Modelling social-ecological transformations: an adaptive network proposal
Transformations to create more sustainable social-ecological systems are urgently needed. Structural change is a feature of transformations of social-ecological systems that is of critical importance but is little understood. Here, we propose a framework for conceptualising and modelling sustainabil...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
arXiv
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1704.06135 https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.06135 |
| Summary: | Transformations to create more sustainable social-ecological systems are urgently needed. Structural change is a feature of transformations of social-ecological systems that is of critical importance but is little understood. Here, we propose a framework for conceptualising and modelling sustainability transformations based on adaptive networks. Adaptive networks focus attention on the interplay between the structure of a social-ecological system and the dynamics of individual entities. Adaptive networks could progress transformations research by: 1) focusing research on changes in structure; 2) providing a conceptual framework that clarifies the temporal dynamics of social-ecological transformations compared to the most commonly used heuristic in resilience studies, the ball-and-cup diagram; 3) providing quantitative modelling tools in an area of study dominated by qualitative methods. We illustrate the potential application of adaptive networks to social-ecological transformations using a case study of illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean and a theoretical model of socially networked resource users. |
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