Growing the Ancient Maya Social-Ecological System from the Bottom Up

2016 ◽  
pp. 301-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Heckbert ◽  
Christian Isendahl ◽  
Joel D. Gunn ◽  
Simon Brewer ◽  
Vernon L. Scarborough ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Forest Succession ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
System Sustainability

Archaeological data can be represented in quantitative models to test theories of societal growth, development, and resilience. This chapter describes the results of simulations employing integrated agent-based, cellular automata, and network models to represent elements of the ancient Maya social-ecological system. The purpose of the model is to better understand the complex dynamics of the Maya civilization and to test quantitative indicators of resilience as predictors of system sustainability or decline. The model examines the relationship between population growth, agricultural production, pressure on ecosystem services, forest succession, value of trade, and the stability of trade networks. These combine to allow agents representing Maya settlements to develop and expand within a landscape that changes under climate variation and responds to anthropogenic pressure. The model is able to reproduce spatial patterns and timelines somewhat analogous to that of the ancient Maya, although this model requires refinement and further archaeological data for calibration.

scholarly journals Participatory Qualitative Modeling to Assess the Sustainability of a Coastal Socio-Ecological System

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Gourguet ◽  
Martin Pierre Marzloff ◽  
Cedric Bacher ◽  
Pierre Boudry ◽  
Philippe Cugier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Qualitative Modeling ◽  
Shellfish Aquaculture ◽  
Rearing Density ◽  
Qualitative Models ◽  
Alternative Scenarios ◽  
System Sustainability ◽  
Social Components

Assessing the sustainability of socio-ecological systems requires understanding the interactions between numerous ecological, economic and social components. Models are often used to investigate how interactions shape system feedbacks and drive the complex dynamics at play in such systems. However, building these models is a non-trivial exercise, which often neglects stakeholder knowledge and perceptions. We adopted a participatory approach that relies on conducting workshops to engage stakeholders into the development of qualitative models of system feedback. This type of participatory qualitative modeling is well suited to address the complexity of socio-ecological systems in a holistic manner, identify key stakes and feedbacks, and predict responses to perturbations. We use this approach to investigate the factors that condition sustainability of the socio-ecological system associated with shellfish aquaculture in the Normand-Breton Gulf in France. Six region-specific workshops were organized with shellfish producers, managers and other stakeholders to identify and describe key components, interactions and pressures that contribute to overall socio-ecological dynamics. Differences and commonalities in system perceptions were identified across the different regions and focus groups. We reconciled stakeholder-specific discrepancies in model structure into a synthetic representation that conciliates alternative views of the system. Next, we predicted how the system might respond to alternative scenarios of change. Overall, our participatory qualitative modeling exercise identified key drivers of the system under study that constitute effective management levers to maintain system sustainability. For instance, low social acceptability of the aquaculture industry generally appears to be a major constraint on the sustainability of shellfish aquaculture in the Normand-Breton Gulf, while reducing rearing density appears to be a key driver of sustainability.

scholarly journals Making Resilient Decisions for Sustainable Circularity of Fashion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celinda Palm ◽  
Sarah E. Cornell ◽  
Tiina Häyhä
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
State Response ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Industry Value Chain ◽  
The Many ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

AbstractThe fashion and textiles industry, and policymakers at all levels, are showing an increased interest in the concept of circular economy as a way to decrease business risks and negative environmental impacts. However, focus is placed mainly on the material ‘stuff’ of textile fashion and its biophysical harms. The current material focus has several shortcomings, because fashion is a social-ecological system and cannot be understood merely by addressing its environmental dimensions. In this paper, we rethink the fashion system from a critical social-ecological perspective. The driver-state-response framework shows social drivers and ecological impacts as an adaptive social-ecological system, exposing how these interacting aspects need to be addressed for sustainable and resilient implementation of circular economy. We show how current responses to global sustainability challenges have so far fallen short. Our overall aim is to expand possibilities for reframing responses that better reflect the complex links between the global fashion system, culture and creativity and the dynamics of the living planet. We argue that reducing planetary pressure from the global fashion and textiles industry requires greater recognition of the system’s social drivers with more emphasis on the many cross-scale links between social and ecological dimensions. Resilient decisions aiming for sustainable circularity of the fashion industry must therefore pay attention to social activities beyond the industry value chain, not just material flows within it.

A structured participatory method to support policy option analysis in a social-ecological system

2017 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 360-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Mehryar ◽  
Richard Sliuzas ◽  
Ali Sharifi ◽  
Diana Reckien ◽  
Martin van Maarseveen
Keyword(s):  
Policy Option ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Support Policy ◽  
Participatory Method

scholarly journals Managing Herder-Community-Based Tourism: An Institutional Framework for an Integrated Social–Ecological System

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4001
Author(s):  
Undrakh Zagarkhorloo ◽  
Wim Heijman ◽  
Liesbeth Dries ◽  
Buyanzaya Batjargal
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
The Social

Improving household livelihoods through tourism, while at the same time achieving the goals of conservation, remains a challenge in high-value nature areas around the world. This paper studies a herder-community-based tourism system in Mongolia in light of these challenges. The social–ecological system (SES) framework was used as a conceptual foundation. The generic SES framework was adapted to the case of the herder-community-based tourism system. The adapted framework was then used to assess the economic, ecological, and social objectives of the herder-community-based tourism system characterised by natural resources and cultural landscapes. Primary data collection included interviews with key informants in the tourism sector: tourism researchers, representatives of donor projects, managers of tour operators, and guides. Based on their responses, the study site was selected in the buffer zone of the Hustai National Park, which is a protected area. Respondents in the second stage of interviews were herders who participate in herder-based tourism and who live in the vicinity of the protected area. Results show that the SES framework is able to diagnose the sustainability of the herder-community-tourism system, but sustainability outcomes indicate an imbalance between social, economic, and environmental performance. The herder-community-based tourism system is successful in conserving wildlife and habitats; however, the distribution of revenues gained from tourism shows that only a small and inequitable share reaches the herder community.

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