Socio-ecological Risks Research Articles

Socio-ecological risk analysis framework coupled with ecosystem services

The strong coupling between society and ecosystem makes socio-ecological risks become the main object of risk management. As the link between ecological and social processes, ecosystem services (ESs) are the core variable in deconstructing the social-ecological risks and the crucial point in resolving the risks. We explored the concept and the internal formation mechanisms of socio-ecological risk combining ESs, and further put the cascade logic and evolution process of "real risk-risk perception-risk behavior". Based on driver-pressure-state-impact-response framework (DPSIR), we proposed a framework for analyzing socio-ecological risk, and expanded the content and methodology system of research and management practices related to socio-ecological risks. We proposed that socio-ecological risk research coupled with ESs should focus on: 1) exploring the transmission mechanism between ecosystem processes, ecosystem services, and human well-being; 2) exploring the response mechanism of social subject behavior and its impacts on ecosystem services and human well-being; 3) construction of a multi-scale assessment model for social ecological risks coupled with ESs. The socio-ecological risk analysis framework for coupled ecosystem services was based on the mutual feedback between human and nature to explore the logic of risk formation, evolution, and governance, which could provide ideas for clarifying the deep meaning of ecological problems and selecting pathways to resolve socio-ecological risks.

Identifying the interfaces between perceived multi-hazards and socio-ecological risks to strengthen local adaptations

Multi-hazards are a great concern in the present world. Likewise, the coastal part of Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to multi-hazards, including waterlogging, surface water salinity, land use change, prolonged dry seasons, and groundwater salinity. Multi-hazards and associated risks make local adaptations more difficult over time. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the connection between multi-hazards and their associated socio-ecological risks in the southwestern coastal part of Bangladesh. Mixed-methods approaches were used to collect all the data, and statistical analyses were performed to analyze the data. Results revealed that waterlogging significantly influenced local food access, poverty, child marriage, and divorce problems. Surface water salinity and land use change showed significant differences with the widening of salinity-affected areas. Waterlogging, land use change, and a prolonged dry season all showed significant differences in freshwater access. Prolonged dry seasons and groundwater salinity both have a significant impact on human health. Waterlogging and groundwater salinity significantly influence human migrations. These findings may strengthen local adaptation policies for salinity hazards, land use planning, household poverty, food access, livelihoods, water access, health effects, child marriage, and human migration. In addition, our findings indicate the potential to address the existing knowledge gaps pertaining to coastal hazards, risks, and adaptation issues.

Resilience anchors for children in an out-of-home care institution during and after COVID-19.

Growing numbers of children of all ages grow up in out-of-home care institutions due to personal and socioecological risk variables that destabilized their families of origin. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted lives and development, there is particular interest in how children who grow up in out-of-home care institutions cope and develop. This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to document anchors of resilience in children who resided in a care institution run by a non-governmental, church-based welfare organization in one of the central provinces of South Africa. In line with recent developments in childcare, the organization mainly functions via smaller child and youth group homes across the province (compared to bigger children's homes in the past). In our qualitative, phenomenological study, we used the participatory, child-friendly, and less intrusive draw-and-write technique to generate data. We asked the 20 participating children of one of these group homes to make drawings that mirror their lives, and to write paragraphs in which they described their drawings. All were school-going children in care, aged from 12 to 19. There were 11 girls and 9 boys in the study, and one of these identified as "other." The grades ranged from 7 to 12 and they spoke African languages, namely Afrikaans, Sesotho, Setswana and IsiXhosa. We used inductive content analysis to process the data, and the findings indicate that, notwithstanding personal and socioecological risks during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience of the participants was anchored by a number of universal personal strengths as well as socioecological resources.

Heavy Metal Occurrence, Pathways, and Associated Socio-ecological Risks in Riverine Water: Application of Geographic Information System, Multivariate Statistics, and Risk Assessment Models

Heavy Metal Occurrence, Pathways, and Associated Socio-ecological Risks in Riverine Water: Application of Geographic Information System, Multivariate Statistics, and Risk Assessment Models

A socio-technical assessment of marine renewable energy potential in coastal communities

Coastal communities face unique socio-ecological risks and vulnerabilities due to their geography and related resource dependencies. The resilience of such communities and their capacity to adapt to social, economic, and environmental change is consequently shaped by the diverse characteristics and values that guide their development. Marine renewable energy (MRE) is one promising solution for augmenting coastal resilience and environmental sustainability while increasing energy security, energy affordability, and socioeconomic benefits. The socio-technical nature of energy transitions more broadly necessitates place-based and multidisciplinary analyses to gain a full picture of the needs of communities. This article uses potential MRE development (specifically tidal energy) in two coastal communities as a lens to explore how social perceptions and MRE's technical potential might be integrated to improve alignment between community values and energy development. We draw on semi-structured interviews with community representatives from Sitka, Alaska and the San Juan Islands in Washington State and present findings on how energy development objectives are shaped by community values, resource relations, and institutional relations. Through modeling exercises, we also show the grid benefits of MRE deployment in the San Juan Islands, highlighting MRE's role in deferring costly electric infrastructure upgrades and reducing fuel imports when paired with solar photovoltaic (PV) or battery storage. These findings offer viable pathways for future MRE research, commercial validation, and deployment that directly respond to the place-based opportunities and challenges of coastal communities.

Socio-Ecological Aspects in Geoecological Assessment of Nonmetal Construction Materials Mining in the Oka Riverbed

Abstract—The evaluation of socio-ecological risks of the mining of sand-gravel mixture (SGM) from the riverbed is an important applied aspect of geo-ecological analysis. The article provides an overview of international scientific publications on this issue. The authors bring to light the most discussed, hence, the most relevant socio-ecological problems related to the extraction of SGM: a growing demand and shortage of these materials, deteriorating living conditions in areas adjacent to mining sites, deteriorating road conditions, water supply problems, increasing limitations to recreational land use, labor market distortions, rising crime, etc. The authors demonstrate that optimal management decision-making requires both an investigation of sand-gravel mining conditions and standards, and a socio-ecological assessment of the area, including the population’s environmental awareness regarding this problem; and illustrate this notion with the results of a study (semi-structured interviews in the form of a case study, combined with a quantitative pilot study) on population’s environmental concerns that has been conducted in several cities on the Oka River in the Moscow Region. The study suggests that the population’s awareness regarding the environmental issues of non-metal mineral resources extraction could be described as ranging from moderate to insufficient. The most active part of the population has an understanding of how SGM extraction affects the riverbed. However, the population’s overall appreciation of the importance of water resources for the existence of the region is rather low. The environmental concern levels could be described as moderately wary: there is subjective preoccupation with the issue of deterioration of the ecological state of the river, but there also is an understanding of the economic importance of SGM mining. Based on the conducted study, the authors provide specific recommendations as to how it could be increase the environmental awareness regarding the topic at hand. In addition, the authors stress the environmental importance of observing the regulations regarding the SGM, explain the benefits of informational support of the population and organization of educational events, and suggest conducting regular monitoring of the socio-ecological state of the region. The proposed method for identifying the levels of environmental concern of the population is believed to allow for a reduction of potential social tensions within the region.

The global spread of jellyfish hazards mirrors the pace of human imprint in the marine environment

The rising demand of ecosystem services, due to the increasing human population in coastal areas, and the subsequent need to secure healthy and sustainable seas constitute a major challenge for marine ecosystems management. In addition, global anthropogenic changes have transformed the marine realm, thereby challenging ecosystem health and the services necessary for human welfare. These changes have opened ecological space for opportunistic organisms, such as jellyfish, resulting in ecosystem-wide and economic implications that threaten marine ecosystem services. Here, we used a comprehensive dataset of jellyfish hazards over the period 1960–2019 to track their dynamics and implications for human welfare. Our results revealed that their large-scale patterns have been mainly enhanced in human-perturbed Large Marine Ecosystems, although the contribution of jellyfish Class to hazard type changed across ocean regions. The long-term variability of these events suggests that their temporal patterns mirror the pace of ocean warming and ocean health degradation nurtured by global anthropogenic changes in recent decades. These results warn of the wide socioecological risks of jellyfish hazards, and their implications advocate for transboundary, regional cooperation to develop effective ecosystem-based management actions. Failure to integrate jellyfish into ocean surveys will compromise coastal ecosystem services governance.Classification: Social Sciences/Sustainability Science, Biological Sciences/Ecology.

Socio-ecological Risk Mitigation in the Construction of the Sicincin-Padang Toll Road, West Sumatra

Although infrastructure development aims to improve the welfare of the whole society, it poses adverse environmental effects in practice. One of such developments carried out by the Indonesian government is the trans-Sumatra toll road, which created social and environmental problems, particularly on the Sicincin-Padang toll road in West Sumatra. The affected communities in this province lost their homes, agricultural land and livelihoods to lifestyle changes. One of the villages experienced significant flooding due to large water discharge after clearing the land. Therefore, this research aims to explain the mitigation of socio-ecological risks in developing toll road infrastructure in West Sumatra. This research was carried out using the multi-method approach with qualitative and quantitative data analyzed by CATWOE analysis. The results explained that the construction of toll roads in West Sumatra has social and environmental impacts. Social and ecological risk mitigation is carried out by formulating policies through a soft system methodology (SSM) by involving many parties, especially affected communities, in decision-making.

Socio-ecological risks management dynamic simulation in megaproject development of the Edinburgh Tram Network

PurposeThe inherent risks and their interactive impacts in megaproject development have been found in numerous cases worldwide. Although risk management standards have been recommended for the best practice in engineering construction projects, there is still a lack of systematic approaches to describing the interactions. Interactions such as social, technical, economic, ecological and political (STEEP) risks have complex and dynamic implications for megaproject construction. For a better understanding and effective management of megaprojects such as the Edinburgh Tram project, the dynamic interaction of concomitant risks must be studied.Design/methodology/approachA systems dynamic methodology was adopted following the comprehensive literature review. Documentary data were gathered from the case study on Tram Network Project in Edinburgh.FindingsA casual loop of typical evolution of key indicators of risks was then developed. A hypothesised model of social and ecological (SE) risks was derived using the system dynamics (SD) modelling technique. The model was set up following British Standards on risk management to provide a generic tool for risk management in megaproject development. The study reveals that cost and time overruns at the developmental stage of the case project are caused mainly by the effects of interactions of risk factors from the external macro project environment on a timely basis.Originality/valueThis article presented a model for simulating the socio-ecological risk confronting the management and construction of megaprojects. The use of SD provided the opportunity to explain the nature of all risks, particularly the SE risks in the past stages of project development.

Enhancing science-policy interface in marine environmental governance: Oil spill response models as boundary objects in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea

Scientific models provide important input to the governance of complex socio-ecological risks. However, scientific knowledge rarely translates to policy in a simple, direct manner. By focusing on the use of scientific models for oil spill risk assessment and management in the Gulf of Finland (GoF), Baltic Sea, this paper aims to enhance the understanding of the capacity of scientific models to connect science, operational decision-making, and policy. In this study, we conceptualize scientific models as boundary objects, i.e. tools that facilitate interactions between different actors, types of knowledge, and perspectives across system boundaries. The study focuses on the different affordances associated with the models regarding their ability to represent, share, and convey knowledge between science and policy and to link the involved knowledge to action (i.e. changes in practice and in policy). We explore 1) how do the different oil spill models work as boundary objects in the science-policy interface, 2) how do different science-policy contexts affect the model affordances, and vice versa. We also provide recommendations for future research. The study is based on interviews of modelers/researchers, response operators, and policymakers. The results suggest that the existing models lack several of the important affordances that are required to successfully integrate different types of knowledge and transform new knowledge to action. As such, we suggest that currently models remain as instrumental, calculative, tools that support pre-determined policies rather than as means for exploring alternative framings of risks and the possible solutions. Finally, we argue that the co-production of knowledge best supports the plurality of model affordances needed to enable transformative change in policy and practice.

A global model to forecast coastal hardening and mitigate associated socioecological risks

Around the world, coastal urbanization continues to replace natural marine habitats with engineered structures, resulting in wholesale changes to shallow-water ecosystems and associated socioecological impacts. This process is expected to continue over the coming decades. The development of meaningful strategies to minimize future impacts requires an understanding of the rate at which ‘coastal hardening’ will take place regionally. Here we show that coastal infrastructure has replaced more than half (52.9 ± 4.9%) of the coastline associated with 30 global urban centres. The regional extent of coastal hardening is explained by eight predictor variables associated with shipping, boating, regional economies, populations and coastline length. Using a case study approach, we forecasted a 50–76% expansion of coastal infrastructure over a 25-year period. Our model can aid decision-makers to anticipate increases in coastal hardening, supporting identification and management of future threats to coastal ecosystems alongside social, economic and cultural objectives. The world’s coasts are increasingly covered with built structures, such as piers and seawalls. This study finds that coastal infrastructure has replaced more than half of the coastline associated with 30 urban centres and forecasts future hotspots using New Zealand as a case study.

Risks to global biodiversity and Indigenous lands from China's overseas development finance.

China has become one of the world's largest lenders in overseas development finance. Development projects, such as roads, railways and power plants, often drive biodiversity loss and infringe on Indigenous lands, yet the risks implicit in China's overseas development finance are poorly understood. Here we examine the extent to which projects financed by China's policy banks between 2008 and 2019 occur within and adjacent to areas where large-scale investment can present considerable risks to biodiversity and Indigenous peoples. Further, we compare these risks with those posed by similar projects financed by the World Bank, previously the world's largest source of development finance. We found that 63% of China-financed projects overlap with critical habitats, protected areas or Indigenous lands, with up to 24% of the world's threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians potentially impacted by the projects. Hotspots of the risks are primarily distributed in northern sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of South America. Overall, China's development projects pose greater risks than those of the World Bank, particularly within the energy sector. These results provide an important global outlook of socio-ecological risks that can guide strategies for greening China's development finance around the world.

Worksites as Sacrifice Zones: Structural Precarity and COVID-19 in U.S. Meatpacking

As meatpacking facilities became COVID-19 hotspots, the pandemic renewed the importance of longstanding claims from environmental justice and agrifood scholars. The former asserts the perceived dispensability of marginalized populations sustains environmental injustices, whereas the latter stresses that decades of industrial consolidation created structural instability in the food supply chain. This article asks how industry and government leverage existing socio-ecological inequalities to ensure the continuity of the meatpacking supply chain during COVID-19, and the implications these actions hold for workers. To answer these questions, the authors perform case studies of meatpacking facilities in three Midwestern states. This article uses the critical environmental justice framework to expand research on sacrifice zones to include hazardous worksites such as meatpacking. We find that toxic employment flourishes through firms’ labor practices that pass socio-ecological risks onto workers in the name of efficiency, and through a complicit state that prioritizes accumulation and consumption over workers’ health.

Balancing Socio-Ecological Risks, Politics, and Identity: Sustainability in Minnesota’s Copper-Nickel-Precious Metal Mining Debate

In the northeastern corner of Minnesota, two of the state’s most iconic symbols, mining and pristine wilderness, are on a collision course. The Duluth Complex, considered by many to be the world’s largest undeveloped deposit of copper-nickel and precious metals, is the site of mining proposals for several controversial mines. Proponents suggest that mining can be accomplished in an environmentally benign manner, and in the process create nearly 1000 jobs and $500 million in economic benefits annually. Opponents counter that the tourism and recreation industries already provide nearly 18,000 jobs and bring over $900 million in economic benefits annually, and that mining will permanently impair the regions environment. Thus, the copper-nickel and precious metal mining debate has become highly polarized, and serves as an ideal example of how people address national and global sustainability issues at local and regional scales. This study examines this polarization through a Q-sort analysis of subjectivities of residents of the state of Minnesota. Results suggest that partisanship is a strong predictor of attitudes towards mining, and that the strongest differences between respondents were not based on perceptions comparing jobs and the environment, the typical partisan divide, but rather on respondents’ perceived identity with relation to the mining industry or water resources.

Sleep Problem Trajectories and Cumulative Socio-Ecological Risks: Birth to School-Age

To evaluate whether there are distinct childhood sleep problem trajectories from birth to 10-11years and to assess associations with cumulative socio-ecological risks (child, family, context). Participants were 5107 children from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children-Birth Cohort. At birth, cumulative risk indexes were generated for birth, parenting, family, socioeconomic, and neighborhood risks. Parent-reported child sleep problems were assessed biennially from ages 0-1 to 10-11years. Sleep problem trajectories were derived using latent classanalysis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine associations with risk indexes. Five distinct trajectories emerged: persistent sleep problems through middle childhood (7.7%), limited infant/preschool sleep problems (9.0%), increased middle childhood sleep problems (17.0%), mild sleep problems over time (14.4%), and no sleep problems (51.9%). Cumulative mother- and father-reported family risks (distress; marital/relational hostility) were linked to nearly all of the trajectories, whereas father- and mother-reported parenting risks were associated with fewer trajectories. Birth risks were associated with increased middle childhood sleep problems. Neighborhood risks were not associated with any trajectories. Socioeconomic risks were linked to mild and persistent sleep problem trajectories. Cumulative risk indexes were most associated with increased middle childhood sleep problems. This study identified distinct longitudinal sleep problem trajectories, suggesting the need for continuous sleep screening over development. Cumulative risks assessed at birth-primarily maternal and paternal family risks-predicted these trajectories, especially for the sleep problems in middle childhood trajectory. Preventive interventions targeting modifiable factors, particularly caregiver distress and marital/relational hostility, could benefit child sleep.

A social-ecological analysis of drinking water risks in coastal Bangladesh

Groundwater resources in deltaic regions are vulnerable to contamination by saline seawater, posing significant crisis for drinking water. Current policy and practice of building water supply infrastructure, without adequate hydrogeological analysis and institutional coordination are failing to provide basic drinking water services for millions of poor people in such difficult hydrogeological contexts. We apply a social-ecological systems approach to examine interdisciplinary data from hydrogeological mapping, a water infrastructure audit, 2103 household surveys, focus group discussions and interviews to evaluate the risks to drinking water security in one of 139 polders in coastal Bangladesh. We find that increasing access through public tubewells is common but insufficient to reduce drinking water risks. In response, there has been a four-fold growth in private investments in shallow tubewells with new technologies and entrepreneurial models to mitigate groundwater salinity. Despite these interventions, poor households in water-stressed environments face significant trade-offs in drinking water quality, accessibility and affordability. We argue that institutional coordination and hydrogeological monitoring at a systems level is necessary to mitigate socio-ecological risks for more equitable and efficient outcomes.

On the Methodology of Satellite Data Utilization in Multi-Modeling Approach for Socio-Ecological Risks Assessment Tasks: A Problem Formulation

The problem of satellite data utilization in multi-modeling approach for socio-ecological risks assessment is formally defined. Methodology of natural geo-systems modeling for variables and indicators selections is described. Observation, measurement and modeling data utilization method in the framework of multi-model approach is described. Methodology and models of risk assessment in framework of decision support approach are defined and described. Brief conclusions on efficiency of the described methodology are proposed. Proposed methodology can applied for wide range of risk-related tasks, such as natural and technological disaster monitoring, air-water-soil pollution control, crop productivity control, etc.

Initiating a conflict with wildlife – the reintroduction and feeding of kākā, Wellington City, New Zealand

Wildlife reintroductions to peopled landscapes pose socio-ecological opportunities and risks, and a responsibility to people as well as wildlife. Human–wildlife conflicts can escalate rapidly where anthropogenic foods and feeding cause wildlife to congregate and damage property. Those conflicts polarise attitudes to the wildlife and may cascade into conflicts between people over wildlife. The native parrot, kākā (Nestor meridionalis), was reintroduced to Wellington City in 2002 and we suspect that it initiated a classical human–wildlife conflict cascade. We tested for feeding-induced damage, and different attitude scores amongst neighbours using a postal household survey. We received 313 completed surveys, a 55.9% response rate, across eight suburbs. Minor to severe damage, costing up to NZ$3000 to repair, was reported to trees, buildings, and outdoor furniture. Seventeen respondents reported feeding kākā, mostly fruit and vegetables, but also sugar water, bread, and nuts and seeds, and we received surveys from 33 of their non-feeding neighbours. Feeding significantly increased reports of kākā, and kākā abundance was positively associated with kākā damage. Neighbourhoods closer to Zealandia (the wildlife sanctuary where kākā are fed) and the neighbours of people who fed kākā were statistically more likely to incur property damage than more distant suburbs and residents. Neighbours’ attitudinal scores about kākā and native birds were significantly negatively associated with greater kākā damage. The reintroduction of kākā has initiated a feeding-induced wildlife–human conflict. We discuss what can be learned from the experience with kākā in Wellington City for urban wildlife conservation in the future.

Medieval Iceland, Greenland, and the New Human Condition: A case study in integrated environmental humanities

This paper contributes to recent studies exploring the longue durée of human impacts on island landscapes, the impacts of climate and other environmental changes on human communities, and the interaction of human societies and their environments at different spatial and temporal scales. In particular, the paper addresses Iceland during the medieval period (with a secondary, comparative focus on Norse Greenland) and discusses episodes where environmental and climatic changes have appeared to cross key thresholds for agricultural productivity. The paper draws upon international, interdisciplinary research in the North Atlantic region led by the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) and the Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES) in the Circumpolar Networks program of the Integrated History and Future of People on Earth (IHOPE). By interlinking analyses of historically grounded literature with archaeological studies and environmental science, valuable new perspectives can emerge on how these past societies may have understood and coped with such impacts. As climate and other environmental changes do not operate in isolation, vulnerabilities created by socioeconomic factors also beg consideration. The paper illustrates the benefits of an integrated environmental-studies approach that draws on data, methodologies and analytical tools of environmental humanities, social sciences, and geosciences to better understand long-term human ecodynamics and changing human-landscape-environment interactions through time. One key goal is to apply previously unused data and concerted expertise to illuminate human responses to past changes; a secondary aim is to consider how lessons derived from these cases may be applicable to environmental threats and socioecological risks in the future, especially as understood in light of the New Human Condition, the concept transposed from Hannah Arendt's influential framing of the human condition that is foregrounded in the present special issue. This conception admits human agency's role in altering the conditions for life on earth, in large measure negatively, while acknowledging the potential of this self-same agency, if effectively harnessed and properly directed, to sustain essential planetary conditions through a salutary transformation of human perception, understanding and remedial action. The paper concludes that more long-term historical analyses of cultures and environments need to be undertaken at various scales. Past cases do not offer perfect analogues for the future, but they can contribute to a better understanding of how resilience and vulnerability occur, as well as how they may be compromised or mitigated.

Socio-Ecological Urban Risks and the Moscow Agglomeration Development: the Comparative International Study

The article examines the main trends and forecasts of urbanization in the contemporary world. At the center of the authors' interests is Moscow — the largest urban agglomeration in Russia with its social and environmental problems. Based on the latest statistical data, the current particularities of the Moscow agglomeration growth and its dynamics (both territorial and population) are analyzed. In addition, using foreign experience, an attempt is made to predict the future of Russian capital’s residents in conditions of further hypertrophied growth. Paying attention to the positive aspects of urbanization, researchers express concern about its negative consequences, such as environmental problems and, as a result, worsening health among the population, congestion contributing to the rapid spread of diseases, lack of the necessary social infrastructure, the development of which does not keep up with the city's development, the growth of crime, ethno cultural conflicts, problems of social inequality and social tension, asymmetric urban settlement, etc. Based on foreign experience in the development of world megalopolises, the authors highlight and describe three blocks of problems that give rise to the process of hypertrophied growth of urban spaces: social inequality, ecology and deterioration of public health; the growth of migration flows and the ghettoization of urban areas. The article concludes that there is a need for a balanced assessment of the main risks and benefits standing behind the rapid growth of the metropolitan agglomeration and the mandatory regulation of this process in the Russian Federation.