Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:30:12.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Where to From Here? Unraveling Wicked Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2021

By
Robert G. Woodmansee ,
Dennis S. Ojima  and
Nicole E. Kaplan
Edited by
Robert G. Woodmansee ,
John C. Moore ,
Dennis S. Ojima  and
Laurie Richards
Robert G. Woodmansee
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
John C. Moore
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
Dennis S. Ojima
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
Laurie Richards
Affiliation:
Colorado State University
Get access

Summary

The evolution of ecosystem science and systems ecology as legitimate branches of science has occurred since the late 1960s. They have flourished because of their essential contributions to understanding and management of natural resources and the environment. Scientific knowledge about the structure and functioning of ecosystems, the services ecosystems provide to people, and the roles people play therein, have become commonplace. Scientists know what challenges face Earth’s environments and they know many of the solutions available to resolve them. But scientific knowledge alone is insufficient to implement change. Knowledge transfer to people who manage our lands, waters, and other natural resources is essential and they must become engaged in implementing solutions to major natural resource and environmental challenges. Adoption of new concepts and technologies is critical. Overcoming the barriers to adoption of best management practices is critically needed. Many of the barriers are created by adherence to dogmatic cultural norms and ideologies by landowners, managers, and policy makers. Behavioral, organizational, learning, and marketing professionals study behavioral change. The systems ecology paradigm must incorporate behavioral, organizational, learning, and marketing professionals as partners in implementing concepts of adoption cycles and community-based social marketing to solve wicked problems.

Keywords

systems ecology paradigmknowledge transferconcept and technology adoption cyclesbarriers to concept adoptionbest management practicesadaptive managementcommunity-based social marketing
Type
Chapter
Information
Natural Resource Management Reimagined
Using the Systems Ecology Paradigm
 , pp. 380 - 420
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

APS. (2007). Tackling Wicked Problems: A Policy Perspective. The Australian Public Service Commission. www.enablingchange.com.au/wickedproblems.pdf (accessed August 13, 2020).Google Scholar
Australia Land Management. (2011). Land use and management. https://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/land/topic/land-use-and-management (accessed August 13, 2020).Google Scholar
Balint, P. J., Stewart, R. E., Desai, A., and Walters, L. C. (2011). Wicked Environmental Problems. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, A. R. (2017). Wicked Problems in Ecology Teaching and Learning: Biodiversity, Material Cycling, Ecosystem Services and Climate Change. Ecological Society of America. https://eco.confex.com/eco/2017/webprogram/Session12907.html (accessed August 13, 2020).Google Scholar
CDC. (2018). Center for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov.Google Scholar
Cheruvelil, K. S., and Soranno, P. A. (2018). Data-intensive ecological research is catalyzed by open science and team science. BioScience, 68(10), 813–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cipolla, C. M. (1987). The basic laws of human stupidity. Whole Earth Review (Spring), 2–7. http://harmful.cat-v.org/people/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/.Google Scholar
Diederen, P., van Meijl, H., Wolters, A., and Bijak, K. (2003). Innovation adoption in agriculture: Innovators, early adopters and laggards. Cahiers d’économie et sociologie rurales, 67, 29–50. http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/205937/2/67–29–50.pdf.Google Scholar
Digital Marketing. (2018). The 5 customer segments of technology adoption. Digital Marketing. https://ondigitalmarketing.com/learn/odm/foundations/5-customer-segments-technology-adoption/Google Scholar
Easterday, K., Paulson, T., DasMohapatra, P., Alagona, P., Feirer, S., and Kelly, M. (2018). From the field to the cloud: A review of three approaches to sharing historical data from field stations using principles from data science. Frontiers of Environnemental Science, 6, 88. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fecb/ef6cba5198836bfa80f38af843c3ffe0a5b1.pdf.Google Scholar
Environmental Science. (2018). Big data: Explaining its uses to environmental sciences. Environmental Science. www.environmentalscience.org/data-science-big-dataFAO. (2018). Water-energy-food-nexus. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. www.fao.org/energy/water-food-energy-nexus/en/.Google Scholar
Forrester, J. W. (1968). Principles of Systems. Cambridge, MA: Wright-Allen Press.Google Scholar
Gewin, V. (2016). An open mind on open data. Nature, 529, 117–19.Google Scholar
Grafton, R. Q., Pittock, J., and Davis, R. (2013). Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance. Nature Climate Change, 3, 315–21.Google Scholar
Guilbeaulta, D., Beckera, J., and Centola, D. (2018). Social learning and partisan bias in the interpretation of climate trends. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 115(39), 9714–19.Google Scholar
Hampton, S. E., Anderson, S. S., Bagby, S. C., et al. (2015). The Tao of open science for ecology. Ecosphere, 6(7), 1–13.Google Scholar
Hampton, S. E., Strasser, C. A., Tewksbury, J. J., et al. (2013). Big data and the future of ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 11(3), 156–62.Google Scholar
Hayhoe, K. (2017). Bridging the faith-science divide. Got Science podcast. Episode 8: Union of Concerned Scientists. www.ucsusa.org/bridging-faith-science-divide#.W7PCnS-ZNTY.Google Scholar
Holling, C. S. (1978). Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Kanowski, P., and McKenzie, N. (2011). Land: Land use and management. In Australia State of the Environment 2011, ed. Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. https://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/land/topic/land-use-and-management.Google Scholar
Kubler-Ross, H. (1969). On Death and Dying. New York: Scribner.Google Scholar
Lewis, C. S. (1955). The Magician's Nephew. New York: Harper Collins Children's Books.Google Scholar
McKenzie-Mohr, D. (2011). Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.Google Scholar
McLeod, S. (2018). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. SimplePsychology www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.Google Scholar
Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in Systems: A Primer. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.Google Scholar
Mitchell, M., Griffith, R., Ryan, P., et al. (2014). Applying resilience thinking to natural resource management through a “planning-by-doing” framework. Society and Natural Resources, 27, 299–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montague, C. L. (2016). Systems ecology. Oxford Bibliographies. www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060–0078.xml.Google Scholar
Moore, G. A. (2014). Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers, 3rd edn. New York: Harper-Collins.Google Scholar
Moser, S. (2016). Can science on transformation transform science? Lessons from co-design. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 20, 106–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Research Council. (1995). On the Full and Open Exchange of Scientific Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18769.Google Scholar
Nichols, T. M. (2017). The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ojima, D. S., and Corell, R. W. (2009). Managing grassland ecosystems under global environmental change: Developing strategies to meet challenges and opportunities of global change. In Farming with Grass: Achieving Sustainable Mixed Agricultural Landscapes, ed. Franzluebbers, A. J.. Ankeny, IA: Soil and Water Conservation Society, 146–55Google Scholar
Pannell, D. J., Marshall, G. R., Barr, N., Curtis, A., Vanclay, F., and Wilkinson, R. (2006). Understanding and promoting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 46(11), 1407–24.Google Scholar
Peer, L., and Green, A. (2012). Building an open data repository for a specialized research community: Process, challenges and lessons. International Journal of Digital Curation, 7(1), 151–62.Google Scholar
Peters, D. P., Loescher, H. W., SanClements, M. D., and Havstad, K. M. (2014). Taking the pulse of a continent: Expanding site-based research infrastructure for regional‐to continental‐scale ecology. Ecosphere, 5(3), 1–23.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, R. (2016). The basic laws of human stupidity. RealClearScience. www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/09/the_basic_laws_of_human_stupidity.html.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, R. (2019). What is stupidity? RealClearScience. www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/03/02/what_is_stupidity.html.Google Scholar
Resilience Alliance. (2018). Resilience Alliance. www.resalliance.org (accessed June 18, 2018).Google Scholar
Riebsame, W., and Woodmansee, R. (1995). Mapping common ground on public Rangelands. In Let the People Judge, ed. Echeverria, J. and Eby, R. B.. Washington, DC: Island Press, 69–81.Google Scholar
Rittel, H. W., and Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155–69. www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/ellendo/rittel/rittel-dilemma.pdf.Google Scholar
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations, 5th edn. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Sohrabi, Z., and Zarghi, N. (2015). Evidence-based management: An overview. Creative Education, 6, 1776–81.Google Scholar
Tabara, J. and Chabay, I. (2013). Coupling human information and knowledge systems with social–ecological systems change: Reframing research, education, and policy for sustainability. Environmental Science and Policy, 28, 71–81.Google Scholar
Tetard, F., and Collan, M. (2007). Lazy user theory: A dynamic model to understand user selection of products and services. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE Computer Society. www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2009/3450/00/09–13–01.pdf.Google Scholar
Thaler, R., and Sunstine, C. R. (2009). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
UNMEA. (2005). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, United Nations. www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html.Google Scholar
UNWater. (2018). Water, food, and energy. UN-Water, the United Nations. www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-food-and-energy/.Google Scholar
USDA Farm Bill. (2018). Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture. www.ers.usda.gov/agriculture-improvement-act-of-2018-highlights-and-implications/.Google Scholar
Values. (2010). Values. Philosophy of Nature. https://physicalspace.wordpress.com/2010/10/.Google Scholar
Van Dyne, G. (1969). The Ecosystem Concept in Natural Resource Management. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Vanclay, F (2004). Social principles for agricultural extension to assist in the promotion of natural resource management. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 44(3), 213–22 www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Vanclay/publication/228555077.Google Scholar
Waide, R. B., Brunt, J. W., and Servilla, M. S. (2017). Demystifying the landscape of ecological data repositories in the United States. BioScience, 67(12), 1044–51.Google Scholar
Walker, B., and Salt, D. (2006). Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Weathers, K. C., Groffman, P. M., Van Dolah, E., et al. (2016). Frontiers in ecosystem ecology from a community perspective: The future is boundless and bright. Ecosystems, 19, 753.Google Scholar
Wegscheider-Cruse, S. (1987). Choice Making. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.Google Scholar
Weichselgartner, J., and Kasperson, R. (2010). Barriers in the science–policy–practice interface: Toward a knowledge-action-system in global environmental change research. Global Environmental Change, 20, 266–77.Google Scholar
Wikipedia. (2018a). Wicked problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem.Google Scholar
Wikipedia. (2018b). Big data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data.Google Scholar
Wikipedia. (2019). Critical thinking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. J., et al. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data, 3, 160018.Google Scholar
Woo, C. (2010). Religion rejuvenates environmentalism. The Miami Herald. http://fore.yale.edu/news/item/religion-rejuvenates-environmentalism/.Google Scholar
Woodmansee, R. G. (1978). Critique and analyses of the grassland ecosystem model ELM. In Grassland Simulation Model, ed. Innis, G. S.. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×