Robustness of Social-Ecological Systems: Implications for Public Policy

Robustness of Social-Ecological Systems: Implications for Public Policy

Robustness of Social-Ecological Systems to Spatial and Temporal Variability

Some social-ecological systems (SESs) have persisted for hundreds of years, remaining in particular configurations that have withstood a variety of natural and social disturbances. Many of these long-lived SESs have adapted their institutions to the particular pattern of variability they have experienced over time as well 20 as to the broader economic, political, and social system in which they...

Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems: modeling and policy implications

Systems linking people and nature, known as social-ecological systems, are increasingly understood as complex adaptive systems. Essential features of Environment and Development Economics 113 these complex adaptive systems – such as nonlinear feedbacks, strategic interactions, individual and spatial heterogeneity, and varying time scales – pose substantial challenges for modeling. However, igno...

Collapse and Reorganization in Social-Ecological Systems: Questions, Some Ideas, and Policy Implications

We tested the explanatory usefulness and policy relevance of Holling’s (2001) “adaptive cycle” theory in exploring processes of “collapse,” also called “release,“ and recovery in regional socialecological systems (SESs) in Zimbabwe and Australia. We found that the adaptive cycle is useful in recognizing changes in system behavior during the various phases. However, our small sample of cases did...

AIDS public policy: implications for families.