Mapping Social Ecological Systems Archetypes

Abstract

While sustainable development goals are by their nature global, their achievement requires local action and thus targeting and monitoring sustainable solutions tailored to different social and ecological contexts. Ostrom stressed that there are no panaceas or universal solutions to environmental problems, and developed a social-ecological systems' (SES) framework -a nested multi-tier set of variables-to help diagnose problems, identify complex interactions, and solutions tailored to each SES arena. The framework has been applied to over a hundred cases, typically reflecting in-depth analysis of local case studies, but with relatively small coverage in space and time. While case studies are context rich and necessary, it can be difficult to upscale their lessons to policy making realms. Here we develop a data driven method for upscaling Ostrom's SES framework and apply it to a context where data is scarce, incomplete, but also where sustainable solutions are needed. The purpose of upscaling the framework is to create a tool that facilitates decision-making on data scarce contexts such as developing countries. We mapped SES by applying the SES framework to poverty alleviation and food security issues in the Volta River basin in Ghana and Burkina Faso. We found archetypical configurations of SES in space. Given data availability, we study their change over time, and discuss where agricultural innovations such as water reservoirs might have a stronger impact at increasing food security and therefore alleviating poverty and hunger. We conclude by outlining how the method can be used in other SES comparative studies.

Towards a better future for biodiversity and people: modelling Nature Futures

“…However, only some of the socialecological feedbacks present in the IPBES conceptual framework are captured in existing environmental models (Figure 3) 27,30,[45][46][47] . Nature Futures scenarios should integrate key social-ecological feedbacks identified through historical and forecasting analyses 48,49 . Such analyses should include diverse geographic locations and settings since key feedbacks are likely to vary across different regions 50 .…”

“…However, we are not aware of any models of the socialecological feedbacks around cultural keystone species. There are initiatives enhancing a structured understanding of feedbacks between components in social-ecological systems 49,61 with examples of participatory scenarios that integrate social-ecological systems with limitations in application at one scale or level of the system 26 . In general, coupled social-ecological modelling is still in its infancy and requires further development 62,63 .…”

Investing in sustainable intensification for smallholders: quantifying large-scale costs and benefits in Uganda

“…Archetype analysis is a methodological approach that allows to synthesize knowledge among cases and delineate areas for transferability of outcomes [23,24]. Archetype analysis has been used to find recurrent solutions between multiple cases [25,26] and, when applied to spatial data, to identify patterns of social-ecological conditions that allow for context-sensitive transferability of outcomes [27][28][29].…”