| 1. |
- Alavaisha, Edmond, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Supply and demand of ecosystem services among smallholder farmers in irrigated and rainfed farming, Kilombero, Tanzania
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 661-671
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A sufficient supply of ecosystem services (ESs) in agriculture provides the basis for human sustainable development. Intensified large-scale farming has changed wetland ecosystems extensively by reducing both the resilience and capacity to support production of many ESs. Small-scale farming may also affect the generation of ESs where the impact often reflects the differences in farming practices. This paper explores the supply and demand of the ESs between management practices, irrigated and rainfed, of smallholder farmers in Kilombero wetland, Tanzania. We conducted interviews involving 30 households and two focus groups with five discussants for each practice, rainfed and irrigation. Generally, we found that the need for ES, especially food, water and flood control, in both farming practices, were exceeding the capacity to supply. In general, irrigation farming compared to rainfed farming was associated with higher levels of food production, increasing flood regulation and erosion control. However, the ES delivery and need were not uniform depending on the river discharge. The differences in supply and demand of ESs between farming practices suggest that society would benefit from investing in irrigation and regulatory infrastructures to minimize flooding risk and to build up the ecosystem’s natural capacity to produce services. Such practical policy-relevant measures could balance the gap between supply and demand of ESs in smallholder farming systems in Tanzanian wetland.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Barceló, Matías, et al.
(author)
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Exploring links between local knowledge, values and livelihoods in land-sea interface : insights on emerging tradeoffs and change in Southern Chile
- 2024
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In: Ecosystems and People. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 20:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Local knowledge and values of coastal communities offer insights into the intricate human-nature relationships in the land-sea interface. Considering a diversity of values unveils how people perceive nature, encompassing both tangible and intangible dimensions, and this understanding is part of how they navigate dynamic environmental challenges by embracing livelihood diversification spanning land-sea activities. Better understanding of these values, relationships and diversification strategies can improve social-ecological systems theory and practice. Here we assess links between local knowledge, values and livelihoods in order to identify emerging tradeoffs. Using semi-structured interviews with qualitative and quantitative methods, we conducted a total of 88 interviews in five communities in Southern Chile. Local knowledge and values were collected as free-listing on terrestrial and marine species. We probed relationships between livelihood diversification and values, classified as relational, intrinsic, and instrumental. Our findings showed that marine species were most associated with instrumental values, while terrestrial species had a balance between relational, intrinsic and instrumental values. We observed that as communities expand their livelihoods and live closer to the city, they showed lower knowledge and values, and in these cases instrumental values predominate. Certain diversification strategies could lead to time constraints, impacting the transmission of knowledge and resulting in less values. Deeper and long-term cooperation between different actors to recover and protect different values is necessary to couple local knowledge and values with livelihood diversification. Our research provides valuable insights for policymakers aiming to develop holistic strategies that include relational values and leverage diverse knowledge systems to address contemporary environmental challenges.
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| 4. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(author)
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Social-ecological change : insights from the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 447-468
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 5. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(author)
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The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society : an emergent community of practice
- 2023
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 19:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 6. |
- Burgos-Ayala, Aracely, et al.
(author)
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Indigenous and local knowledge in environmental management for human-nature connectedness : a leverage points perspective
- 2020
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 16:1, s. 290-303
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Indigenous peoples are key actors for environmental management because they hold valuable indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) for the sustainable stewardship of nature. However, the consideration of ILK in environmental management is still limited. We explore how environmental government institutions in Colombia have involved indigenous communities in 2212 environmental management projects between 2004 and 2015. Only 1% of these projects involved indigenous peoples as main actors. We applied the Leverage Points (LP) perspective in a content analysis to identify ‘where’ and ‘how’ these projects promote transformative changes within indigenous territories. Moreover, we investigated the interactions between projects targeting shallow and deep LP using cluster analysis. Our results show that these projects mainly seek to improve the well-being of indigenous peoples and consider ILK in their interventions, which suggests changes in deep LP. Additionally, these projects usually combined interventions targeting both shallow and deep LP while using ILK to improve environmental management practices (e.g., Life Plans) and developing participatory land-use planning in the indigenous territories. We argue that the involvement of ILK in environmental management can lead to stronger human–nature connectedness and thus to more successful conservation policies. However, this involvement is still at an early stage in Colombia.
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| 7. |
- Calderón-Contreras, Rafael, et al.
(author)
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A regional PECS node built from place-based social-ecological sustainability research in Latin America and the Caribbean
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 1-14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sustainability requires a combination of meaningful co-production of locally relevant solutions, synthesis of insights gained across regions, and increased cooperation between science, policy and practice. The Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) has been coordinating Place-Based Social-Ecological Sustainability Research (PBSESR) across the globe and emphasizes the need for regional scientific nodes from diverse biocultural regions to inform sustainability science and action. In this paper, we assess the strengths of the PBSESR communities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We provide an overview of PBSESR literature associated with this region and highlight the achievements of two prominent regional networks: The Social-Ecological Systems and Sustainability Research Network from Mexico (SocioEcoS) and the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies from Uruguay (SARAS Institute). Finally, we identify the potential in these nodes to constitute a regional PECS node in Latin America and discuss the capacity needed to ensure such function. The results of the literature review show that while still loosely interconnected across the region, networks play key roles in connecting otherwise cloistered teams and we illustrate how the SocioEcoS network (focusing on transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge towards sustainability) and the SARAS Institute (focusing on innovative approaches for looking at complex social-ecological problems, rooted in slow science and arts) operate as key connectors in the region. We conclude that these organizations combined can embody a Latin American node for PECS, and would thereby not only contribute to regional but also global capacities to advance the sustainability agenda.
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| 8. |
- Fischer, Anke
(author)
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Exploring the impacts of woodland management on ecosystem services - a deliberative method
- 2024
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In: Ecosystems and People. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 20
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There is a need for operational decision-making methodologies applicable at local management scales which are inclusive and enable the integration of plural values, knowledges and perspectives of co-produced ecosystem services. Here we describe a deliberative scenario analysis method using ‘management intervention bundles’ as distinct scenarios to assess the perceived impact of changing management on woodland ecosystem services. We used three hypothetical future management scenarios, Biodiversity Conservation, People Engagement and Austerity, alongside scenarios of the Past, Present and an existing Management Plan. We assessed the perceived impacts of these scenarios on 11 ecosystem services using local expert workshops in six sites across Scotland. The experts were chosen to represent a range of different perspectives, from biodiversity to the local economy, community concerns and recreation. Overall, Management Plan, Biodiversity Conservation and People Engagement scenarios performed significantly better than Past, Present and Austerity scenarios. Further quantitative and in-depth qualitative analysis revealed trade-offs and noteworthy patterns. We explore some of these key trade-offs and patterns and argue that our methodology has potential to be an effective tool for local managers to support local decision-making at management scales for co-produced ecosystem services. Our methodology enabled a diverse group of local experts to express and deliberate a range of values, experiences and viewpoints. This knowledge sharing and collective learning allowed the development of shared values and perspectives, which are thought to be critical in more equitable and inclusive decision-making.
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| 9. |
- Fischer, Joern, et al.
(author)
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A social-ecological assessment of food security and biodiversity conservation in Ethiopia
- 2021
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 17:1, s. 400-410
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We studied food security and biodiversity conservation from a social-ecological perspective in southwestern Ethiopia. Specialist tree, bird, and mammal species required large, undisturbed forest, supporting the notion of ‘land sparing’ for conservation. However, our findings also suggest that forest areas should be embedded within a multifunctional landscape matrix (i.e. ‘land sharing’), because farmland also supported many species and ecosystem services and was the basis of diversified livelihoods. Diversified livelihoods improved smallholder food security, while lack of access to capital assets and crop raiding by wild forest animals negatively influenced food security. Food and biodiversity governance lacked coordination and was strongly hierarchical, with relatively few stakeholders being highly powerful. Our study shows that issues of livelihoods, access to resources, governance and equity are central when resolving challenges around food security and biodiversity. A multi-facetted, social-ecological approach is better able to capture such complexity than the conventional, two-dimensional land sparing versus sharing framework.
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| 10. |
- Gustafsson, Karin M, 1983-
(author)
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Expert organizations’ institutional understanding of expertise and responsibility for the creation of the next generation of experts : comparing IPCC and IPBES
- 2021
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 17:1, s. 47-56
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This perspective paper argues for the importance of a better understanding of expert organizations' roles in creating expert knowledge and these organizations’ responsibilities in building the next generation of experts. To what extent is this responsibility theirs, do they take it on, and what are the consequences if they do or do not? The argument is based on a comparison of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service (IPBES). Using a theoretical framework that defines expertise, expert communities, and expertise in organizations, the analysis explores and explains the structural preconditions that guide these organizations in their work. The paper shows how the IPCC and the IPBES play similar but different roles in developing expertise and creating the next generation of experts due to differences in their current organizational structures. The paper also shows how the IPCC and the IPBES are not mere facilitators or coordinators of existing expert knowledge. Instead, the IPCC and the IPBES also create experience-based situated expert knowledge that influences the epistemic communities that inform environmental governance on climate change and biodiversity loss and enable transformative change for a sustainable future.
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