Critical Realism and Ecological Economics: Counter-Intuitive Adversaries or Ostensible Soulmates?

The paper questions the compatibility of critical realism with ecological economics. In particular, it is argued that there is radical dissonance between ontological presuppositions of ecological economics and critical realist perspective. The dissonance lies in the need of ecological economics to state strict causal regularities in socio-economic realm, given the environmental intuitions about the nature of economy and the role of materiality and non-human agency in persistence of economic systems. Using conceptual apparatus derived from Andrew Brown’s critique of critical realism and Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory, the paper refuses ontological nature/society dualism employed by critical realism, and stresses the role of non-humans in practical production and reproduction of socio-economic networks on the one hand, and in broadly defined ecological economic research on the other hand

Coral reef socio-ecological systems analysis & restoration

Restoration strategies for coral reefs are usually focused on the recovery of bio-physical characteristics. They seldom include an evaluation of the recovery of the socio-ecological and ecosystem services features of coral reef systems. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to address both the socio-ecological system features of coral reefs with the implementation of restoration activity for degraded coral reefs. Such a framework can lead to better societal outcomes from restoration activities while restoring bio-physical, social and ecosystem service features of such systems. We first developed a Socio Ecological System Analysis Framework, which combines the Ostrom Framework for analyzing socio-ecological systems and the Kittinger et al. human dimensions framework of coral reefs socio-ecological systems. We then constructed a Restoration of Coral Reef Framework, based on the most used and recent available coral reef restoration literature. These two frameworks were combined to present a Socio-Ecological Systems & Restoration Coral Reef Framework. These three frameworks can be used as a guide for managers, researchers and decision makers to analyze the needs of coral reef restoration in a way that addresses both socio-economic and ecological objectives to analyze, design, implement and monitor reef restoration programs.European Commission Erasmus Mundus programme Future Earth Coastsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Complex adaptive systems, socio-ecological systems and resilience

The study and analysis of global risk increase from the environmental crisis resulting from a greater number of interactions and feedbacks between social, economic, political and environmental problems in different spatial and temporal scales require an interdisciplinary perspective that allows to learn in a holistic way the complexity of these problems and propose actions (change agenda) to increase the resilience and sustainability of development in all its dimensions. It strives for the usefulness of the complex adaptive systems approach to bring the study of resilience in social-ecological systems. To do this, the system dynamics from metaphors of adaptive cycles, panarchy and properties that determine these dynamics are described, highlighting the importance of the property called resilience. Think through increasing the resilience of local socio-ecological systems involves considering the dynamic of complex adaptive systems and conclude that this will require to carry out deep transformations at the level of economic and financial global practices, and neoliberal economic model which has fostered a culture of excessive consumption that far exceeds the thresholds necessary for human welfare.El estudio y análisis del incremento del riesgo global derivado de la crisis ambiental, consecuencia de un mayor número de interacciones y realimentaciones entre los problemas sociales, económicos, políticos y ecológicos a diferentes escalas espacio-temporales, requieren de una perspectiva interdisciplinaria que permita aprehender de manera integral la complejidad de estos problemas y proponer acciones (agendas de cambio) para incrementar la resiliencia y la sostenibilidad del desarrollo en todas sus dimensiones. Se pugna por la utilidad del enfoque de los sistemas complejos adaptativos para plantear el estudio de la resiliencia en los sistemas socio-ecológicos. Para ello, se describe la dinámica del sistema a partir de las metáforas de los ciclos adaptativos y la panarquía y las propiedades que determinan esas dinámicas, resaltando la importancia de la propiedad denominada resiliencia. Pensar en aumentar la resiliencia de los sistemas socioecológicos locales implica considerar la dinámica de los sistemas complejos adaptativos, y concluir que será necesario llevar a cabo profundas transformaciones a nivel de las prácticas económicas y financieras globales, y del modelo económico neoliberal que ha fomentado una cultura de consumo excesivo que rebasa por mucho los umbrales de lo necesario para el bienestar humano

Economic Mechanisms of Management of Socio-Ecological Systems’ Sustainability

The purpose of the article is to develop perspective economic mechanisms of management of socio-ecological systems’ sustainability. In order to achieve this goal, the authors use the method of correlation and regression analysis, scenario analysis, method of modeling and forecasting, as well as methods of systemic and problem analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and graphic and table representation of information. In the process of the research, the authors determine the essence of socio-ecological systems’ sustainability, study the contradiction of interests of society’s development and protection of the environment. For realization of the set tasks, the authors determine the current state of socio-ecological systems from the point of view of balance of these interests and analyze the connection between economic and ecological indicators of the countries’ development. A tool for confirming the offered hypothesis is calculation of correlation of ecological effectiveness index and gross internal products. As a result of the research, the authors come to the conclusion that economic reasons are the main ones for emergence and aggravation of the problem of harmonic and sustainable development of socio-ecological systems; thus, economic tools are required for solving this problem. The authors offer perspective mechanisms of management of sustainability of modern socio-ecological systems and view scenarios of future development of events in the sphere of management of sustainability of socio-ecological systems

Convergence of socio-ecological dynamics in disparate ecological systems under strong coupling to human social systems

bioRxiv preprint first posted online Apr. 6, 2018; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/296202. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.It is widely recognized that coupled socio-ecological dynamics can be qualitatively different from the dynamics of social or ecological systems in isolation from one another. The influence of the type of ecological dynamics on the dynamics of the larger socio-ecological system is less well studied, however. Here, we carry out such a comparison using a mathematical model of a common pool resource problem. A population must make decisions about harvesting a renewable resource. Individuals may either be cooperators, who harvest at a sustainable level, or defectors, who over-harvest. Cooperators punish defectors through social ostracism. Individuals can switch strategies according the costs and benefits of harvesting and the strength of social ostracism. These mechanisms are represented by a differential equation for social dynamics which is coupled to three different types of resource dynamics: logistic growth, constant inflow, and threshold growth. We find that when human influence is sufficiently weak, the form of natural dynamics leaves a strong imprint on the socio-ecological dynamics, and human social dynamics are qualitatively very different from natural dynamics. However, stronger human influence introduces a broad intermediate parameter regime where dynamical patterns converge to a common type: the three types of ecological systems exhibit similar dynamics, but also, social and ecological dynamics strongly mirror one another. This is a consequence of stronger coupling and is reminiscent of synchrony from other fields, such as the classic problem of coupled oscillators in physics. Socio-ecological convergence has implications for how we understand and manage complex socio-ecological systems. In an era of growing human influence on ecological systems, further empirical and theoretical work is required to determine whether socio-ecological convergence is present in real systems

Adaptive Management of Riverine Socio-ecological Systems

If ongoing change in ecosystems and society can render inflexible policies obsolete, then management must dynamically adapt as a counter to perennial uncertainty. This chapter describes a general synthesis of how to make decision-making more adaptive and then explores the barriers to learning in management. We then describe how one such process, known as adaptive management (AM), has been applied in different river basins, on which basis we discuss AM’s strengths and limitations in various resource management contexts

Socio-Ecological Vulnerability Assessment and the Resulting in Spatial Pattern: A Case Study of Semarang City

The aim of this paper is to examine the socio-ecological vulnerability and the resulting in spatial pattern on a city scale. The assessment methods for vulnerability-resilience in the social and ecological have been broadly examined, such as the Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) and disaster risk assessment by the BNPB (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Nasional). However, in some cases, these methods are suitable only in disastrous vulnerability and on a larger scale. The assessment method of socio-ecological systems in this paper has been modified to a city-scale and per the data availability. By using spatial data, this paper analyses the connection between vulnerability-resilience of socio-ecological systems and land coverage pattern. Based on the case study, the finding shows that almost 28% of Semarang city areas are socio-ecologically vulnerable. Mostof the land use of the vulnerable areas is currently used for urban built-up area and agriculture. For future research, this method can be used for vulnerability assessment of the socio-ecological system in other cities and as a consideration for decision making in spatial planning

Sustainable mountain development: The Himalayan tragedy

Mountain systems in India, including the Himalayan region are characterized by highly complex socio-ecological systems, with rich cultural diversity linked with equally rich species of biological diversity. With a large number of ethnic societies having their own social, economic and cultural attributes placed in a highly heterogeneous mountain environment, any conservation-linked developmental initiative has to be based upon a value system that they understand, appreciate and therefore can participate. While textbook-based 'formal knowledge' has its value in this effort, the rich traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) derived through an experiential process and available with local communities forms a powerful connecting link between ecological and social systems. Converting TEK, often seen as location-specific into broad generalizations that are applicable across socio-ecological systems was the major step that was undertaken by this author to convert research results into policy formulations and developmental initiatives, as illustrated here. In the ultimate analysis, developmental initiatives that link cultural diversity with biological diversity are seen as the basis for ensuring human security in these socio-ecologically fragile mountain systems