Garden ecosystem services of Sub-Saharan Africa and the role of health clinic gardens as social-ecological systems

Natural habitat destruction and fragmentation generate a time-delayed loss of species and associated ecosystem services. As social–ecological systems (SESs) depend on a range of ecosystem services, lagged ecological dynamics may affect their long-term sustainability. Here, we investigate the role of consumption changes for sustainability, under a time-delayed ecological feedback on agricultural production. We use a stylized model that couples the dynamics of biodiversity, technology, human demography and compliance with a social norm prescribing sustainable consumption. Compliance with the sustainable norm reduces both the consumption footprint and the vulnerability of SESs to transient overshoot-and-collapse population crises. We show that the timing and interaction between social, demographic and ecological feedbacks govern the transient and long-term dynamics of the system. A sufficient level of social pressure (e.g. disapproval) applied on the unsustainable consumers leads to the stable coexistence of unsustainable and sustainable or mixed equilibria, where both defectors and conformers coexist. Under bistability conditions, increasing extinction debts reduces the resilience of the system, thus favouring abrupt regime shifts towards unsustainable pathways. Given recent evidence of large extinction debts, such results call for farsightedness and a better understanding of time delays when studying the sustainability of coupled SESs.

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Ecosystem services and urban development in coastal Social-Ecological Systems: The Bay of Cádiz case study

Ocean & Coastal Management ◽

10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.01.011 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 154 ◽

pp. 155-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

María de Andrés ◽

Juan Manuel Barragán ◽

Javier García Sanabria

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Development ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Bay Of Cadiz ◽

Bay Of Cádiz

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Fostering resilient agro-food futures through a social-ecological systems framework: Public–private partnerships for delivering ecosystem services in Europe

Ecosystem Services ◽

10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101180 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 ◽

pp. 101180

Author(s):

Janet Dwyer ◽

Chris Short ◽

Marielle Berriet-solliec ◽

Christophe Déprés ◽

Francois-Gael Lataste ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Public Private Partnerships ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Systems Framework

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How Does Agroecology Contribute to the Transitions towards Social-Ecological Sustainability?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11164372 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (16) ◽

pp. 4372 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Elisa Oteros-Rozas ◽

Federica Ravera ◽

Marina García-Llorente

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Public Policies ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Ecological Sustainability ◽

Ecological Functions ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Feminist Perspectives ◽

Technical Innovations ◽

Complex Relationships

This Special Issue of Sustainability aims at compiling original theoretical, methodological, and empirical research exploring how agroecology approaches can promote the transition towards sustainability, particularly of agri-food social-ecological systems, taking into account the complex relationships established between ecological functions and ecosystem services, human wellbeing, innovative socio-technical innovations, and governance models as well as public policies. In this editorial, we carry out an overview of the 17 contributions that shape this number, around five main themes: Agroecological practices that enhance ecosystem services, the potential of agroecology to promote social learning and innovation, gender and feminist perspectives in agroecology, the political articulation of agroecology, and public policies and the institutionalization of agroecology. Finally, we reflect about suggested guidelines for agroecology research that truly aims at supporting the transition towards strong social-ecological sustainability, we then deepen on the main gaps revealed by the research works presented. Finally, we conclude with the insights provided by agroecology within the transition towards social-ecological sustainability.

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