Principle 4 – foster complex adaptive systems thinking

The social–ecological systems that provide ecosystem services to society can be viewed as complex adaptive systems (CAS), characterized by a high level of interconnectedness, potential for non-linear change, and inherent uncertainty and surprise. This chapter focuses on whether resilience of ecosystem services is enhanced by management based on what we refer to as ‘CAS thinking’, meaning a mental model for interpreting the world that recognizes these CAS properties. We present evidence that CAS thinking has contributed to change in management approaches in the Kruger National Park, Great Barrier Reef, Tisza river basin and Chile among other places. However, attempts to introduce CAS thinking may compromise resilience when complexity is not effectively communicated, when uncomfortable institutional change is required or when CAS thinking is not able to evolve with changing contexts or is not equitably shared. We suggest that CAS thinking can be fostered by the following: adopting a systems framework; tolerating and embracing uncertainty; investigating critical thresholds and non-linearities; acknowledging epistemological pluralism; matching institutions to CAS processes; and recognizing barriers to cognitive change. Key questions for future research on this principle relate to communicating CAS thinking, the role of power, the importance of an organizational level of CAS thinking, and institutional barriers

Discovering Resilient Pathways for South African Water Management: Two Frameworks for a Vision

Factors that constitute resilience can themselves change over time in social-ecological systems. This poses a major challenge for understanding resilience and suggests greater investigation is needed of how social-ecological systems evolve through time and how to manage along more resilient pathways given continuous change. Resilient pathways account for the changing context of social-ecological systems, such as changing management discourses and their societal inclusiveness, changing system boundaries and external connections, and lingering consequences of past management actions. In this paper I use two well-known conceptual frameworks to explore change in social-ecological systems and associated resilience in the case of water management in South Africa, which is undergoing a major transformation: (1) the conceptual framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and (2) the adaptive cycle described by Holling and others. Both frameworks, with minor adaptations, illustrate the system's shift from a centralized command-and-control style bureaucracy to a decentralized system guided by new legislation and a vision to balance efficiency, equity, and sustainability. During the former era, water managers attempted to maintain system stability and productivity through institutional and technical means that favored certain sectors of society, but resilience of the water management system declined as a result of increasingly unpopular policies and loss of ecosystem services. In using both frameworks, it becomes clear that the water management system contains two distinct social subsystems, representing South Africa's previously advantaged and disadvantaged populations, and that these do not progress through the phases of the MA framework and adaptive cycle uniformly. This implies particular challenges for achieving the water management vision: (1) the potential for management discourses to be manipulated by powerful groups, (2) equity issues that reflect new system boundaries that extend beyond South Africa's borders, and (3) past overallocation and poor management of water that make the previous level of privileges unattainable today. The South African water sector is a compelling case because of its dramatic transformation with as-yet unknown outcomes, but it presents challenges that are common among many large-scale social-ecological systems. With great international interest in operationalizing resilience definitions and frameworks, this exercise suggests the need to revisit definitions, continue applying these frameworks, and adapting them to capture variations in social-ecological systems

Framing the flood: a media analysis of themes of resilience in the 2011 Brisbane flood

In the wake of the flood that affected Brisbane, Australia, in January 2011, public attention turned to the causes of the event and lessons for minimizing the impacts of future floods. The news media was an important vehicle for understanding and internalizing the 2011 Brisbane flood. Examining how the flood was framed in the media is, therefore, useful to understand broad public perception of floods. We undertook a systematic newspaper analysis during a one-year period to explore media framings of the flood, focused on learning as an aspect of resilience in relation to two themes: (1) perceived links between the flood and climate change and (2) perceived roles of government in managing the flood. We show that media coverage of the flood reinforces aspects of resilience by acknowledging community spirit, self-reliance and the importance of sharing experiences for learning; articulating the risk of extreme events in a changing climate; and highlighting regional management trade-offs. Much of the discourse is likely to inhibit resilience, however, by casting the flood in terms of blame and political opportunity and paying inadequate attention to longer-term aspects of regional resilience. The limited learning observed to date may highlight a need for other mechanisms and actors to lead learning processes. As policy related to the 2011 Brisbane flood, and extreme events more generally, is influenced by the public discourse, it is important to understand the nuances of communication around these events and the media's role in reinforcing or changing perceptions

Experts' perspectives on the integration of Indigenous knowledge and science in Wet Tropics natural resource management

Aboriginal inhabitants of the Wet Tropics of Queensland advocate for greater inclusion of their Indigenous knowledge (IK) in natural resource management (NRM) to fulfil their customary obligations to country and to exert their Native Title rights. Despite a legal and institutional framework for inclusion of IK in NRM, IK has so far been applied only sporadically. We conducted an ethnographic case study to investigate perceptions on IK, science and how they affect integration of the two knowledge systems in the Wet Tropics. Our results show that IK and science are perceived as different concepts; that integration is limited by weak Indigenous internal and external governance; and that stronger Aboriginal governance and more focused engagement strategies are required to further the application of IK in local NRM. We conclude by arguing that NRM in the Wet Tropics needs to be reconceptualised to accommodate IK holistically, by considering its epistemology and the values and ethic that underpin it

Indigenous environmental values as human values

The claim that in natural resource management (NRM) a change from anthropocentric values and ethics to eco-centric ones is necessary to achieve sustainability leads to the search for eco-centric models of relationship with the environment. Indigenous cultures can provide such models; hence there is the need for multicultural societies to further include their values in NRM. In this article we investigate the environmental values placed on a freshwater environment of the Wet Tropics by a community of Indigenous Australians. We discuss their environmental values as human values, and so as beliefs that guide communities' understanding of how the natural world should be viewed and treated by humans. This perspective represents a step forward in our understanding of indigenous environmental values, and a way to overcome the paradigm of indigenous values as valued biophysical attributes of the environment or processes happening in landscapes. Our results show that the participant community holds biospheric values. Restoring these values in the natural resource management of the Wet Tropics could contribute to sustainability and environmental justice in the area

Indigenous environmental values as human values

Abstract: The claim that in natural resource management (NRM) a change from anthropocentric values and ethics to eco-centric ones is necessary to achieve sustainability leads to the search for eco-centric models of relationship with the environment. Indigenous cultures can provide such models; hence, there is the need for multicultural societies to further include their values in NRM. In this article, we investigate the environmental values placed on a freshwater environment of the Wet Tropics by a community of indigenous Australians. We discuss their environmental values as human values, and so as beliefs that guide communities' understanding of how the natural world should be viewed and treated by humans. This perspective represents a step forward in our understanding of indigenous envir onmental values, and a way to overcome the paradigm of indigenous values as valued biophysical attributes of the environment or processes happening in landscapes. Our results show that the participant community holds biospheric values. Restoring these values in the NRM of the Wet Tropics could contribute to sustainability and environmental justice in the area

Convergence of stakeholders' environmental threat perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef

Managing human use of ecosystems in an era of rapid environmental change requires an understanding of diverse stakeholders' behaviors and perceptions to enable effective prioritization of actions to mitigate multiple threats. Specifically, research examining how threat perceptions are shared or diverge among stakeholder groups and how these can evolve through time is increasingly important. We investigated environmental threat perceptions related to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and explored their associations before and after consecutive years of mass coral bleaching. We used data from surveys of commercial fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents (n = 5254) conducted in 2013 and 2017. Threats perceived as most serious differed substantially among groups before bleaching but were strongly aligned after bleaching. Climate change became the most frequently reported threat by all stakeholder groups following the coral bleaching events, and perceptions of fishing and poor water quality as threats also ranked high. Within each of the 3 stakeholder groups, fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents, the prioritization of these 3 threats tended to diverge in 2013, but convergence occurred after bleaching. These results indicate an emergence of areas of agreement both within and across stakeholder groups. Changes in perceptions were likely influenced by high-profile environmental-disturbance events and media representations of threats. Our results provide insights into the plasticity of environmental-threat perceptions and highlight how their convergence in response to major events may create new opportunities for strategic public engagement and increasing support for management

A hierarchy of needs for achieving impact in international research for development

[Extract] In developing countries, change in environmental and socio-economic systems is occurring at unprecedented rates, driven by rapid globalisation, technological advances, modernisation and increasingly unpredictable economic and environmental shocks (Leach 2008). As a consequence, there are growing concerns that conventional international development initiatives aiming to reduce poverty, conserve or sustainably use the environment and increase resilience, are becoming less effective. Recently, Ramalingam (2013) argued that aid programs’ established assumptions of linear, simple cause-and-effect relationships which have long guided interventions and their evaluation are no longer valid. Instead, he argues for a more ‘systemic, adaptive, networked, dynamic approach ... and a fundamental shift in the mental models, strategic approaches, organisational philosophies and performance approaches of foreign aid’ (Ramalingam 2013, p. 361)

A hierarchy of needs for achieving impact in international research for development

[Extract] In developing countries, change in environmental and socio-economic systems is occurring at unprecedented rates, driven by rapid globalisation, technological advances, modernisation and increasingly unpredictable economic and environmental shocks (Leach 2008). As a consequence, there are growing concerns that conventional international development initiatives aiming to reduce poverty, conserve or sustainably use the environment and increase resilience, are becoming less effective. Recently, Ramalingam (2013) argued that aid programs’ established assumptions of linear, simple cause-and-effect relationships which have long guided interventions and their evaluation are no longer valid. Instead, he argues for a more ‘systemic, adaptive, networked, dynamic approach ... and a fundamental shift in the mental models, strategic approaches, organisational philosophies and performance approaches of foreign aid’ (Ramalingam 2013, p. 361)

Toward principles for enhancing the resilience of ecosystem services

A major challenge of the twenty-first century is ensuring an adequate and reliable flow of essential ecosystem services (ES) to meet the needs of a burgeoning world population. All social-ecological systems (SES) produce a “bundle” of ES, including provisioning (e.g., freshwater, crops, meat), regulating (e.g., flood and climate regulation), and cultural services (e.g., recreation, spiritual values). Extensive and rapid global changes, including urbanization, growing human populations, rising consumption, and increased global connections, have led to a large and growing demand for provisioning services. Meeting these needs has resulted in large-scale conversion of natural ecosystems to cropland, which has eroded the capacity of ecosystems to produce other ES essential to human health and security—especially regulating services. Furthermore, extensive anthropogenic changes to the world's ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of large, nonlinear, and potentially irreversible changes, such as coral reef degradation. Such events often have substantial and sometimes catastrophic impacts on ES and human well-being