Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental Stewardship and Ecological Solidarity: Rethinking Social-Ecological Interdependency and Responsibility

  • Articles
  • Published:
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper explores and discusses the various meanings of the stewardship concept in the field of sustainability science. We highlight the increasing differences between alternative approaches to stewardship and propose a typology to enable scientists and practitioners to more precisely identify the basis and objectives of the concept of stewardship. We first present the two dimensions we used to map the diversity of stances concerning stewardship. Second, we analyse these positions in relation to the limits of the systemic approach, ideological manipulation, responsibility, and solidarity. In the final section we explain how the concept of ecological solidarity, a core principal in recent French law on biodiversity conservation and national park governance can contribute to the underpinning of a specific form of social-ecological stewardship.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armitage, D., Charles, A., & Berkes, F. (2017). Governing the coastal commons: Communities, resilience and transformation. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Armitage, D. R., Plummer, R., Berkes, F., et al. (2009). Adaptive co-management for social-ecological complexity. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(2), 95–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnstein, S. R. (1969). A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Planning Association, 35(4), 216–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Attfield, R. (2001). Christianity. In D. Jamieson (Ed.), A companion to environmental philosophy. Blackwell companions to philosophy (pp. 96–110). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, C. B., & Grizzle, R. E. (1999). A holistic approach to sustainability based on pluralistic stewardship. Environmental Ethics, 21(1), 23–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrière, O., & Bes, C. (2017). Droit foncier et pastoralisme, entre propriété et territoire. VertigO—la revue électronique en sciences de l’environnement, 17(1). https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/18362.

  • Beavis, M. A. (1994). Environmental stewardship: History, theory and practice workshop proceedings. Occasional paper 32, Institute Of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg.

  • Berkes, F., & Folke, C. (2000). Linking social and ecological systems: Management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, R. J. (2006). Environmental stewardship: Critical perspectives, past and present. London: T&T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bieling, C., & Plieninger, T. (2017). The science and practice of landscape stewardship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brandon, K., Redford, K., & Sanderson, S. (1998). Parks in Peril: People, politics and protected areas. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandon, K., & Wells, M. (1992). Planning for people and parks: Design delemmas. World Development, 20(4), 557–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brockington, D., & Duffy, R. (2011). Capitalism and conservation. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cairns, R., & Stirling, A. (2014). Maintaining ‘planetary systems’ or ‘concentrating global power?’ High stakes in contending framings of climate geoengineering’. Global Environmental Change, 28, 25–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callicott, J. B. (2013). Thinking like a planet, the land ethic and the earth ethic. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott, J. B., Crowder, L. B., & Mumford, K. (1999). Current normative concepts in conservation. Conservation Biology, 13(1), 22–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castree, N. (2000). Marxism and the production of nature. Capital and Class, 24(3), 5–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CENLR. (2014). L’intendance écologique des territoires. Montpellier, FR: Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin, F. S., III, Kofinas, G. P., & Folke, C. (2009). Principles of ecosystem stewardship. Resilience-based natural resource management in a changing world. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin, F. S., III, Power, M. E., Pickett, S. T. A., et al. (2011). Earth Stewardship: Science for action to sustain the human-earth system. Ecosphere, 2, art89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christian, C., Ainley, D., Bailey, M., et al. (2013). A review of formal objections to Marine Stewardship Council fisheries certifications. Biological Conservation, 161, 10–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, S. (Ed.). (2012). Handbook of environmental and conservation psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ComMod. (2003). Our companion modelling approach. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 6(2). http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/6/2/1.html.

  • Corlett, R. T. (2015). The Anthropocene concept in ecology and conservation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 30(1), 36–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cote, M., & Nightingale, A. J. (2012). Resilience thinking meets social theory: Situating social change in socio-ecological systems research. Progress in Human Geography, 36(4), 475–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeFries, R., Hansen, A., Turner, B. L., Reid, R., & Liu, J. (2007). Land use change around protected areas: Management to balance human needs and ecological function. Ecological Applications, 17, 1031–1038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Descartes, R. (1962). Discours de la méthode, texte et commentaire, E. Gilson, Paris: J. Vrin.

  • DeWitt, C. B. (2006). Stewardship: Responding dynamically to the consequence of human action in the world. In R. J. Berry (Ed.), Environmental stewardship: Critical perspectives, past and present (pp. 145–158). London: T&T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Paola, M. (2015). Virtues for the Anthropocene: Taking action in the garden. Environmental Values, 24, 183–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etienne, M. (Ed.). (2011). Companion modelling. A participatory approach to support sustainable development. Versailles: Quae & Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, D. R., Svendsen, E. S., & Connolly, J. J. T. (2015). Urban environmental stewardship and civic engagement: How planting trees strengthens the roots of democracy. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Folke, C., Jansson, Å., Rockström, J., et al. (2011). Reconnecting to the Biosphere. Ambio, 40, 719–738.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forrester, J. W. (1991). System dynamics and the lessons of 35 years. In K. B. De Greene (Ed.), The systemic basis of policy making in the 1990s. Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  • Foster, J. B., & Clark, B. (2008). The sociology of ecology: Ecological organicism versus ecosystem ecology in the social construction of ecological science, 1926–1935. Organization & Environment, 21(3), 311–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner, S. M. (2011). Is no one responsible for global environmental tragedy? Climate change as a challenge to our ethical concepts. In D. G. Arnold (Ed.), The ethics of global climate change (pp. 38–59). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez, N. L., Hilborn, R., & Defeo, O. (2011). Leadership, social capital and incentives promote successful fisheries. Nature, 470(7334), 386–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, A., & DeFries, R. (2007). Ecological mechanisms linking protected areas to surrounding lands. Ecological Applications, 17, 974–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hejnowicz, A. P., Rudd, M. A., & White, P. C. L. (2016). A survey exploring private farm advisor perspectives of agri-environment schemes: The case of England’s environmental stewardship programme. Land Use Policy, 55, 240–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornborg, A. (2009). Zero-sum world: Challenges in conceptualizing environmental local displacement and ecologically unequal exchange in the world system. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 50(3–4), 237–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ison, R. (2010). Systems practice: How to act in a climate-change world. London: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jamieson, D. (2014). Reason in a dark time, why the struggle against climate change failed—and what it means for our future. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen, D. H. (1983). No park is an island. Oikos, 41, 402–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jepson, P. R., Caldecott, B., Schmitt, S. F., et al. (2017). Protected area asset stewardship. Biological Conservation, 212, 183–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonas, H. (1979). The imperative of responsibility. In search for an ethics for the technological age. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kareiva, P., & Marvier, M. (2012). What is conservation science? BioScience, 62(11), 962–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langton, C. G. (1992). Life at the edge of chaos. In C. G. Langton, C. Taylor, J. D. Farmer, & S. Rasmussen (Eds.), Artificial life II (pp. 42–91). Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larrère, C., & Larrère, R. (2009). Du bon usage de la nature. Pour une philosophie de l’environnement. Paris, FR: Flammarion.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larrère, C., & Larrère, R. (2015). Penser et agir avec la nature: Une enquête philosophique. Paris, FR: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leopold, A. (1949). A Sand County Almanac and sketches here and there. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macnaghten, P., & Szerzynski, B. (2013). Living the global social experiment: An analysis of public discourse on solar radiation management and its implications for governance. Global Environmental Change, 23, 465–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathevet, R. (2012). La solidarité écologique, Ce lien qui nous oblige. Arles, FR: Actes Sud.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathevet, R., & Bousquet, F. (2014). Résilience & environnement, penser les changements socio-écologiques. Paris, FR: Buchet-Chastel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathevet, R., Bousquet, F., & Raymond, C. M. (2018). The stewardship concept in sustainability science and conservation biology. Biological Conservation, 217, 363–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathevet, R., Thompson, J., Delanoë, O., Cheylan, M., & Bonnin, M. (2010). La solidarité écologique: Un nouveau concept pour la gestion intégrée des parcs nationaux et des territoires. Natures Sciences Sociétés, 18(4), 424–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathevet, R., Thompson, J., Folke, C., & Chapin, F. S., III. (2016). Protected areas and their surrounding territory: Social-ecological systems in the context of ecological solidarity. Ecological Applications, 26(1), 5–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch, W. (1988). Embodiments of the mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinnis, V. (2005). Bioregionalism. New York: Taylor and Francis.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McShane, K. (2007). Why environmental ethics shouldn’t give up on intrinsic value. Environmental Ethics, 29, 43–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merchant, C. (1996). Earthcare, women and the environment. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merchant, C. (2004). Reinventing Eden. The fate of nature in western culture. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Merwin, S. (1977). The “Country Life Movement” and the American Churches. Church History, 46, 358–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morton, O. (2016). The planet remade. How geoengineering could change the world. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norton, B. (2005). Sustainability: A philosophy of adaptive ecosystem management. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Noss, R., Nash, R., Paquet, P., & Soulé, M. (2013). Humanity’s domination of nature is part of the problem: A response to Kareiva and Marvier. BioScience, 63(4), 241–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M. C. (2006). Frontiers of justice: Disability, nationality, species membership. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ode Sang, Å., & Tveit, M. S. (2013). Perceptions of stewardship in Norwegian agricultural landscapes. Land Use Policy, 31, 557–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (2009). A general framework for analysing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science, 325, 419–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, C. (2006). Stewardship: A case study in environmental ethics. In R. J. Berry (Ed.), Environmental stewardship: Critical perspectives, past and present (pp. 63–75). London: T&T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passmore, J. (1974). Man’s responsability for nature: Ecological problems and western tradition. New York: Scribner’s Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plieninger, T., Kizos, T., Bieling, C., et al. (2015). Exploring ecosystem-change and society through a landscape lens: Recent progress in European landscape research. Ecology and Society, 20, 5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumwood, V. (1999). Paths beyond human-centeredness: lessons from liberation struggles. In A. Weston (Ed.), An invitation to environmental philosophy (pp. 69–106). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumwood, V. (2002). Environmental culture: The ecological crisis of reason. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston, C. J. (2016). Climate justice and geoengineering: Ethics and policy in the atmospheric anthropocene. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pretty, J. (1995). Participatory learning for sustainable agriculture. World Development, 23(8), 1247–1263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, C. M., Bieling, C., Fagerholm, N., et al. (2015). The farmer as a landscape steward: Comparing local understandings of landscape stewardship, landscape values, and land management actions. Ambio, 45, 173–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, C. M., Reed, M. S., Bieling, C., et al. (2016). Integrating different understandings of landscape stewardship into the design of agri-environmental schemes. Environmental Conservation, 43(4), 350–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., et al. (2009). A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, 461, 472–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozzi, R., Pickett, S. T. A., Palmer, C., et al. (2015). Linking ecology and ethics for a changing world. Values, philosophy, and action. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandler, R. (2010). Ethical theory and the problem of inconsequentialism: Why environmental ethicists should be virtue-oriented ethicists. Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, 23(1–2), 167–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sartre, J. P. (1960). Critique de la raison dialectique. Paris, FR: Galllimard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Serre, M. (1995). The natural contract. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shannon, C. E. (1949). Communication theory of secrecy systems. Bell System Technical Journal, 28, 656–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spash, C. L. (2015). Bulldozing biodiversity: The economics of offsets and trading-in Nature. Biological Conservation, 192, 541–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Theobald, D. M., Hobbs, N. T., Bearly, T., Zack, J. A., Shenk, T., & Riebsame, W. E. (2000). Incorporating biological information in local land use decision making for conservation planning. Landscape Ecology, 15, 35–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, J., Mathevet, R., Delanoë, O., Cheylan, M., & Bonnin, M. (2011). Ecological solidarity as a conceptual tool for rethinking ecological and social interdependence in conservation policy for protected areas and their surrounding landscape. Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, 334, 412–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. G. (1989). Landscape ecology: The effect of pattern on process. Annual Reviews of Ecology and Systematics, 20, 171–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welchman, J. (2012). A defence of environmental stewardship. Environmental Values, 21, 297–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, L. (1967). The historical roots of our ecologic crisis. Science, 155, 1203–1207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine. Cambridge: The Technology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfram, S. (1984). Cellular automata as models of complexity. Nature, 311, 419–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worrell, R., & Appleby, M. C. (2000). Stewardship of natural resources: Definition, ethical and practical aspects. Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, 12, 263–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wunderlich, G. (2004). Evolution of the stewardship idea in American country life. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 17(1), 77–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, I. M. (2006). Responsibility for justice. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, H. S., McCauley, D. J., Galetti, M., & Dirzo, R. (2016). Patterns, causes, and consequences of Anthropocene defaunation. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics, 47, 333–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The research presented in this paper contributes to the research project “Multi-scale adaptations to global change and their impacts on vulnerability in coastal areas” (MAGIC), funded by the French National Research Agency and the Belmont Forum and G8 International Opportunities Fund (IOF 2013).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier-Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier-EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Raphaël Mathevet

  2. Institut Français de Pondichéry, UMIFRE 21, CNRS/MAEE, 11 Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry, 605001, India

    Raphaël Mathevet

  3. GREEN, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, UPR GREEN, Campus international de Baillarguet, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    François Bousquet

  4. Université Pari l Panthéon-Sorbonne, Institut des sciences juridique et philosophique de la Sorbonne (UMR8103), Centre de philosophie contemporaine de la Sorbonne (PhiCo), 17 rue de la Sorbonne, 75231, Paris Cedex O5, France

    Catherine Larrère

  5. Département SAE2 (Sciences Sociales Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 2 bis Boulevard Morland, 75004, Paris, France

    Raphaël Larrère

Authors
  1. Raphaël Mathevet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. François Bousquet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Catherine Larrère
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Raphaël Larrère
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raphaël Mathevet.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mathevet, R., Bousquet, F., Larrère, C. et al. Environmental Stewardship and Ecological Solidarity: Rethinking Social-Ecological Interdependency and Responsibility. J Agric Environ Ethics 31, 605–623 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-018-9749-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-018-9749-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation