Abstract
This paper applies a resilience- and assemblage-based methodology to study the socio-ecological dynamics of human responses in the land degradation-affected Messara Valley (Crete, Greece) socio-ecological system, from 1950 to 2010. It posits that thesedynamics aredriven by changes in their effectiveness, called ‘socio-ecological fit’, to serve place- and time-specific goals. The socio-ecological fit expresses the degree to which the match among all the biophysical and human components of a Response Assemblage emerging in a socio-ecological system, maintains the socio-ecological resilience of this Assemblage. The socio-ecological resilience results is gauged by synthesizing three system-level properties (Resilience, Adaptability, Transformability) shaped by lower level properties that are assessed from available data. The reported application revealed that human responses (traditional land management, agricultural modernization and subsidized agriculture) and their effectiveness were driven by prioritizing economic and technological considerations that shaped the properties, socio-ecological resilience and fit of three main Response Assemblages formed over the study period, rather than combating land degradation. Agricultural modernization did not uniformly and necessarily lead to land degradation; the situated relationships among the components of the Response Assemblages determined its effects. The fit of future options can be assessed also to support rational land use planning. Refinements in the methodology include the development of techniques to: (a) assess and synthesize the properties of different components in order to improve assessments of socio-ecological resilience and fit and (b) study relationships among the properties of Response Assemblages emerging at different levels.
Highlights
Human responses to land degradation (LD) assumedly aim at alleviating adverse impacts on biophysical and human resources, preserving critical ecological and human functions and securing the sustainable development of affected socio-ecological systems (SES)
This paper demonstrated the application of an integrated methodology developed to assess the effectiveness of human responses to combat environmental degradation in the case of the land degradation-affected Messara Valley (Crete, Greece) SES
Thinking to approach the situated assessment of the socio-ecological fit of human responses-in-context conceptualized as responses assemblages [8]
Summary
Human responses to land degradation (LD) assumedly aim at alleviating adverse impacts on biophysical and human resources, preserving critical ecological and human functions and securing the sustainable development of affected socio-ecological systems (SES). The second stage details the evolution of the SES; i.e., (a) identifies and describes the main phases of the SES (state and transition periods), the characteristic RAs formed in each phase, their composition and processes of assembly, critical components (and any thresholds) and, determines the place of the RA within the basin of attraction and assesses the size of disturbance the SES may (or might) be able to absorb;i.e., its Resilience, prevailing contingencies, higher level responses (e.g., national policies, international agreements, etc.), and (b) assesses the relationships among components (e.g., environmental and socio-economic impacts of human responses) to examine how they have affected the preservation of critical environmental and socio-economic functions. Several theories from the natural and the social sciences should be synthesized to provide holistic explanations of the RAs formed and their evolution over a study period [31]
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