist
Social Capital in 2013 (ASC, 2013).
Overall, the social enterprise model is growing internationally and “[…] in recent decades the
SE [social economy] has not only asserted its ability to make an effective contribution to solving the
new social problems, it has also strengthened its position as a necessary institution for stable and
sustainable economic growth, matching services to needs, increasing the value of economic activities
serving social needs, fairer income and wealth distribution, correcting labour market imbalances
and, in short, deepening and strengthening economic democracy” (Chaves and Monzón Campos,
2008: 6).
Likewise, public participation plays a central role in the SEBR Framework, as it supports the
emergence of an environment within which enterprises can thrive. There are different levels of
participation from the most basic level of information sharing, up to community ownership and
participatory democracy. In addition, participation is closely aligned with the idea of social capital
(Putnam, 2000; Woolkock, 2001), since it is an effective way to extend networks of trust, so crucial
to the flow of information and resources. Overall, participatory approaches are based on the value of
engaging and empowering citizens to identify solutions to local issues. Moreover, although solutions
are produced locally, they can provide useful lessons for other localities, thus assuming a global
relevance. Embedding a culture of participation opens up previously unidentified opportunities
for collective action and cooperation. As a result, participation can substantially contribute to the
aims of BRs to be learning sites for sustainable development and spaces for experimentation and
development of creative ideas.
3. Experiences from Biosphere Reserves: the role of the UNESCO common institutional
framework and of contextual diversity
Building on this background, the articles published on this Special Issue develop ideas on
how the UNESCO MAB Programme, which has institutionalised BRs, has been interpreted at
local level, across diverse institutional contexts. Specifically, we are interested in experiences that
emphasise the role (and limits) of community-based initiatives, social enterprise and other economy
organisations, private business in general, and public participation programmes in enhancing
sustainable development in BRs.
The initial article, by Colin Campbell and Silvia Sacchetti highlights the key elements of
sustainable social and natural development within the broader institutional umbrella offered by
the UNESCO MAB Programme. This article sets out three policy/intellectual frameworks: those
supporting BRs, social capital and social enterprises—and the complex relationships between
them. The article makes an effective case for systems-based top-down governance being linked
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with bottom-up empowerment to achieve sustainability both for environmental preservation and
community economic development. The case presented is in Cat Ba Archipelago Biosphere Reserve.
This is one of eight BRs in Vietnam and part of the UNESCO MAB Programme since 2004.
These areas are exposed to a serious risk of overexploitation of the natural assets by tourism. The
article explores engagement initiatives developed by one of the authors, Colin Campbell, as director
of the social enterprise Assist Social Capital. The interest of this experience is that it presents a
model for engaging local community constituencies, such as community professions (i.e. farming,
fisheries, forestry, and tourism), young people, school students and teachers as well as all seven
village Community Learning Centres on Cat Ba Island. In particular, the model implemented by
Assist Social Capital, is centred on building social capital and illustrating the opportunities of a
social enterprise model in supporting BRs and their communities. The model adopts the OECD’s
definition of social capital (OECD, 2001), which emphasises cooperation within and among groups
by means of networks, shared norms and values, and common understanding. If supporting the
emergence of a cooperative relational context was central in the project, equally important was the
focus on specific organisational solutions to BR development challenges, namely social enterprises.
In the project, these were presented as a sustainable, not-for-private-profit business model achieved
through an asset lock, which strives to be financially independent of grants and have primary
objectives to achieve social and/or environmental benefit. The efforts to legitimise this social capital/
social enterprise model are shown by documenting the strategy implemented with the project, in
the attempt to maintain legitimacy to the eyes of community stakeholders and UNESCO MAB.
The insights of this paper demonstrate a potential paradox. On the one hand, a social capital/social
enterprise approach requires that actors in the community take organised economic action. On
the other hand, such actions must ensure wide stakeholder involvement in the formulation and
implementation of activities, to ensure that a common value base is maintained and that activities
do not threaten the BR. In this light, the paper provides a framework for analysis, which identifies
a plurality of dimensions (physical, relational, policy, organisational), to be considered in synergy
when assessing BRs communities and their possibilities. Further research is advocated, to determine
whether this model creates a lasting and sustainable environment. In the meantime, the Cat Ba
BR approach was identified as a national example of good practice in combining conservation
and development for sustainable development at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development (UNCSD) “Rio+20” in 2012.
The third paper by Giovanni Teneggi and Flaviano Zandonai illustrates the case of the
Appennino Tosco-Emiliano UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Italy. Overarching the Tuscany and
Emilia Romagna regions of north-central Italy, it covers the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine ridge from
Passo della Cisa to Passo delle Forbici, which marks the geographical and climatic boundary between
continental and Mediterranean Europe. The area contains nearly 70 per cent of all animal and plant
species present in Italy. The main economic activities are tourism, agriculture, artisanship and the
processing of high-quality foods. Leisure activities and tourism also represent important economic
assets for the 100,000 local inhabitants. The Appennino Tosco-Emiliano BR includes many villages
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that the authors describe as highly enterprising and cooperative. In their case studies, the authors
emphasise that the cooperatives that have been set up have revitalised public places by turning
private businesses on the verge of closure into productive community businesses. In some instances,
local communities have championed short supply chains through networks of local production
companies offering products characteristic of the local culture. In others, small social market
economy districts encourage business and non-profit organisations. Cultural initiatives re-forge
relationships and revitalise intangible resources and strengths introducing a new enterprising spirit
and a fresh sense of opportunity. Teneggi and Zandonai also highlight that the Appennino Tosco-
Emiliano BR most important output is trust, which is created and circulated on a daily basis by the
experiences outlined above. The authors describe them as “factories of social cohesion” that keep up
the quality of life in the territory. Initiatives that are started by local inhabitants are complemented
by people returning to the area or additionally by those from outside the community. The crucial
factor ensuring that these activities are productive for the community lies in a social contract to take
ownership and responsibility and to make the community a home. Rather than simply inhabiting
the area, people who make it their home build deep and long-lasting relationships with the other
inhabitants and the place itself. The same holds true for businesses based in the area that incorporate
the BR into their production and/or supply chains. This social contract generates a profound sense of
relationship that establishes collective destinies. Similar to life in rural and mountain communities
in times gone by, people and their families are bound together by similar activities, not merely
for the pursuit of profit but through a feeling of shared future. As a result, the authors suggest
that enterprising communities rescue neglected physical spaces, making them into sites for living,
interacting and working once again. Trust, ownership, relationships and local stakeholders are the
assets ensuring protection and competitiveness of the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano BR, which is
acting as a model for other rural areas in Italy. The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has
selected the area as a model site for further experimentation, with the aim of drawing lessons to be
applied in similar localities, and to extending the benefits of community cohesion to other strategic
development areas, such as health, education and transport.
Moving to the African continent, the article by Alexio Mbereko, Olga Kupika and Edson
Gandiwa explores the evolution of the paradigm adopted by the Zimbabwe Government since
the first national park was established, in 1872. They address in particular how biodiversity has
been protected by policy initiatives in Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve in Zimbabwe, which
is part of the UNESCO BR world network since 2010. Research supports the theory that if
fauna and flora is not protected by means of rules that are effectively enforced, it degrades at
a fast pace (Cf. also Naughton-Treves, Holland and Brandon, 2005). Their findings support
the conceptual framework developed by common-pool resource theory, which emphasises that
free-riding behaviours can be best avoided by engaging communities of users in the definition
and monitoring of rules (Hess and Ostrom, 2003). The authors explain that in the late 1980s, a
paradigm shift took place from protection and exclusion to involvement and inclusion of humans
in national parks management and the sustainable use of natural resources (Stoll-Kleemann,
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De la Vega-Leinert and Schukltz, 2010). As a result, international conservation initiatives now
advocate the use of resource management approaches that centre more on human livelihoods,
and BRs are a means to achieve this, under the UNESCO MAB Programme to promote
sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science (Pool-Stanvlie and
Clusener-Godt, 2013). However, moving from policy requirements to practice presents obstacles,
which the authors analyse taking into account the CAMPFIRE programme (Communal Areas
Management Programme for Indigenous Resources), developed within the BR. The main
difficulties, as explained, originate from structural weaknesses and national economic difficulties,
as well as from the persisting over-exploitation of natural resources, either legally or illegally.
Because of these major institutional and economic shortcomings, the authors conclude that
CAMPFIRE has not benefitted the poor rural communities of the BR as expected. Looking at
perceptions in the community, the authors highlight that community members are aware of the
poor level of stakeholder engagement in the programme (citing for example the fact that they
are not consulted when hunting licences are granted in the area). Other causes of failure are
identified in the support activities for business with a short-term profit motive (game hunting),
lack of policy to enable local communities to benefit from the natural resources in the BR, and
poor accountability. The outcome is breaking of rules, and emerging of conflict between the local
inhabitants and the authorities.
The Swedish approach is illustrated in the article by Magnus Fredricson and Johanna
MacTaggart, who shed light on the institutional features of the social economy and how these
may offer consistent organisational models for the sustainable development of BRs. The authors
apply Flora and Flora (1993) approach to emphasise community development complexity,
which is disentangled by identifying different forms of capital: natural, cultural, human, social,
political, financial, and in-built capital. The Scandinavian approach aims at addressing all
forms of capital holistically and, to do so, it has been applied by activating investments in the
development of all forms of capital. The authors describe how the Biosphere Innovation System
(BIS) was conceived with such a holistic approach in mind and to enhance social innovation
and enable social entrepreneurs to address societal and natural challenges. Especially, the article
illustrates what structures have been created to promote and employ innovation for sustainable
development in the Lake Vänern Archipelago BR in Sweden, creating an ecosystem that enables
use of localised knowledge, participation in social entrepreneurs’ forums for discussion, financing
and facilitated learning for policy makers and citizens. Being based on shared environmental
and social values, the authors highlight how the BIS was created with the policy ambition of
enhancing BR sustainability across the globe, by developing a model which could be practically
applied to different contexts across the UNESCO BR world network.
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4. Open research questions
These contributions emphasise the features of successful and less successful BR experiences.
More would need to be uncovered on how these features were brought about. For example, future
research could address questions such as (i) what is the role of existing social capital in explaining
the success of formal, institutionalised initiatives aimed at increasing cooperative relations? (ii) If
existing relational assets have a role, what would the implications be for areas with poor social
capital, opportunistic behaviours and short-termism? (iii) What factors enable continuity of BR
designated areas? (iv) What is the right mix of top-down and bottom-up initiatives? (v) How can
social enterprises and more generally social economy initiatives maintain their pro-social and pro-
environmental orientation over time? (vi) What are the limitations of social enterprises in promoting
and enabling BR sustainable development?
Further inquiry into the interaction between various institutional spheres, from international to
local rules and norms, to social enterprise features, nature of social capital, and BRs geomorphological
specificities may originate more refined analytical maps. Understanding social enterprise as being
part of wider international and local governance system, underpinned by cooperation and shared
pro-social and pro-natural values seem today more and more important, especially in light of
the transformations occurring in the role of the state and of the legitimacy crises of major global
economic players. More research on the potential of cooperative and community centred initiatives
would be needed, especially in contexts where the application of shared values is difficult, that is
in systems where besides declaration of intents, the economic, social and political spheres tolerate
damaging and unfair rules and practices.
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