III

Analytic Themes

The Problem of Fit among BiophysicalSystems, Environmental and ResourceRegimes, and Broader Governance Systems:Insights and Emerging Challenges

Victor Galaz, Per Olsson, Thomas Hahn, Carl Folke, and Uno Svedin

Introduction

Human and biophysical systems are closely interconnected. Yet not onlyhave scientists and practitioners largely failed to recognize the tight cou-pling between these systems, but the stakes of failing also to harnessthe dynamic behavior of socioecological systems are getting higher. Twoclear signals of this failure are the loss of vital ecosystem services ata global scale (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005) and the far-reaching societal challenges posed by global environmental change(Steffen et al. 2004). Although analysts can project some of the futureimpacts on ecosystems and livelihoods, other effects will surface com-pletely unexpectedly because of limited understanding of the stronginterconnectedness of social and biophysical systems. Impacts will occuracross many scales, with effects measured across time and space and atdifferent levels of social organization and administration where humansand the environment intersect (Holling 1986; S. Schneider and Root1995; S. Schneider 2004). Hence the need arises to consider how wellthe attributes of institutions and wider governance systems at local toglobal levels match the dynamics of biophysical systems. This is whatInstitutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) re-search denotes as ‘‘the problem of ﬁt’’ (Folke et al. 1998; Young et al.1999/2005; Brown 2003; Young 2003b).Our discussion reviews this problem from particular perspectives. Ref-erence to governance in addition to institutions places a strong, appro-priate emphasis on the multilevel patterns of interaction among actors,their sometimes conﬂicting objectives, and instruments besides institu-tions that are chosen to steer social and environmental processes within