Ecology and Society - Vol. 15, No. 3 (2010)

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From Scientific Speculation to Effective Adaptive Management: A case study of the role of social marketing in promoting novel restoration strategies for degraded dry lands

Frances Westley, Social Innovation Generation, University of Waterloo
Milena Holmgren, Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Department of Environmental Sciences
Marten Scheffer, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environment

Abstract
This article focuses on the role of social marketing, in particular the analysis of the motivations and capabilities of stakeholder groups, in encouraging acceptance of an innovative experimental approach to semiarid shrub land restoration in Chile. Controlled scientific experiments involving herbivory control during El Niño events have proved promising, but have not yet been introduced into ecosystem management approaches. Social marketing, as a lens for focusing on and understanding stakeholders’ motivations, provides a valuable framework in which strategies may be developed for diffusing promising scientific experiments into regional management contexts.

Key words
adaptive management; climate fluctuations; dryland restoration; ecosystem restoration; ENSO; herbivory control; matorral; Mediterranean shrub land; reforestation; social entrepreneur; social marketing; stakeholder.

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