| 1. |
- Bennett, Elena M., et al.
(författare)
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Bright spots : seeds of a good Anthropocene
- 2016
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 1540-9295 .- 1540-9309. ; 14:8, s. 441-448
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The scale, rate, and intensity of humans' environmental impact has engendered broad discussion about how to find plausible pathways of development that hold the most promise for fostering a better future in the Anthropocene. However, the dominance of dystopian visions of irreversible environmental degradation and societal collapse, along with overly optimistic utopias and business-as-usual scenarios that lack insight and innovation, frustrate progress. Here, we present a novel approach to thinking about the future that builds on experiences drawn from a diversity of practices, worldviews, values, and regions that could accelerate the adoption of pathways to transformative change (change that goes beyond incremental improvements). Using an analysis of 100 initiatives, or seeds of a good Anthropocene, we find that emphasizing hopeful elements of existing practice offers the opportunity to: (1) understand the values and features that constitute a good Anthropocene, (2) determine the processes that lead to the emergence and growth of initiatives that fundamentally change human-environmental relationships, and (3) generate creative, bottom-up scenarios that feature well-articulated pathways toward a more positive future.
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| 2. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
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Social-ecological change : insights from the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 447-468
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social-ecological systems (SES) research has emerged as an important area of sustainability science, informing and supporting pressing issues of transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. To date, much SES research has been done in or from the Global North, where the challenges and contexts for supporting sustainability transformations are substantially different from the Global South. This paper synthesises emerging insights on SES dynamics that can inform actions and advance research to support sustainability transformations specifically in the southern African context. The paper draws on work linked to members of the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), a leading SES research network in the region, synthesizing key insights with respect to the five core themes of SAPECS: (i) transdisciplinary and engaged research, (ii) ecosystem services and human well-being, (iii) governance institutions and management practices, (iv) spatial relationships and cross-scale connections, and (v) regime shifts, traps and transformations. For each theme, we focus on insights that are particularly novel, interesting or important in the southern African context, and reflect on key research gaps and emerging frontiers for SES research in the region going forward. Such place-based insights are important for understanding the variation in SES dynamics around the world, and are crucial for informing a context-sensitive global agenda to foster sustainability transformations at local to global scales.
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| 3. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
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The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society : an emergent community of practice
- 2023
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Ingår i: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 19:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability-focused research networks and communities of practice have emerged as a key response and strategy to build capacity and knowledge to support transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. This paper synthesises insights from the development of a community of practice on social-ecological systems (SES) research in southern Africa over the past decade, linked to the international Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS). This community consists of a network of researchers who carry out place-based SES research in the southern African region. They interact through various cross-cutting working groups and also host a variety of public colloquia and student and practitioner training events. Known as the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), its core objectives are to: (1) derive new approaches and empirical insights on SES dynamics in the southern African context; (2) have a tangible impact by mainstreaming knowledge into policy and practice; and (3) grow the community of practice engaged in SES research and governance, including researchers, students and practitioners. This paper reflects on experiences in building the SAPECS community, with the aim of supporting the development of similar networks elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Global South.
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| 4. |
- de Vos, Alta, et al.
(författare)
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Methods for understanding social-ecological systems : a review of place-based studies
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 24:4
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, social-ecological systems (SES) have emerged as a prominent analytical framing with which to investigate pressing sustainability issues associated with the Anthropocene era. Despite the growth of SES research, the lack of a delineated set of methods commonly contributes to disorientation for those entering into a field where methodological pluralism is the norm. We conduct a review of SES research, focusing particularly on methods used in this field. Our results reflect the rapid growth in SES research relative to other publications in relevant subject areas, and suggest a maturation of the field. Whilst institutions investigating SES have been mostly based in the global north, focal SES has been more globally distributed, although key regions, especially island regions, remain poorly studied. Key problems addressed in the studies related to policy, trade, conservation, adaptation, land use change, water, forests, sustainability, urban problems, and governance and institutions. We identified 311 methods, which we grouped into 27 method categories that can serve as a guide to SES research methods for newcomers to the field. We also performed an exploratory assessment of the ability of these methods to account for key features of SES as complex adaptive systems. We found that methods do better at accounting for the relational and context-dependent nature of SES, and least well with complex causality. Our study highlights the plurality of methods used in SES research, and helps highlight key areas in need of further methodological development.
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| 5. |
- Fazey, Ioan, et al.
(författare)
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Transforming knowledge systems for life on Earth : Visions of future systems and how to get there
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future envisioned knowledge systems might need to look like and how we might get there. Findings suggest that envisioned future systems will need to be much more collaborative, open, diverse, egalitarian, and able to work with values and systemic issues. They will also need to go beyond producing knowledge about our world to generating wisdom about how to act within it. To get to envisioned systems we will need to rapidly scale methodological innovations, connect innovators, and creatively accelerate learning about working with intractable challenges. We will also need to create new funding schemes, a global knowledge commons, and challenge deeply held assumptions. To genuinely be a creative force in supporting longevity of human and non-human life on our planet, the shift in knowledge systems will probably need to be at the scale of the enlightenment and speed of the scientific and technological revolution accompanying the second World War. This will require bold and strategic action from governments, scientists, civic society and sustained transformational intent.
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| 6. |
- Mancilla Garcia, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Adopting process-relational perspectives to tackle the challenges of social-ecological systems research
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 25:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite many recent advances in sustainability science, researchers still struggle to address the key characteristics of social-ecological systems that underlie many of today's problems. Complex cross-scale dynamics and tightly interrelated social and ecological processes characterize social-ecological systems (SES). These features lead to constant change and novelty. Process philosophers argue that the difficulties of capturing these features may have their roots in our tendency to understand the world in terms of substances. This tendency is a legacy of dominant philosophical views that, although now debunked, continue to inform (albeit mostly implicitly) our explanations of reality. These philosophical views are based on the primacy of fundamental entities and stability, which is in contradiction to the continuously changing nature of SES. In this paper, we demonstrate that adopting a process-relational perspective, which focuses on nonequilibrium dynamics and relations between processes, provides novel opportunities to advance SES research. We propose concrete steps toward developing a process-relational perspective of SES and discuss how such a perspective can help us to overcome the challenges currently facing SES research.
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| 7. |
- Manyani, Amanda, et al.
(författare)
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The evolution of social-ecological systems (SES) research : a co-authorship and co-citation network analysis
- 2024
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Ingår i: Ecology and Society. - 1708-3087. ; 29:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social-ecological systems (SES) research has gained substantial momentum, as witnessed by the growth in SES publications, theories, and frameworks, and the traction these concepts have gained in development and policy arenas. However, the growth and development of the SES field has only been partially examined, which limits our ability to make sense of and support the future development of the field and its ability to inform pressing sustainability challenges. The aim of this study is to understand how SES research has grown and changed over time as a field of study using bibliometric methods, co-authorship and co-citation network analysis. Our study is informed by broader bodies of work that have sought to understand the development of scientific fields, concepts, and research agendas. We highlight key trends that have influenced the organization of the field as well as how key thematic areas of SES research have evolved over time. Our results indicate that the research on SES is (i) mainly carried out by authors located in North America and Europe, (ii) characterized by changes in the terminology employed, as identified through our search terms, (iii) linked to the emergence of major conferences and centers dedicated to SES research, as well as its growth over time, (iv) characterized by a highly interconnected structure, with almost 80% of scholars being connected to each other, and (v) characterized by a shift in citation patterns, with newcomers in the network carving out their niche and replacing the founding figures as the central focus. We discuss the implications of these findings, including the nature of SES research as an epistemic network, the highly collaborative nature of SES research, and the role played by open -access journals in the growth of SES research in the digital era. We further suggest that the SES research field is at a critical transition point, with contending visions of its future following a more disciplinary path or remaining as a more open interdisciplinary space. We conclude with the questions this raises for future SES research regarding the implications of this duality on the nature, production, and validation of knowledge and its evolution.
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| 8. |
- Pereira, Laura M., et al.
(författare)
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Using futures methods to create transformative spaces : visions of a good Anthropocene in southern Africa
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 23:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The unique challenges posed by the Anthropocene require creative ways of engaging with the future and bringing about transformative change. Envisioning positive futures is a first step in creating a shared understanding and commitment that enables radical transformations toward sustainability in a world defined by complexity, diversity, and uncertainty. However, to create a transformative space in which truly unknowable futures can be explored, new experimental approaches are needed that go beyond merely extrapolating from the present into archetypal scenarios of the future. Here, we present a process of creative visioning where participatory methods and tools from the field of futures studies were combined in a novel way to create and facilitate a transformative space, with the aim of generating positive narrative visions for southern Africa. We convened a diverse group of participants in a workshop designed to develop radically different scenarios of good Anthropocenes, based on existing seeds of the future in the present. These seeds are innovative initiatives, practices, and ideas that are present in the world today, but are not currently widespread or dominant. As a result of a carefully facilitated process that encouraged a multiplicity of perspectives, creative immersion, and grappling with deeply held assumptions, four radical visions for southern Africa were produced. Although these futures are highly innovative and exploratory, they still link back to current real-world initiatives and contexts. The key learning that arose from this experience was the importance of the imagination for transformative thinking, the need to capitalize on diversity to push boundaries, and finally, the importance of creating a space that enables participants to engage with emotions, beliefs, and complexity. This method of engagement with the future has the potential to create transformative spaces that inspire and empower people to act toward positive Anthropocene visions despite the complexity of the sustainability challenge.
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| 9. |
- Preiser, Rika, et al.
(författare)
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Co-exploring relational heuristics for sustainability transitions towards more resilient and just Anthropocene futures
- 2021
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Ingår i: Systems research and behavioral science. - : Wiley. - 1092-7026 .- 1099-1743. ; 38:5, s. 625-634
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, four relational heuristic responses for exploring new modes of engagement, or patterns of activity, that could enliven humanity's efforts in fostering systemic thinking and action to inform sustainability transitions are offered. Their purpose is to realise more resilient and just Anthropocene futures. These relational heuristics are (1) re-patterning our theories of change-making, (2) cultivating a shared future consciousness, (3) creating transformative spaces and (4) engaging in processes of co-exploration. We argue that these heuristics are better aligned for studying and responding to the systemic and interdependent nature of the real-world challenges we are currently facing.
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| 10. |
- Preiser, Rika, et al.
(författare)
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Navigating alternative framings of human-environment interactions : Variations on the theme of 'Finding Nemo'
- 2017
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Ingår i: Anthropocene. - : Elsevier BV. - 2213-3054. ; 20, s. 83-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wide agreement exists that the Anthropocene demands new forms of engagement and responses to achieve sustainability, but different fields suggest quite different approaches. In this communication, we set out four perspectives that we argue have fundamentally different framings of the problem of the Anthropocene, and consequently point to very different responses to achieving sustainability. These four fields include: the eco-modernist perspective, the planetary stewardship paradigm, the pathways to sustainability approach, and the critical post-humanist paradigm. We suggest that a deeper underlying framing which can help integrate aspects of these four perspectives is an understanding of the Anthropocene as responsibility. We argue that from this perspective it becomes possible to engage with an ethics of responsibility that comes with being human and acting on the planet, in the face of an uncertain and unknowable future.
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| 11. |
- Preiser, Rika, et al.
(författare)
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Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems : organizing principles for advancing research methods and approaches
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 23:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study of social-ecological systems (SES) has been significantly shaped by insights from research on complex adaptive systems (CAS). We offer a brief overview of the conceptual integration of CAS research and its implications for the advancement of SES studies and methods. We propose a conceptual typology of six organizing principles of CAS based on a comparison of leading scholars' classifications of CAS features and properties. This typology clusters together similar underlying organizing principles of the features and attributes of CAS, and serves as a heuristic framework for identifying methods and approaches that account for the key features of SES. These principles can help identify appropriate methods and approaches for studying SES. We discuss three main implications of studying and engaging with SES as CAS. First, there needs to be a shift in focus when studying the dynamics and interactions in SES, to better capture the nature of the organizing principles that characterize SES behavior. Second, realizing that the nature of the intertwined social-ecological relations is complex has real consequences for how we choose methods and practical approaches for observing and studying SES interactions. Third, engagement with SES as CAS poses normative challenges for problem-oriented researchers and practitioners taking on real-world challenges.
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| 12. |
- Sellberg, My M., et al.
(författare)
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Engaging with complexity in resilience practice
- 2021
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 26:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a complex and turbulent world, there is heightened interest in managing for resilience. However, resilience guides, particularly those used in the development field, often lack a theoretical grounding in complex adaptive systems. There is a demand for guidance on how to operationalize complexity in applications of resilience, such as resilience assessment and planning. This study synthesizes lessons from how twelve cases of social-ecological resilience practice are engaging with complexity. We assessed how each case engaged with complexity, according to a framework of six features of complex adaptive systems. The cases are situated in a diversity of contexts, that include rural villages in Tajikistan, a Swedish municipality, Australian catchment management authorities, a Canadian coastal fishery, and the Arctic council. Our results revealed two main ways of engaging with complexity: capturing and making sense of the complexity of a social-ecological system (system complexity) and embodying complexity into the participatory process (process complexity). Our comparison demonstrates that resilience practice provides a useful approach to address system complexity by, for example, conceptualizing social-ecological interactions, identifying interactions across scales, and assessing system dynamics. Strategies related to understanding the adaptive and emergent features of complex systems were less developed and widespread. The study also revealed a set of strategies to address process complexity, such as facilitating dialogue, building networks, and designing a flexible and iterative process, showing how complexity can be embedded into the resilience assessment process. The more participatory and embedded cases of resilience practice were stronger in these process-oriented strategies. The complexity framework we used and the identified practical strategies provide a theoretically-grounded resource for managers, decision-makers, and researchers on how to engage with complexity when applying resilience in a variety of contexts, including development and landscape management.
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| 13. |
- Sellberg, My M., 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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How social-ecological resilience practice engages with complexity
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study investigates how cases of social-ecological resilience practice are engaging with complexity across a diversity of contexts and approaches. Compared to some other resilience frameworks, social-ecological resilience thinking explicitly includes the perspective of complex adaptive systems. However, there is still a lack of knowledge of what this perspective means in practice when it comes to interventions aimed at assessing or building resilience, and there is a demand for practical guidance on how to address complexity. With a growing experience of resilience practice from different parts of the world there is now an opportunity to synthesize lessons across cases. In this study, we assessed twelve cases for how they engaged with complexity, according to a framework of six features of complex adaptive systems. The cases are situated in a diversity of contexts, such as rural villages in Tajikistan, a Swedish municipality, Australian catchment management authorities, a Canadian coastal fishery, and the Arctic council. We organized the cases of resilience practice into three types of approaches: 1) Assessment of theory-based resilience frameworks, 2) Participatory resilience assessment, and 3) Resilience-based planning and operations. Our results reveal alternative key strategies for engaging with complexity in each of these approaches, as well as different key tools and novel situated practices among the cases. The results can help practitioners to orientate their resilience practice, address multiple aspects of complexity, and prioritize strategies depending on their context, purpose, and type of approach. We also highlight two areas of advancing resilience practice methods and approaches: narratives for articulating and guiding desirable change, and an international and transdisciplinary community of practice.
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| 14. |
- van der Merwe, Susara E., et al.
(författare)
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A framework for conceptualizing and assessing the resilience of essential services produced by socio-technical systems
- 2018
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 23:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Essential services such as electricity are critical to human well-being and the functioning of modern society. These services are produced by complex adaptive socio-technical systems and emerge from the interplay of technical infrastructure with people and governing institutions. Ongoing global changes such as urbanization and increasing prevalence of extreme weather events are generating much interest in strategies for building the resilience of essential services. However, much of the emphasis has been on reliable and resilient technical infrastructure. This focus is insufficient; resilience also needs to be built into the human and institutional processes within which these technical systems are embedded. Here, we propose a conceptual framework, based on a complex adaptive systems perspective, that identifies four key domains that require investment to build the resilience of essential services. This framework addresses both the technical and social components of the socio-technical systems that underlie essential services and incorporates specified and general resilience considerations. The framework can be used to guide resilience assessments and to identify strategies for building resilience across different organizational levels.
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| 15. |
- Van der Merwe, Susara E., et al.
(författare)
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Making Sense of Complexity : Using SenseMaker as a Research Tool
- 2019
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Ingår i: Systems. - : MDPI AG. - 2079-8954. ; 7:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is growing interest in studying processes of human sensemaking, as this strongly influences human and organizational behavior as well as complex system dynamics due to the diverse lenses people use to interpret and act in the world. The Cognitive Edge SenseMaker((R)) tool is one method for capturing and making sense of people's attitudes, perceptions, and experiences. It is used for monitoring and evaluation; mapping ideas, mind-sets, and attitudes; and detecting trends and weak signals. However, academic literature describing the tool-set and method is lacking. This introduction aims to guide researchers in choosing when to use SenseMaker and to facilitate understanding of its execution and limitations. SenseMaker can provide nuanced insight into system-level patterns of human sensemaking that can provide insight to nudge systems towards more desirable futures, and enable researchers to measure beyond what they know.
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| 16. |
- van der Merwe, Susara E., et al.
(författare)
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Sensemaking as an approach for resilience assessment in an Essential Service Organization
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment Systems and Decisions. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2194-5403 .- 2194-5411. ; 40:1, s. 84-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Essential service organizations are interested in approaches to assess and build infrastructure resilience to ensure an uninterrupted supply of services, such as electricity or water. This study applied a sensemaking approach to assess the nature of social resilience in a national essential service organization in South Africa. It used the SenseMaker tool to collect and surface patterns from a set of micro-narratives collected in response to a national emergency simulation exercise. Findings show that participants utilized specified resilience resources, such as procedures and protocols, while general social resilience resources, such as social network integration and agency, which would have contributed to the response, did not feature significantly. Participants’ sense of coherence—how they comprehend, manage, and find meaning amidst life’s challenges—had a positive bearing on preparedness, involvement, and expectation of outcome in the context of the emergency simulation exercise and appear to be the organization’s strongest social resilience resource. This study suggests that a sense of coherence can inform resilience-building interventions, and be used as a measure of effective sensemaking towards more resilient outcomes.
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