Methods and participatory approaches for identifying social-ecological hotspots

Abstract

Understanding the relationship between humans and their environment is essential for the planning and management of social-ecological systems but integration of social values with biophysical landscape information remains challenging. Identifying areas that are likely to be pivotal in land use planning decisions from both social and ecological perspectives provides one means of integration. Social-ecological “hotspots” represent valuable areas from both human and environmental perspectives but appropriate and valid methods for identifying such areas are under-developed. We applied an inductive research approach using empirical spatial data from a regional study in Australia to evaluate alternative methods for identifying social-ecological hotspots. Social data measuring the importance of the landscape was collected using public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) while ecologically valuable areas were identified from species distributions and Zonation conservation prioritization software. We applied multiple importance thresholds (cut-offs) to separately identify and measure social and ecological hotspots, and then quantified the degree of spatial concurrence (overlap) when combining the layers to generate social-ecological hotspots. Based on the findings, we developed guidelines for identifying social-ecological hotspots under variable data conditions. We describe the practical implications of our findings by showing how the selected method for SES hotspot identification can enhance or limit the utility of hotspot analysis for decision support in regional conservation planning.