| 1. |
- Biggs, Duan, et al.
(författare)
-
Are We Entering an Era of Concatenated Global Crises?
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 16:2, s. 10-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An increase in the frequency and intensity of environmental crises associated with accelerating human-induced global change is of substantial concern to policy makers. The potential impacts, especially on the poor, are exacerbated in an increasingly connected world that enables the emergence of crises that are coupled in time and space. We discuss two factors that can interact to contribute to such an increased concatenation of crises: (1) the increasing strength of global vs. local drivers of change, so that changes become increasingly synchronized; and (2) unprecedented potential for the propagation of crises, and an enhanced risk of management interventions in one region becoming drivers elsewhere, because of increased connectivity. We discuss the oil-food-financial crisis of 2007 to 2008 as an example of a concatenated crisis with origin and ultimate impacts in far removed parts of the globe. The potential for a future of concatenated shocks requires adaptations in science and governance including (a) an increased tolerance of uncertainty and surprise, (b) strengthening capacity for early detection and response to shocks, and (c) flexibility in response to enable adaptation and learning.
|
|
| 2. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
-
Toward Principles for Enhancing the Resilience of Ecosystem Services
- 2012. - 37
-
Ingår i: Annual Review Environment and Resources. - : Annual Reviews. - 1543-5938 .- 1545-2050. ; 37, s. 421-448
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Enhancing the resilience of ecosystem services (ES) that underpin human well-being is critical for meeting current and future societal needs, and requires specific governance and management policies. Using the literature, we identify seven generic policy-relevant principles for enhancing the resilience of desired ES in the face of disturbance and ongoing change in social-ecological systems (SES). These principles are (P1) maintain diversity and redundancy, (P2) manage connectivity, (P3) manage slow variables and feedbacks, (P4) foster an understanding of SES as complex adaptive systems (CAS), (P5) encourage learning and experimentation, (P6) broaden participation, and (P7) promote polycentric governance systems. We briefly define each principle, review how and when it enhances the resilience of ES, and conclude with major research gaps. In practice, the principles often co-occur and are highly interdependent. Key future needs are to better understand these interdependencies and to operationalize and apply the principles in different policy and management contexts.
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
-
Navigating the Back Loop : Fostering Social Innovation and Transformation in Ecosystem Management
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 15:2, s. 9-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Addressing the environmental challenges of the 21st century requires substantial changes to the way modern society views and manages ecosystems. In particular, many authors contend that fundamental transformation of the largely sectoral, expert-centered ecosystem-management institutions of modern, Western societies is needed. There is increasing agreement that more adaptive, integrated, collaborative ecosystem-management approaches, interlinked at multiple scales, would improve society's ability to sustainably manage complex social-ecological systems. Therefore, understanding processes of transformation, and factors that may enable transformation in ecosystem management, has become an active research area. We explore ecosystem-management transformations using a social-innovation framework. Based on three local-level case studies of transformation in freshwater management, we provide a pilot assessment of factors that may promote the emergence and adoption of integrated, collaborative ecosystem-management approaches. Our analysis suggests that ongoing environmental degradation, increasing environmental awareness, and shifting societal values are creating fertile ground for the emergence and adoption of new approaches to ecosystem management. Based on the case studies we examined, we suggest that initiatives that foster environmental awareness and attachment to local ecosystems, develop capacity for social entrepreneurship in the environmental arena, promote dialogue between key stakeholders, and provide institutional support to new institutions may facilitate the emergence of integrated, collaborative ecosystem-management approaches.
|
|
| 5. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
-
Preparing for the future : teaching scenario planning at the graduate level
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. - : Wiley. - 1540-9295. ; 8:5, s. 267-273
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Are environmental science students developing the mindsets and obtaining the tools needed to help address the considerable challenges posed by the 21st century? Today's major environmental issues are characterized by high-stakes decisions and high levels of uncertainty. Although traditional scientific approaches are valuable, contemporary environmental issues also require new tools and new ways of thinking. We provide an example of how such new, or “post-normal”, approaches have been taught at the graduate level, through practical application of scenario planning. Surveyed students reported that they found the scenario planning course highly stimulating, thought-provoking, and inspiring. Key learning points included recognizing the need for multiple points of view when considering complex environmental issues, and better appreciating the pervasiveness of uncertainty. Collaborating with non-academic stakeholders was also particularly helpful. Most students left the course feeling more positive about the potential contribution they can make in addressing the environmental challenges that society faces. Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/080075
|
|
| 6. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
-
Regime Shifts
- 2011
-
Ingår i: Sourcebook in Theoretical Ecology. - : University of California Press.
-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
|
|
| 7. |
- Carpenter, S. R., et al.
(författare)
-
General resilience to cope with extreme events
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 4:12, s. 3248-3259
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Resilience to specified kinds of disasters is an active area of research and practice. However, rare or unprecedented disturbances that are unusually intense or extensive require a more broad-spectrum type of resilience. General resilience is the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt or transform in response to unfamiliar, unexpected and extreme shocks. Conditions that enable general resilience include diversity, modularity, openness, reserves, feedbacks, nestedness, monitoring, leadership, and trust. Processes for building general resilience are an emerging and crucially important area of research.
|
|
| 8. |
- Chapin, F. Stuart, III, et al.
(författare)
-
Ecosystem stewardship : sustainability strategies for a rapidly changing planet
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 25:4, s. 241-249
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecosystem stewardship is an action-oriented framework intended to foster the social ecological sustainability of a rapidly changing planet. Recent developments identify three strategies that make optimal use of current understanding in an environment of inevitable uncertainty and abrupt change: reducing the magnitude of, and exposure and sensitivity to, known stresses; focusing on proactive policies that shape change; and avoiding or escaping unsustainable social ecological traps. As we discuss here, all social ecological systems are vulnerable to recent and projected changes but have sources of adaptive capacity and resilience that can sustain ecosystem services and human well-being through active ecosystem stewardship.
|
|
| 9. |
- Gaertner, Mirijam, et al.
(författare)
-
Invasive plants as drivers of regime shifts : identifying high-priority invaders that alter feedback relationships
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Diversity & distributions. - : Wiley. - 1366-9516 .- 1472-4642. ; 20:7, s. 733-744
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim A major challenge for invasion ecology is to identify high-impact invaders to guide prioritization of management interventions. We argue that species with the potential to cause regime shifts (altered states of ecosystem structure and function that are difficult or impossible to reverse) should be prioritized. These are species that modify ecosystems in ways that enhance their own persistence and suppress that of native species through reinforcing feedback processes. Methods Using both systems analysis and meta-analysis approaches, we synthesized changes to ecosystems caused by 173 invasive plant species. For the systems analysis, we examined published studies of impacts of invasive plants to determine which presented evidence consistent with a reinforcement of feedback processes. For the meta-analysis, we calculated the effect size ratio between standardized changes in recipient ecosystem and in the status of introduced species as an indication of a reinforcing feedback in particular species-environment combinations. The systems analysis approach allowed us to conceptualize regime shifts in invader-dominated landscapes and to estimate the likelihood of such changes occurring. The meta-analysis allowed us to quantitatively verify the conceptual model and the key invader-context feedbacks and to detect the strength and direction of feedbacks. Results Most reinforcing feedbacks involve impacts on soil-nutrient cycling by shrub and tree invaders in forests and herbaceous invaders in wetlands. Feedbacks resulting in regime shifts were most likely related to processes associated with seed banks, fire and nutrient cycling. Results were used to derive a key for identifying high-impact invaders. Main conclusions Identifying combinations of plant life-forms and ecosystems most likely to result in regime shifts is a robust approach for predicting high-impact invasions and therefore for prioritizing management interventions. The meta-analysis revealed the need for more quantitative studies, including manipulative experiments, on ecosystem feedbacks.
|
|
| 10. |
- Hamann, Maike, 1982-
(författare)
-
Mapping social-ecological systems and human well-being : A spatial exploration of the links between people and the environment in South Africa
- 2014
-
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- It has become increasingly clear that dealing with present day environmental crises requires a holistic view that takes into account the interactions of social and ecological factors across multiple spatial and temporal scales. An example of where this new paradigm is being operationalized is the study of social-ecological systems. A substantial aspect of this growing research area aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the links between social-ecological systems, the ecosystem services they generate, and human well-being. This thesis summarizes the first part of a PhD project with the overall objective of unravelling some of these linkages using a mapping approach in South Africa, a country with high levels of social and ecological diversity.In the first paper, I present an approach to mapping social-ecological systems based on different bundles of ecosystem services. Mapping social-ecological systems has so far mainly been achieved by the overlay of separate social and ecological data. Here, I identify characteristic bundles of ecosystem services and use these bundle types as a proxy for different social-ecological systems in South Africa. The emergent pattern shows three distinct and spatially coherent systems that represent an overall low, medium and high level of ecosystem service use amongst households, and differs markedly from maps based on the overlay of social and ecological datasets. This approach not only identifies areas within South Africa where people are especially vulnerable to environmental changes that negatively affect ecosystem services, but also highlights areas in which distinctly different system dynamics operate in close proximity. It is especially in those areas where systems characterized by high and low dependence on ecosystem services lie side by side that nuanced and differentiated decision-making is required to sustainably manage ecosystem services in support of human well-being across all sectors of society.In the second paper I expand on the approach pioneered in Paper I by mapping human well-being bundles in South Africa. Mapping human well-being as bundles allows us to interrogate the trade-offs between different constituents of well-being at the sub-national scale, something that is not possible when measuring human well-being based on indicators or indices that reduce well-being to a single number. This approach also enables us to perform a spatial comparison between the levels of ecosystem service use (identified in Paper I) and human well-being, which signifies an important step forward in the development of quantitative tools for the analysis of the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being at scales between the local and the national.
|
|
