Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective

Joern Fischer; Toby A. Gardner; Elena M. Bennett; Patricia Balvanera; Reinette Biggs; Stephen Carpenter; Tim Daw; Carl Folke; Rosemary Hill; Terry P. Hughes; Tobias Luthe; Manuel Maass; Megan Meacham; Albert V. Norström; Garry Peterson; Cibele Queiroz; Ralf Seppelt; Marja Spierenburg; John Tenhunen

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002

Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective

Joern Fischer^*
, Toby A. Gardner
, Elena M. Bennett
, Patricia Balvanera
, Reinette Biggs
, Stephen Carpenter
, Tim Daw
, Carl Folke
, Rosemary Hill
, Terry P. Hughes
, Tobias Luthe
, Manuel Maass
, Megan Meacham
, Albert V. Norström
, Garry Peterson
, Cibele Queiroz
, Ralf Seppelt
, Marja Spierenburg
, John Tenhunen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Professorship of Sustainable Landscapes

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

405 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The concept of social-ecological systems is useful for understanding the interlinked dynamics of environmental and societal change. The concept has helped facilitate: (1) increased recognition of the dependence of humanity on ecosystems; (2) improved collaboration across disciplines, and between science and society; (3) increased methodological pluralism leading to improved systems understanding; and (4) major policy frameworks considering social-ecological interactions. Despite these advances, the potential of a social-ecological systems perspective to improve sustainability outcomes has not been fully realized. Key priorities are to: (1) better understand and govern social-ecological interactions between regions; (2) pay greater attention to long-term drivers; (3) better understand the interactions among power relations, justice, and ecosystem stewardship; and (4) develop a stronger science-society interface.

Original language	English
Journal	Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
Volume	14
Pages (from-to)	144-149
Number of pages	6
ISSN	1877-3435
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002
Publication status	Published - 06.2015

Research areas and keywords

Sustainability Science

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Social Sciences(all)
Environmental Science(all)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002

SENet: Social and ecological networks supporting biodiversity and food security
Fischer, J. (Project manager, academic) & Bergsten, A. (Project manager, academic)
European Union
15.01.16 → 17.03.18
Project: Research
SESyP: Identifying Social-Ecological System Properties Benefiting Biodiversity and Food Security
Fischer, J. (Project manager, academic), Hanspach, J. (Coordination), Schultner, J. (Coordination), Dorresteijn, I. (Coordination), Collier, N. (Coordination), Dugo, G. S. (Project staff), Rodrigues, P. (Project staff), Jiren, T. S. (Project staff) & Manlosa, A. O. (Project staff)
European Research Council (ERC)
01.06.14 → 31.05.19
Project: Research

Cite this

Fischer, J., Gardner, T. A., Bennett, E. M., Balvanera, P., Biggs, R., Carpenter, S., Daw, T., Folke, C., Hill, R., Hughes, T. P., Luthe, T., Maass, M., Meacham, M., Norström, A. V., Peterson, G., Queiroz, C., Seppelt, R., Spierenburg, M., & Tenhunen, J. (2015). Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 14, 144-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002

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title = "Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective",

abstract = "The concept of social-ecological systems is useful for understanding the interlinked dynamics of environmental and societal change. The concept has helped facilitate: (1) increased recognition of the dependence of humanity on ecosystems; (2) improved collaboration across disciplines, and between science and society; (3) increased methodological pluralism leading to improved systems understanding; and (4) major policy frameworks considering social-ecological interactions. Despite these advances, the potential of a social-ecological systems perspective to improve sustainability outcomes has not been fully realized. Key priorities are to: (1) better understand and govern social-ecological interactions between regions; (2) pay greater attention to long-term drivers; (3) better understand the interactions among power relations, justice, and ecosystem stewardship; and (4) develop a stronger science-society interface.",

keywords = "Sustainability Science",

author = "Joern Fischer and Gardner, \{Toby A.\} and Bennett, \{Elena M.\} and Patricia Balvanera and Reinette Biggs and Stephen Carpenter and Tim Daw and Carl Folke and Rosemary Hill and Hughes, \{Terry P.\} and Tobias Luthe and Manuel Maass and Megan Meacham and Norstr{\"o}m, \{Albert V.\} and Garry Peterson and Cibele Queiroz and Ralf Seppelt and Marja Spierenburg and John Tenhunen",

year = "2015",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002",

language = "English",

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pages = "144--149",

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Fischer, J, Gardner, TA, Bennett, EM, Balvanera, P, Biggs, R, Carpenter, S, Daw, T, Folke, C, Hill, R, Hughes, TP, Luthe, T, Maass, M, Meacham, M, Norström, AV, Peterson, G, Queiroz, C, Seppelt, R, Spierenburg, M & Tenhunen, J 2015, 'Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective', Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 14, pp. 144-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002

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AU - Fischer, Joern

AU - Gardner, Toby A.

AU - Bennett, Elena M.

AU - Balvanera, Patricia

AU - Biggs, Reinette

AU - Carpenter, Stephen

AU - Daw, Tim

AU - Folke, Carl

AU - Hill, Rosemary

AU - Hughes, Terry P.

AU - Luthe, Tobias

AU - Maass, Manuel

AU - Meacham, Megan

AU - Norström, Albert V.

AU - Peterson, Garry

AU - Queiroz, Cibele

AU - Seppelt, Ralf

AU - Spierenburg, Marja

AU - Tenhunen, John

PY - 2015/6

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N2 - The concept of social-ecological systems is useful for understanding the interlinked dynamics of environmental and societal change. The concept has helped facilitate: (1) increased recognition of the dependence of humanity on ecosystems; (2) improved collaboration across disciplines, and between science and society; (3) increased methodological pluralism leading to improved systems understanding; and (4) major policy frameworks considering social-ecological interactions. Despite these advances, the potential of a social-ecological systems perspective to improve sustainability outcomes has not been fully realized. Key priorities are to: (1) better understand and govern social-ecological interactions between regions; (2) pay greater attention to long-term drivers; (3) better understand the interactions among power relations, justice, and ecosystem stewardship; and (4) develop a stronger science-society interface.

AB - The concept of social-ecological systems is useful for understanding the interlinked dynamics of environmental and societal change. The concept has helped facilitate: (1) increased recognition of the dependence of humanity on ecosystems; (2) improved collaboration across disciplines, and between science and society; (3) increased methodological pluralism leading to improved systems understanding; and (4) major policy frameworks considering social-ecological interactions. Despite these advances, the potential of a social-ecological systems perspective to improve sustainability outcomes has not been fully realized. Key priorities are to: (1) better understand and govern social-ecological interactions between regions; (2) pay greater attention to long-term drivers; (3) better understand the interactions among power relations, justice, and ecosystem stewardship; and (4) develop a stronger science-society interface.

KW - Sustainability Science

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DO - 10.1016/j.cosust.2015.06.002

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84934771424

SN - 1877-3435

VL - 14

SP - 144

EP - 149

JO - Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

JF - Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

ER -

Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective

Abstract

Research areas and keywords

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

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Projects

SENet: Social and ecological networks supporting biodiversity and food security

SESyP: Identifying Social-Ecological System Properties Benefiting Biodiversity and Food Security

Cite this