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Coastal Zone Adaptive Management in the Context of Complex Adaptive Systems

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Brazilian Mangroves and Salt Marshes

Part of the book series: Brazilian Marine Biodiversity ((BMB))

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Abstract

Natural systems form an undivided, seamless whole, but in order to understand the vastness of this planetary entity, we carve it into form and process structures (ecosystems). These aggregate into interconnected higher levels of organization to form a succession of linked complexes up to the level of the biosphere. Regardless of this virtual partitioning, we must study the Earth as an integrated entity composed of hierarchically organized complex adaptive systems (CASs) where ecosystems, as mangrove and salt marshes, and the biosphere behave as CASs. In this chapter, we explore the theoretical and practical implications of this concept in the context of adaptive management and the evolution of environmental management from authoritative top-down command-control managerial modality to a new mode coherent with the emergent recognition of CAS behavior and complexity theory. Dynamic framing is suggested as a multiscalar approach for problem framing which considers nature’s hierarchical organization. Management of natural systems is linked to the way nature is structured so management systems must be compatible with and as dynamic as the context they intend to manage.

Primum non nocere “First do no harm” (Hippocrates of Kos, c. 460-377 BC)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto BiomaBrasil, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Gilberto Cintrón-Molero

  2. Instituto Oceanográfico/Instituto de Energia e Ambiente, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Yara Schaeffer-Novelli

  3. IUCN SSC Mangrove Specialist Group, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Yara Schaeffer-Novelli

  4. Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany

    Guilherme Moraes de Oliveira Abuchahla

  5. College of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    André S. Rovai

Authors
  1. Gilberto Cintrón-Molero
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  2. Yara Schaeffer-Novelli
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  3. Guilherme Moraes de Oliveira Abuchahla
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  4. André S. Rovai
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo USP, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Yara Schaeffer-Novelli

  2. Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany

    Guilherme Moraes de Oliveira Abuchahla

  3. Instituto BiomaBrasil, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Gilberto Cintrón-Molero

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Cintrón-Molero, G., Schaeffer-Novelli, Y., Moraes de Oliveira Abuchahla, G., Rovai, A.S. (2023). Coastal Zone Adaptive Management in the Context of Complex Adaptive Systems. In: Schaeffer-Novelli, Y., Abuchahla, G.M.d.O., Cintrón-Molero, G. (eds) Brazilian Mangroves and Salt Marshes. Brazilian Marine Biodiversity . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13486-9_19

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