TY - JOUR
T1 - Using scale and human agency to frame ranchers’ discussions about socio-ecological change and resilience
AU - Greene, Christina
AU - Wilmer, Hailey
AU - Ferguson, Daniel B
AU - Crimmins, Michael A.
AU - McClaran, Mitchel P.
N1 - Funding Information:
Foremost we thank the ranchers and land managers who shared their time and personal experiences with the research team. We also thank the county extension agents whose assistance in connecting us with ranchers and land managers was invaluable to the study. This work was funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (grant number 2018-68002-27923). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Funding Information:
Foremost we thank the ranchers and land managers who shared their time and personal experiences with the research team. We also thank the county extension agents whose assistance in connecting us with ranchers and land managers was invaluable to the study. This work was funded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (grant number 2018-68002-27923). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Resilience is becoming the dominant discourse in research and policy on climate change as well as wider social-ecological change. Resources and assets alone are often not enough to support resilience, especially in the context of multi-scalar change. Human agency, that is the ability to act and make choices that produce desirable outcomes, is critical to responding and thriving in the face of social-ecological change, however agency remains underexplored in the social-ecological change and resilience literature. We use a local knowledge approach to understand the role of human agency in shaping resilience to complex multi-scalar social-ecological changes. This research draws on focus groups and interviews with ranchers and land managers in seven different focal landscapes across the American West to understand how ranchers articulate social-ecological change in western rangelands, how they describe their own agency in responding to such changes, and how local knowledge of agency and social-ecological change can strengthen conceptions of resilience. Ranchers expressed more agency in addressing observed ecological and climatic changes but less agency in navigating multi-scalar sociological, political and land use changes as these processes unfold at scales far beyond the ranch. Several ranchers also provided examples where scale jumping or increasing community human agency created pathways for resilience to multi-scalar processes. This analysis has two main implications for resilience interventions. First, resilience is a complex negotiation of interconnected and multi-scalar processes and climate resilience cannot be separated from other ongoing economic and social processes. Second, human agency is a critical component of resilience that allows for negotiations of multi-scalar social-ecological changes.
AB - Resilience is becoming the dominant discourse in research and policy on climate change as well as wider social-ecological change. Resources and assets alone are often not enough to support resilience, especially in the context of multi-scalar change. Human agency, that is the ability to act and make choices that produce desirable outcomes, is critical to responding and thriving in the face of social-ecological change, however agency remains underexplored in the social-ecological change and resilience literature. We use a local knowledge approach to understand the role of human agency in shaping resilience to complex multi-scalar social-ecological changes. This research draws on focus groups and interviews with ranchers and land managers in seven different focal landscapes across the American West to understand how ranchers articulate social-ecological change in western rangelands, how they describe their own agency in responding to such changes, and how local knowledge of agency and social-ecological change can strengthen conceptions of resilience. Ranchers expressed more agency in addressing observed ecological and climatic changes but less agency in navigating multi-scalar sociological, political and land use changes as these processes unfold at scales far beyond the ranch. Several ranchers also provided examples where scale jumping or increasing community human agency created pathways for resilience to multi-scalar processes. This analysis has two main implications for resilience interventions. First, resilience is a complex negotiation of interconnected and multi-scalar processes and climate resilience cannot be separated from other ongoing economic and social processes. Second, human agency is a critical component of resilience that allows for negotiations of multi-scalar social-ecological changes.
KW - American West
KW - Human agency
KW - Qualitative research
KW - Rangelands
KW - Resilience
KW - Scale
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85141762099&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.11.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.11.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85141762099
SN - 0743-0167
VL - 96
SP - 217
EP - 226
JO - Journal of Rural Studies
JF - Journal of Rural Studies
ER -