Social-ecological Transitions Research Articles

Transient social–ecological dynamics reveal signals of decoupling in a highly disturbed Anthropocene landscape

Understanding the transient dynamics of interlinked social-ecological systems (SES) is imperative for assessing sustainability in the Anthropocene. However, how to identify critical transitions in real-world SES remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we present an evolutionary framework to characterize these dynamics over an extended historical timeline. Our approach leverages multidecadal rates of change in socioeconomic data, paleoenvironmental, and cutting-edge sedimentary ancient DNA records from China's Yangtze River Delta, one of the most densely populated and intensively modified landscapes on Earth. Our analysis reveals two significant social-ecological transitions characterized by contrasting interactions and feedback spanning several centuries. Initially, the regional SES exhibited a loosely connected and ecologically sustainable regime. Nevertheless, starting in the 1950s, an increasingly interconnected regime emerged, ultimately resulting in the crossing of tipping points and an unprecedented acceleration in soil erosion, water eutrophication, and ecosystem degradation. Remarkably, the second transition occurring around the 2000s, featured a notable decoupling of socioeconomic development from ecoenvironmental degradation. This decoupling phenomenon signifies a more desirable reconfiguration of the regional SES, furnishing essential insights not only for the Yangtze River Basin but also for regions worldwide grappling with similar sustainability challenges. Our extensive multidecadal empirical investigation underscores the value of coevolutionary approaches in understanding and addressing social-ecological system dynamics.

The transition of Ghana's cooling appliance sector to a circular economy via a small wins governance framework

Air conditioning poses environmental, socioeconomic, and political challenges, especially in sub-Saharan countries such as Ghana, where almost all devices are imported. Thus far, socio-economically feasible pathways for a cooling transition to a circular economy are unclear. Drawing on qualitative interviews, field observations and survey data, this study analyses the potential of small wins governance as a pathway to sweeping system change along Ghana's air-conditioners' lifecycle. The research analyses the status quo and identifies potential small wins that could lead to transformative shifts in the cooling sector. Through a mixed-methods approach encompassing interviews, surveys, and field assessments, the study uncovers small wins at four stages of the air conditioner lifecycle, from (1) import, (2) retail & purchase, (3) usage & service, and (4) end-of-life management practices. For policymakers and practitioners, our results imply that they should (a) systematically encourage and reap small wins in public-private spaces in the short-term, e.g. changing the incentive structure for staff controlling imports of air conditioners, (b) adjust supporting policies as learning dynamics unfold over time (e.g., energy and refrigerant standards and labels, tax system), but (c) also keep pushing for big wins in the mid-term (e.g., constructions of a recycling plant for refrigerants in West Africa). The findings emphasize the need for a behavioural, consumer-oriented perspective for the pragmatic potential of small wins towards a circular economy. Overall, the study addresses significant gaps in the literature and suggests that bottom-up approaches may offer more success than attempting broad top-down system changes. The paper contributes to the wider discourse on social-ecological transitions and offers valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers aiming to foster sustainable practices in the cooling sector.

As if we were not friends: from (de)objectifying and (re)positioning and back

ABSTRACT Based on three vignettes taken from interviews with friends who were members of a social-ecological transition initiative of which I was both an active participant and a researcher, this paper explores ethnography in friendship. Breaking with the methodological proposals known as friendship as method, this text proposes to reflect on the ways friendship acts in ethnographic interviews. Through a ritual that unfolds during the interview, leading us to act ‘as if we were not friends’, this article seeks to ponder the types of knowledge produced and raises issues related to the researcher’s positioning within this kind of relationship. It turns out that the duo friendship-ethnography creates a particular space in which specific types of knowledges are produced and in which the researcher’s subjectivity is resolutely transformed.

The conflicts of ecological transition on the ground and the role of eco-social policies: Lessons from Italian case studies

This paper analyzes the complexity of social-ecological transition policies and processes, focusing on trade-offs and emerging conflicts engendered by combined environmental-social-technological programmes and innovations. To date, there has been only limited focus in the literature on empirical cases, analyzing the ecological transition, distributive effects, social risks and policies to counter them. To help fill this gap, the paper discusses three qualitative case studies as part of a research project on social cohesion in ecological transitions in Tuscany, Italy. In particular, it examines the ongoing transition strategies and practices, bringing out several aspects that highlight the sources of controversies among actors and the contextual variability and complexity of their ‘playgrounds’, namely: (1) the role of time, space and relational patterns, and ensuing problems of governance, coordination and synchronization; (2) the way in which institutional and technological transformations are embedded in trans-contextual relations and conflicts; (3) the role of different sources and kinds of knowledge in supporting or hampering the ecological transitions; and (4) the shifting balances between top-down strategies and regulation, and bottom-up processes of civic associations and social movements. The paper then analyzes the attempts to provide social security by means of more or less explicitly designed eco-social policies and practices, highlighting some relevant lessons learned and methodological recommendations for future sustainable welfare design.

Co-envisioning the social-ecological transition through youth eco-activists’ narratives: toward a relational approach to ecological justice

ABSTRACT Drawing on qualitative data collected during the first phase of an intervention-research, this study explores the concept of “social-ecological transition” (SET) from the perspectives of youth eco-activists. As a multi-level approach to intersecting social and ecological crisis, this notion has yet been examined from a social work viewpoint and limited knowledge is available regarding how it is being appropriated and envisioned in nonscientific spaces. Considering the need to increase youth participation in ecosocial work and climate governance, youth eco-activists from Canada (N = 10) were interviewed to explore their definitions of the SET and to better understand youth-specific issues related to climate change and climate action. A focus group was conducted with five of those same youth and aimed to foreground their experiential knowledge to collaboratively refine the ecosocial component of a sport and nature-based program, implemented at a subsequent phase of the research. Findings show that youth focus especially on socio-cultural elements of the transition, therefore expanding current understandings of the SET. Three main components are mapped-out (Intersectional climate justice, Intergenerational allyship, Place-based connections) and reveal that collaborations, solidarities, and connections are at the heart of eco-activists’ narratives. Key considerations for ecosocial work practice are discussed by centering youth voices, thus showcasing the need for increased experiential learnings to (re)connect with nature and community. The concept of relational ecological justice is proposed to capture a nuanced, non-dichotomic position concerning the ecocentrism/anthropocentrism debate, an approach that invites to renegotiate the ontological boundaries of ecosocial work.

Wide-scale subdivision and fencing of southern Kenyan rangelands jeopardizes biodiversity conservation and pastoral livelihoods: Demonstration of utility of open-access landDX database

Globally, rangelands are undergoing rapid social-ecological changes, yet the scale of these changes is rarely measured. Fencing, sedentarization, and land conversion limit access by wildlife and livestock to vital resources such as water and seasonal forage, leading to rangeland degradation. In addition, these changes limit connectivity between wildlife sub-populations, triggering a spiral of decreasing biodiversity and weakening ecosystem function. Moreover, the combination of land privatization, sedentarization and fencing endangers pastoral livelihoods by reducing resilience to drought and diminishing livestock holdings per person. We provide a unique, urgent, and vital snapshot across >30,000 km2 of southern Kenya’s rangeland, covering four ecosystems renowned for their rich megafauna and pastoral people. We document and explore the drivers of extensive fencing (~40,000 km), the proliferation of livestock enclosures (>27,000), and the conversion of rangelands for cultivation (~1,500 km2). Our analyses were based on an open-access database recently synthesized for the region. Fencing is generally more prolific in areas that have been converted from community tenure to private title, especially where land values are raised by agricultural potential and proximity to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. These factors drive the transfer of land ownership from traditional pastoralists to speculators, eventually resulting in the transformation of rangeland into agricultural, industrial and urban land uses. Space for wildlife (and traditional pastoralism) is limited on private, subdivided land, where livestock enclosures are at their highest density, and where there is less unfenced land and less untransformed land, compared to conservation areas and pastoral commons. Conflicting planning incentives, policies, and economic forces are driving unsustainable and potentially irreversible social-ecological transitions over unprecedented spatial scales. The lesson from southern Kenya is that a range of financial, policy and governance-related interventions are required to allow people and nature to coexist sustainably in African savannas.

The Winding Road towards Sustainable Forest Management in Romania, 1989–2022: A Case Study of Post-Communist Social–Ecological Transition

Forest ecosystems are a prime example of the heated debates that have arisen around how forests should be managed, and what services and benefits they should deliver. The European transitions in governance to and from communist regimes have had significant impacts on forests and their management. Unstable legislative and institutional changes prior to, during, and after a communist regime, combined with unique remnant areas of high-conservation-value forests, make Romania an ideal case study to explore the social–ecological transitions of forest landscapes. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, we present the origins of, the evolution of, and the current state of forest management and ownership in Romania during transitions between the pre-communist (–1945), communist (1945–1989), and EU periods (2007–). Second, we focus on the enablers and barriers in Romania towards sustainable forest management as defined by pan-European forest policies. We used a semi-systematic, five-step scientific literature review on forest ownership, governance, and management in Romania. The analysis shows that both enablers (e.g., forest certification) and barriers (e.g., redundancy and the questionable effectiveness of the network of protected areas; illegal, unsustainable, and unreported logging; loopholes in the legislative framework) have contributed to the current approaches to interpreting forests, forestry, and forest management. The installation of the communist regime translated into sustained wood yield forest management under singular forest ownership, which opposed the previous system and forest ownership pluralism. In the post-communist period, forestland restitution led to significant legislative changes, but forest management must still confront remnant elements of the communist approach. Both communist and post-communist policies related to forests have shaped the evolution of forest landscape management in Romania, thus stressing the need to learn from the past towards securing sustainable forest management into the future. These lessons provide insights on both positive and negative drivers of forest management, which can contribute to smooth future transition towards more sustainable forest management practices.

Editorial: Moving towards a just social-ecological transition

At a time when the planet is showing clear signs of the overload of our ecological footprint, when the demand and services of nature far exceeds its biocapacity, it is urgent to generate a turning point, as there is sufficient scientific evidence to affirm that we are approaching the dangerous limit of the point of no return.

Critical Transitions in Ecosystems and Society. The Contribution of Sociological Systems Theory to the Analysis of Socio-Environmental Transformations.

The theory of critical transitions and the theory of self-referential social systems are two well-established theories in the ecosystem and sociological research respectively. A dialogue between them may offer new insights on the complex articulation of the nature and society nexus in socio-environmental transformations. By means of the conceptual reconstruction of both theories and drawing on relevant literature of social-ecological research, in this article, I argue that systems theory can contribute to the theory of critical transitions with a robust concept of communication that accounts for the relevance of semantics and social structures, the production of communicative locks, and the identification of early warning signals of social-ecological transitions in communication. On the other hand, the theory of critical transitions provides systems theory with both a refined concept of crisis as critical transition and the technical tools for empirical research. The article concludes that the dialogue between the science of ecosystems and the science of society is not an intellectual exercise but a form of increasing the correspondence between social-ecological transitions and our explanations and interventions in this domain.

Informal roads as social-ecological-technological systems (SETS): sustainability challenges and impact on landscape transformations

Following the call to mobilize studies of social-ecological systems and sociotechnical systems, the paper presents the case for studying integrated social-ecological-technological systems (SETS), and dynamic systems that include social, natural and technological (engineering) elements. Using the case study of informal roads in the Baikal region, authors of the article argue that re-focusing on SETS creates additional synergies and convergence options to improve the understanding of coupled systems and infrastructure in particular. Historically, transportation infrastructure has contributed to changes in natural and social systems of Northern Eurasia: Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur railroads and Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean and Power of Siberia pipelines have been the main drivers of social-ecological transitions. At the local scale, informal roads serve as one of the most illustrative and characteristic examples of SETS. The examination of development and transformation of the informal roads allows exploring the interactions between socioeconomic processes, ecological dynamics and technological advances. The variety of informal roads reflects the importance of specific social, natural or technological factors in the SETS transformation largely unconditioned by policy and regulations thus providing a unique opportunity to better understand sustainability challenges facing infrastructure-based SETS. Relying on interviews and in-situ observations conducted in 2019 in the Baikal region, the following factors affecting sustainability of informal road SETS were identified: social (identification of actors involved in location, construction, maintenance, use and abandonment of informal roads), technological (road cover, width, frequency and nature of use by different kinds of vehicles), environmental (geomorphology and landscape sensitivity and vulnerability). The sustainability challenges of SETS development and transformations are found in changing mobility practices, social structure and economies of local communities, increased occurrences of forest fires and development of erosion and permafrost degradation in local environment and push for development of new technologies of transportation and communication.

Mapping Urbanization as an Anthropedogenetic Process: A Section through the Times of Urban Soils

Current trends of spatial planning policies give a strategic role to soils, the multifunctionality of which must be considered as a crucial driver facing cities’ forthcoming social-ecological transition. However, soils within urban areas are insufficiently studied as a long-term record of environmental history and heavy anthropization. This article investigates the extreme qualitative variability of urban soils by presenting a conceptual model and cartographic workflow highlighting soil evolution processes as a value which co-variates with urbanization. Based on a case study in West Lausanne (Switzerland), the layers and map series of an atlas underscore the applicability of different types of information and spatial analysis for documenting the influence of anthrosediments and land cover changes. Combined with empirical profile descriptions, such a consolidated concept map defines a template, in the form of a complex spatio-temporal figure, on which to apply the state factor approach. Instead of using a simple spatial transect or gradient, the increasing anthropic dominance over original landscape conditions is explained using a section through time. An urban anthroposequence consequently retraces contrasting soil development pathways as a coherent bundle of historical trajectories. Such a narrative integrates various facets of land use, including one-off construction techniques and recurring maintenance practices, planning tools, and morphologies, into a specific ‘project for the ground’ which brought forth the mixed mesh of the Swiss Plateau ‘cityterritory.’ Ultimately, the dynamic vision conveyed by these intertwined soil–urbanization coevolution trajectories outlines opportunities for the regeneration of the resource deposit made up of both West Lausanne’s urban fabric and its soils as a palimpsest.

Implementing human health as a landscape service in collaborative landscape approaches

Landscape services have been found to foster collaboration among actors in social-ecological transitions towards a more sustainable landscape. In this essay I propose that the contribution of landscape to human health could be particularly effective to play such a role. Health is important to most people in society, to business and government, and of economic and social value. Urban green space is widely known to have a positive impact on human health, but outside the urban landscape this effect is much less known. However, human health is underrepresented in frameworks of ecosystems services and applications of landscape services.I explore how health could be incorporated into landscape approaches beyond the urban fringe. For the application in landscape approaches, it is vital that the relationship between landscape and human health is expressed in parameters that are recognized as meaningful by the various actor groups. As a health specification, I propose the concept of positive health, because it is based on well-being and subjective perceptions of health. To characterize the physical assets of landscape that associate with health, perceived landscape naturalness seems a promising concept to explore further. I offer examples of studies illustrating the relationship between landscape naturalness and 5 dimensions of positive health. I conclude with suggesting research priorities to develop a knowledge base for integrating human health in collaborative landscape adaptation.

Exploring non-linear transition pathways in social-ecological systems

Tipping point dynamics are fundamental drivers for sustainable transition pathways of social-ecological systems (SES). Current research predominantly analyzes how crossing tipping points causes regime shifts, however, the analysis of potential transition pathways from these social and ecological tipping points is often overlooked. In this paper, we analyze transition pathways and the potential outcomes that these may lead to via a stylized model of a system composed of interacting agents exploiting resources and, by extension, the overall ecosystem. Interactions between the social and the ecological system are based on a perception-exploitation framework. We show that the presence of tipping points in SES may yield counter-intuitive social-ecological transition pathways. For example, the high perception of an alarming ecological state among agents can provide short-term ecological benefits, but can be less effective in the long term, compared to a low-perception condition. This work also highlights how understanding non-linear interactions is critical for defining suitable transition pathways of any SES.

Social-ecological Transitions in a Cattle-based Silvopastoral System in Southern Luzon, Philippines

Social-ecological transitions in the silvopastoral system of San Isidro, Rosario, Batangas, Philippines were analyzed using land cover trends and community perceptions. A combination of remote sensing processing, randomized survey, and participatory approaches were conducted. Four of six land cover categories (forests/orchards, grasslands, crop fields and water bodies) were identified to be sources of ecosystem services in the landscape which are essential for cattle farming. In 2000, the landscape became an on-farm research site on cattle farming. Coupled with other social factors such as land privatization and infrastructure development, this has reshaped land cover changes over time. In response, cattle farming dynamics, especially during critical dry periods, have adapted through measures such as switching to greater supplementation of commercial feeds. Despite social-ecological transitions, the cattle-based silvopastoral system in the landscape has persisted by exhibiting key principles of resilience such as diversity, connectivity, and feedback management. However, concerns on further impacts of key issues (e.g., land privatization) should be addressed to sustain the cattle-based silvopastoral system in the landscape. This study provides critical insights on how natural resource management by communities and policies by decision makers should carefully consider their potential impacts in sustaining locally important ecosystem services in the face of rapidly transitioning social-ecological systems.

Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches

Going to work has become such a ritualized activity for the modern human that few people challenge its relevance from a sustainability perspective. Since the Industrial Revolution, the prospect of unlimited growth with the aim of jobs creation has been dramatically associated with a massive social-ecological degradation that puts the Earth system at risk. In recent decades, a number of heterodox theories and policies are reconsidering our relationship with work in view of contemporaneous social-ecological challenges. This paper offers critical review of five contrasting approaches. Those promoting ‘green jobs’ consider the possibility of transforming ecological constraints into economic opportunities by incentivising eco-efficient innovations and generating new jobs. Conversely, critical approaches, such as working-time reduction (WTR), labour environmentalism, political ecology of work, and contributive economy and justice, defend decommodifying work to liberate pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. We additionally present two opposing scenarios mainly inspired by critical theories. One illustrates the root causes of systemic lock-in leading to the present social-ecological work-life degradation, while the other illustrates perspectives on the ‘politics of free time’ and contributive economy and justice oriented towards building capabilities, and workers’ emancipation and justice in search for more sustainable relationships with ecosystems.

Are Ecological Modernization Narratives Useful for Understanding and Steering Social-Ecological Change in the Argentine Chaco?

During the past decades, the Ecological Modernization Theory, and associated ideas such as the Forest Transition Theory and Land Sparing Hypothesis, have dominated the academic and policy arenas regarding the solutions to current environmental crises. However, critiques were raised as these theories, originally conceived for developed countries, started to be applied in developing countries for explaining and prescribing social-ecological transitions. Here, we assess the validity of five key assumptions of Ecological Modernization narratives as applied to the Argentine Chaco, a global deforestation hotspot. We reviewed existing literature and conducted straightforward analysis to disentangle relationships among key variables. Although agriculture intensified, there is no evidence that this intensification inhibited agricultural expansion. Rural depopulation took place between 2001 and 2010; however, deforestation rates did not decrease, and the quality of life of migrants did not increase compared to those that stayed in rural areas. Our review suggests that the consequences of agriculture intensification on biodiversity and the provision of multiple ecosystem services exceeds the area used. Therefore, available evidence does not support the assumed causal relationships of Ecological Modernization, and even contradicts most assumptions. We propose a series of analytical shifts to better capture the complexity of social-ecological transitions in modern commodity frontiers.

Convergences and divergences in understanding the word biodiversity among citizens: A French case study

Biodiversity is undergoing a major crisis. Institutions, while launching initiatives tackling the issue, are using and diffusing the term biodiversity and related expert knowledge. However, to collectively address the biodiversity crisis, it is important that actors are able to communicate with each other. This is particularly true in the three-part set including science, public institutions, and citizens. In this paper, we explored this mutual understanding with a focus on laypeople: we assessed the understanding of biodiversity in a sample of 1209 French adult citizens and explored the convergences and divergences with institutional and academic definitions. With a classical hypothetical-deductive approach, we first showed an overall congruence between laypeople and institutions: 80% of respondents provided a descriptive definition of plant and animal species as well as their diversity, which are main ideas diffused by institutions. However, based on the high diversity of the collected definitions, with 57% of provided words in definitions mentioned only once, we complemented this study with an inductive approach. We showed a discrepancy in the definitions from lay people and from conservation science (based on evolutionary and dynamic processes). We also highlighted that 18,5% of definitions are not descriptive and are referring to specific actions for biodiversity conservation. We discuss these results in the context of social-ecological transitions, and encourage conservation communities to acknowledge the range of biodiversity definitions used by laypeople, and to form closer relationships with laypeople to anchor conservation research and action with a bottom-up dynamic process of knowledge sharing.

From ordinary environmentalism to the public environment: theoretical reflections based on French and European empirical research

Ecological transformations involve citizen mobilization and the cultural transformation of relationships with the environment. Rather than social movements, we need to see them more as social–environmental communities. They are formed through joint action on the material environment, underpinned by solidarity and conflicts of territoriality in which human collectives associate with living matter and the environment to battle other uses of space. The environment as a collective work then becomes a self-sustaining basis for action that boosts the competence and legitimacy of the actors (citizens, formal and informal collectives, etc.) and their role in social–ecological transition. We thus witness the emergence of a new type of environmental citizenship that deviates from political activism and testifies to a civic engagement in ordinary practices, a collective environmentalism that calls for public action and democracy. Our hypothesis is that ordinary environmentalism initiatives contribute to the production of a public environment, i.e., an environment that we may qualify as public insofar as urban citizen environmentalism contributes to the public space both in terms of debates and in a concrete manner. What we call ordinary environmentalism factors in environmental practices that have hitherto been considered negligible and emphasizes their usefulness in democratizing the coproduction of everyday and ordinary environments. We need to view the emergence of ordinary environmentalism in relation to distributions and inequalities in territories from an environmental and physical, as well as from a social, point of view or from the perspective of political commitment.

Social-ecological transformations of Inner Mongolia: a sustainability perspective

Sustainability requires the reconciling of human needs with the healthy natural ecosystem, which should be achieved within the grand course of industrialization and modernization. Systematic transitions on demography, economy, technology, and institutions are required, while different civilizations may take their respective paths. In this study, we analyze the social-ecological transitions of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China during the past century, focusing on major changes in its environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic conditions. A two-level social-ecological system analysis framework was proposed, and four stages of transition were identified: traditional nomadism, primitive industrial civilization, collectivization era, and economic reform/open-door policy era. Our analysis showed that Inner Mongolia has made great achievements in its socioeconomic domains but is faced with numerous challenging environmental problems. Overconsumption of resources and failure to curtail ecological degradation may lead to a trap of unsustainability. However, the slowing-down population growth, improvements of the economic structure, and many new sustainability initiatives and strong support from the central government together give hope for a sustainable future of the region.

Assessment of social–ecological transitions in a peri-urban Ethiopian farming community

In a peri-urban poverty-stricken community in the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 15 years of development efforts were undertaken by establishing an enterprise, which initially consisted of a horticultural farm and finally was composed of a multifunctional farm and a restaurant with a shop. The enterprise collaborated with BioEconomy Africa, which was charged with administrative, monitoring and facilitation tasks, and provided a training, demonstration and research facility. In the innovation process, the enterprise selected technologies and implemented them within the context of local economic and market conditions. The project benefitted from a flexible allocation of modest funds. This paper assesses the sustainability of the enterprise and the community on the basis of social–ecological system transformability and resilience. The scheme of the Food and Agriculture Organization is used to evaluate the transformability, while resilience is evaluated through self-organization capacity, disturbance absorption capacity, and learning and adaptability. The project period was divided into five Macro-phases. The transformability assessment of the enterprise revealed nonlinear and asynchronous dynamics of environmental sustainability, economic resilience, social well-being and governance that after reaching a minimum attained a maximum at the end of the period under observation. The resilience assessments showed that the self-organization capacity, the disturbance absorption capacity, and learning and adaptability slowly changed to reach a satisfactory level at the end of the observation period. The changes in transformability and resilience profoundly affected the livelihood of the community. The paper demonstrates the important role of agricultural in the development of poverty-stricken peri-urban communities and indicates that innovation processes and the efficiency of facilitation extension model implementation can be enhanced by applying adaptive project execution procedures. It can be concluded that the continuous monitoring and assessments of transformability and resilience are a prerequisite for efficiently moving the socio-ecological system on a smooth road towards a socially acceptable standard of living.