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Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 17340

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andrew Kliskey

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Guest Editor

Center for Resilient Communities, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-2461, USA
Interests: human response and adaptation to environmental change; spatial methodologies for understanding coupled natural human systems; spatial approaches for representing indigenous and traditional knowledge; social-ecological systems and place-based science

Assist. Prof. Daniel Cronan

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Guest Editor

Center for Resilient Communities, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA
Interests: digital representation; landscape planning; implementation of Stormwater Green Infrastructure (SGI) facilities

Assist. Prof. David Griffith

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Guest Editor

Center for Resilient Communities, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA
Interests: social-ecological systems science; community-based observing; stakeholder and community engagement

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The engagement of researchers with stakeholders and communities can lead to significant impacts on research outcomes, empowerment of communities to shape their own futures, and the co-creation of knowledge. In the context of food, energy, and water systems (FEWS) research, outcomes and knowledge can affect policy decisions and suggest solutions which, in turn, can have effects on the futures of communities and infrastructure at the landscape scale. As researchers, we are tasked with disseminating both positive and negative externalities to our peers through the use of unbiased and consistent methodologies, but we also must understand and accept that the stakeholders and communities we work with have vested interests in certain outcomes. The purpose of this Special Issue is to explore the intersection of FEWS science and community-engaged research methodologies and, in particular, efforts to understand how FEWS research can explore landscape-scale futures and trajectories of change affecting communities and social–ecological systems.

Prof. Dr. Andrew Kliskey
Assist. Prof. Daniel Cronan
Assist. Prof. David Griffith
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Alternative futures
Community-based
Food–energy–water systems
Sustainable landscapes
Scenarios
Stakeholder
Community
Social–ecological systems

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1241 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adapting to Socio-Environmental Change: Institutional Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Interacting Formal and Informal Cooperative Water Governance

by Sarah Gilmore, Barbara Cosens, David L. Griffith, Lilian Alessa and Andrew Kliskey

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10394; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su141610394 - 21 Aug 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1105

Abstract

Much of the world’s agricultural lands are projected to face hydrologic and climatic changes that will lead to water scarcity and corresponding food insecurity. The emergent response of complex social-ecological systems to change requires rapid response and tailored solutions. Top-down responses without room for local self-organization may fail to implement effective solutions, yet self-organization alone may be too slow to respond in a period of rapid change and may lack the accountability necessary in the management of a public resource such as water. This research relies on concepts of governing complexity to assess the role of local self-organization nested within formal institutions in developing adaptive solutions to conflict involving irrigated agriculture in Idaho’s Upper Snake River Basin. While formal institutions have provided a framework, steering, and resources for local action, the organization of water users dependent on the resource plays a large role in the ability of the region to adapt to water supply disturbances, highlighting the importance of local capacity within an umbrella of governmental steering to respond to rising water resources issues in semi-arid regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies)

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19 pages, 5830 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Socio-Ecological Futures: Embedded Solutions for Stakeholder-Driven Alternative Futures

by Daniel Cronan, E. Jamie Trammell, Andrew (Anaru) Kliskey, Paula Williams and Lilian Alessa

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3732; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14073732 - 22 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1871

Abstract

Scenarios of landscape change have the capacity to address spatial and temporal issues, current and future trends, and solutions that increase capacity and/or resilience in social-ecological systems and their networks. In this study, we present a resilience framework for food–energy–water systems and demonstrate it with a case study in Magic Valley, Idaho. We formulated scenarios of change based on stakeholder input (qualitative data), researcher-developed models (quantitative data), and validation of plausibility through impact and indicator evaluation. The stakeholder engagement process identified key issues, critical uncertainties, and plausible and viable solutions to future challenges. Specifically, we analyzed cross-scenario futures and their solutions to address water quality issues in the face of climate change, land-use change conflicts, and population shifts in the region. The process activates stakeholder and research-based models to create geospatial alternative futures and their associated timesteps, with embedded solutions, which broadens and improves conventional scenario-based research. The process intends to provide policy-makers, researchers, and scenario facilitators with a strategic framework to activate solutions temporally with a stakeholder-defined suite of scenarios. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies)

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13 pages, 2882 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Images to Evoke Decision-Making: Building Compelling Representations for Stakeholder-Driven Futures

by Daniel Cronan, E. Jamie Trammell and Andrew (Anaru) Kliskey

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2980; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052980 - 03 Mar 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1929

Abstract

Contemporary landscape planning challenges require an increasingly diverse ensemble of voices, including regional stakeholders, physical scientists, social scientists, and technical experts, to provide insight into a landscape’s past trends, current uses, and desired future. To impactfully integrate these disparate components, stakeholder-driven research must include clear lines of communication, share data transparently, and slowly develop trust. Alternative future scenario representations aim to generate conversations through discourse, evoke scenario-based stakeholder input, and ensure stakeholder-based revisions to research models. The current literature lacks a metric for gauging effectiveness and a framework for optimal evaluation for future scenario representations. We have developed and applied a metric for a ranked set of compelling scenario representations using stakeholder input from an active research project. Researchers surveyed stakeholders through a case study in Idaho’s Magic Valley to gauge the effectiveness of each representational approach. To improve future stakeholder-driven geodesign projects and gaps in the research literature, this project provides a ranking of graphic strategies based on the stakeholder survey. Additionally, we provide examples and evaluate graphic representation strategies that can stimulate meaningful conversations, create common understandings, and translate research processes and findings to a variety of audiences. The results of this study intend to provide landscape architects, landscape planners, and geodesign specialists with a framework for evaluating compelling future scenario representations for a stakeholder group. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies)

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16 pages, 1517 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fostering Responsible Innovation through Stakeholder Engagement: Case Study of North Carolina Sweetpotato Stakeholders

by Khara Grieger, Sebastian Zarate, Sarah Kathleen Barnhill-Dilling, Shelly Hunt, Daniela Jones and Jennifer Kuzma

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2274; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14042274 - 17 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2682

Abstract

Stakeholder and community engagement are critical for the successful development of new technologies that aim to be integrated into sustainable agriculture systems. This study reports on an approach used to engage stakeholders within the sweetpotato community in North Carolina to understand their preferences, needs, and concerns as they relate to a new sensing and diagnostic platform. This work also demonstrates an example of real-time technology assessment that also fosters responsible innovation through inclusivity and responsiveness. Through the conduction of 29 interviews with sweetpotato stakeholders in North Carolina, we found that participants found the most value in detecting external sweetpotato characteristics, as well as the ability to use or connect to a smartphone that can be used in field. They also found value in including environmental parameters and having a Spanish language module. Most participants indicated that they were comfortable with sharing data as long as it benefited the greater North Carolina sweetpotato industry, and were concerned with sharing these data with “outside” competitors. We also observed differences and variations between stakeholder groups. Overall, this work demonstrates a relatively simple, low-cost approach to eliciting stakeholder needs within a local agricultural context to improve sustainability, an approach that could be leveraged and transferred to other local agrifood systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies)

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15 pages, 1526 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Comprehensive Scenarios to Identify Social–Ecological Threats to Salmon in the Kenai River Watershed, Alaska

by Jamie Trammell, Meagan Krupa, Paula Williams and Andrew Kliskey

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5490; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13105490 - 14 May 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2312

Abstract

Environmental changes caused by climate change in Alaska pose a serious threat to the food, energy and water systems that support the culturally diverse communities statewide. The fishing industry, watershed managers and other stakeholders struggle with understanding and predicting the rates, magnitude and location of changes occurring in their regions primarily because of the significant range of uncertainty inherent in these changes. With the guidance of stakeholders, we demonstrate a scenario analysis methodology to elucidate the interactions among various components and uncertainties within the food, energy and water systems of the Kenai River Watershed. Alternative scenario analysis provided stakeholders with a venue and process to consider plausible futures in which rates of change in critical uncertainties were modeled to elucidate potential responses. Critical uncertainties ranged from climatic impacts on freshwater systems, to new energy development proposals, to changes in sport and personal use fisheries. Working together, stakeholders developed narratives that reflected different combinations of future uncertainty to guide potential management actions now and in the future. Five scenarios were developed by stakeholders that capture the complex interactions in the Kenai River Watershed as a social–ecological system. This process provides a way for managers and stakeholders to plan for the future in a richer way than extrapolating trends for obvious drivers of change. We present this framework as a platform for integrating climate, landscape and cultural change data into actionable decisions, crafted by stakeholders, to improve future food, energy and water resource management at the watershed scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies)

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19 pages, 785 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thinking Big and Thinking Small: A Conceptual Framework for Best Practices in Community and Stakeholder Engagement in Food, Energy, and Water Systems

by Andrew Kliskey, Paula Williams, David L. Griffith, Virginia H. Dale, Chelsea Schelly, Anna-Maria Marshall, Valoree S. Gagnon, Weston M. Eaton and Kristin Floress

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2160; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13042160 - 17 Feb 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 6630

Abstract

Community and stakeholder engagement is increasingly recognized as essential to science at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems (FEWS) to address complex issues surrounding food and energy production and water provision for society. Yet no comprehensive framework exists for supporting best practices in community and stakeholder engagement for FEWS. A review and meta-synthesis were undertaken of a broad range of existing models, frameworks, and toolkits for community and stakeholder engagement. A framework is proposed that comprises situational awareness of the FEWS place or problem, creation of a suitable culture for engagement, focus on power-sharing in the engagement process, co-ownership, co-generation of knowledge and outcomes, the technical process of integration, the monitoring processes of reflective and reflexive experiences, and formative evaluation. The framework is discussed as a scaffolding for supporting the development and application of best practices in community and stakeholder engagement in ways that are arguably essential for sound FEWS science and sustainable management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trajectories of Change in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Exploring Futures of Landscape-scale Systems Using Community Engagement Methodologies)

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