Ecosystem Services Assessment for the Conservation of Mangroves in French Guiana Using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping

In 2016, the French government adopted a law for biodiversity, setting an objective of protecting 55,000 hectares of mangroves. This objective is particularly important to French Guiana, which shelters almost 60% of French mangrove ecosystems, and where mangroves occupy three quarters of the coastline. The coast of French Guiana is also where issues associated with demographic and economic dynamics concentrate. There is thus a need to plan for an economic development that is compatible with the objective of protecting mangrove ecosystems. Ecosystem services (ES) assessment can support such decision-making, informing on the costs and benefits associated with alternative mangrove conservation strategies. While the many services provided by mangrove ecosystems are well documented worldwide, the extent to which these can be encountered in the specific case of French Guiana is currently only very partially known. Relying on the Fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) approach, we collected and compared the perception of multiple and heterogeneous groups of stakeholders, of the functioning of the mangrove social-ecological system at the scale of French Guiana. Results, allow to identify mangroves ES and threats particularly influenced by the high sedimentary dynamism of the shoreline. This generates two distinct components of the mangrove social-ecological system: mud banks where ecosystem services are spatially and temporally unstable, and associated with perceived constraints for key coastal activities, and estuarine mangroves where the ecosystem services usually described in the literature on mangroves can be found. Disservices associated with mangrove ecosystems were also identified as a key interaction. This can inform the research needs that should support sustainable development trajectories, fully accounting for the protection of French Guianese mangrove ecosystems.

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Analysing potato late blight control as a social-ecological system using fuzzy cognitive mapping

Agronomy for Sustainable Development ◽

10.1007/s13593-016-0370-1 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Francine C. A. Pacilly ◽

Jeroen C. J. Groot ◽

Gert Jan Hofstede ◽

Ben F. Schaap ◽

Edith T. Lammerts van Bueren

Keyword(s):

Late Blight ◽

Cognitive Mapping ◽

Potato Late Blight ◽

Ecological System ◽

Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping ◽

Social Ecological

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Making Resilient Decisions for Sustainable Circularity of Fashion

Circular Economy and Sustainability ◽

10.1007/s43615-021-00040-1 ◽

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.

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Social Learning for Facilitating Dialogue and Understanding of the Ecosystem Services Approach: Lessons from a Cross-Border Experience in the Alboran Marine Basin

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11195239 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (19) ◽

pp. 5239 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

María D. López-Rodríguez ◽

Javier Cabello ◽

Hermelindo Castro ◽

Jaime Rodríguez

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Social Learning ◽

Social Transformation ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Ecological System ◽

Social Ecological ◽

The Social ◽

Governance Practice ◽

The Impact ◽

Marine Basin

Social learning (SL) appears to have considerable potential to enhance the impact of the ecosystem services approach (ESA) discourse on policy and society. However, empirical research to better understand the processes that support SL, the effects it generates, and the conditions that enable such learning is limited. This study assesses the ability of SL to enhance dialogue and understanding of the ESA to support transformative social change in governance practice in the Alboran Marine Basin. To do so, we conducted a specifically designed SL process oriented towards the ESA as a governance approach in this marine region. The SL process was developed through three interlinked workshops involving scientists, decision-makers and local users from Spain and Morocco, the two countries that share the governance of this social-ecological system. The results revealed that the SL process progressively facilitated (i) a more inclusive and constructive ecosystem services dialogue, (ii) a better understanding of the social-ecological system in which the actors were embedded, (iii) an enhanced recognition of science-policy-society complementarities to address sustainability issues, and (iv) a gradual social transformation towards more sustainable and equitable governance. Via the SL process, a variety of factors were identified as contributing to the creation of four relevant conditions that facilitated its successful operationalisation. These conditions included (i) the generation of trust and shared understanding, (ii) the facilitation of knowledge exchanges between actor groups across frontiers, (iii) the promotion of more democratic participation, and (iv) the co-production of practical outcomes. These contextual insights provided empirical evidence of the prominent role SL can play to enhance dialogue and understanding of the ESA for supporting its adoption as governance practice. On this basis, it is argued that operationalising SL in those processes focused on making the ESA relevant to policy and society is pivotal to its implementation in governance practice.

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Anticipating future risk in social-ecological systems using fuzzy cognitive mapping: the case of wildfire in the Chiquitania, Bolivia

Ecology and Society ◽

10.5751/es-08599-210418 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Tahia Devisscher ◽

Emily Boyd ◽

Yadvinder Malhi

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Mapping ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Future Risk

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Linking Biophysical and Economic Assessments of Ecosystem Services for a Social–Ecological Approach to Conservation Planning: Application in a Biosphere Reserve (Biscay, Spain)

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11113092 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 3092 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nekane Castillo-Eguskitza ◽

María F. Schmitz ◽

Miren Onaindia ◽

Alejandro J. Rescia

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Economic Value ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Ecological Planning ◽

Social Ecological

The search for a balance between nature conservation and sustainable development remains a scientific and spatial planning challenge. In social-ecological systems based on traditional rural activities and associated with protected areas, this balance is particularly complex. Quantifying the economic impact of land use changes on ecosystem services can be useful to advise policy makers and improving social-ecological sustainability. In this study, we evaluated the land use changes in a time series and estimated the monetary value of the ecosystem services of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve (Biscay, Spain). In addition, we linked the monetary and biophysical values of land uses in each zoning units of the reserve, in order to identify the spatial adjustment between both assessments. Results showed that land use changes have clearly homogenized the landscape without substantially affecting its economic value. The methodological approach allowed detection that the reserve zoning was performed based more on its biophysical values than on economic ones. Thus, evident divergences between the biophysical and economic assessments were found. The core area was the one that had the highest coincidences (medium values) between both ecosystem services assessments, which highlights its importance not only in biophysical terms, is also economical. The procedure followed proved to be a useful tool to social-ecological planning and design of specific conservation strategies for the sustainable development of the area.

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Examining Linkages among Livelihood Strategies, Ecosystem Services, and Social Well-Being to Improve National Park Management

Land ◽

10.3390/land10080823 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 823

Author(s):

Siyuan He ◽

Louise Gallagher ◽

Qingwen Min

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Cultural Values ◽

National Park ◽

Well Being ◽

Livelihood Strategies ◽

Ecological System ◽

Sustainable Livelihood ◽

Social Ecological ◽

The Impact

This research examines perceptions of ecosystem services (ES) and social well-being in the Wuyishan National Park, China. This study analyses the importance of and linkages between them based on the impact of new designation of protected areas on this social-ecological system. Realisation of rural well-being is critical to park-people relations in populated protected areas, and effective resolution is needed to achieve positive conservation outcomes. We conducted 372 structured interviews with community members with different livelihood strategies. Key findings from the research include: (1) the importance of provisioning (e.g., tea, rice, timber) and cultural ES (e.g., local culture, eco-tourism) is related to both current livelihood necessity and future development pursuit. (2) The perceived material well-being is higher than spiritual well-being, and high social well-being is closely related to high-income groups and those that think highly of cultural services, i.e., those engaged in non-agricultural activities (e.g., tourism) and tea cultivation. (3) Cultural values are better preserved in tea and rice cultivation and tourism, but in general, they are not incorporated to improve social well-being. The results suggest that Protected area (PA) management of local communities must seek cultural valorisation for differentiated livelihood strategies for rural people’s sustainable livelihood and stability of the social-ecological system.

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