Real-World Application of Ego-Network Analysis to Evaluate Environmental Management Structures

In a world in a constant need for development, preserving biodiversity is a daunting task for both governments and NGOs. The centerpiece of successful biodiversity conservation is ensuring cooperation among countless actors involved in the management of protected areas. Social network analysis is a suitable tool for securing essential information for interactions during the management process. To contribute to the debate in the field of governance of protected areas, we illustrate an approach in investigating management of Natura 2000 sites, by considering two real-world management settings in Romania. We evaluate the characteristics of two ego-networks established for the management of two European Union Natura 2000 protected areas in Romania Iron Gates Natural Park administrated by public body owned by state and Lower Siret Floodplain administrated by a regional NGO. The networks were created around administrative bodies of protected area (ego), and include actors directly connected to the ego. After evaluating the most common ego-network metrics that demonstrate the characteristics of each network, we analyzed the strong ties by using Simmelian ties within protected areas management ego-networks and clustered the embedded links in Girvan–Newman groups. The findings suggest that the ego (administrative bodies of protected area) has a critical role in bridging other management actors. The paper tries to identify models of management control by comparing two ego-networks and showing how well connected the administrative bodies of protected areas are. The study provides insights regarding several means to improve the cooperation of environmental conservation in Natura 2000 areas.

[1]  R. Hinde,et al.  The Possibility of Cooperation@@@Cooperation: The Basis of Sociability.@@@Cooperation and Prosocial Behavior.@@@Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. , 1990 .

[2]  R. Hanneman.  Introduction to Social Network Methods , 2001 .

[3]  M E J Newman,et al.  Community structure in social and biological networks , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  Mark Newman,et al.  Detecting community structure in networks , 2004 .

[5]  Martin Everett,et al.  Ego network betweenness , 2005, Soc. Networks.

[6]  E. Ostrom.  Understanding Institutional Diversity , 2005 .

[7]  M E J Newman,et al.  Modularity and community structure in networks. , 2006, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[8]  Shou-De Lin,et al.  Egocentric Information Abstraction for Heterogeneous Social Networks , 2009, 2009 International Conference on Advances in Social Network Analysis and Mining.

[9]  Ludo Waltman,et al.  Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping , 2009, Scientometrics.

[10]  C. Iojă,et al.  The efficacy of Romania's protected areas network in conserving biodiversity , 2010 .

[11]  D. Krackhardt,et al.  Activating Cross-Boundary Knowledge: The Role of Simmelian Ties in the Generation of Innovations , 2010 .

[12]  Lev Muchnik,et al.  Identifying influential spreaders in complex networks , 2010, 1001.5285.

[13]  Ee-Peng Lim,et al.  Influentials, Novelty, and Social Contagion: The Viral Power of Average Friends, Close Communities, and Old News , 2012, Soc. Networks.

[14]  Elisa Bellotti,et al.  Getting funded. Multi-level network of physicists in Italy , 2012, Soc. Networks.

[15]  Ulrik Brandes,et al.  Simmelian backbones: Amplifying hidden homophily in Facebook networks , 2013, 2013 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM 2013).

[16]  R. Berardo,et al.  Interorganizational Engagement in Collaborative Environmental Management: Evidence from the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force , 2014 .

[17]  T. Hartel,et al.  Species, Habitats, Society: An Evaluation of Research Supporting EU's Natura 2000 Network , 2014, PloS one.

[18]  Alessandro Vespignani,et al.  Time varying networks and the weakness of strong ties , 2013, Scientific Reports.

[19]  R. Plummer,et al.  Social Network Analysis of Multi-level Linkages: A Swedish Case Study on Northern Forest-Based Sectors , 2014, AMBIO.

[20]  H. Wehrden,et al.  A holistic approach to studying social-ecological systems and its application to southern Transylvania , 2014 .

[21]  E. Mostert,et al.  Analyzing Collaborative Governance Through Social Network Analysis: A Case Study of River Management Along the Waal River in The Netherlands , 2015, Environmental Management.

[22]  Silvio Lattanzi,et al.  Ego-net Community Mining Applied to Friend Suggestion , 2015, Proc. VLDB Endow..

[23]  V. Popescu,et al.  Collaboration Networks in Applied Conservation Projects across Europe , 2016, PloS one.

[24]  Derek R. Armitage,et al.  Navigating governance networks for community-based conservation , 2016 .

[25]  L. Scarlett,et al.  Connecting people and places: the emerging role of network governance in large landscape conservation , 2016 .

[26]  M. Niță,et al.  Integrating Spatial Planning of Protected Areas and Transportation Infrastructures , 2016 .

[27]  Hens Runhaar,et al.  Tools for integrating environmental objectives into policy and practice: What works where? , 2016 .

[28]  M. Grodzińska-Jurczak,et al.  Contribution of social science to large scale biodiversity conservation : a review of research about the Natura 2000 network , 2016 .

[29]  Stephen A. Lewis,et al.  A method for evaluating the funding of components of natural resource and conservation projects , 2016 .

[30]  M. Niță,et al.  Indicators for Environmental Conflict Monitoring in Natura 2000 Sites , 2016 .

[31]  G. Robins,et al.  Theorizing benefits and constraints in collaborative environmental governance : a transdisciplinary social-ecological network approach for empirical investigations , 2016 .

[32]  Stewart J. Cohen,et al.  Missing bridges: Social network (dis)connectivity in water governance , 2016 .

[33]  Vicki Stover Hertzberg,et al.  Contact networks in the emergency department: Effects of time, environment, patient characteristics, and staff role , 2016, Social Networks.

[34]  V. Popescu,et al.  Recipe for success: A network perspective of partnership in nature conservation , 2017 .

[35]  Laurentiu Rozylowicz,et al.  Characterizing protected areas management using ego-networks , 2017, 2017 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM).

[36]  M. Niță,et al.  Need for a cross-sector approach in protected area management , 2017 .

[37]  Uta Schirpke,et al.  How to support the effective management of Natura 2000 sites? , 2017 .

[38]  Jesse S Sayles,et al.  Who collaborates and why: Assessment and diagnostic of governance network integration for salmon restoration in Puget Sound, USA. , 2017, Journal of environmental management.

[39]  V. Popescu,et al.  Power, influence and structure in Natura 2000 governance networks. A comparative analysis of two protected areas in Romania. , 2018, Journal of environmental management.

[40]  L. Susskind,et al.  Factors driving collaboration in natural resource conflict management: Evidence from Romania , 2018, Ambio.