Long-distance social relationships can both undercut and promote local natural resource management

Anne C Pisor; Monique Borgerhoff Mulder; Kristopher Michael Smith

doi:10.1098/rstb.2022.0269

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Long-distance social relationships can both undercut and promote local natural resource management

Journal article

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Long-distance social relationships can both undercut and promote local natural resource management

Anne C Pisor, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder and Kristopher Michael Smith

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences, Vol.379(1893), p.20220269

01/01/2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0269

PMID: 37952627

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Abstract

Conservation of Natural Resources

Ecosystem

Forests

Humans

Interpersonal Relations

Anthropology

Natural Resources

The management of large common-pool resources, like fisheries and forests, is more difficult when more people and more communities can access them-a particular problem given increased population sizes, higher mobility and globalized trade in the Anthropocene. Social relationships spanning communities, such as kin relationships, business or trade relationships and friendships, can make management even more challenging by facilitating and transmitting norms of overharvesting. However, these long-distance relationships can also bolster management by transmitting norms for sustainability, promoting interdependence and laying the groundwork for nested management systems. Here, we review the negative and positive impacts of long-distance relationships on local natural resource management (NRM), providing illustrative examples from our field research on forest and fisheries management in Tanzania. Drawing on the evolutionary literature, the development literature and our field data, we offer suggestions for how development partners can avoid the pitfalls of long-distance relationships and how they can use or even deliberately foster long-distance relationships to promote successful local NRM. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.

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Title: Long-distance social relationships can both undercut and promote local natural resource management
Creators: Anne C Pisor - Washington State University
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder - Department of Anthropology, University of California at Davis, Davis, 95616, CA, USA
Kristopher Michael Smith - Washington State University
Publication Details: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences, Vol.379(1893), p.20220269
Academic Unit: Department of Anthropology
Identifiers: 99901228254401842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article