Modelling social-ecological transformations: an adaptive network proposal

• Main Authors: Lade, Steven J., Bodin, Örjan, Donges, Jonathan F., Kautsky, Elin Enfors, Galafassi, Diego, Olsson, Per, Schlüter, Maja
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2017
• Subjects: Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems nlin.AO; FOS Physical sciences; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1704.06135; https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.06135

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.