scholarly journals The erosion of relational values resulting from landscape simplification

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 2601-2612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maraja Riechers ◽  
Ágnes Balázsi ◽  
Lydia Betz ◽  
Tolera S. Jiren ◽  
Joern Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Landscape Sustainability ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Relational Values ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Instrumental Values ◽  
Landscape Sustainability Science

Abstract Context The global trend of landscape simplification for industrial agriculture is known to cause losses in biodiversity and ecosystem service diversity. Despite these problems being widely known, status quo trajectories driven by global economic growth and changing diets continue to lead to further landscape simplification. Objectives In this perspective article, we argue that landscape simplification has negative consequences for a range of relational values, affecting the social-ecological relationships between people and nature, as well as the social relationships among people. A focus on relational values has been proposed to overcome the divide between intrinsic and instrumental values that people gain from nature. Results We use a landscape sustainability science framing to examine the interconnections between ecological and social changes taking place in rural landscapes. We propose that increasingly rapid and extreme landscape simplification erodes human-nature connectedness, social relations, and the sense of agency of inhabitants—potentially to the point of severe erosion of relational values in extreme cases. We illustrate these hypothesized changes through four case studies from across the globe. Leaving the links between ecological, social-ecological and social dimensions of landscape change unattended could exacerbate disconnection from nature. Conclusion A relational values perspective can shed new light on managing and restoring landscapes. Landscape sustainability science is ideally placed as an integrative space that can connect relevant insights from landscape ecology and work on relational values. We see local agency as a likely key ingredient to landscape sustainability that should be actively fostered in conservation and restoration projects.

scholarly journals Human–nature connectedness and other relational values are negatively affected by landscape simplification: insights from Lower Saxony, Germany

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maraja Riechers ◽  
Berta Martín-López ◽  
Joern Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Lower Saxony ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Relational Values ◽  
Nature Connectedness

AbstractLandscape simplification is a worldwide phenomenon that impacts biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Humans benefit greatly from nature’s contributions to people in both material and immaterial ways, yet landscape simplification can undermine these contributions. Landscape simplification can have negative consequences, for example, for human–nature connectedness and other relational values. Major and rapid land-use change, together with a declining appreciation of nature by individuals and societies, in turn, could cause a downward spiral of disconnections. Our empirical research combined a comprehensive assessment of five dimensions of human–nature connectedness with the lens of relational values to assess how these are influenced by landscape simplification. Focusing on two rural landscapes with differing agricultural development in Lower Saxony (Germany), we conducted 34 problem-centred interviews. We found that landscape simplification, especially if rapid, negatively influenced human–nature connectedness and particular relational values such as social relations, social cohesion or cultural identity. We postulate that human–nature connectedness might have a balancing influence on preserving relational values, buffering negative impacts of landscape simplification. Losing connections to nature could potentially foster conflicts among actors with different values. We conclude that combining the notions of human–nature connectedness and relational values can generate valuable insights and may help to uncover new ways to foster sustainability.

scholarly journals Für einen labour turn in der Umweltbewegung

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (189) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Pye
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Accumulation By Dispossession ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Ecological Landscape

Oliver Pye: For a labour turn in the environmental justice movement. Struggles over the social relations of nature and strategies for social-ecological transformation. This article discusses struggles in the social relations of nature and how these relate to strategies of socialecological transformation and calls for a labour turn in the environmental and climate justice movement. Taking the rapid changes to the social-ecological landscape of the Kapuas River in Indonesia as a starting point, it shows how this “accumulation by dispossession” is connected to a “corporate food regime” that is embedded within global “postfordist relations of nature”. I then argue that the global production networks linking appropriation to exploitation should themselves be viewed as alienated steps in the social metabolism with nature. Struggles against accumulation by dispossession need to connect to the labour movement, which holds the key to overcome the alienated work that lies at the heart of society’s alienation with nature.

scholarly journals High Nature Value Farming Systems and Protected Areas: Conservation Opportunities or Land Abandonment? A Study Case in the Madrid Region (Spain)

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 721
Author(s):  
María F. Schmitz ◽  
Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz ◽  
Patricio Sarmiento-Mateos
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
Social Ecological

European rural landscapes contain high nature value farmlands that, in addition to being the main economic activity in many rural areas, host habitats and species of great conservation value. The maintenance of these farming systems largely depends on traditional ecological knowledge and the rural lifestyles of the local populations. However, they have not been sufficiently appreciated and protected, and as a result, they are currently threatened. In this study, which was performed in the Madrid region (central Spain), we analyse the social-ecological changes of the rural landscape after the establishment of a protected natural area network. The obtained results highlight a significant loss of these high nature value farming systems and a marked increase in the rewilding processes characterised by scrub–forest transition and the development of forest systems. These processes are linked to the disruption of the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge, which may imply negative consequences for both the high biocultural diversity that these systems host and the cultural identity and the socioeconomics of the rural populations that live there. A useful methodological tool is provided for social–ecological land planning and the design of effective management strategies for the conservation of rural cultural landscapes.

scholarly journals Towards a better future for biodiversity and people: modelling Nature Futures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
HyeJin Kim ◽  
Garry Peterson ◽  
William Cheung ◽  
Simon Ferrier ◽  
Rob Alkemade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Relational Values ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Instrumental Values ◽  
Multiple Value ◽  
Sustainable Futures

The expert group on scenarios and models of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services initiated the development of the Nature Futures Framework for developing scenarios of positive futures for nature, to help inform assessments of policy options. This new scenarios and modelling Framework seeks to open up diversity and plurality of perspectives by differentiating three main value perspectives on nature – Nature for Nature (intrinsic values of nature), Nature for Society (instrumental values) and Nature as Culture (relational values). This paper describes how the Nature Futures Framework can be applied in modelling to support policy processes by identifying key interventions for change in realizing a diversity of desirable futures. First, the paper introduces and elaborates on key building blocks of the framework for developing qualitative scenarios and translating them into quantitative scenarios: i) multiple value perspectives on nature and the Nature Futures frontier representing diverse preferences, ii) incorporating mutual and key feedbacks of social-ecological systems in Nature Futures scenarios, and iii) indicators describing the evolution of social-ecological systems with complementary knowledge and data. This paper then presents three possible application approaches to modelling Nature Futures scenarios to support the i) review, ii) implementation and iii) design phases of policy processes. The main objective of this paper is to facilitate the integration of the relational values of nature in models, through improved indicators and other forms of evidence, and to strengthen modelled linkages across biodiversity, ecosystems, nature’s contributions to people, and quality of life to identify science- and knowledge-based interventions and to enhance ecological understanding for achieving sustainable futures. The paper aims at stimulating the development of new scenarios and models based on this new framework by a wide community of modelers, and the testing and possible further development of the framework, particularly in the context of future IPBES assessments.

scholarly journals The integration of minorities in the security forces in Israel: the case of Muslim Arab citizens in the Galilee

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamleh Abu Ismail-Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Israeli Society ◽  
Arab Population ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Economic Dependency ◽  
Ecological Isolation ◽  
The Social

Although many changes have occurred and accumulated significantly in Arab society in Israel and in the majority-minority relationship, the great class gap between Arabs and Jewish has been retained. This gap depends on the division of the resources in Israeli society. Inequality in this division and in the social relations between Jewish and Arabs continues, although there are indications that it is lessening. It is difficult to speak about co-existence and peace between Jews and Arabs, since today the Arabs of Israel are integrated in Israeli society primarily by negative and involuntary forces, such as economic dependency, political heresy, and social ecological isolation (Smooha, 2011: 13). The present research focuses only on the Muslim Arab population integrated into the security forces in Israel.

Landscape sustainability science in the drylands: mobility, rangelands and livelihoods

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 2433-2447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuan Liao ◽  
Arun Agrawal ◽  
Patrick E. Clark ◽  
Simon A. Levin ◽  
Daniel I. Rubenstein
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Landscape Sustainability ◽  
Landscape Sustainability Science

scholarly journals Integrating GeoDesign with Landscape Sustainability Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Huang ◽  
Weining Xiang ◽  
Jianguo Wu ◽  
Christoph Traxler ◽  
Jingzhou Huang
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
World Population ◽  
Landscape Sustainability ◽  
Landscape Sustainability Science

With an increasing world population and accelerated urbanization, the development of landscape sustainability remains a challenge for scientists, designers, and multiple stakeholders. Landscape sustainability science (LSS) studies dynamic relationships among landscape pattern, ecosystem services, and human well-being with spatially explicit methods. The design of a sustainable landscape needs both landscape sustainability–related disciplines and digital technologies that have been rapidly developing. GeoDesign is a new design method based on a new generation of information technology, especially spatial information technology, to design land systems. This paper discusses the suitability of GeoDesign for LSS to help design sustainable landscapes. Building on a review of LSS and GeoDesign, we conclude that LSS can utilize GeoDesign as a research method and the designed landscape as a research object to enrich and empower the spatially explicit methodology of LSS. To move forward, we suggest to integrate GeoDesign with LSS from six perspectives: strong/weak sustainability, multiple scales, ecosystem services, sustainability indicators, big data application, and the sense of place. Toward this end, we propose a LSS-based GeoDesign framework that links the six perspectives. We expect that this integration between GeoDesign and LSS will help advance the science and practice of sustainability and bring together many disciplines across natural, social, and design sciences.

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