Forest roads planning and management in terms of Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework

Abstract Adaptation to climate change as well as the increasing demand for a new approach in post fire socioecological resilience and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in forest management requires a different way of thinking of forest roads planning, in terms of Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Framework. Social-ecological systems are complex, adaptive and emphasize that social and ecological systems are linked through feedback mechanisms, and that both display resilience and complexity. In this frame, it is important to clarify the considerable dynamic elements for the future development of forest roads planning and management that promote natural, socio-economic, and cultural well-being. The main objective of this paper is to identify important new challenges concerning the forest roads planning and management and to propose a conceptual paradigm towards SES in a continuing changing climate, social needs and environmental conditions. Hence, a newly developed concept under the prism of SES forest roads planning, is presented. Eight key performance areas to ensure the forest operations as SES include: (i) nature’s services; (ii) ergonomics; (iii) environmental economics; (iv) quality optimization of products and production based on NBS; (v) the use as evacuation routes; (vi) access to renewable energy sources; (vii) people and society; and (viii) resilience. The conceptual frame of SES provides a close to nature perspective which addresses the ongoing and foreseeable challenges that the global forest ecosystems face, based on harmonized forest operations performance across economic, environmental and social sustainability. In this new concept, we demonstrate how these eight interconnected principles interact to each other and are related to forest operations achieving Nature Based Solutions in forest management and climate change mitigation.

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Navigating capitalist expansion and climate change in pastoral social-ecological systems: impacts, vulnerability and decision-making

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability ◽

10.1016/j.cosust.2021.07.002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 68-74

Author(s):

Julio C Postigo

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological

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Introduction

10.1093/oso/9780197502211.003.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Ulrich Frey

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Natural Resources ◽

Success Factors ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Irrigation Systems ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Ecological Success ◽

Sustainability Problems ◽

Working Hypotheses

The introduction first describes the importance of natural resources worldwide. It then goes on to show that all three of the resources analyzed—forest management, fisheries, and irrigation systems—face major sustainability problems. This leads to the goal of the study: Which success factors are decisive for ecological success in social-ecological systems? Nine obstacles are identified that stand in the way of this goal—in terms of data, methodology, and theory. Subsequently, the solutions for these obstacles are outlined, as they will be presented in detail later in the book. Finally, the working hypotheses are presented.

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Revisiting the relationships between human well-being and ecosystems in dynamic social-ecological systems: Implications for stewardship and development

Global Sustainability ◽

10.1017/s205947981900005x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vanessa A. Masterson ◽

Susanne Vetter ◽

Tomas Chaigneau ◽

Tim M. Daw ◽

Odirilwe Selomane ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Well Being ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Development Projects ◽

Environmentally Sustainable ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Natural Beauty

Non-technical summaryWe argue that the ways in which we as humans derive well-being from nature – for example by harvesting firewood, selling fish or enjoying natural beauty – feed back into how we behave towards the environment. This feedback is mediated by institutions (rules, regulations) and by individual capacities to act. Understanding these relationships can guide better interventions for sustainably improving well-being and alleviating poverty. However, more attention needs to be paid to how experience-related benefits from nature influence attitudes and actions towards the environment, and how these relationships can be reflected in more environmentally sustainable development projects.

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Measuring the vulnerability of marine social-ecological systems: a prerequisite for the identification of climate change adaptations

Ecology and Society ◽

10.5751/es-07509-200235 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Sarah J. Metcalf ◽

Elizabeth I. van Putten ◽

Stewart Frusher ◽

Nadine A. Marshall ◽

Malcolm Tull ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological

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Droughts and governance impacts on water scarcity: an~analysis in the Brazilian semi-arid

Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences ◽

10.5194/piahs-369-129-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 369 ◽

pp. 129-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

A. C. S. Silva ◽

C. O. Galvão ◽

G. N. S. Silva

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Management ◽

Climate Variability ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Drought Event ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Semi Arid

Abstract. Extreme events are part of climate variability. Dealing with variability is still a challenge that might be increased due to climate change. However, impacts of extreme events are not only dependent on their variability, but also on management and governance. In Brazil, its semi-arid region is vulnerable to extreme events, especially droughts, for centuries. Actually, other Brazilian regions that have been mostly concerned with floods are currently also experiencing droughts. This article evaluates how a combination between climate variability and water governance might affect water scarcity and increase the impacts of extreme events on some regions. For this evaluation, Ostrom's framework for analyzing social-ecological systems (SES) was applied. Ostrom's framework is useful for understanding interactions between resource systems, governance systems and resource users. This study focuses on social-ecological systems located in a drought-prone region of Brazil. Two extreme events were selected, one in 1997–2000, when Brazil's new water policy was very young, and the other one in 2012–2015. The analysis of SES considering Ostrom's principle "Clearly defined boundaries" showed that deficiencies in water management cause the intensification of drought's impacts for the water users. The reasons are more related to water management and governance problems than to drought event magnitude or climate change. This is a problem that holdup advances in dealing with extreme events.

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Restoring our senses, restoring the Earth. Fostering imaginative capacities through the arts for envisioning climate transformations

Elem Sci Anth ◽

10.1525/elementa.330 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Diego Galafassi ◽

J. David Tàbara ◽

María Heras

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Assessment Process ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Average Temperature ◽

Social Ecological ◽

The Earth ◽

The Arts ◽

Funded Project ◽

Current Governance

Humanity has never lived in a world of global average temperature above two degrees of current levels. Moving towards such High-End Climate Change (HECC) futures presents fundamental challenges to current governance structures and involves the need to confront high uncertainties, non-linear dynamics and multiple irreversibilities in global social-ecological systems. In order to face HECC, imaginative practices able to support multiple ways of learning about and experiencing the future are necessary. In this article we analysed a set of arts-based activities conducted within the five-year EU-funded project IMPRESSIONS aimed at identifying transformative strategies to high-end climate change. The exploratory artistic activities were carried out alongside a science-led participatory integrated assessment process with stakeholders from the Iberian Peninsula. Our arts-based approach combined a range of performative, visual and reflexive practices with the ambition to reach out to more-than-rational but also practical elements of HECC futures. Our study suggests that the arts-based approach helped to bring out new ways of seeing, feeling and interpreting the world which may support the development of individual and collective sensibilities needed to address HECC.

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Revisiting the relationships between human well-being and ecosystems in dynamic social-ecological systems: Implications for stewardship and development

Global Sustainability ◽

10.1017/sus.2019.5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Vanessa A. Masterson ◽

Susanne Vetter ◽

Tomas Chaigneau ◽

Tim M. Daw ◽

Odirilwe Selomane ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Well Being ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Development Projects ◽

Environmentally Sustainable ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Natural Beauty

Non-technical summary We argue that the ways in which we as humans derive well-being from nature – for example by harvesting firewood, selling fish or enjoying natural beauty – feed back into how we behave towards the environment. This feedback is mediated by institutions (rules, regulations) and by individual capacities to act. Understanding these relationships can guide better interventions for sustainably improving well-being and alleviating poverty. However, more attention needs to be paid to how experience-related benefits from nature influence attitudes and actions towards the environment, and how these relationships can be reflected in more environmentally sustainable development projects.

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Environmental Scenario Analysis on Natural and Social-Ecological Systems: A Review of Methods, Approaches and Applications

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12187542 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (18) ◽

pp. 7542 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Noelia Guaita García ◽

Julia Martínez Fernández ◽

Carl Fitz

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Scenario Analysis ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Distributed Models ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Use Of Models

Scenario analysis is a useful tool to facilitate discussions about the main trends of future change and to promote the understanding of global environmental changes implications on relevant aspects of sustainability. In this paper, we reviewed 294 articles published between 1995–2019, to evaluate the state of the art use of models and scenarios to investigate the effects of land use change and climate change on natural and social-ecological systems. Our review focuses on three issues. The first explores the extent to which the environmental dynamics of land use and climate change were jointly analyzed and the spatial scales associated with such integrated studies. The second explores the modelling methodologies and approaches used in the scenario analysis. The third explores the methods for developing or building scenarios. Results show that in most predictions there is little integration of key drivers of change. We find most forecasting studies use a sectoral modelling approach through dynamic spatially distributed models. Most articles do not apply a participatory approach in the development of scenarios. Based on this review, we conclude that there are some gaps in how scenario analysis on natural and social-ecological systems are conducted. These gaps pose a challenge for the use of models and scenarios as predictive tools in decision-making processes in the context of global change.

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