Biodiversity revisited through systems thinking

Abstract

Summary Systems thinking provides a comprehensive range of theories and methods that are useful for understanding and managing sustainability challenges. Biodiversity conservation is riddled with complex interactions between science, society and myriad interacting systems through temporal and spatial scales. This article presents a synthetic analysis of the history of systems thinking from a genealogical perspective, drawing from hard and soft systems thinking, and resilience and social-ecological systems. Using the anchor point of system leverage points and system characteristics (parameters, feedbacks, design and intent), we employ a diversity of examples to illustrate their relevance to multiple biodiversity related problems. We conclude by illustrating the opportunities for systems thinking to bridge epistemic divides with multiple biodiversity actors working towards conservation outcomes. Systems thinking can support more integrative biodiversity interventions, as they provide a pluralistic set of tools for bridging knowledges and disciplines, which can be useful to create new shared understandings of how to conserve biodiversity.

Spatial Planning and Systems Thinking Tools for Climate Risk Reduction: A Case Study of the Andaman Coast, Thailand

“…Instead, to achieve transformational change and innovative solutions to climate risks and other threats and disturbances to the socio-ecological system, a way of thinking is required that conceptualizes the dynamics and interconnectedness of these complex problems, acknowledges the intrinsically normative and value-laden nature of interventions, and can allow action despite uncertainty. Systems thinking is a way to define and explain this kind of holistic perspective and is a worldview and set of heuristic tools that can help to understand and communicate the complexity of human-ecological interactions [81,82].…”

Re-conceptualizing the role(s) of science in biodiversity conservation

“…Finally, conservation science can provide crucial insights into how and why social changes occur (Isgren et al 2019) and where leverage points may exist to facilitate transformations to sustainability (Díaz et al 2019, Fischer & Riechers 2019, Chan et al 2020). Numerous opportunities exist for conservation scientists to engage in transformational change (Pereira et al 2020, Scoones et al 2020, Wyborn et al 2020a), including with narratives (Louder & Wyborn 2020), systems (Davila et al 2021) and futures thinking (Wyborn et al 2021a). This necessarily requires scientists and science as a whole to ‘… become more reflective about [their] own assumptions and paradigms, including those relating to how change comes about’ (O’Brien 2012).…”

“…It is this apparent paradox that the Biodiversity Revisited initiative has sought to interrogate through deep, creative reflection on the constructs of ‘biodiversity’ itself (Wyborn et al 2020a, 2020b). The science underpinning biodiversity is one of several themes that Biodiversity Revisited aimed to critically examine, alongside narratives (Louder & Wyborn 2020), systems (Davila et al 2021), governance and futures (Wyborn et al 2021a). Scientific knowledge, actors and institutions are but small components of global systems that must be transformed to reverse biodiversity loss (IPBES 2019), yet they are far more within the control of the conservation science community than powerful global economic, social and political factors.…”

Core Competencies for Training Conservation Paleobiology Students in a Wicked World

“…Despite widespread recognition of this complexity, systems thinking has not been widely incorporated into conservation practice (e.g., Stirling et al, 2010;Knight et al, 2019;Sala and Torchio, 2019). Davila et al (2021) argued convincingly, however, that systems thinking can support more integrative biodiversity interventions. Systems thinking is not envisioned as a panacea for all the world's conservation problems.…”