7–9 Apr 2011
Europe/Stockholm timezone

Archetypical micro-configurations of social-ecological systems: a bottom-up network approach in studying complex social-ecological systems

8 Apr 2011, 14:10
30m
FD5

FD5

Speaker

Dr Örjan Bodin (Stockholm University)

Description

Abstract: When conceptualizing integrated social-ecological systems (SES), the modeling approaches commonly applied are often (a) based in ecology with social aspects added afterwards, or (b) based in social science with aspects of the natural environment added afterwards. So far there are few integrated conceptual modeling approaches that, from start, fully embrace the complex linkages that exists between societies and nature. We argue that this is needed to advance the understanding of SES. Also, given the complexity of SES, there is a need for conceptual modeling approaches that can simplify while still retaining the essential characteristics of a complex SES. As a response to this challenge, the generic systems perspective of network analysis has been suggested as a way to better capture, and make explicit, the inevitable and complex interrelation that exist between the natural and social subsystems. In such a model, all different social and ecological entities making up a SES are modeled as a set of interdependent nodes in a social-ecological network. Since neither the social nor the ecological parts are given any precedence in such model, new and novel transdisciplinary approaches seems feasible. Although an interesting and promising overall suggestion, it is however not entirely clear how such approach could, in detail, be applied in researching SES. In this work we contribute to such development by conceptualizing SES as a set of different network-based archetypical SES configurations each retains some important and irreducible characteristics of a complex SES. These micro-configurations (motifs) are constructed following the general assumption that any non-trivial SES must consist of multiple actors and multiple natural resources that all are interconnected in different ways. From a bottom-up perspective, a minimal set of social and ecological entities representing any non-trivial SES would consist of two social actors and two ecological resources; i.e. a four-node representation of a social-ecological network. Such a set of two plus two social and ecological nodes can be interconnected in a finite number of ways, and each specific pattern of interconnecting links among the four nodes correspond to a specific SES motif. We further characterize each motif, based on its pattern of links, using four key variables: social connectivity, ecological connectivity, substitutability, and competition/exclusion. Based on these variables and their interaction, and by drawing from insights from SES research, we then describe each motif in terms of its main challenges and opportunities for natural resource governance. Using this approach, it is possible to decompose any larger SES represented as a social-ecological network into these basic building blocks. A statistical analysis can then be applied to investigate if and to what extent the different motifs appear in the larger SES. This exercise can potentially inform on the main challenges and opportunities that prevail in the larger SES, and in using a multi-case study approach possible interaction effects among the different motifs can be investigated. We illustrate this using a case study from Madagascar. We finally show one way to further elaborate into the characterization of the motifs using controlled experiments in lab.

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