Social-ecological Systems Approach Research Articles

Territorialidade e Reexistência indígena na Fronteira Amazônica:

Neste artigo são apresentados os resultados obtidos pelo projeto “Nós somos os outros: Identidade e Território Rikbaktsa”, no âmbito do Curso de Especialização “Gestão Colaborativa de Sistemas Socioecológicos na Amazônia Brasileira”, cujo objetivo foi realizar um exercício de avaliação da resiliência socioecológica do povo indígena Rikbaktsa, da Terra Indígena Escondido (Cotriguaçu, Mato Grosso). A metodologia utilizada consiste em uma adaptação da ferramenta elaborada pelo grupo “Resilience Alliance” e orientou o trabalho exploratório de pesquisa colaborativa sobre os temas: reconfiguração territorial pós-contato; formas de uso e ocupação da TI Escondido; e desenvolvimento de metodologias colaborativas junto a grupos indígenas. Foram identificados atributos importantes para resiliência do “Sistema Rikbaktsa” e fatores que ameaçam os processos de reterritorialização e resistência nos quais os Rikbaktsa estão historicamente engajados. São também apresentadas reflexões e recomendações acerca da aplicação dos conceitos e métodos relacionados à avaliação de resiliência e princípios de gestão colaborativa.

Conserving the Greater Sage-Grouse: A Social-Ecological Systems Case Study from the California-Nevada Region

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) continues to serve as one of the most powerful and contested federal legislative mandates for conservation. In the midst of heated debates, researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners champion the importance of cooperative conservation and social-ecological systems approaches, which forge partnerships at multiple levels and scales to address complex ecosystem challenges. However, few real-world examples exist to demonstrate how multifaceted collaborations among stakeholders who share a common goal of conserving at-risk species may be nested within a systems framework to achieve social and ecological goals. Here, we present a case study of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) conservation efforts in the “Bi-State” region of California and Nevada, United States. Using key-informant interviews, we explored dimensions and drivers of this landscape-scale conservation effort. Three themes emerged from the interviews, including 1) ESA action was transformed into opportunity for system-wide conservation; 2) a diverse, locally based partnership anchored collaboration and engagement across multiple levels and scales; and 3) best-available science combined with local knowledge led to “certainty of effectiveness and implementation”—the criteria used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to evaluate conservation efforts when making listing decisions. Ultimately, collaborative conservation through multistakeholder engagement at various levels and scales led to proactive planning and implementation of conservation measures and precluded the need for an ESA listing of the Bi-State population of Greater Sage-grouse. This article presents a potent example of how a systems approach integrating policy, management, and learning can be used to successfully overcome the conflict-laden and “wicked” challenges that surround at-risk species conservation.

Sustainability policy considerations for ecosystem management in central and eastern europe

Here I discuss Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries as a region undergoing rapid change, resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union and admission of some of the states into the European Union. These events brought changes in governance and ecosystem management, triggering impacts on land use and biodiversity. What are some of the policy options toward sustainability in the face of these political, governance, and socioeconomic changes? Some policy considerations for ecosystem management and sustainability include taking a social–ecological systems approach to integrate biophysical subsystems and social subsystems; paying attention to institutions relevant to shared resources (commons) management; and using resilience theory to study change and guidance for governance. Documented experience in CEE seems to indicate shortcomings for both the centralized state management option and the purely market‐driven option for ecosystem management. If so, a “smart mix” of state regulations, market incentives, and self‐governance using local commons institutions may be the most promising policy option to foster ecosystem stewardship at multiple levels from local to international.

Neoliberal and neo-communal herring fisheries in Southeast Alaska: Reframing sustainability in marine ecosystems

The transformation of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) fisheries from communal to commons to neoliberal regulation has had significant impacts on the health and sustainability of marine ecosystems on the Northwest Coast of North America. Due to their abundance, seasonality, and sensitivity in disturbance, herring were carefully cultivated and protected by coastal Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian communities. The early industrial fishing era undermined this communalist approach in favor of an unregulated commons for bait and reduction fisheries, attracting non-local fleets and leading to conflicts with local Natives and tragedy of the commons style overexploitation of herring stocks by the mid-twentieth century. Since the 1970s, a re-regulated neoliberal sac roe fishery for Japanese markets has provided new opportunities for limited commercial permit holders, but with further depredations on local spawning populations. This paper uses frame theory and historical and political ecology to show how this transformation was justified by three critical but dubious (re)framings of Southeast herring populations under modern scientific management: (1) a reductionist framing of single species productivity models, expressed as herring “biomass,” within space and time (baseline scale framing); (2) the selective framing and privileging of human industrial predation under maximum sustainable yield (MSY) within a dynamic ecosystem of multiple predator populations (actor relations framing); and (3) the strategic framing of spawning failure events and policy responses to those events by professional fisheries managers (event–response framing). Finally, the paper argues for a new social–ecological systems approach, based on aboriginal models of herring cultivation, to sustain a commercial, subsistence, and restoration economy for the fishery.

Withdrawing, resisting, maintaining and adapting: food security and vulnerability in Jumla, Nepal

The food security discourse has shifted from a narrow focus on food supply to a greater consideration of access, entitlements and sustainability. An emphasis on vulnerability has coincided with increased recognition that the causes of food insecurity are the result of a complex interaction between ecological, social, political and economic events and processes. Understanding the strategies that people employ to respond to these risks is critical to identifying pathways for change towards greater food security. We explore people’s explanations of and responses in the context of changes to their livelihoods and the wider social–ecological system (SES) in which they are embedded. An integrated vulnerability framework, drawing on a SES approach, was applied to structure data collection, analysis and discussion in a food insecure region in Nepal. Using in-depth interviews, focus groups and historical data, we have examined negotiation processes, decision-making, actions and interactions within social–ecological practices. Four distinct narratives and responses emerge—those of withdrawal, resistance, maintaining and/or adapting to food insecure situations. These stories reveal the complexity of managing the lived experience of food insecurity. They highlight the need for adaptive policy responses and point towards pathways that are likely to contribute to greater food security.

Scenario analysis for biodiversity conservation: A social–ecological system approach in the Australian Alps

Current policy interventions are having limited success in addressing the ongoing decline in global biodiversity. In part, this is attributable to insufficient attention being paid to the social and governance processes that drive decisions and can undermine their implementation. Scenario planning that draws on social–ecological systems (SES) analysis provides a useful means to systematically explore and anticipate future uncertainties regarding the interaction between humans and biodiversity outcomes. However, the effective application of SES models has been limited by the insufficient attention given to governance influences. Understanding the influence governance attributes have on the future trajectory of SES is likely to assist choice of effective interventions, as well as needs and opportunities for governance reform. In a case study in the Australian Alps, we explore the potential of joint SES and scenario analyses to identify how governance influences landscape-scale biodiversity outcomes. Novel aspects of our application of these methods were the specification of the focal system's governance attributes according to requirements for adaptive capacity, and constraining scenarios according to the current governance settings while varying key social and biophysical drivers. This approach allowed us to identify how current governance arrangements influence landscape-scale biodiversity outcomes, and establishes a baseline from which the potential benefits of governance reform can be assessed.

Understanding sustainable landscapes through the lens of apple growing: cases of Jumla, Nepal and Harcourt, Victoria

Through the lens of apple growing and by employing a social–ecological systems approach, this paper seeks to understand how identity and biodiversity both contribute to place formation. This paper compares two apple-growing regions, Jumla in Nepal and Harcourt in Australia by analysing qualitative interviews and historical documents. The study finds that identity and place play an important role in the way growers interact with their local landscapes. This paper argues that sustainable landscapes can be realised through diverse production systems that adhere to physical place limitations and also adapt to long-term changes in social and physical conditions.

A social–ecological systems approach to non-native species: Habituation and its effect on management of coqui frogs in Hawaii

Non-native species introductions have the ability to affect both ecological and social systems, thus to address those outcomes both ecological and social influences on an invasion need to be understood. We use a social–ecological systems approach to investigate connections between human and ecological factors that affect efforts to control the non-native coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) on the island of Hawaii. The coqui frog is recognized as a ‘pest’ and ‘injurious wildlife’ by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Because the coqui occurs on many small private properties across the island, it is necessary to enlist private citizens in control efforts. Control efforts can include direct chemical control of the coqui as well as landscape manipulations that reduce habitat quality for the frog. On 85 private properties in 12 communities across the island, we measured the relationship between coqui abundance, residents’ attitudes toward the coqui, their reported participation in control activities, and environmental variables that affect habitat quality for the frog. Residents’ attitudes correlated with coqui frog abundance, but in an unexpected direction: People with more frogs on their property and those who owned that property tended to have less negative attitudes toward the coqui. In addition, negative attitudes toward the coqui were not significantly related to participation in control activities. Coqui abundance was related to a habitat variable, canopy cover, which can be manipulated by residents to reduce habitat quality and discourage coqui occupancy. Tolerance for this non-native species is likely to hinder attempts to engage residents in control efforts as the species’ range on the island continues to expand. If this pattern of habituation is manifested with other non-native species considered to have potentially negative effects on the ecological or social environment, it would be important to recognize as early as possible because managers may be most effective at engaging citizens in control efforts before habituation becomes widespread.

The scientific challenge of bridging the gap from the local to the earth system level: lessons from the study of mangroves and people in North Brazil

This article aims to address the challenges of sustainable earth system governance from a multi-scale level perspective. The local to regional system level reviews findings from a social–ecological system approach of a mangrove ecosystem in North Brazil. Seven challenges (Glaser et al. in Mangrove dynamics and management in North Brazil. Ecological studies series. Springer, Berlin, pp 307–388, 2010) that could provide relevant knowledge to society were identified. Their respective justification and recommendations are presented here. Further, these “challenges from the field” are linked and discussed with those challenges on earth system level elaborated by the International Council for Science in 2010. There it was stressed that sustainability problems are increasingly caused by drivers from multiple spatial and institutional levels in a single global human–nature system. The comparison between the global and local to regional challenges shows that most of these are reappearing disregarding the level of analysis, indicating that there is a universal core of global change problems. However, there are gaps visible which hamper the effective connections across the different spatial levels. These pertain to the subjects of knowledge generation and stakeholder inclusion. The final section elaborates on these recognized gaps and their science–policy dimensions. The article closes with the identification of a number of factors which currently impede global sustainability efforts: shortcomings in inter- and transdisciplinary research practice, lack of consistent structures for earth system governance and shortcomings in dealing with upscaling challenges whilst remaining locally relevant. A blueprint for a globally focused but regionally informed social–ecological analysis framework remains to be worked out.

What role for social–ecological systems research in governing global teleconnections?

The paper considers the extent to which social–ecological systems research might contribute to an improved understanding of the social and environmental impacts of teleconnections inherent in economic globalisation. Recognising the importance and specificity of regional interconnections, wherein actions in certain parts of the world impact quite specifically on the sustainability of certain other spatially distant places and systems, the paper reflects on the social and environmental implications of increasingly interconnected agri-food systems and intersecting global commodity chains. Key elements of social–ecological systems approaches, which have purported relevance to research on globalisation, are critically examined, and aspects of social–ecological systems thinking that pose challenges for its application in this context are considered. Wider implications and limitations of social–ecological systems approaches to research and practice in (global) governance for sustainability are discussed. The general conclusion is that social–ecological systems research may offer insights into the governance of social and environmental impacts of agri-food systems and other complex systems at certain scales. However, the formal utility of concepts like resilience, vulnerability and adaptability becomes considerably less clear as research turns to analyses of larger, complex, globally teleconnected systems, where the main contribution of such concepts may lie in their metaphorical appeal to important aspects of interconnectivity and interdependence.

Opportunities for increasing resilience and sustainability of urban social-ecological systems: insights from the URBES and the cities and biodiversity outlook projects.

Urban futures that are more resilient and sustainable require an integrated social–ecological system approach to urban policymaking, planning, management, and governance. In this article, we introduce the Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES) and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO) Projects as new social–ecological contributions to research and practice on emerging urban resilience and ecosystem services. We provide an overview of the projects and present global urbanization trends and their effects on ecosystems and biodiversity, as a context for new knowledge generated in the URBES case-study cities, including Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Barcelona, and Stockholm. The cities represent contrasting urbanization trends and examples of emerging science–policy linkages for improving urban landscapes for human health and well-being. In addition, we highlight 10 key messages of the global CBO assessment as a knowledge platform for urban leaders to incorporate state-of-the-art science on URBES into decision-making for sustainable and resilient urban development.

Sport fisheries: Opportunities and challenges for diversifying coastal livelihoods in the Pacific

High population growth rates and poverty are likely to elevate the vulnerability of many coastal communities in the Pacific region to climate change. Alternative livelihood strategies which can generate income and simultaneously conserve fish stocks and their habitats are a priority. This paper investigates the feasibility of ‘sport fishing’ (recreational catch and release angling for particular species of predatory game fish) as such a strategy. The limited research of sport fisheries in developing countries is augmented with a review of community-based ecotourism, integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) and common property management literature to propose design principles. Five pre-requisite principles for the success of sport fishery enterprises are suggested. First, adequate local capacity must be available to manage a tourism business and facilities, supported by cross-scale co-management amongst stakeholders. Second, appropriate governance arrangements must be in place to ensure the equitable dispersal of benefits to all members of the local community, and conflict resolution. Third, resource-ownership boundaries and rights must be clearly delineated before the enterprise begins in order to minimise the potential for future conflict. Fourth, social, biodiversity and ecosystem service co-benefits should result from the enterprise. These should include improvements in income, health, education, food security, the status of the target and non-target species and their habitat and non-fishery ecosystem services. Fifth, monitoring and evaluation of these principles is required within an adaptive co-management framework which takes a social–ecological systems approach and includes all stakeholders in social learning and power-sharing. Through this, broader impacts of the enterprise may emerge which go beyond the standard assessment of ecotourism and ICDP success in financial or biodiversity terms. These principles now need to be tested by researching the experiences of case studies of sport fishing enterprises in the Pacific.

Linking global drivers with local and regional change: a social-ecological system approach in Chilika Lagoon, Bay of Bengal

Global scale drivers such as international markets for shrimp can trigger large changes at local and regional scales. But there is also a poorly appreciated reverse process, operating from the bottom up, with potential for triggering changes at higher scales. Thus, effects of drivers can be seen as a two-way process in which global drivers and local and regional drivers can potentially impact each other. Here, we argue that not only can global drivers impact the sustainability of local and regional social-ecological systems, but sustainability at higher scales can also be impacted by changes at the scale of local and regional social-ecological systems. Using Chilika, a large lagoon on the Bay of Bengal, Odisha State in India as a case, we show that traditional small-scale capture fisheries supporting 150 fisher villages with some 400,000 people were marginalized by aquaculture development for tiger prawn and by state-driven hydrological interventions, with impacts on the ecology of the lagoon. These changes, in turn, contribute to global poverty and food insecurity, making it difficult for India to meet international targets such as millennium development goals. The marginalized fisherfolk become part of environmental justice and other social movements. With large parts of the lagoon converted into a virtual monoculture for the production of tiger prawn, changes in Chilika (a Ramsar site) contribute to wetland habitat loss at the global scale, and biodiversity losses, possibly including IUCN red-listed species.

The Elusive Promise of Social-Ecological Approaches to Rangeland Management

Resilience-based frameworks for social-ecological systems (SES) are prominent in contemporary scientific literatures, but critics suggest these approaches may promise more than they deliver. A fundamental premise underlying the SES approach is that, because of the scope of human activities worldwide, we cannot separate ecological and human elements of nature when tackling our biggest challenges. Proponents argue that managers should not seek optimal solutions, but instead build capacity to adapt and transform systems to thrive within unpredicted or novel ecological states. If the range profession is to take advantage of resilience ideas, we need better tools and concepts for understanding interconnected systems. SES research and management strategies will pose practical difficulties, most notably finding ways to bridge differences between the methods of social and natural sciences. Also needed are institutions that involve scientists, managers, and stakeholders in analysis and informed governance, thereby addressing a key tenet of “resilience thinking” while accounting for the “wicked” nature of problems that, like many facing rangeland managers today, do not have a single best solution but only more or less feasible responses. In hopes of guiding managers toward more feasible options, I offer a model of rangeland social-ecological systems describing how management choices are influenced by, and may affect, human and natural systems at local and regional-to-global scales through both top-down and bottom-up processes. Los sistemas socio-ecológicos basados en modelos de resilencia (SES) son destacados en la literatura científica actual, pero los críticos sugieren que estos enfoques podrían prometer mas de los que entregan. La premisa elemental sobre el enfoque SES es que debido a el enfoque de las actividades del humano en todo el mundo, no podemos separar elementos naturales ecológicos y humanos cuando abordamos nuestros más grandes retos. Proponentes argumentan que los manejadores no deberían buscar soluciones óptimas y en lugar de estas construir la capacidades para adaptar y transformar sistemas que conduzcan a estados ecológicos nuevos o no predecibles. Si la profesión de pastizalero es tomar ventaja de las ideas de resilencia, necesitamos mejores herramientas y conceptos para entender los sistemas interconectados. Las investigaciones y manejo de estrategias para SES debe tener dificultades prácticas, y más importante encontrar los caminos para reducir las diferencias entre los métodos de las ciencias sociales y naturales. También se necesitan instituciones que involucren científicos, manejadores y propietarios en el análisis y informe de gobierno, de ese modo direccionando a clave de “pensamiento resilente” mientras se considera el perverso naturaleza de los problemas como los que hoy en día enfrentan los manejadores de pastizales, no hay una solución buena y simple pero solo respuestas más o menos posibles. Con el fin de guiar a los manejadores hacia opciones más posibles ofrezco un modelo de sistema socio-ecológico para pastizales describiendo como opciones de manejo son influenciadas por y podrían afectar sistemas humanos y naturales de nivel local y regional a escala global a través de ambos procesos de arriba hacia abajo y de abajo hacia arriba.

To cope or to sustain? Eroding long-term sustainability in an Indonesian coral reef fishery

Small-scale fisheries in coral reef areas support the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. Anthropogenic impacts such as overfishing and climate change increasingly threaten both the reef ecosystem and the livelihood security of the people that depend on the reefs. Adaptive management strategies are needed to adequately deal with these threats, but they require an understanding of the underlying drivers, which often originate and act on multiple levels. Using a social-ecological system approach, the coral reef fishery of the Spermonde Archipelago in South Sulawesi/Indonesia is assessed to identify key drivers and strategic leverage points for management. Under the influence of international markets and technological changes, several export-oriented fisheries have developed in the area that led to distinct subsequent peaks in fishing activity in a pattern of sequential marine resource exploitation. In response to stressors such as seasonality and overfishing of individual locations or species, a number of coping strategies have developed locally. These include extensive borrowing from fishing patrons, diversification of fishing methods, fishing migrations, and the crafting of local institutions to regulate fishing activity. However, the coping strategies hinder, and even decrease, the capacity of the system to adapt to future stressors and undermine the sustainability of the fishery. Potential strategies that target different levels of the fishery system in order to strengthen adaptive management are identified.

Fishing gear substitution to reduce bycatch and habitat impacts: An example of social–ecological research to inform policy

This study examined the feasibility of gear substitution as a means to reduce bycatch and habitat impacts of fisheries, using a social–ecological systems approach. The U.S. west coast sablefish fishery is an excellent subject for this study, because it permits three different gear types and has a problem with bycatch of overfished species. Bycatch rates were highest in trawls and lowest in pots. Combining interview data with findings from a previous study, affirmed that habitat impacts were highest with trawls and lowest with longlines. Interviews with 44 individuals analyzed using grounded theory yielded several common themes in the opinions of gear substitution. Positive opinion themes included that it would allow better management of the fish populations by reducing bycatch and would allow more business options, flexibility, and increased profit for some trawlers. The main negative opinion theme was that gear substitution could decrease landings needed to support shoreside infrastructure. Most stakeholder groups saw some benefit in gear substitution. Notably, the trawlers voiced a unanimous preference for converting to pots rather than longlines. A scenario analysis revealed that the preferable management option would be long-term gear conversion, but incentives are likely to be an important means of encouraging gear conversion. This ecological impacts rapid assessment provided a regional evaluation of bycatch and habitat impacts that had never been conducted before for these gear types. It also provided scientific support for a regulatory change that legally allows trawlers to practice gear substitution.

The Wadden Sea Region: Towards a science for sustainable development

The Wadden Sea is one of the largest intertidal areas in the world and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its unique natural features. Major changes in the morphology and ecology of the Wadden Sea over the past millennium resulted from increasing anthropogenic influences such as coastal protection, land claim from the sea and drainage of wetland for agriculture, exploitation of natural resources from hunting and fishing to the extraction of groundwater, gas and oil, industrialisation at port locations and tourism at the islands. A sustainable future can only be achieved if policy and management are backed by solid science. Many of the anticipated changes result from the upscaling of pressures on the Wadden Sea system. Economic globalization leads to upscaling of fisheries, tourism and industrial activities, and thus to changed pressures on space and nature. Climate change will lead to changes in hydrographic patterns, species distribution and possibly tourism; through sea-level rise it will put pressure on coastal protection and the extent of intertidal areas. Invasions of exotic species will transform the ecosystem. There are three major related challenges to management: 1. Nature conservation in a changing system requires a focus on preservation of the values and not the state of the system; 2. The adaptation of the management structure to the scale increase of the pressures, so that local and regional management becomes better nested in transregional and transnational governance structures; 3. Finally, the management approach needs to deal with increasing uncertainty in external forcing of the system, as well as with nonlinearities in system dynamics when it is pushed outside its normal range of operation. Based on these pressures and management challenges, we advocate an integrated social-ecological systems approach for the scientific study and the science-based management of the Wadden Sea Region. The essential characteristics of this approach are strong interdisciplinarity and a focus on aspects of scale and cumulative processes.

KERENTANAN SOSIAL-EKOLOGI MASYARAKAT DI LAGUNA SEGARA ANAKAN

This research is aimed to analyze socio-ecological vulnerability of the community in Segara Anakan against the impact of changes in ecological condition. This analisis on vulnerability is linked to social ecological resilience, which in this context covers mechanism for the people to live together as a community, and to learn from changes and unpredictable schocks. The analysis is based on the social ecological system approach, with data collected through interviews with 241 respondents drawn purposively from citizens of four villages in the District of Kampung Laut in April-May 2010. The result shows that in the case of Segara Anakan Lagoon, a number of problems which are social-economical in nature has resulted in low resilience or high vulnerability. Such problems covers land use conflict, economic competition, deforestation and land convertion. These problems are triggered by changes in ecosystem characteristics, from those of maritime toward the terrestrial one, and which results in changes in the community livelihood pattern. Villagers who were more into fishery transform to agricultural and industrial communities. In line with such changes and transformation, a number of prominent factors emerged to cause high vulnerability in Segara Anakan, namely poor educational performance and lack of socio-economic infrastructure. Furthermore, the result suggests that improving the resilience in Segara Anakan should be focused on advancement of ecomic environment facilitated by infrastructures that add no further burden to the environment. Key words: vulnerability, social-ecological system, social vulnerability, ecological vulnerability, community, lagoon, Segara Anakan lagoon

The chicken or the egg? Investigating the transformational impact of learning technology

This study aimed to investigate the transformational impact of introducing significant new learning technology in an Australian university over the time period 2007–2009. The exploration of this transformation is grounded in a social–ecological systems approach to the management of technology enhanced learning environments in the face of constant change. The transformational impact is described using the Adaptive Cycle Framework. The single case study had a whole-of-institution systems focus. Data collection targeted a variety of stakeholders involved in the use of, support for users of, implementation and maintenance of learning technology. A variety of data collection methods were used including interviews, document collection and a reflective journal. The research shows that learning technology has significant transformational potential at both individual and at institutional levels. However, this study has unearthed a ‘chicken or the egg’ conundrum. Although learning technology is an important part of the future of educational institutions, the adaptability of the organisation and capacity to predict, plan for and support ongoing changes in learning technology is an important part of realising the transformational potential and effectiveness of learning technology. Keywords: transformation; learning technology; online learning environment; adaptive cycle framework; learning management system; para-analysis DOI: 10.1080/21567069.2011.586674

The chicken or the egg? Investigating the transformational impact of learning technology

This study aimed to investigate the transformational impact of introducing significant new learning technology in an Australian university over the time period 2007–2009. The exploration of this transformation is grounded in a social–ecological systems approach to the management of technology enhanced learning environments in the face of constant change. The transformational impact is described using the Adaptive Cycle Framework. The single case study had a whole-of-institution systems focus. Data collection targeted a variety of stakeholders involved in the use of, support for users of, implementation and maintenance of learning technology. A variety of data collection methods were used including interviews, document collection and a reflective journal. The research shows that learning technology has significant transformational potential at both individual and at institutional levels. However, this study has unearthed a ‘chicken or the egg’ conundrum. Although learning technology is an important part of the future of educational institutions, the adaptability of the organisation and capacity to predict, plan for and support ongoing changes in learning technology is an important part of realising the transformational potential and effectiveness of learning technology.Keywords: transformation; learning technology; online learning environment; adaptive cycle framework; learning management system; para-analysisDOI: 10.1080/21567069.2011.586674