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

Anne C. Pisor, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Kristopher M. Smith

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

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'.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number20220269
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume379
Issue number1893
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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