Abstract
This paper takes a new look on transition processes in social-ecological systems, identified based on household use of direct ecosystem services in a case study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We build on the assumption that high dependence on local ecosystems for basic needs satisfaction corresponds to a “green loop” type of system, with direct feedbacks between environmental degradation and human well-being. Increasing use of distant ecosystems marks a regime shift and with that, the transition to “red loops” in which feedbacks between environmental degradation and human well-being are only indirect. These systems are characterized by a fundamentally different set of sustainability problems as well as distinct human-nature connections. The analysis of a case study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, shows that social-ecological systems identified as green loops in 1993, the average share of households using a characteristic bundle of direct ecosystem services drops consistently (animal production, crop production, natural building materials, freshwater, wood). Conversely, in systems identified as red loops, mixed tendencies occur which underpins non-linearities in changing human-nature relationships. We propose to apply the green to red loop transition model to other geographical contexts with regards to studying the use of local ecosystem services as integral part of transformative change in the Anthropocene.
Highlights
In sustainability research the concept of regime shifts has repeatedly been referred to as a fundamental re-organization of a system, typically resulting in irreversible biophysical change (Scheffer et al, 2001; Biggs et al, 2012; Lade et al, 2013)
That households increasingly use local ecosystems to satisfy basic needs in the case study area is underpinned by the fact that between 2005 and 2011 the land cover area in KwaZulu-Natal used for subsistence agriculture almost tripled (Driver et al, 2015)
We explored the concept of regime shifts based on direct ecosystem provisioning services (ES) use of households in the context of the green-to-red loop transition model
Summary
In sustainability research the concept of regime shifts has repeatedly been referred to as a fundamental re-organization of a system, typically resulting in irreversible biophysical change (Scheffer et al, 2001; Biggs et al, 2012; Lade et al, 2013). Several modeling approaches are used to demonstrate the ecological and economic impacts regime shifts create (e.g., Folke et al, 2004; Lade et al, 2013; Levin et al, 2013; SRC 2019). In the Anthropocene, referred to as a beginning new geological epoch in which human activity became the driving force of change, this could mark a regime shift at unprecedented scale (e.g., Steffen et al, 2018).
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