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Types of misfit |
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Definition, mechanisms, and examples |
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Spatial |
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Institutional jurisdiction is too small or too large to cover the area
extent subject to the institution (lack of wildlife corridor protection between
protected areas for migrating animals [Newmark 1993]). |
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Institutional jurisdiction unable to cope with actors or drivers external
or internal and important for maintaining the ecosystem(s) or processes affected
by the institution; institutional arrangements can be too large when providing
centrally defined blueprints that ignore existing local biophysical
circumstances (Scott 1995) (centrally defined rules for how JFM in Zambia should
be locally designed—one size does not fit all).
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Temporal |
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Institutions formed too early or too late to cause desired ecosystems
effect(s) (Lake Turkana fisheries project, built fish treatment plant demanding
continuous inputs of fish while water/fisheries disappear/fluctuate
substantially [Watson et al. 1985]). |
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Institution (and possibly the actor interaction it entails) produces
decisions that assume a shorter or longer time span than those embedded in the
biophysical system(s) affected; and/or social response is too fast, too slow,
too short, or too long compared to the time taken for biophysical processes
involved (the speed of invasive species is higher than institutional responses
to stop the expansion [Perrings 2010]).
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Threshold behavior |
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Institutions may lead to, not recognize, or be unable to avoid abrupt
shift(s) in biophysical systems. (Example: if a policy focuses on "optimal
management" of one fish species, then the overall system of interacting species
can easily collapse (Edwards et al. 2004).) |
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Institutions provide for inadequate response to contingencies (e.g., lack
of rules for action in extreme conditions) or reduces variation in biophysical
systems (e.g., by removing response diversity, whole functional groups of
species, or trophic levels, or by adding anthropogenic stress such as
pollution). Institutions fail to respond adequately or at all to disturbances
that could have been buffered or helped to revitalize the system before. Leads
to practically irreversible biophysical shifts (monoculture
production—loss of other ecosystem services [Daily 1997]).
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Cascading effects |
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Institution is unable to buffer or trigger further effects among
biophysical and/or social and economic systems (climate anomaly shifts rainfall
between regions; arid regions get much rain, others get less than normal;
adaptation problems (Collier et al. 2008). |
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Institutional response is misdirected, nonexistent, inadequate, or wrongly
timed so as to propagate or allow the propagation of biophysical changes that
entail further causative changes along temporal and or spatial scales (abrupt
shifts in soil humidity in Australia lead to salination and to substantial
effects on socioeconomic systems [Pittock 2003]). |
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| Source: based on Galaz et al. (2008) |