1st Edition

Shared Governance for Sustainable Working Landscapes

By Timothy M. Gieseke Copyright 2017
    284 Pages 37 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    284 Pages 37 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Sustaining our agricultural landscapes is no longer just a technical, scientific or even political problem, but it has evolved into a socially complex, so-called wicked problem of conflicting social governance and economics. This creates an extreme economic obstacle where the value of ecosystem services remains low and diffuse and the transactions costs remain high and multiple.Using Uber-like business platform technology and a shared governance model, a symbiotic demand for environmental benefits is created. Enabling multi-sector transactions for environmental benefits, this platform innovation would remedy the "tragedy of the commons"; the economic nemesis to achieving landscape sustainability. In a nutshell, to sustain our agricultural landscapes a transdisciplinary approach supported by a shared governance model housed within a multi-sided platform in needed. This book introduces an assessment framework identifying governance actors, styles and ratios for socio-ecological systems. The assessment uses a new governance compass to identify the types of actors completing which tasks and identifies the styles of governance used to complete the tasks. It is aimed to anyone involved in sustainability science, agricultural policy planning, or integrated landscape design.

    Preface

    Acknowledgments

    Author

    Chapter 1 Introduction

    Agricultural transition phases

    A paradigm shift

    A wicked problem

    Sustainability science

    The wicked features of agriculture sustainability

    Ecological–economic disconnections

    Conflicting governance styles

    Disparate stakeholder values

    Variable natural capital

    Putting sustainability science to practice

    An environmental market signal

    Spatially based trading platform

    Path to agricultural landscape sustainability

    Assessing wicked problems

    Devising wicked solutions

    Recognizing the glocal commons

    Global perspectives

    Glocal and regional perspectives

    The grand economic challenge

    Section I: An enduring wicked problem

    Chapter 2 An enduring wicked problem

    A wicked problem

    Sources of wicked (landscape sustainability) problems

    Varied scope and scale of natural capital outputs and outcome

    Growing number of disparate stakeholder values

    Conflicting governance styles

    The complex agriculture landscape system

    The simple and complicated

    The complex

    The system as it is

    Natural capital

    System stakeholders

    Production group

    Organizational governance styles

    Transdisciplinary challenge

    Disciplinary evolution

    Application challenges

    A wicked resilient problem

    Chapter 3 Natural capital outputs and outcomes

    A natural economic capital

    Not a new idea

    The landscape as a living factory floor

    An automobile factory

    A drinking water factory

    The conditionally renewable earth factory

    Biomes

    Ecosystems

    Processes

    Functions

    Structures

    Outputs and outcomes

    Varied ecosystem service definitions

    Categorize goods and services as same

    Categorize goods and services as different

    Identify ecosystem services as SPUs

    Ecosystem services as FEGS and BRIs

    Compatible definitions?

    Chapter 4 Disparate stakeholder strategies and values

    Agriculture’s four phases

    Stakeholder shift and expansion

    Incompatible strategies

    Public utility sector

    Seattle public utilities and the GASB

    Des Moines Water Works and county drainage boards

    Government agency sector

    USDA federal farm policy

    EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and

    Restoration Order

    Agriculture Water Quality Certainty Program

    Agriculture industry sector

    United Suppliers’ SUSTAIN

    NGOs and the corporate sector

    The Sustainability Consortium

    Field to Market

    EPRI water quality trading

    Following Carlson’s Law?

    Top-down [dis]orderly

    Bottom-up chaos

    Disparity rooted in culture and governance

    Chapter 5 Conflicting governance styles

    Organizations

    Organizational evolution

    Conformist hierarchy

    Incentivized hierarchy

    Pluralistic hierarchy

    Network structure

    Organizational structure–governance styles connections

    Governance

    Governance cultures

    Governance styles

    Hierarchy governance

    Market governance

    Network governance

    Governance conflicts

    Governance trilemma

    Governance conflicts in the system as it is

    Section II: Devising a wicked solution

    Chapter 6 Devising a wicked solution

    A transdisciplinary approach

    Acquiring system knowledge

    Imagination as a wicked solution strategy

    Identifying wicked solution sources

    Six pilot project case studies

    MMPA’s EQA

    Minnesota Project’s conservation innovation

    Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s conservation bridge

    Minnesota department of agriculture’s EQA

    EPA–USDA–MN Ag water quality certainty program

    Chicago SWCD’s AgEQATM

    A [Compiled] transdisciplinary approach

    Retelling the transdisciplinary story

    Transformational knowledge

    The system as it ought to be

    Identifying the wicked problem and solution partners

    Wicked solution sources

    Shared governance platform

    Enabling communities of practice

    Chapter 7 A landscape language

    Index-based language form

    Landscape data

    Data collection

    Smart assessments

    Index calculations

    Creating language content

    Landscape intelligence

    Simple and compound indices

    Natural capital asset portfolio

    Purposeful uses

    Another market marvel?

    Useful applications

    Defining eco-services

    Natural capital units

    Mapping earth’s factory floor

    Natural capital values and GDP

    Agricultural NCC values

    Disruption toward harmonization

    Global environmental mechanism

    Global environmental asset portfolio

    Harmonizing natural capital valuation

    Imagining a common landscape language

    Chapter 8 Aligning sustainability activities

    Governance actors

    Shifting actor roles

    Governance shifts

    Meta-governance

    Meta-governors

    Governance frameworks

    Case study analysis

    Case assessment strategy

    Governance actors

    Governance styles, frameworks, and footprints

    Group I case studies—USDA conservation delivery system

    Soil Conservation Service CDS

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Natural Resources Conservation Service CDS

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Group I discussion

    Group II case studies—Minnesota EQAs

    Minnesota Milk Producers Association EQA

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s LEQA

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Chicago SWCD’s AgEQA

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Group II discussion

    Group III case studies—emerging strategies

    MDA’s Ag Water Quality Certainty Program

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Chesapeake Bay Program BMP Verification

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    EPRI’s Ohio River Basin water quality trading

    Program components

    Assessment and discussion

    The Sustainability Consortium

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Field to Market

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    United supplier’s SUSTAIN

    Project components

    Assessment and discussion

    Group III discussion

    Overall case study findings

    Governance of project components

    Development

    Delivery

    Oversight

    Valuation

    Governance footprints

    Aligning governance actors and styles

    Chapter 9 A shared governance platform

    Shared governance

    Shared governance principles

    Multisided platforms

    Network community

    Technology infrastructure

    Database and content

    Multisided shared governance platform

    Creating a new supply

    Nonexcludable goods

    Excludable goods

    "Converting" nonexcludable goods to excludable goods

    New user behaviors

    Enabling new transactions

    Identify transaction costs

    Reduce transaction costs

    Shared transaction costs and values

    MSSG platform transactions

    Sustainability 1.0

    Sustainability 1.5

    Sustainability 2.0

    Symbiotic demand versus conflicting governance

    Disparate stakeholder governance

    Symbiotic demand

    Section III: Designing a glocal business ecosystem

    Chapter 10 Governance of the glocal commons

    Glocalization phenomenon

    Social effect

    Sustainability supply chain effect

    Local + global = glocal commons

    Glocal governance pathways

    Bottom-up sustainability governance

    Top-down sustainability governance

    Private sector sustainability governance

    Public–private partnerships

    Solely private sector

    Adaptive pathway

    Glocal common governance

    Local commons

    Glocal commons

    Chapter 11 Designing a business ecosystem

    Evolving ecosystems

    Business ecosystems

    e-Commerce ecosystems

    An eco-commerce ecosystem concept

    Interface of ecoservice value

    Ecosystem design layers

    Participant layers

    Leaders’ layer

    Users layer

    Contributor layer

    Risk management assessment

    Strategies for an eco-commerce ecosystem

    User magnet

    Technology toolbox

    Cryptocurrency

    Matchmaking, incentives, and trust

    Ecosystem emergence considerations

    Chapter 12 Enabling an eco-commerce ecosystem

    Three phases of transformation

    Preparing the system

    Adaptive comanagement

    Minimal viable platform

    A first platform interaction

    The next platform interaction

    A prepared system

    Window of opportunity

    Case study windows

    Too many "little" windows?

    Too big of a window?

    Opening a WQ trading window

    Entering a WQ trading window

    Navigating the transition

    Navigating the first WQ transaction

    Transforming water quality trading

    Enabling symbiotic transactions

    Glocal sustainability portfolios

    Antithesis of the tragedy of the commons

    Building resiliency

    Compelling visions

    Chapter 13 Conclusion

    Wicked principles

    Sustainability science

    A DNA solution

    Platform biomimicry

    Stable core

    Variable complementary component

    Interface

    A generic wicked solution platform

    A resolutionary path

    Chapter 14 Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Timothy M. Gieseke’s interdisciplinary career is reflected in the research and insights of his writings. A master’s degree in environmental sciences is a cornerstone for his perspective on agriculture sustainability. He also brings experience in agriculture production, governmental experience in conservation planning, policy analysis at state and federal levels, political endeavors, and agribusiness management. With this near panoramic view of landscape sustainability, Tim recognized the need for a transdisciplinary approach to enable practitioners and policy- makers to transcend and blur the lines between their traditional organizational boundaries. He has carried this vision through several of his local to global efforts.

    "I like the clear communication style as Timothy Gieseke takes readers on a journey. He systematically builds his arguments and clarifies the issues in a field that has evolved to be very complex and confusing."
    —Leon Cavalli, Hannabell Electronics, Queensland, Australia

    "Timothy M. Gieseke brings fresh new insights and understanding to the problem of how to create sustainable forms of agriculture. A compulsory read for anyone involved in sustainability science, agricultural policy planning, or integrated landscape design."
    —Valerie Payn, Integrated Landscape Designer, Port Shepstone Area, South Africa

    "This is a superbly researched and written text."
    —Joseph M. Bradley, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

    "This book is a timely contribution to sustainability in agricultural and rural landscapes."
    —Alan Carter, Celto Canadian, Vancouver, Canada

    "The strength of the book lies in the application of the model of sustainability governance to eleven case studies, which greatly enriches understanding of processes necessary for the environmental market signal to have meaning."
    — Cornelia Butler Flora, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA

    "Tim Gieseke has authored an important big picture contribution to the scientific literature on today’s seemingly intractable, environmental problems associated with agricultural production. The book provides an excellent overview of the nature of landscape-scale ecological problems, often referred to in government regulatory terms as non-point source problems."
    — Andrew Manale, US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Policy (retired), Washington, D.C., USA

    "Timothy Gieseke’s book Shared Governance for Sustainable Working Landscapes is a tour de force on how to effectively manage the 'wicked problems' of unsustainable agricultural systems. This book, which is a novel addition to the growing library of books on sustainability, would be highly useful to policy makers on agricultural systems as well as conservation planners and managers. Also, the book is great for practitioners who are interested in recognizing and managing wicked problems in domains other than agriculture."
    — Rod King, Consultant on conversational project management, Clovis, California, USA

    "Tim Gieseke’s book takes us exactly in the direction we need to go – exploring new business models for investing in and sustaining the wide range of goods and services provided by landscapes. Overall, this book is an ambitious effort to develop actionable ways forward for sustaining the lands and waters on which we all rely."
    — Brad Gentry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    "In simple language, following in the footsteps of Ostrom and Meadows, Gieseke explains "easy-to-use" systems-level frameworks so you too can analyze, assess, and determine sustainable landscape strategies. Whether you work as a financial analyst, urban planner, corporate strategist, or in agriculture production, Shared Governance for Sustainable Working Landscapes adds one more excellent set of tools to add to your sustainability tool chest."
    — Gabriel Thoumi, CFA, Climate Advisers, Washington, DC, USA

    "The author sets out to test whether a multisided shared governance platform, supporting an eco-commerce ecosystem, could deliver a solution that all reasonable stakeholder groups might embrace. Starting at the landscape – as the "point of service" – is interesting; whether governance systems can be designed with sophistication to deliver the desired, share outcome, readers will need to establish for themselves. Even more intriguing is the possibility that valued landscape components might be delivered through the creation of e-commerce ecosystem service values."
    — Richard Wakeford, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom

    "Farmers and all the players in the Ag game have, different visions, different solutions, different problems, different motives, different interests. Mr. Gieseke writes of the wicked problems that come from conflicting interests and provides solutions with his talk of Platforms and E-Commerce Ecosystems, Shared Governance and Environmental Market Signals. Mr. Gieseke spent long nights studying and developing his ideas on Sustainability. Through it all, Tim never forgets his roots as a fourth generation farmer, providing solutions so that fifth generation can smell the smells of a barn in the morning and walk in the footsteps of their forefathers."
    — Merle Hanson, Author of Portraits, Winona, Minnesota, USA

    "Through the nodes of ecology, economy, natural capitals, governance, and stakeholder values, this volume converges towards the definition of glocal business ecosystem, a concept transcending sector boundaries. More than a set of ingenious suggestions and opportunities to change resource management, this book is a source of inspiration to tackle current challenges with a holistic vision. It is a manual with guidelines to innovate and renew our way of building society, with approaches suggested by nature itself, and a license to rethink our world imaginatively."
    — Fanny Barsics, Formerly of the University of Liège, Belgium

    "On many levels, rich and thought-provoking writing. Indigenous innovation and science partnerships engage millennia old landscapes, and its critical, egalitarian customary governance and management practices. Tim’s writing raises a unique question for sustainability science: ‘What can we learn in terms of policy, planning and management?’ from the dynamic function of customary governance and its transdisciplinary approaches to sustaining complex natural capital."
    — John Locke, BioCultural Consulting Pty Ltd, Queensland, Australia