Socio-Ecological Systems Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

William Denevan argued that pristine landscapes are a myth, including in Amazonia—imagined by many as one of the last bastions of pristine Nature. During the last century, evidence accumulated to show that humans domesticated Nature during the Holocene by creating cultural niches in all habitable regions of the planet. This process of cultural niche construction is the result of human agency, grounded on culturally transmitted ecological knowledge to domesticate landscapes, and plant and animal populations, thus increasing human carrying capacity. The expansion of culturally constructed niches during the Holocene does not mean that every inch of the habitable planet became a garden; rather, there is a mosaic of landscapes domesticated to different degrees, especially forests. Consequently, domesticated landscapes depend upon their humans, even though humans can also degrade these landscapes, which gave rise to the Anthropocene concept. As a result, Edward O. Wilson proposed that half of the biosphere be set aside for Nature. Many prime areas for the half-Earth proposal are tropical forests, all with high linguistic diversity; Borneo, New Guinea, the Congo, and Amazonia are examples. Since all of Nature in the habitable regions of the planet is cultural to some degree, setting aside half requires partnership with local human populations, rather than their exclusion, which is too common today. Their participation is essential, because it is their niche construction activities that resulted in what we call Nature and without them Nature will change—through natural processes—into something different from that which we plan to conserve.

The current and projected impacts of climate change make understanding the environmental and social vulnerability of coastal communities and the planning of adaptations important international goals and national policy initiatives. Yet, coastal communities are concurrently experiencing numerous other social, political, economic, demographic and environmental changes or stressors that also need to be considered and planned for simultaneously to maintain social and environmental sustainability. There are a number of methods and processes that have been used to study vulnerability and identify adaptive response strategies. This paper describes the stages, methods and results of a modified community-based scenario planning process that was used for vulnerability analysis and adaptation planning within the context of multiple interacting stressors in two coastal fishing communities in Thailand. The four stages of community-based scenario planning included: (1) identifying the problem and purpose of scenario planning; (2) exploring the system and types of change; (3) generating possible future scenarios; and (4) proposing and prioritizing adaptations. Results revealed local perspectives on social and environmental change, participant visions for their local community and the environment, and potential actions that will help communities to adapt to the changes that are occurring. Community-based scenario planning proved to have significant potential as an anticipatory action research process for incorporating multiple stressors into vulnerability analysis and adaptation planning. This paper reflects on the process and outcomes to provide insights and suggest changes for future applications of community-based scenario planning that will lead to more effective learning, innovation and action in communities and related social–ecological systems.

- by Nathan J Bennett
- •
- Climate Change, Community Resilience, Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience

The extent to which new greening initiatives contribute to gentrification processes in urban areas is of rising interest to researchers and policymakers, but the precise (and often intangible) aspects of green spaces that embed them within gentrification processes are not well understood. The Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) literature offers new ways of measuring these aspects. In this study, we use geo-located social media data to assess the value attributed to CES in 18 urban parks in Barcelona, of which 9 were shown to have experienced green gentrification in previous studies. We performed descriptive analysis and statistical independence tests on 703 photos downloaded from the social media platform Flickr. Of the 703 photos analyzed, 85% were taken in parks associated with green gentrification; nevertheless, around 80% of all photos depicted built infrastructures rather than ecological features-indicating that green gentrification is not strictly about greenness and how visitors value it. Statistical results show that parks that experienced green gentrification were significantly associated with "aesthetics" and "recreational activities", whilst parks that did not experience green gentrification were significantly associated with "cultural identity" and "social activities". These results suggest that justice outcomes following from the relationship between urban greening and gentrification are dependent on the social-cultural associations with green spaces that the ecosystem services framework formulates, making it a potentially powerful tool for understanding how to generate more just greening policies in cities.

Effective management of artisanal fisheries requires understanding fishers, their behaviors, and the drivers that underpin their choices. Behavioral drivers are critical links in understanding the interactions between social and ecological systems and can help inform effective management approaches. A Bayesian Belief Network modeling approach was used to investigate a diverse range of qualitative and quantitative social and ecological drivers of spatial location choice in a multi-species artisanal dive fishery in Costa Rica. Empirical and observer data used to populate the BBN showed the influence of economic factors, environmental conditions as well as social interactions on the decision-making process of spatial location choice. Good governance scenarios represented by Responsible Fisheries Marine Areas Management were analyzed for both hookah and free diving methods to assess the effects of responsible fishing on the fishers and the fishery. Model based-scenario analysis suggests that management interventions should consider the fisher's potential behavioral responses in the context of environmental variability, dependence on cultural assets, and food security. The results show that there is a need to understand fisher's decisions based on broad socio-ecological system understanding and consider the environmental outcomes alongside food security and the cultural significance of different marine species to fishing communities.

La présente recherche s’intéresse à la résilience des systèmes agroalimentaires dans une perspective d’effondrement. Elle appréhende ce sujet sous le prisme de la collapsologie et de la résilience des systèmes socio-écologiques. Ce travail postule tout d’abord qu’au vu des impacts et vulnérabilités du système actuel dominant, de type industriel et de dimension mondiale, une transformation profonde de celui-ci est souhaitable. En effet, dans la théorie de la résilience, une transformation est envisagée lorsque les structures écologique, économique ou sociale d’un système ne sont pas tenables. Pour qu’un réel changement de paradigme s’opère, il faut ensuite définir de nouvelles fondations qui rendent le système plus durable et résilient. Il est proposé d’utiliser des principes généraux pour cadrer ce paradigme. En confrontant et comparant des indicateurs de résilience des systèmes socio-écologiques et les principes fondamentaux de l'agroécologie et de la permaculture, ce travail fait émerger un cadre de principes pour définir de nouveaux systèmes alimentaires. Pour être adéquatement gérée, l’application de ces principes doit s’inscrire dans une gouvernance adaptée. Il est suggéré que cette gouvernance appréhende conjointement les systèmes alimentaires et les territoires dans lesquels ils s’inscrivent. Le concept de planification territoriale de la biorégion intègre des éléments similaires et concordants aux principes des systèmes alimentaires, et offre ainsi une piste de solution pour une gouvernance intégrée. Enfin, cette recherche s’intéresse à comment la sécurité alimentaire et les systèmes alimentaires sont abordés en Suisse, au regard des parties qui précèdent.
Pour mener à bien ce travail, une revue de littérature, à la fois générale et spécifique à la Suisse, a été effectuée et trois entretiens ont été menés avec des acteurs actifs dans le canton de Vaud. La revue de littérature a permis de cerner le cadre théorique, les concepts mobilisés et l’utilisation de principes, tandis que l’analyse des entretiens ont permis de connaître les opinions d’acteurs locaux et les actions menées dans le canton via leur organisation réciproque.

- by Alicia Rudaz
- •
- Resilience, Agroecology, Permaculture, Socio-Ecological Systems

A variety of disciplines examine human-environment interactions, identifying factors that affect environmental outcomes important for human well-being. A central challenge for these disciplines is integrating an ever-increasing number of findings into a coherent body of theory. Without a repository for this theory, researchers cannot adequately leverage this knowledge to guide future empirical work. Comparability across field sites, study areas and scientific fields is hampered, as is the progress of sustainability science. To address this challenge we constructed the first repository of theoretical statements linking social and ecological variables to environmental outcomes. Stored in a relational database that is accessible via a website, this repository includes systematically formalized theories produced from researchers studying resilience, environmental conservation, common-pool resource governance, environmental and resource economics and political ecology. Theories are explicitly linked together in the database to form the first coherent expression of the types of human-environment interactions that affect outcomes for natural resources and, by extension, the people who use them. Analysis of this repository shows that a variety of types of theories exist, from the simple to the complex, and that theories tend to thematically cluster by scientific field, although the theories of every field were related in at least some way to theories from other fields. Thus there is much potential for increased interaction across these fields, hopefully with the help of resources such as this repository. The theories and variables employed to express their arguments are publicly viewable in a wiki-like format, as a resource for the scientific community.

- by Gustavo Garcia-Lopez and +2
- •
- Commons, Environmental Studies, Social-Ecological Systems, Common Property

A discussion of ecological networks in cities.

Find open access link to the article in the 'Publications' section of www.melissasterry.com

The debate on future global food security is centered on increasing yields. This focus on availability of food is overshadowing access and utilization of food, and the stability of these over time. In addition, pleas for increasing yields across the board overlook the diversity of current positions and contexts in which local agriculture functions. And fi nally, the actual model of production is based on mainstream agricultural models in industrialized societies, in which ecological diversity and benefi ts from nature have been ignored or replaced by external inputs. The dependence upon external inputs should exacerbate the negative impacts on the environment and on social equity. Strategies to address future global food security thus require local innovation to increase agricultural production in a sustainable, affordable way in the poorest regions of the world, and to reduce the environmental

This article aims to show that competing demands on environmental resources have, more often than not, exacerbated vulnerability of poor rural agricultural communities. Artisanal and small-scale mining and irrigation-based farming are the main sources of rural livelihood used to cope with vulnerability in the drought-prone Mawabeni rural communities of Umzingwane District in Zimbabwe. Irrigation farming in Umzingwane District depends heavily on sustainable water supply and unpolluted land. Similarly, artisanal mining (ASM) depends on water for panning processes. Poor people's vulnerability often increases when irrigation development demand and artisanal mining operations compete for resources such as time, labour and water. The article explores the effects of ASM activities on sustainable agriculture productivity with specific focus on the irrigation scheme in Umzingwane District of Southern Matabeleland. A qualitative descriptive survey design and purposive sampling technique were used to select the study area, participants and to analyse data. The article concludes that ASM has caused a radical shift of able-bodied labour from irrigation farming to ASM thereby decreasing the productive capacity of the irrigation scheme. Notwithstanding the presence of locally-based extension officers from the Ministry of Lands, Mechanisation and Extension Services and traditional leaders who are instrumental in the provision of institutional support and guidance as well as access to external support and attracting social networks with farming inputs, the ASM activities have impacted negatively on farming in Umzingwane District.

- by Mthuthukisi M Ncube and +1
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- Development Studies, Sustainable Development, Conflict Transformation, Environmental Sustainability

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to intermediaries, actors connecting multiple other actors, in transition processes. Research has highlighted that intermediary actors (e.g. innovation funders, energy agencies, NGOs, membership organisations, or internet discussion forums) operate in many levels to advance transitions. We argue that intermediation, and the need for it, varies during the course of transition. Yet, little explicit insight exists on intermediation in different transition phases. We integrate existing conceptual models on transition dynamics and phases and a typology of transition intermediaries to examine how intermediaries advance transitions in different phases. We illustrate our conceptual insights through examples from car clubs, heat pumps and low-energy housing. We conclude that intermediation is paramount from predevelopment to stabilisation of a transition. Intermediary functions change from supporting experimentation and articulation of needs in pre-development, to the aggregation of knowledge, pooling resources, network building and stronger institutional support and capacity building in acceleration.

In its most recent report, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) announced an unprecedented dangerous decline in biodiversity, one of the planetary limits that are currently being surpassed. The results and trends of socio-ecosystemic problems oblige us to attempt to understand and address the global crisis. Socio-ecosystemic problems are not only ethical and moral challenges but also ones of interest and security, since the financial resources available will be insufficient for people immersed in a sick and dysfunctional society. In this sense, science plays a central role in offering alternatives. This work is a theoretical construction, based on complexity and transdiscipline, that aims to offer these alternatives. It is enriched by several areas of knowledge, with the objective of broadening the interpretation of sustainability and overcoming some of the limitations of existing approaches through the recognition of the objective and subjective relationships between humans and ecosystems. Socio-ecosystemic sustainability is an adaptative process, taking the principles of strong sustainability and autopoiesis as an explanation of living and the processes that maintain and reproduce it. It is argued that goals centered on a vision of economic growth are not coherent with the natural processes of the biosphere-as shown by thermodynamics and complex systems-nor, indeed, with a functional society. The health and life on planet is a compelling reason for seeking dialogue between individuals and coherence in the three dimensions of socio-ecosystem sustainability.

- by Indra Morandin Ahuerma and +1
- •
- Coupled Human and Natural Systems, Political Ecology, Social-Ecological Systems, Ecological Economics

A three-phase study was initiated as a way to promote Integrated Catchment Management approaches in
the Limpopo River basin. This paper presents the situational assessment, which should enable De Beers
to understand how their Venetia Mine operations are located within a broader and highly dynamic socioeconomic
and ecohydrological landscape as it pertains to water risks. The second phase, Risk assessment,
aims to develop conservation interventions in the identified areas; the third phase will develop mechanisms
for implementing water stewardship schemes to mitigate the shared water risks.
Analysis of the social-ecological system (hydrological, climatic, ecological, socio-economic and
governance systems) of the Limpopo River basin indicates that the institutional arrangement of the
Limpopo River basin is neither simple nor effective. The basin is rapidly approaching closure in the sense
that almost all of the available supplies of water have already been allocated to existing water users. If
the proposed ecological flow requirements were to be met for all of the tributaries, the basin would be
‘closed’. On-going and projected land use changes and water resources developments in the upper
reaches of the basin, coupled with projected rainfall reductions and temperature increases, and allocation
of the flows for the ecological reserve, are likely to further reduce downstream river flows. The
coupled increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall is of great concern for everyone in the basin,
especially the poorer communities, who rely on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. Increased
temperatures also lead to increased evaporation from reservoirs and therefore result in a decrease in
water availability. This will lead to increased abstraction of groundwater, especially from alluvial aquifers,
and consequently an increase in river transmission losses and a decrease in river flows.

Decision makers and researchers recognize the need to effectively confront the social dimensions
and conflicts inherent to invasive species research and management. Yet, despite numerous contentious situations that have arisen, no systematic evaluation of the literature has examined the commonalities in the patterns and types of these emergent social issues. Using social and ecological keywords, we reviewed trends in the social dimensions of invasive species research and management and the sources and potential solutions to problems and conflicts that arise around invasive species. We integrated components of cognitive hierarchy theory and risk perceptions theory to provide a conceptual framework to identify, distinguish, and provide understanding of the driving factors underlying disputes associated with invasive species. In the ISI Web of Science database, we found 15,915 peer-reviewed publications on biological invasions, 124 of
which included social dimensions of this phenomenon. Of these 124, 28 studies described specific contentious situations. Social approaches to biological invasions have emerged largely in the last decade and have focused on both environmental social sciences and resource management. Despite being distributed in a range of journals, these 124 articles were concentrated mostly in ecology and conservation-oriented outlets. We found that conflicts surrounding invasive species arose based largely on differences in value systems and to a lesser extent stakeholder and decision maker’s risk perceptions. To confront or avoid such situations, we suggest integrating the plurality of environmental values into invasive species research and management via
structured decision making techniques, which enhance effective risk communication that promotes trust and confidence between stakeholders and decision makers.

- by Christopher Morehart
- •
- Agricultural Engineering, History, Landscape Ecology, Urban Geography

This article focuses on the role of ecotourism in enhancing the
adaptation and resilience of local communities as they cope with
conflicting schemes for land use: agricultural expansion versus
extension of conservation areas. As demonstrated in two case
studies, ecotourism projects have failed to halt the progression of
oil palm cultivation in Sabah (Malaysia) and rubber plantations in
Nam Ha (Laos). The expansion of conservation areas, a
prerequisite for increased ecotourism activities, seems to have
created more complex land dynamics for local populations and in
fact generated negative consequences for the socio-ecological
resilience of local systems.

- by Bruno Sarrasin and +1
- •
- Ecotourism, Resilience, Laos (Lao PDR), Indonesia
- by gareth dale
- •
- Green Economics, Climate change policy, Ecological Economics, Economic Growth

1. India, a mega-diverse country in terms of both biodiversity and people, is battling environmental problems on many fronts: chronic dependence on natural resources, dwindling ecosystem services, declining environmental quality, effects of climate change, and a
biodiversity crisis.
2. We review the current focal areas and infrastructure for ecological research and education in India, along with the surrounding legal and policy aspects of related socio-economic issues.
3. Currently, ecological and applied research is predominantly focused on charismatic species within protected areas. This scope could be broadened beyond organismal biology towards functional landscapes and ecosystems; the education system also needs to promote ecology as a career-choice for scientists. Expectedly, many environmental challenges are generic in nature and occur in other regions of the world, are primarily biophysical in origin but extend into human dimensions; some challenges are socio-political and have implications for biodiversity conservation.
4. Synthesis and applications. India’s environmental concerns include, but are not restricted to the biodiversity crisis. The biodiversity crisis, in turn, includes, but is not restricted to, the most charismatic species. Greater integration and alignment among the mandates of government agencies, scientists, policy makers, and educators is needed to meet contemporary environmental issues."""

- by Navinder Singh
- •
- Botany, Landscape Ecology, Environmental Education, Science Communication

In recent years, a critical understanding of human–nature interactions has become central to studies exploring the dynamics of urban morphology and the sustainability of growing cities in the developing world. Accordingly, numerous scholars have employed the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) framework as a tool for understanding how cities are evolving in times of profound global change. Focusing on the case of Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, this paper explores the potential of the CHANS framework in the analysis and interpretation of the human–nature interface in cities of the global south. Drawing on the qualitative analysis of graphic information and classical and contemporary literature, the centuries-old spatial morphology of Kano is traced and analysed. In the process, the paper highlights how change in the roles of traditional institutions of urban land administration have triggered the degeneration of the city's resilient indigenous urban morphology.
Field investigations and the analysis of a variety of 19th, 20th and, 21st century images reveal significant change in the city's traditional building materials, roofing styles, street forms, distribution of ponds, and green and open spaces. Population pressure on urban land has also been a major driving force behind the unfolding changes. One catastrophic outcome of these changes has been the exacerbation of recurrent floods. In drawing attention to wider lessons for urban planners in other developing country contexts, the paper stresses the need to analyse any notable spatial and non-spatial events in cities in relation to the changing dynamics of urban morphology.

- by roy maconachie and +1
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- Landscape Ecology, Coupled Human and Natural Systems, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning

The present project seeks to design an alternative for the study of the socio-economic dynamics around a mangrove ecosystem and its relation with the urban environment: the over exploitation of a fragile ecosystem with high strategic value to face the challenges of cli,ate chance that coastal settlements face, the systematic pollution of the estuary which is also its source of resources, competition for the soil, and the precariousness of the urban environment in a sector of the Machala municipality, on the shores of the Paci.c Ocean, on the southwestern corner of the Republic of Ecuador.
By using the SES framework, a diagnosis of the current dynamics within this socio- economic system is made, complex by de.nition, which includes the analysis of the sub- systems related, its historical development, the occupation and the use of the ecosystems involved, their resources, the material and social conditions in which this dynamics take place, as well as the identi.cation and analysis of the actors, and through the initial analysis of their networks of relationships, establish their level of relevance for the development of solutions focused on systemic innovation towards sustainability.
In the development of this work, its established that the causes of the former situation have been identi.ed above decades, the lack of institutionalization of spaces for social participation in the development of public policies, and a dominant view in which economic interest on environmental resources predominates, are at the top of the causes that have led to the emergence and escalation of con4icts and associated impacts.
Exploring the methodological frameworks developed by Quist and Broman & Ròbert, on the experiences and results of future studies developed over 30 years to address sustainability challenges; I establish a methodological route for the development of a backcasting experiment, allowing actors to envision a desirable future, framed in the principles of sustainability and resilience –based on the SDG 2030 and Habitat III manifest– and, from there, to backcast the strategies, plans and programs, as well as follow-up actions needed in the short and medium term, to achieve the desired future.

En la actualidad existe el desafío de incorporar la dimensión
socio-cultural en el manejo de la biodiversidad, para lograr un
desarrollo sustentable que considere la conservación del medioambiente,
junto al bienestar de las comunidades y su patrimonio biocultural.
Acuerdos internacionales y nacionales asumidos por Chile comprometen al
país y a los diferentes estamentos de la sociedad, a incorporar la
dimensión socio-cultural en la gestión de la biodiversidad. Este
escenario expone la urgencia de contar con una organización que promueva
el diálogo, investigación y educación sobre la relación
humano-naturaleza, abordando esta necesidad en su conjunto y
estableciendo los vínculos necesarios para lograr la toma de decisiones
de manera integrada e informada. Es por ello que un grupo
interdisciplinario de investigadores/as y gestores/as comunitarios
chilenos se reunió para formar la Sociedad Chilena de Socioecología y
Etnoecología (SOSOET). Nuestros objetivos son: 1) Generar y documentar
conocimiento socioecológico y etnoecológico en Chile; 2) Promover y
facilitar el diálogo intercultural, intergeneracional e
interdisciplinario; 3) Fomentar instancias de educación y comunicación;
4) Facilitar procesos de investigación, desarrollo y resiliencia de
comunidades y organizaciones locales, y 5) Promover la investigación y
gestión del patrimonio biocultural. La organización incluye equipos de
investigación, ética, difusión, financiamiento, sociedad y agrupación, y
coordinación, todos con sus respectivos planes de trabajo. Se discuten
los desafíos y oportunidades de esta iniciativa.

En la cara norte de Sierra Nevada (Granada) existen sistemas de riego desde época medieval que, gracias a una gestión racional del agua del deshielo, han logrado sobrevivir hasta la actualidad. Las comunidades de regantes son las instituciones responsables del funcionamiento y conservación de estos sistemas de riego y su labor cotidiana descansa en dos pilares fundamentales: por una parte, la organización comunitaria para el aprovechamiento de un recurso escaso y, por otra, la posesión de conocimientos etnoecológicos vitales para comprender el medio natural serrano. Ambos aspectos constituyen un rico Patrimonio Inmaterial que debe ser reconocido y protegido, pues de él depende la conservación del paisaje cultural en su conjunto.

- by MEMOLab - Laboratory of Biocultural Archaeology and +2
- •
- Resilience, Irrigation, Collective Action, Agroecosystems

Now that the word ‘sustainability’ is firmly ensconced in the consciousness of many academics, universities and the broader public, some scholars of socio-ecological theory are questioning whether sustainability is the most appropriate goal (Berkes and Turner 2006; Smith and Wishnie 2000). With ecological and social systems in constant flux, they argue that resilience, not sustainability, provides a more effective model for understanding how contemporary societies can maintain healthy relationships with their environments (however those may be defined). Resilience also provides a window to reflect how communities themselves can adapt to a rapidly changing set of political, economic, and social circumstances.
Few countries have demanded their residents be more resilient than the People’s Republic of China. Even as the ecological damage of overheated development becomes apparent, official slogans about “man and nature hand-in-hand” and building a “harmonious society” proliferate. In the midst of this worrisome ecological moment, whose effects are felt differently across the vast nation, how are communities and individuals coping? This paper takes a socio-ecological systems approach based on long-term multidisciplinary field research in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, primarily in Na and Nuosu communities, to address this question. Examples include a state-directed “Ecological Protection and Straightening Out Model Project” and changing land cultivation practices, among others.

- by Tami Blumenfield
- •
- Tourism Studies, Resilience, Rural Development, Cultural Tourism

Increasing diet breadth, a distinguishing characteristic of human foraging strategies at the end of the Pleistocene and in the early Holocene, is known to be a key development contributing to domestication and the spread of agriculture and pastoralism. Many scholars have focused on broad-spectrum foraging as a result of resource depression due to demographic stress and/or environmental degradation. However, these factors are absent in an increasing number of cases. New research in the Gobi Desert shows that a dramatic change in organizational strategies, including the intensified use of low-ranked foods from dune-field and wetland habitats, is closely correlated with the establishment of dispersed patches boasting high species diversity and a concentrated abundance of small prey. According to a global suite of paleoenvironmental and archaeological data, it appears that the fragmentation of more homogeneous grassland habitats coincided with the rise of broad-spectrum foraging and that these fragmented ecosystems were ideally suited to the unique set of foraging strategies employed by modern humans. This study shows how broad spectrum foraging, increased human population density, and the shift toward food production should be considered by-products of major environmental changes that created an ecological setting ideal for enhanced human reproduction.

- by Lisa Janz and +2
- •
- Landscape Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sociology, Archaeology

Roque de Pinho, J. and Galvin, K. 2015. “Maasai Voices on Climate Change (and other changes too)”: Participatory video and communication about environmental changes in the East African rangelands. In: Metodologias participativas: Os media e a educação. Brites, M. J., Jorge, A. and Correia Santos, S., eds. Pp. 235-248: LabCom Books.
http://www.livroslabcom.ubi.pt/book/139

My master thesis investigate human wildlife relationship between Maasai people and local wildlife. The work analyse both socio-cultural aspects connected to wildlife, through the study of traditional folktales, and both historical and political history of conservation, in order to frame the Maasai relation with wildlife. My thesis focus specifically on key socio-ecological species as elephant, lion and hyenas and their changing representation into wildlife folktales of the Maasai. This work has relevance because interesect, social, cultural, political and ecological aspects connected to Maasai-wildlife relations to have a comprehensive and deep perspective on human-wildlife conflicts in Kenyan Maasailand.

- by Valerio DI Biase
- •
- Conservation Biology, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Folktales, Ethnobiology

In this chapter, we explore and support the call for greater attention to be paid to place in outdoor education. We consider this call to have particular relevance since education in the outdoors can work as an antidote to what some have described as a sense of de-placement (Orr 1994) as inhabitants of local places that are globally connected. Casey, analyst and interpreter of the deep history of philosophical perspectives on place, provides a starting point for our understanding of how, as educators, we might usefully take more account of place as an event that is always 'newly emergent' and radically heterogeneous (Casey, 1998). Our main argument is that place has begun to, and needs to further '(re-)appear' as a primary eventful feature of our understanding of our life in the world but that we need to push further to theorise and understand how in education in outdoor settings. We seek to theorise and suggest ways for how we might more sensitively plan and enact place-responsive outdoor education. We hope our contributions will have relevance for the fields of outdoor education (in formal or non-formal curricula) in outdoor experiential learning, adventure education, fieldwork, and other forms of provision in education settings (such as outdoor play in early years) or in local areas (for example in forest, beach, or urban settings).

- by Greg Mannion and +1
- •
- Environmental Education, Non-formal Education, Place Attachment, Place and Identity

Food insecurity is a region-wide problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbated by severe drought, with devastating impacts at the household level. However, farmers' coping strategies and their determinants remain under documented. In this study, we: 1) characterise relationships between perceptions of drought and food insecurity and corresponding household coping responses, 2) compare livelihood characteristics of farmers that perceived food insecurity as a problem and those who did not, and 3) investigate how household-level characteristics correspond to household coping strategies. Our study is exploratory in nature: we administered a questionnaire to 140 farmers in Isingiro district in Southwest (SW) Uganda whose livelihood is predominantly dependent on crop production. We employ binomial and multinomial logistic regression models to identify the determinants of the respondents' perceptions, how household characteristics correspond to household perceptions of food insecurity, and factors that affect coping responses. Our data show that 68.6% of the respondents perceived food insecurity as a problem in their household. Access to credit for crop cultivation increased the likelihood (p < 0.05) that farmers will be more aware and concerned about household food security status. Farmers were more likely to use the credit as a buffer against food insecurity. Whilst drought is widely perceived (by 95.6%: 133) as a problem contributing to food insecurity, the coping responses are wide-ranging. However a considerable 13% (of the total) reported to be "doing nothing" to respond to the drought effects. Notably, farmers that did not perceive food insecurity as a problem have higher (p = 0.01) off-farm incomes and larger (p = 0.00) farm sizes on average compared to those that did. Significant (p < 0.05) determinants of coping strategies include a combination of size of farmland, total income from crops, number of livestock and marital status. Broadly, our study indicates that households believe they are most at-risk of drought-induced food insecurity. Access to credit and alternative means of livelihood may offer resilience building options.

- by Ronald Twongyirwe and +2
- •
- Hydrology, Climate Change Adaptation, Land Use Change, Socio-Ecological Systems

Salinity intrusion in coastal Bangladesh has serious population health implications, which are yet to be clearly understood. The study was undertaken through the ‘Assessing Health, Livelihoods, Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation in Populous Deltas’ project in coastal Bangladesh. Drinking water salinity and blood pressure measurements were carried out during the household survey campaign. The study explored association among Socio-Ecological Systems (SESs), drinking water salinity and blood pressure.
High blood pressure (prehypertension and hypertension) was found significantly associated with drinking water salinity. People exposed to slightly saline (1000–2000 mg/l) and moderately saline (≥2000 mg/l) concentration drinking water had respectively 17% (p < 0.1) and 42% (p < 0.05) higher chance of being hypertensive than those who consumed fresh water (<1000 mg/l). Women had 31% higher chance of being hypertensive than men. Also, respondents of 35 years and above were about 2.4 times more likely to be hypertensive compared to below 35 years age group. For the 35 years and above age group, both prehypertension and hypertension were found higher than national rural statistics (50.1%) for saline water categories (53.8% for slightly and 62.5% for moderate saline). For moderate salinity exposure, hypertension prevalence was found respectively 21%, 60% and 48% higher than national statistics (23.6%) in consecutive survey rounds among the respondents. Though there was small seasonal variation in drinking water salinity, however blood pressure showed an increasing trend and maximum during the dry season. Mean salinity and associated hypertension prevalence were found higher for deep aquifer (21.6%) compared to shallow aquifer (20.8%).
Localized increase in soil and groundwater salinity was predicted over the study area. Shallow aquifer salinity increase was projected based on modelled output of soil salinity. Rather than uniform increase, there were localized extreme values. Deep aquifer salinity was also predicted to exhibit increasing trend over the period. Study findings and recommendations are suggested for immediate and planned intervention.

- by Mahin Al Nahian and +1
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- Public Health, Socio-Ecological Systems, Drinking water salinity,

Drawing upon socio-ecological and critical educational theory, this article examines neoliberal educational reforms through a theoretical framework of commons and enclosure. Neoliberal reforms should be regarded as enclosures because they seek to privatize education for profit accumulation, foreclosing the possibility of education operating as a commons, or a collective process of sustainable, democratic, and ethical social production. However, educational enclosures have subjective dimensions as well. Specifically, the author argues, there is a raced, classed, and gendered process of educational subjection operating through these enclosures. While mainstream educational research calls for ‘educational innovations’ in policy and practice, this essay contends that the proliferation of ecological devastation and economization of curriculum and pedagogy requires that educational studies rethink educational collectivity and the possibilities of constituting common subjects who resist, refuse, or seek to dismantle neoliberal subjection and enclosure and instead produce social life ‘in common’ with each other and with non-humans and ecosystems.

- by Graham B . Slater
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- Critical Theory, Education, Sociology of Education, Environmental Education

Cities are increasingly garnering attention on the global political stage, in light of the challenges and opportunities urbanization engenders for transition along sustainability and resilience pathways. Recently adopted as a target for change within sustainable development agendas, and recognized as central socioeconomic vehicles by which to mobilize related initiatives, the significance of urban systems to transition becomes most evident if we conceptualize them as being integrated within broader systems of settlements. Settlements are complex adaptive socio-ecological systems, which together as globalized networks embody the complete range of human-environment interactions and the complexity that has emerged along with these, over time. This framing is inspired by science of cities research and the dwelling perspective, both of which have elaborated on cities/settlements’ (1) coupled social-ecological-technological phenomena, (2) fundamental nature and function, (3) embodiment of scale-/network-based processes, and (4) emergent, multi-scale patterns of organization and impact. Ultimately, this could inform a relational approach to both sustainability and settlement planning, guided by analyses of these factors. It could also complement the burgeoning inclination in science and design disciplines to deconstruct the reflexive interactions that can occur between processes and forms, meaning and matter, people and places, the ephemeral and the concrete, the normative and the positive. By this means, we begin to invert our systemic design problem space, turning attention away from our constructed worlds, instead contemplating the ways of life they enable, in an integration between research and practice, observation and intervention, analyses and innovation, scholarship and poetics.

The core question put to this study – can we observe decision-making processes that lead disaster risk
management strategies to impact upon underlying development trajectories can be answered firmly in
the positive.
The study has shown that transformative disaster risk management can be both incidental and
purposeful. The majority of observed transformations were local – found at the level of households or
in organisational decision-making. Even when policy led transformation was also observed to be
targeted at affecting strategic change this was worked through in local policy for land-use
management, local governance and economic development.
The study has drawn out the importance of policy as a driver of transformative change but more
significantly the case studies presented show the potential for individuals and population level
behaviour and of organised civil society as agents of transformation. This is a fundamental observation
and opens questions on the scaled distribution of the burden of undertaking transformation.

- by Aditya Ghosh
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- Climate Change Adaptation, Migration, Disaster Management, Disaster risk reduction

This paper assessed human-elephant conflict in the Okavango Delta Panhandle, Botswana, based on semi-structured interviews of the local residents. It further explores a sustainable alternative in which humans and elephants can co-exist. In 2019, the government of Botswana lifted the country's 5-year hunting ban. It was a controversial policy change on the hunting moratorium. Many global conservationists argued that the change would have devastating effects on elephant populations in Africa. Local people lauded the decision as a way to protect their livelihoods. Assessment of people's experiences is significant in identifying the socio-ecological landscape related to wildlife conservation. The data from this study are augmented by global media articles on human-elephant conflict. This paper employs a systems thinking approach in rethinking how human and elephants can co-exist and imagines the potential for a sustainable alternative through ecopedagogy.

- by Kgosietsile M Velempini, Ph.D.
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- Conservation Biology, Systems Thinking, Ecology, Ecopedagogy

A biorefinery is an agro-industrial facility which creates an interface between the industrial and agricultural worlds: between technological and natural assets. Biorefineries are one element of a global socio-technical system and reflect how the sustainability transition is put in place at the local and regional levels. Analyzed according to the model of transition management , ongoing generations of biorefineries are regarded as new niches of innovation and experiment, no longer solely dedicated to biofuel production. The stakeholders involved in their development try to find new processes of biomass transformation, rooted in their local situation, which consume less energy less energy, to use different types of feedstock and produce a variety of final products/ outputs. However, this biomass optimization is a controversial issue because it raises multi-scale societal environmental dilemmas. Based on empirical research this article reflects on the tangibility of socio-technical transitions and their respect for sustainability principles.

- by Julie Gobert
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- Bioeconomics, Social Sciences, Socio-Ecological Systems, Biorefineries

The cosmological and socio-ecological roles of water, in particular spring water, have not been the subject of sustained analysis in the anthropological literatures of the eastern archipelago. Taking as our starting point the central role of water in the origin narratives and ritual practices of Koba Lima, a coalition of five ancient kingdoms located across the division of East Timor and Indonesian West Timor, we explore the profound cosmological meanings and many layered understandings of life and death associated with water. We argue that in this nuanced socio-ecological world, water is the blood and milk of the mother transformed into life itself through father fire. It is through these transformative capacities connected to water that the boundaries separating the visible and invisible worlds can be permeated, enabling the living access to matak malirin or good health and productive life force. The paper is both a contribution to the literature on archipelagic socio-cosmic dualisms and a unique ethnography which presents new material on the significance of water in this region.

- by Lisa Palmer
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- Water, Timor-Leste, Socio-Ecological Systems

A sharp problem focus sharpens the problem. Sustainably ongrowing bodies of text on degrowth are not the key to post-growth scenarios because evocations of the limits of growth reinforce rather than transcend the economic principle, which is in the observation of scarcity. We therefore focus on alternative forms of growth rather than alternatives to growth. Our form-theoretical analysis of growth dismoralizes growth and disembeds it from the economic medium in which it is preferably drawn. We finally suggest that the key to a post-growth society is in a regrowth of interest in growth in so-far neglected non-economic function systems.

- by Steffen Roth
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- Systems Theory, Social Systems Theory, Niklas Luhmann, DeGrowth

Mediterranean forests are found in the Mediterranean Basin, California, the South African Cape Province, South and southwestern Australia, and parts of Central Chile. They represent 1.8% of the world forest areas of which the vast majority is found in the Mediterranean basin, where historical and paleogeographic episodes, long-term human influence and geographical and climatic contrasts have created ecosystemic diversity and heterogeneity. Even if evergreen are dominant, deciduous trees are also represented, with different forest types including dense stands with a closed canopy (forests sensu stricto), and pre-forestal or pre-steppic structures with lower trees density and height. The Mediterranean basin is also a hotspot of forest species and genetic diversity, with 290
woody species versus only 135 for non-Mediterranean Europe.
However, the characteristics of the Mediterranean area (longstanding anthropogenic pressure, significant current human activity and broad biodiversity) make it one of the world’s regions most threatened by current changes. Four examples of Mediterranean forest types, present in south and north of the Mediterranean basin and more or less threatened, are developed in order to show that linking “hard sciences” and humanities and social sciences is necessary to understand these complex ecosystems. We show also that these forests, in spite of specific climatic constraints, can also be healthy and productive, and play a major ecological and social role. Furthermore, even if the current human activity and global change constitute a risk for these exceptional ecosystems, Mediterranean forests represent a great asset and opportunities for the future of the Mediterranean basin.

- by Romain Simenel and +1
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- Mediterranean, Morocco, Biodiversity, Forest Ecology

The applicability and analytical power of political ecology is improved by study of the 'ethno-ecological context', which is based on the concept of socio-ecological systems (SES). It represents an operating principle of interactions... more

- by Gigi Tevzadze and +1
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- Political Ecology, Georgia, Tourism, TOURISME

The vast areas along the south-eastern borders of South Sudan with Kenya and Ethiopia are dominated by pastoralist societies perpetuating traditional forms of tribal organisation that are only recently becoming integrated into the state system. As civil war and related cross-border development activities have substantially altered power relations and demography in the region, pastoralist resource competition becomes explosively mixed up with the ‘local politics’ of a new school-educated ‘leadership class’ and national issues. Current conflicts around the Toposa/Nyangatom-Turkana frontier and the Elemi Triangle invite a discussion of border(land) dynamics as a volatile entanglement of differing concepts of territoriality, mobility and resource rights.

Successful river basin governance is challenged by actor engagement in the various stages of planning and management. A governance approach for determining priorities for actors for sustainable management was developed, based on a river basin diagnostic framework consisting of four social-institutional and four biophysical indicators. It was applied in river basins in Australia, Brazil, China and France. Actors diagnosed current and target capacity for these indicators, and estimated synergistic influences of interacting indicators. The results reveal different priorities and transformative pathways to achieve basin plan outcomes, specific to each basin and actor groups. Priorities include biodiversity for the Murray-Darling, local water management needs for the São Francisco and Yellow rivers, and improved decision-making for the Adour-Garonne. This novel approach challenges entrenched views about key issues and actor engagement roles in co-implementation of the basin plan under existing prevailing governance models, with implications for engagement and international collaboration on basin governance.

- by Vitor Vasconcelos and +1
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- River Basin Management, Socio-Ecological Systems, River basin management and water governance, Actor Engagement

Las prácticas recreativas al aire libre reflejan diversos modos de convivir con la biodiversidad. Una de ellas, la observación de aves, ha ganado popularidad mundial pues, a través de las aves, las personas socializan entre sí y con la naturaleza. Esta actividad también puede fomentar el cultivo de una relación ética con las aves, la gente y sus culturas. En este trabajo se presenta al “pajareo biocultural” como una propuesta teórico-práctica para enriquecer la ética del turismo relacionado a las aves mediante la integración de narrativas ecológicas y culturales de las aves en un ciclo de observación–reflexión. Se integró investigación ornitológica interdisciplinaria
con la creación de metáforas y el diseño de actividades de observación de aves en Puerto Williams, Chile. El Chimango (Milvago chimango) es capaz de unir los sistemas ecológicos y sociales del Cono Sur americano a través de sus funciones biológicas y significados culturales. Éstos fueron socializados a través de las metáforas “vínculo marino-terrestre” y “cara-a-cara con el caracara”, confeccionados desde la ecología y la extensión de la expresión “cara-a-cara” de Emmanuel Lévinas. Utilizando criterios de adecuación referencial, social, ambiental y de sustentabilidad, se evaluó la capacidad de estas metáforas para acercar a los participantes a las aves, sus ecosistemas
y las culturas en que participan. Se recomienda adaptar esta propuesta con otras aves y contextos, para diversificar las relaciones y valoraciones actuales de la avifauna y la gente en los sistemas socio-ecológicos.

- by Christopher B. Anderson and +1
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- Environmental Philosophy, Tourism Studies, Environmental Education, Ornithology

Hunting is one of the greatest threats to tropical vertebrates. Examining why people hunt is crucial to identifying policy levers to prevent excessive hunting. Overhunting is particularly relevant in Southeast Asia, where a high proportion of mammals and birds are globally threatened. We interviewed hunters in Southwest China to examine their social behavior, motivations, and responses to changes in wildlife abundance. Respondents viewed hunting as a form of recreation, not as an economic livelihood, and reported that they would not stop hunting in response to marked declines in expected catch. Even in scenarios where the expected catch was limited to minimal quantities of small, low-price songbirds, up to 36.7% of respondents said they would still continue to hunt. Recreational hunting may be a prominent driver for continued hunting in increasingly defaunated landscapes; this motivation for hunting and its implications for the ecological consequences of hunting have been understudied relative to subsistence and profit hunting. The combination of a preference for larger over smaller game, reluctance to quit hunting, and weak enforcement of laws may lead to hunting-down-the-web outcomes in Southwest China.

- by Charlotte Chang and +1
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- Conservation Biology, Wildlife Conservation, Bushmeat Hunting, Hunting

Universities will play a profound role in a century in which society will be judged by its capacity for self-transformation in response to pandemic crises of climate change and capitalism. Frameworks of analysis of sustainability in organisations could benefit from tangible systemic rubrics for transformation. This research delineates core elements of organisational transformations for sustainability at universities. Criteria were woven into a framework that has value as a diagnostic tool, spanning three scales and five theoretical perspectives: behavioural science, corporate governance and responsibility, organisational change management, socio-ecological systems and sustainability in education and research. This was geared towards what organisational transformation for sustainability entails with universities specifically , if leverage points can be identified, and what the moral imperatives are of universities pursuing sustainability transformation. The orientation was to deduce distinct 'rules of the game' to diagnose organisational transformations for sustainability through descriptive and prescriptive criteria. The findings suggest high capacity for organisational transformation involves extroverted engagement, where potential rubrics help standardise comparison of environmental social governance issues in similar cultural and regional contexts. Students, academics, researchers and practitioners co-create knowledge in a 'republic of stakeholders', through a dialogical process of organisational-societal learning. Internally, an integrated approach, cross-linking information and disciplines from a network of actors has benefits for psychological wellbeing. Criteria for diagnosis could be formulated into an instrument through testing the analytical framework in transdisciplinary research cases. Future research might well focus on institutional differentiation and evolution of public research universities that navigate departures from traditional models, co-creating in reflexive iterations to achieve leverage for sustainability transformation.

- by Alexander Baker-Friesen and +1
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- Behavioural Science, Sustainability in Higher Education, Organisational Development, Socio-Ecological Systems

A model for enhancing natural intelligence to increase probability of success in any project. Part 2-Application of the model towards integral developmental projects that alleviate rural poverty and violence. Presented at the UNVEN-WSU... more

- by Hugh A H Laue
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- Future Studies, Soil Science, Development Economics, Climate Change