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Urban forest management is a multistakeholder, multi-objective situation whereby a surfeit of synergistic or competing goals may exist. Greater research and applied guidance for what works in which urban forest contexts could help improve urban tree and forest outcomes. The challenge in conducting research of this nature is systematic definitions of "what works" and "which contexts" across multidimensional, polycentric urban forest social-ecological systems. This paper presents a comprehensive framework for studying the complexities in urban forest systems (synthesized from numerous other frameworks in the field) that could be used to generate context-specific insights into urban forest management and dynamics. The logic of using frameworks and specific frameworks that already exist within the field are reviewed. Then, I present the urban forest social-ecological system (UFSES) framework. The UFSES framework specifies 5 first-tier factors: the Characteristics of Trees in the Urban Forest (T); the Surrounding Growing Environment (E); Management & Institutions (M); and Characteristics of the Human Community (H); which influence Urban Forest Outcomes (O). A detailed set of second-tier variables nested within these factors are presented in tables at the end of the paper. The framework can foster holistic systems thinking in a systematic yet flexible way; provide a working draft of a common language for thinking about and studying urban forest systems; and enable comparative case research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a case study of how we position our rewilding project in central Chile in order to find scientific and social support and build alliances, collaborations, and consensus. Our core vision focuses on reintroducing guanacos (Lama guanicoe) to central Chile in order to provide natural restoration and ecosystem processes in espinal woodlands dominated by the native tree Vachellia [Acacia] caven. We envision a scenario of "social-ecological rewilding" with widespread guanaco browsing in woodlands and guanaco migration across the region, coexisting with multiple human uses of the landscape. Guanacos would ideally be managed by regional collectives who could benefit from guanaco tourism, sustainable harvest of their fiber (wool), and regulated hunting. Our wider vision for reintroductions and integrated conservation management extends to a set of other species that may have coexisted with guanacos and V. caven at various points in the past, but more research is necessary to establish and gain support for evidence-based baselines. Our strategy is to inspire actors with greater resources (land, money, influence) to share our vision and implement it, in collaboration with the NGO that we have formed to support our projects. Over ten years, circulating alternate interpretations and a novel imaginary of how central Chile was in the past and could be in the future, along with developing and testing scientific hypotheses, has moved our vision from an idea shared by two people to one that a wide variety of actors publicly embrace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Social-ecological systems (SES) recognize the intricate relationship between human activities and the environment and advocate for comprehensive approaches to address complex environmental issues. This study investigates the factors influencing whale watching, particularly the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in northern Mexico, after significant recovery following overexploitation. Despite reaching a peak in 2015, the eastern North Pacific gray whales experienced unusual mortality events (UME), the most recent from 2019 to 2023, leading to a population decline and historically low calf production in 2022. This decline is evident in the reduced presence of whales and calves in winter breeding lagoons. Concurrently, whale watching has become a significant tourist attraction in these areas. Methods: Our objective was to develop a mental model of the SES of gray whale watching, integrating ecological and socioeconomic data to identify key variables and interactions that support system resilience. From an ecological perspective, we analyzed the long-term temporal trends of eight years of gray whale counts in the southernmost breeding and nursing lagoons within the Bahía Magdalena--Bahía Almejas Complex, Mexico. Additionally, we incorporated the current discussion in the literature about the potential impact of global climate change on gray whale populations. In the socioeconomic subsystem, we used participatory methods, including interviews, surveys, and workshops with government officials, tourism operators, and visitors. We also added on-site assessments of compliance with welfare regulations to understand tourism dynamics. Results: Our findings identified as main external stressors the changes in ice levels in feeding areas and sea warming in breeding areas, and as internal stressors the compliance with official regulations and the number of vessels observing whales at the same time. The key socioeconomic factor of the system was tourist satisfaction, influenced by factors such as the quality of the information provided by operators. Discussion: Ultimately, our mental model provides a framework for further exploration of relevant interactions and trajectories, offering insights for developing effective management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental knowledge networks (EKNs) link research collaborators in a common purpose to produce data and knowledge to better understand social-ecological phenomena and address environmental challenges. Over recent years, as scientists have grappled with how to produce data and actionable knowledge for conservation and sustainability, more EKNs have been established. Although each network is founded for its own purposes and maintains its own goals and ways of operating, these networks are generally managed by scientists to produce knowledge to advance science and decision making. In this Insight article, we articulate key qualities and benefits of EKNs and shows how EKNs can address grand challenges that cannot be answered by a single team or institution, create a diverse, vibrant culture of science and community of practice, and provide innovative solutions and knowledge to society. We also discuss challenges of EKN governance, and how challenges may vary with a network's development. Finally, based on a synthesis of structured discussions about key issues in EKN management, we share recommendations and best practices, emphasizing management practices that are inclusive, reflexive, adaptive, and flexible, so that others may benefit from our experience leading EKNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water management in mountainous regions faces significant challenges due to deep uncertainties arising from data scarcity, knowledge gaps, and the complex interplay of climate and socio-economic changes. While existing approaches focused on uncertainty reduction and water system optimization contribute to managing uncertainties, they often require probability distributions that can be difficult to obtain in data-scarce mountain regions. To address these challenges, we demonstrate the effectiveness of Exploratory Modeling and Analysis (EMA) in assessing water management strategies and identifying operational ranges that avoid future water scarcity. Through a case study in the complex and data-scarce Peruvian Andes, we employed EMA to run 12,000 simulations by 2050, incorporating deep uncertainties from climate and socio-economic scenarios, and hydrological modeling parameters. This analysis identified specific policy combinations demonstrating greater robustness across diverse scenarios and uncertainties. EMA explicitly identifies operational ranges of policies to avoid water scarcity but also highlights the conditions that might trigger policy failure. We also delve into the roles of the different factors used in EMA and their significance in water management applications. Our research illustrates that an exploratory hydrological modeling approach based on robust decision-making can foster a more informed decision-making process for long-term water adaptation in rapidly changing mountain regions under data scarcity and deep uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Mountainous ethnic tourism lands are important social-ecological system types. With tourism as the main disturbance factor, the theory of social-ecological system resilience provides a new way to realize the sustainable development of ethno-tourism in mountainous areas. This study divides the social-ecological system into social, economic, and ecological subsystems. It constructs an evaluation index system to assess the resilience of ethnic tourism destinations in mountainous areas, considering vulnerability and adaptability. We investigate 64 counties in the Wuling Mountain area and use set-pair analysis to assess the resilience index of the social-ecological system from 2000 to 2020 and reveal the temporal and spatial characteristics. Obstacle degree models and a genetic algorithm-back propagation neural network are utilized to determine the influencing factors and predict future development trends. The following results were obtained: (1) Temporally, the resilience index shows a steady upward trend, reaching a moderate level. The resilience of the social subsystem fluctuates and rises; the economic subsystem exhibits slow, fast, and slow growth rates with occasional abrupt changes; and the ecological subsystem demonstrates a stable, slightly increasing trend. (2) Spatially, the resilience index is high at the edges and low in the central area, exhibiting a concave distribution. Most counties have moderate or higher resilience. The social and ecological subsystems have low resilience in the south and high resilience in the north. The resilience of the economic subsystem is high at the edges and low in the central area. (3) On the distribution of major obstacle factors, the first two are similar at the county level, and the last three are significantly different. The similarity of the barrier factors is related to the degree of regional proximity of the county, and overall, the similarity is decreasing from north to south and from west to east in the distribution pattern within the area. and to a certain extent, it is affected by terrain and geomorphology. (4) The spatial distribution of the resilience index is similar in 2025 and 2030. The index decreases slightly and then increases annually, with a lower growth rate in the south than in the north. Lower values occur in the northern and southwestern parts, whereas higher values are observed around high-value areas. The region as a whole will develop in a coordinated and integrated manner in the future.

[Objective] Based on the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study aimed to assess the resilience of the social-ecological system and explore the strategies to enhance the resilience of the social-ecosystem system in energy-rich areas, in order to promote sustainable transformation and high-quality development in these areas. [Methods] This study constructed a social-ecological system resilience assessment matrix applicable to energy-rich areas based on the resilience theory, and examined the change of social-ecological system resilience and optimization and enhancement strategies in the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Inner Mongolia energy-rich area from 2005 to 2020. [Results] The results show that: (1) From 2005 to 2020, the overall resilience of the social-ecological system in Shanxi-Shaanxi-Inner Mongolia energy-rich area showed an upward trend. The resilience of the socioeconomic system showed a trend of decreasing first then rising, the resilience of the natural resources system showed a trend of increasing then decreasing, while the resilience of the ecological environment showed an increasing trend year by year. (2) The resilience of the social-ecological system exhibited phased characteristics under the influence of subsystem resilience in the study area. In the preparation and recovery stage, the improvement of social-ecological system resilience mainly benefited from the improvement of the ecological environment; In the coping and adaptation stage, the contribution of socioeconomic development to the resilience of regional social-ecological system was prominent. (3) The resilience pattern of the social-ecological system in the Shanxi-Shaanxi-Inner Mongolia energy-rich area has undergone significant changes, with a significant increase in cities with higher resilience. The socioeconomic resilience showed a pattern of high in the northwest and low in the southeast. The resilience of natural resources exhibited spatial characteristics of low in the northwest and high in the southeast. The ecological environment resilience showed a spatial pattern of high in the north and low in the south. (4) The lack of natural resources subsystem resilience was the key factor that restricted the improvement of resilience of the social-ecological system in the study area. [Conclusion] It is necessary to establish a collaborative governance mechanism of “stages + factors + systems + areas” in line with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to continuously improve the resilience of the social-ecological system in the energy-rich area through various paths, such as accelerating the transformation and upgrading of resource-based economy, improving the efficiency of energy and resource utilization, improving the livelihood support system, and promoting ecological environment protection and restoration.

[Objective] The intensification of global change and human activities have increasingly exposed the complexity and vulnerability of grassland social-ecological systems (SES). Systematically analyzing the coupling and feedback mechanisms, driving mechanisms, and management strategies of grassland SES is crucial for enhancing its resilience and achieving synergies between socioeconomic and ecological benefits. [Methods] This article reviewed the current research theories, components, coupling and feedback mechanisms, driving mechanisms, and conservation management of grassland SES. [Results] The theories of grassland SES is evolving from single-discipline ecological research to complex interdisciplinary studies; soil, water, vegetation, livestock, and herders are the primary components of grassland SES; the research on coupling mechanism and feedback mechanism of grassland SES has evolved in terms of subjects, methods, and perspectives; human activities and climate change are the main drivers of grassland SES change; ecological restoration and rehabilitation, the establishment of protected areas, and enclosure for grazing prohibition are the primary measures for the conservation management of grassland SES. Innovation of socioeconomic systems plays a key role in grassland restoration. [Conclusion] In the context of increasingly complex human-environment relationships and global change uncertainties, future research should develop cross-scale and cross-regional comprehensive research theories; external policies should be incorporated into the components of grassland SES to better understand dynamic mechanisms; and future studies should also deepen the analysis of multi-factor interactions and policy applicability, optimizing management strategies to ensure the coordinated development of ecological, economic, and social benefits in pastoral regions.

Tourism destinations often rely on natural resources, highlighting the importance of coping with disasters and maintaining resilience. Rather than solely focusing on the resilience of tourism itself, it should be viewed within the broader context of the resilience of the social-ecological system. This study examined how tourism contributed to community resilience in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The research question was as follows: What is the role of tourism in fostering community resilience? This case study focuses on “Hamaguri-Do,” located in Hamagurihama, Ishinomaki, and Miyagi. Hamaguri-Do is developing a new socio-ecological system through tourism initiatives with local resources and businesses focusing on community issues. Findings obtained from interviews, aligned with the model, indicate that tourism plays a pivotal role in resilience by leveraging disasters as opportunities that open up the community to the outside world and 1) attract visitors to the area, 2) cultivate value through co-creation and communication among residents and tourists, and 3) facilitate the circulation of natural and social ecosystems.

Abstract Ecosystem restoration practices are gaining prominence in coping with the crisis of ecosystem degradation. To improve the long‐term effectiveness of restoration activities, community engagement in restoration projects needs to be strengthened. In communities where traditional and local values drive adaptation to environmental changes, a community‐engaged restoration approach requires the integration of restoration techniques and local value systems. In two pastoral communities on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, we used the Q method to explore pastoralists' attitudes towards grassland degradation and restoration and to understand different levels of community engagement in grassland restoration activities. Through this study, we aim to promote an understanding of the value‐based approach of local communities to enable better community engagement for the long‐term effectiveness of ecosystem restoration projects and contribute to the achievement and synergy of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study revealed eight types of pastoralists with different attitudes in two communities, with the type of Active Agents leverages transformative restoration action through creating value‐inclusive narratives of grassland restoration in the community with a higher level of engagement in restoration practices. Alongside this, we explored the pastoralists' perspectives of biodiversity in restoration and the importance of local elites in facilitating multiple‐actor cooperation in restoration projects. We recommend that decision‐makers recognize the significance of local worldviews and values in facilitating environmental adaptations, as well as the irreplaceable role played by local people in developing value‐inclusive narratives that align with the local cultural context. Open dialogues and sufficient communication between multiple stakeholders are needed to build mutual trust and accumulate social capital for driving transformative actions in traditional communities. Such approaches are essential to foster community engagement and gain better momentum in ecosystem management initiatives. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Introduction: An important blind spot in current aquaculture governance research and practice is recognizing the high dependency of the sector on commons (i.e., shared resources), and their interconnectivity with other sectors such as agriculture. This is particularly evident in Indonesia where there is general lack of social and governance research on aquaculture. The purpose of this study is to: (1) identify the commons that need to be governed in pond aquaculture systems, and (2) identify the arising governance challenges from those commons and potential solutions. Methods: We apply Elinor Ostrom's Socio-Ecological Systems Framework (SESF) to identify variables influencing collective action through semistructuredinterviews with relevant key informant actors in a milkfish aquaculture village in Gresik, Indonesia. Our case study approach allows for a rich description through qualitative data to understand system interactions. We interviewed 22 stakeholders including regional and local government officials, fish farmers (owners and workers), patrons and local academics. Results and discussion: Our findings indicate five governance challenges influencing collective action: (1) limited access to capital and dependence on patrons, (2) lack of govern institutions, (3) continued government program failure, (4) lack of community leadership, and (5) lack of motivation and incentives to collectively act. These imply that governance policies may be more successful if monitoring mechanisms are applied to ensure that government funding is more precisely targeted at improving the livelihoods of traditional fish farmers. Furthermore, attempts to support social capital, network structures, and improve trust-reciprocity among relevant stakeholders (i.e., farmers, extension officers, private business actors) in the form of capacity building is likely more effective than other monetary incentives or the enforcement of top-down rules that don't fit local needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human dimensions play a pivotal role in wolf management and conservation. To offer an informed basis to improve Human-Wolf coexistence, we explore how socio-demographic factors, fear, knowledge, and perceptions of costs and benefits of wolf presence drive human attitudes in the southern area of the Douro River, Portugal, a region inhabited by a small and endangered wolf population. We interviewed 220 people (175 from the general public, 13 hunters, and 32 livestock owners) through a semi-structured survey organized on a 5-point Likert scale. Public and hunter respondents exhibited neutral to positive attitudes, whereas livestock owners expressed negative to neutral attitudes and revealed a Not-In-My-Backyard sentiment. We found that positive attitudes were linked to a greater receptiveness to increased wolf numbers, particularly in areas of irregular wolf presence. Fear was a significant driver of public attitudes, while the presence of wolves influenced livestock owners'views. For both groups, attitudes were also influenced by perceived costs and benefits. Knowledge about wolves did not significantly influence attitudes, with scores being consistently low across groups, and the myth of reintroduction persisting. Thus, management actions should address the concerns and complaints of individuals directly affected by wolves, dispel common fears and myths, and emphasize the ecological and economic benefits of wolf presence in the territory. Media outlets can serve as strategic partners in engaging the neutral population through untargeted interventions. Prioritizing the input of all groups, including conservationists, is essential for establishing common ground and ensuring sustained coexistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] The aim of this study is to assess and model the vulnerability of social-ecological systems in the Beipanjiang River Basin, which is of great significance for building an ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Pearl River and realizing sustainable development in the basin. [Methods] An explicit spatial vulnerability model was used to construct an evaluation index system from three dimensions, namely. exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, to assess the vulnerability of the Beipanjiang River Basin, and to simulate the vulnerability scenarios under different decision-making risks using an ordered weighted. average operator. [Results] (1) From 2000 to 2020, the vulnerability of the Beipanjiang River Basin decreased significantly, with the proportion of highly vulnerable areas decreasing from 13.82% to 8.37%, and the proportion of low vulnerable areas increasing from 10.66% to 17.62%. (2) The overall vulnerability of social-ecological system in the Beipanjiang River Basin in the past 20 years was at a medium level. accounting for 32% on average, and the spatial variation showed the distribution pattern of low level in the northwest and southeast, high level in the middle. (3) From the perspective of scenario simulation analysis. the attention should be paid to the stress of risk environment, the construction of ecological environment protection and adaptive capacity should be strengthened, and both development and protection in the economic priority model should be emphasized, green infrastructure to ease systemic fragility should be strengthened. [Conclusion] The degree of vulnerability of the Beipanjiang River Basin is significantly reduced, and the results of the scenario simulation can meet the needs of watershed development under the guidance of different policies and provide theoretical references for the ecological restoration of the land space in the Beipanjiang River Basin and the sustainable development of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After two decades of implementing top-down grassland restoration projects focused on reducing livestock numbers and pastoralist populations, the Chinese government's well-funded efforts have not significantly reversed grassland degradation. This study reviews the institutional changes in grassland management over the past forty years, highlighting the Livestock and Grassland Double Contract Household Responsibility System of the early 1980s and the Grassland Ecological Reward and Compensation Policy introduced in 2011. It demonstrates how these institutional transformations have shaped pastoralists' evolving understanding of grassland value and reveals that commodifying grassland's economic and ecological value has led to the capitalization of nature, disembedding husbandry from grassland production, and undermining the effectiveness of conservation projects. This article also showcases the development of grassland ecology research in China, noting its increasing detachment from a holistic understanding of ecosystems and the interdisciplinary needs of management practices. The disjunction between grassland ecology research and practical management has resulted in a lack of techniques aligned with local ecological and socioeconomic contexts. This article champions active engagement with and protection of pastoralist communities to reintegrate grasslands' true economic and ecological value into management practices, thereby effectively restoring degraded grasslands and achieving sustainable management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A cohesive organizational structure is essential for coordinated efforts, effective resource planning, and enhanced governance outcomes. Additionally, dynamic power that enables efficient governance responses can enhance the resilience of socioal-ecological systems. This study aims to explore the organizational cohesion among stakeholders in the Development and Advancement Plan of Rural Constellations in Gachsaran County County, which serves as a pilot area for assessing effective local gov-ernance. The information exchange and cooperation among these stakeholders were analyzed using social network analysis methods, contrasting the results before and after the project's implementation. To achieve this, the betweenness centrality index at the micro level, along with the density, centralization, and average geodesic distance indices at the macro level of the network, were measured. The findings showed that before the implementation of the project, the Governorate, the Omid Entrepreneurship Fund, and Technical and Vocational Training had the highest betweenness centrality, playing significant roles in controlling the flow of information and resources. After the project's implementation, the Governorate, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, and the Omid Entrepreneurship Fund were identified as the key actors with the highest betweenness centrality. The average betweenness centrality index indicated improved information flow and a more balanced distribution of key roles within the network, leading to increased efficiency and coordination among organizations. The macro-level network indices showed increased cohesion, reduced centralization, and faster information circu-lation compared to before the project's implementation. This study's approach can be applied to other regions to enhance local governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a case study of how we position our rewilding project in central Chile in order to find scientific and social support and build alliances, collaborations, and consensus. Our core vision focuses on reintroducing guanacos (Lama guanicoe) to central Chile in order to provide natural restoration and ecosystem processes in espinal woodlands dominated by the native tree Vachellia [Acacia] caven. We envision a scenario of “social-ecological rewilding” with widespread guanaco browsing in woodlands and guanaco migration across the region, coexisting with multiple human uses of the landscape. Guanacos would ideally be managed by regional collectives who could benefit from guanaco tourism, sustainable harvest of their fiber (wool), and regulated hunting. Our wider vision for reintroductions and integrated conservation management extends to a set of other species that may have coexisted with guanacos and V. caven at various points in the past, but more research is necessary to establish and gain support for evidence-based baselines. Our strategy is to inspire actors with greater resources (land, money, influence) to share our vision and implement it, in collaboration with the NGO that we have formed to support our projects. Over ten years, circulating alternate interpretations and a novel imaginary of how central Chile was in the past and could be in the future, along with developing and testing scientific hypotheses, has moved our vision from an idea shared by two people to one that a wide variety of actors publicly embrace.

IntroductionSocial-ecological systems (SES) recognize the intricate relationship between human activities and the environment and advocate for comprehensive approaches to address complex environmental issues. This study investigates the factors influencing whale watching, particularly the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in northern Mexico, after significant recovery following overexploitation. Despite reaching a peak in 2015, the eastern North Pacific gray whales experienced unusual mortality events (UME), the most recent from 2019 to 2023, leading to a population decline and historically low calf production in 2022. This decline is evident in the reduced presence of whales and calves in winter breeding lagoons. Concurrently, whale watching has become a significant tourist attraction in these areas.MethodsOur objective was to develop a mental model of the SES of gray whale watching, integrating ecological and socioeconomic data to identify key variables and interactions that support system resilience. From an ecological perspective, we analyzed the long-term temporal trends of eight years of gray whale counts in the southernmost breeding and nursing lagoons within the Bahía Magdalena–Bahía Almejas Complex, Mexico. Additionally, we incorporated the current discussion in the literature about the potential impact of global climate change on gray whale populations. In the socioeconomic subsystem, we used participatory methods, including interviews, surveys, and workshops with government officials, tourism operators, and visitors. We also added on-site assessments of compliance with welfare regulations to understand tourism dynamics. ResultsOur findings identified as main external stressors the changes in ice levels in feeding areas and sea warming in breeding areas, and as internal stressors the compliance with official regulations and the number of vessels observing whales at the same time. The key socioeconomic factor of the system was tourist satisfaction, influenced by factors such as the quality of the information provided by operators. DiscussionUltimately, our mental model provides a framework for further exploration of relevant interactions and trajectories, offering insights for developing effective management strategies.

In view of the multiple challenges faced by agriculture, agroforestry can promote multifunctional farming landscapes. While the law is a decisive factor for the adoption of agroforestry, it is not as yet comprehensively addressed in agroforestry and governance research. We operationalize Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework to analyze agri-environmental laws at EU, German federal and state level using doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research methods. We show that current legal provisions disincentivize farmers to establish agroforestry system and do not adequately address the benefits and risks of agroforestry systems for ecosystem functions and services and thus overall multifunctionality. We identify terminological misconceptions on the term ’agroforestry’, contradictions between subsidy law and command-and-control law, and a lack of tailored steering towards multifunctionality as major legal barriers to the promotion of agroforestry. Therefore, the example of agroforestry illustrates the challenge inherent in reconciling agricultural and environmental targets in agri-environmental law.

The co-production of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) is a set of processes in which anthropogenic inputs (i.e. material or non-material actions and the assets supporting these actions) and natural inputs (i.e. ecological structures and processes) interact to produce NCP. An interdisciplinary understanding of NCP co-production can support decision-making on ecosystem management or NCP use, given natural constraints, limited human inputs, possible adverse effects and trade-offs arising from co-production. In this paper, we show that mechanisms of co-production at the ecosystem level and the NCP flow level are fundamentally different. At the level of ecosystems, people manage natural structures and processes to influence the production of potential NCP (e.g. via planting, restoring, fertilizing). At this level, anthropogenic inputs can partially substitute for natural inputs, but natural inputs are necessary whereas anthropogenic inputs are not. At the level of flows, co-production actions convert potential NCP into realized NCP and quality of life (e.g. via harvesting, transporting, transforming, consuming, and appreciating NCP). At this level, anthropogenic inputs are complementary to natural inputs, although some substitutability can occur at the margin. Analysing the substitutability and complementarity between natural and anthropogenic capitals, as well as the adverse effects or mutual enhancement between them, is crucial for informed decision-making on landscape and NCP management. This understanding enables the identification of strategies that can ensure NCP supply and increase human well-being in a sustainable manner.

AbstractThe situation in the South China Sea (SCS) is the epitome of a wicked problem where issues cross state boundaries and domains, and where stakeholders range from fishers to governments to shipping industries. This article frames the SCS as a social-ecological system that is composed of biological and social subsystems. It explains how, for over 70 years, global political and economic structures have conditioned state responses – territorialisation, militarisation, extraction, and exploitation – that, in turn, have led to cascading risks for further environmental degradation and conflict at different levels of community. This article uses the grammar of riskification, rather than securitisation, because the crisis in the SCS requires governance rather than military action. Any code of conduct needs to emphasise stewardship rather than ownership and to be climate-centred rather than threat-centred, in order to address the very real risk of the collapsing biological subsystem upon which the social subsystem ultimately depends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive non-native species (INNS) are key drivers of global biodiversity loss. This is particularly evident in freshwater ecosystems, where the rates of both vertebrate biodiversity loss and biological invasion exceed those of marine and terrestrial systems. Aotearoa New Zealand (henceforth Aotearoa) like many other island nations, has a troubled history with NNS. However, it is also unique, as the main islands were the last major landmasses on Earth to remain uninhabited by humans. The endemic fauna had evolved in isolation from any anthropogenic influence or introduced NNS , until the mid-thirteenth century with the arrival of Māori, the first people to inhabit Aotearoa. Centuries later, following European colonisation, many non-native freshwater fish were deliberately introduced by acclimatisation societies. Currently, most of the native freshwater fish species of Aotearoa are at risk of extinction, despite almost 90% of these being found nowhere else on earth. Many of these species are highly valued by the indigenous people of Aotearoa, who have repeatedly highlighted biases towards NNS in freshwater fish management. With the rate of biological invasions increasing, it is timely to address interconnected issues concerning the history, impacts, management and current / future policy directions, including those involving biosecurity, for non-native freshwater fish in Aotearoa. We do this by applying a social-ecological systems (SES) lens, with a focus on causal-loop relationships and feedbacks to improve understanding of the dynamics of drivers, mechanisms and impacts of such invasions. We highlight the tensions that have resulted from managing some NNS as 'pests' threatening native biodiversity, while simultaneously promoting a tourism and recreational fishery resource for specific NNS. This has generated extremely polarized views on the 'status' of non-native freshwater fish species and given rise to contradictory and divergent goals for their management. We show how a disjointed and often incoherent policy landscape has contributed to legal 'anomalies' for NNS , including policy misalignments and gaps, hampering effective use of resources, while also entrenching contradictory management programmes for different stakeholders. Our study shows how these interconnected issues have been manifested in social-ecological feedback loops on core aspects of NNS policy and management, past and present. Consequently, there is a need for increased comprehension of the diverse array of potential impacts of NNS for different environments, stakeholders and Māori while developing coherent and practical management methods to reduce such impacts and improve social-ecological resilience. We conclude that adopting a SES approach will aid this endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reintroducing locally extinct/extirpated species has been considered as an approach for restoring ecosystems. Although such projects share the same goals of rebuilding previously affected ecosystems, the overall impacts that such reintroductions generate on both ecosystems and human society, i.e., on the social-ecological system, are difficult to measure. We propose a system dynamics approach, a platform on which both natural and social scientists could collaborate to identify the social-ecological impacts of species reintroduction as well as factors that affect such decision making. We use cases in Japan to demonstrate the potential applicability of system dynamics in terms of (1) understanding the impacts of a previously reintroduced species, the Oriental Stork (Ciconia boyciana), and (2) predicting the impacts of reintroduction of wolves (Canis lupus). We present a causal loop diagram of the social and ecological effects of Oriental Stork reintroduction, and we discuss how the relationships between factors could be articulated based on empirical data and ongoing projects in Japan. The model demonstrates how local residents began to appreciate the rich biodiversity, including the Oriental Stork, following its reintroduction, and how public support toward such reintroduction enhanced further projects to reintroduce these species in different parts of Japan. A similar diagram, created to illustrate the social and ecological effects of the potential reintroduction of wolves to Japan, demonstrates how social factors such as environmental education and public attitudes could affect decision making as well as ecological factors such as predator-prey dynamics and overall biodiversity. Further, humanwolf conflicts could negatively affect the overall loop. Creating causal loop diagrams can help managers and stakeholders understand that species reintroduction projects need to be considered via an interdisciplinary approach. The models illustrate that these problems are dynamic and that the factors affecting or affected by such projects change over time, implying the importance of both the spatial and temporal scales in managing reintroduction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulated waterways, interconnected by navigation barriers (locks and dams), are uniquely difficult to manage, given interest in enabling native species connectivity while minimizing invasions. Canada's historic Rideau Canal Waterway, a 202 km navigable route located in eastern Ontario and connected by 24 lockstations, embodies this challenge. The lock(s) and water-control dam that compose each lockstation may respectively offer a connectivity pathway, though to what extent is unclear. We used acoustic telemetry (native largemouth bass (Micropterus nigricans) and northern pike (Esox lucius), and invasive common carp (Cyprinus carpio); n = 224) to evaluate fish connectivity relative to lock operations and environmental data over three years (2019–2021). Thirty-five passages by 23 native fishes were recorded, with 49% of passages through locks. No common carp passages were detected; movements indicate that they favour higher flow areas downstream of dams, regions with no pathway upstream. Most passages were downstream and, of concern to obligate upstream migrators, we found that multi-flight and higher-lift locks appear impassable to upstream movements. Our results suggest that these lockstations limit, but not entirely restrict, connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the policy direction for pangolin conservation in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The current prohibitionist approach may not be optimal for conserving the species, as it fails to consider diverse and adaptive management approaches. The article suggests that restricting policy options for pangolins in CITES may hinder optimal national policies and proposes that formal domestic use and/or trade of pangolins could contribute to their conservation under appropriate governance conditions. The authors recommend recognizing the need for context-specific solutions and not removing potential tools for pangolin conservation. [Extracted from the article]

Understanding the transient dynamics of interlinked social-ecological systems (SES) is imperative for assessing sustainability in the Anthropocene. However, how to identify critical transitions in real-world SES remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we present an evolutionary framework to characterize these dynamics over an extended historical timeline. Our approach leverages multidecadal rates of change in socioeconomic data, paleoenvironmental, and cutting-edge sedimentary ancient DNA records from China's Yangtze River Delta, one of the most densely populated and intensively modified landscapes on Earth. Our analysis reveals two significant social-ecological transitions characterized by contrasting interactions and feedback spanning several centuries. Initially, the regional SES exhibited a loosely connected and ecologically sustainable regime. Nevertheless, starting in the 1950s, an increasingly interconnected regime emerged, ultimately resulting in the crossing of tipping points and an unprecedented acceleration in soil erosion, water eutrophication, and ecosystem degradation. Remarkably, the second transition occurring around the 2000s, featured a notable decoupling of socioeconomic development from ecoenvironmental degradation. This decoupling phenomenon signifies a more desirable reconfiguration of the regional SES, furnishing essential insights not only for the Yangtze River Basin but also for regions worldwide grappling with similar sustainability challenges. Our extensive multidecadal empirical investigation underscores the value of coevolutionary approaches in understanding and addressing social-ecological system dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human‐wildlife coexistence as a concept and management objective has received increasing attention from researchers and decision makers. The coexistence approach will benefit from the recognition that, at broader scales, human‐wildlife interactions (HWI) are best understood and managed collaboratively and as complex systems, that is, dynamic, non‐linear, emergent, adaptive and, therefore, unpredictable. We present a planning process for human‐wildlife coexistence that provides a platform for collaboration between researchers and decision‐makers—and other stakeholders as well—and recognizes the complex nature of HWI. The three elements that define the process are: coexistence instead of conservation or conflict mitigation as a goal, systems thinking as the approach, and an emphasis on verifiable results rather than actions. As a way of illustration, we describe a 3‐day planning workshop for human‐jaguar coexistence in the Pantanal, Brazil. The 15 participants representing the academic, governmental, and non‐profit sectors identified 12 interactions directly involving 27 stakeholders and indirectly another 55. A theory of change was produced, connecting 20 actions—to be performed by 22 actors—with the 57 factors that directly and indirectly drive the interactions. How these results complement other approaches such as Action Plans is discussed. The proposed approach favors the pragmatism of adaptive co‐management over the often unrealistic expectation of a linear path to solution, or in other words, a shift from the notion of human‐wildlife coexistence as a quantifiable target to that of coexistence as a desired system state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of adaptive cycles, as developed almost 40 years ago by Holling (1986), has great potential as a tool to understand, anticipate, and alter the trajectories of change in natural resource systems. However, its incorporation in natural resource policy and management remains limited. A total of 112 studies are reviewed to assess how the theory of adaptive cycles has been applied to understand the behavior of natural resource systems (i.e., woodlands, croplands, rangelands, and fisheries) and how its application can be improved to enhance the potential of the theory to inform natural resource management. The review reveals that the theory has largely been applied in haphazard ways because there is no procedure in place to prevent the manipulation of empirical data to fit the path prescribed by the theory. The theory of adaptive cycles is primarily approached as a conceptual framework instead of as a set of testable and falsifiable hypotheses. Ill-fitting management recommendations can ensue when the theory is not tested, which demonstrates the pressing need for the development of a standardized procedure that future studies can follow. A 7-step procedure is developed to enhance the transparency and reliability of the application of the theory of adaptive cycles and to contribute to the realization of its potential to inform natural resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine and coastal environments are diverse and dynamic, supporting competing human interests and demands. As society seeks to balance contested uses of space, more holistic planning processes have emerged, which consider social, economic, and ecological factors. One approach that considers social factors, and more specifically social acceptance, is "social license to operate" (SLO). Originating in the terrestrial mining industry, SLO has been adopted by various marine industries. Except for some emerging work in the conservation field, SLO is typically applied to industrial marine and coastal contexts. To understand SLO's uses in other marine and coastal planning contexts, namely conservation, adaptation, and restoration, we conducted a scoping review using the term SLO and similar concepts, including public or social acceptance, support, and buy-in. Results indicate the concept of SLO is still emerging in non-industrial marine and coastal planning, with an emphasis on gaining public acceptance rather than maintaining it. The concept of SLO was applied broadly, including as a measurement for public support and a product of effective engagement. Most publications focused on barriers and drivers of SLO. Influential factors are identified and organized by theme, then discussed based on their relationships within a social-ecological system framework. Considering the common factors and their associated systems helps to link elements necessary to obtain SLO, highlighting their interconnectedness with each other, society, and the natural environment. The findings of this review illustrate SLO's utility for academics and practitioners alike, through its application in methods, tools, values, and concepts that characterize public inclusion for marine and coastal planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harvesting of wild plants is a traditional practice that is sustainable if the plant populations reproduce and persist. The génépi, Artemisia umbelliformis, occurs on crests and summits in the Alps, and is harvested mainly by amateurs. However, little is known about the ecology of this species and the practice of harvesting has received little scientific attention. Here we assess the sustainability of génépi harvesting through an integrative approach combining: (1) the quantification of spatial ecological variation across the distribution of A. umbelliformis in the southern Alps and (2) the examination of the social-ecological parameters that modulate the intensity of harvesting practices. We showed that topographic roughness is important for the presence of the species at a 25‑m resolution, while its cover at a 1‑m resolution is mainly influenced by space availability (with a fine‑grained stony substrate and limited vegetal cover). Our results show how the amateur activity of harvesting depends on resource availability, sitehiking attractiveness, and to a lesser extent the accessibility of the harvesting site. More precisely, harvesting intensity is more closely correlated with resource availability at the landscape scale than at the harvesting site scale, with a stronger importance of plant density in a large zone (500 m and 1 km buffers) than local density in a given site. Finally, we map both the potential ecological sensitivity of A. umbelliformis and its exposure to harvesting to produce an integrated ecological risk assessment for the conservation of this species. This study illustrates how the concept of the niche can be more precisely recognised by integrating both human and ecological dimensions, particularly when dealing with the sustainability of wild plant harvesting.

Ecological restoration policies and their implementation are influenced by ecological and socioeconomic drivers. Top-down approach-based spatial planning, emphasizing hierarchical control within government structures, and without a comprehensive consideration of social–ecological interactions may result in implementation failure and low efficiency. Although many researchers have indicated the necessity to engage social–ecological interactions between stakeholders in effective planning processes, socioeconomic drivers of ecological restoration on a large scale are difficult to quantify because of data scarcity and knowledge limitations. Here, we established a new ecological restoration planning approach linking a social–ecological system framework to large-scale ecological restoration planning. The new spatial planning approach integrates bottom-up approaches targeting stakeholder interests and provides social considerations for stakeholder behavior analysis. Based on this approach, a meta-analysis is introduced to recognize key socioeconomic and social–ecological factors influencing large-scale ecological restoration implementation, and a stochastic model is constructed to analyze the impact of socioeconomic drivers on the behavior of authorities and participants on a large scale. We used the Yangtze River Basin-based Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program (CCFP), one of the largest payments for ecosystem service programs worldwide, to quantify the socioeconomic impacts of large-scale ecological restoration programs. Current CCFP planning without socioeconomic considerations failed to achieve large-scale program goals and showed low investment efficiency, with 19.71% of the implemented area reconverting to cropland after contract expiry. In contrast, spatial matching between planned and actual restoration increased from 61.55% to 81.86% when socioeconomic drivers were included. In addition, compared to that with the current CCFP implementation, the cost effectiveness of spatial planning with social considerations improved by 46.94%. Thus, spatial optimization planning that integrates both top-down and bottom-up approaches can result in more practical and effective ecological restoration than top-down approaches alone. Our new approach incorporates socioeconomic factors into large-scale ecological restoration planning with high practicality and efficiency.

The integration of ES into global policies represents a significant step towards harmonising sustainability and growth and unifying dialogues on biodiversity and sustainable development to benefit humanity. Consistent assessment of the availability of ES is vital to enable ongoing monitoring and support sustainable natural resource management and decision-making. This study was conducted to comparatively analyse the ecosystem service delivery between two coastal lagoons in Ghana. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) and Marine Ecosystem Services Assessment Tool (MESAT) scales were used in the study. The paper was based on the positivist paradigm and employed inferential statistics with SPSS v23 for data analysis. The results indicate no statistical differences between the Fosu and Muni lagoons in terms of their ecosystem service delivery; the null hypothesis is accepted for the two ecosystem service scales used and confirms that Fosu and the Muni Lagoons are similar in their deliveries of ecosystem services. The relationship between ES and human well-being is complex due to the interplay between social and ecological systems. To address coastal issues and develop management plans, the study proposes using MESAT and MEA for evaluation and solution provisioning. It further recommends expanding stakeholder and decision-maker involvement in lagoon management to promote sustainability and enhance stakeholder participation in decision-making.

Communities in dryland ecosystems face multiple stressors that threaten their livelihood resilience. While community resilience in socio‐ecological systems is largely determined by access to and sustainable management of natural resources, the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. This study, which uses grounded theory integrated with discourse analysis, aims to contribute addressing this knowledge gap. First, we explore global literature describing trends and patterns in the various stressors—including climate change, frequent drought, and famine, ecological, socio‐economic, and institutional stressors—that impact the livelihood resilience of these communities, with the goal of summarizing how multiple stressors impact the sustainability of dryland social‐ecological systems. Then, using the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a reference target, we propose potential entry points to support livelihood resilience pathways. These include land, water, livestock and agroforestry, and institutional and social capital. Lastly, we suggest an integrated multi‐scalar pathway embedded with cross‐sectorial policies and differential cross‐social strategies towards combining resilience with SDGs targets. This research can help stakeholders to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of various stressors, ultimately strengthening livelihood resilience in dryland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common-pool resource theory suggests that the direct participation of local natural resource users in the management of common-pool resources can lead to effective management regimes. Nevertheless, the drivers of participation in common-pool resource management, including policy decision processes, and the effects of participation on stakeholder attitudes and policy preferences are relatively understudied. Here, we combine the social-ecological system (SES) framework with the political science concept of political efficacy to examine both contextual and personal drivers of farmer participation in California, USA’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), as well as the effect of participation on support for policy mechanisms from the SGMA. We surveyed a total of 553 farmers in three counties across the California Central Valley and Central Coast. Overall, we find that < 50% of the farmers surveyed have participated in any SGMA-related events, with attending a meeting being the most common (45%), and testifying before a board being the least common (6%). Participation in any type of SGMA policy event was associated with multiple characteristics of the groundwater SES context, including the resource system (farm size) and actor attributes (farm bureau membership and receiving information about the policy), that likely combine to indicate a higher level of social, financial, and built capital. Higher participation was also associated with higher internal efficacy ratings, i.e., an individual’s self-assessment of their ability to understand and participate in the political process. Higher levels of internal efficacy were also correlated with support for both incentive- and regulatory-based policy mechanisms, as well as the perception that groundwater impacts are occurring now or soon, and exclusive reliance on groundwater. These results demonstrate that political competence and experience with policy processes and programs are not only associated with participation in current policy issues, which is widely recognized in existing research, but are also associated with policy mechanisms, in particular, with potentially more costly regulatory-based mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely acknowledged that biodiversity change is affecting human well‐being by altering the supply of Nature's Contributions to People (NCP). Nevertheless, the role of individual species in this relationship remains obscure. In this article, we present a framework that combines the cascade model from ecosystem services research with network theory from community ecology. This allows us to quantitatively link NCP demanded by people to the networks of interacting species that underpin them. We show that this "network cascade" framework can reveal the number, identity and importance of the individual species that drive NCP and of the environmental conditions that support them. This information is highly valuable in demonstrating the importance of biodiversity in supporting human well‐being and can help inform the management of biodiversity in social‐ecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The river chief governance system is a complex system project, and exploring the governance mechanisms of this system is an important part of developing water resource governance theory with Chinese characteristics. Therefore, from the perspective of system theory and based on social-ecological system theory, we constructed a systematic analysis framework for the governance of the river chief system, and utilized this analysis framework with the data related to water resources and the river chief system of 52 prefecturallevel cities and provinces in four provinces, namely, Jiangxi, Anhui, Fujian, and Yunnan provinces, from 2011 to 2020, to empirically analyze the effects of policy instruments and hydro-engineering on the effectiveness of water resources governance. The study found that: ① The river chief system did have a certain system governance effect, and its system governance effect was realized with the help of policy instruments and two types of hydro-engineering governance tools ('soft' and 'hard'), through indirectly changing the behavior of water resource users to take, use, or discharge water, or directly changing the state of the water resource system. ② The sum of the policy instruments would lead to water conservation behaviors by all water users, the regulatory policy instruments would lead to farmers' choice of conservation irrigation behavior, and the hybrid policy instruments would lead to enterprises' choice of pollutant discharge behavior related to industrial structure upgrading. ③ The hybrid policy instruments would increase the scale of hydro-engineering construction. ④ Voluntary policy instruments could only be effective through participatory governance if there were fewer external pressures on the water system. ⑤ The scale of hydro-engineering construction showed an inverted U-shaped relationship with the effectiveness of system governance, and only when the scale of hydro-engineering construction was in the moderate range would hydro-engineering have the role of enhancing the effectiveness of system governance. With the improvement of hydraulic technology, the vertex of this inverted U-shaped curve would be lowered, and the moderate construction scale of hydro-engineering would also be decreased. Through the method of diagnosing the complex regional river chief governance system, this study believes that the river chief system can be optimized in terms of such aspects as adjusting the utilization ratio of voluntary policy instruments, understanding the behavioral patterns of resource users anywhere in taking, using, or discharging water, supporting the development of hydro-engineering technologies, and scientifically controlling the construction scale of hydro-engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers are social-ecological systems. Yet, in urban contexts, they have often been degraded to lifeless conduits, failing to promote human-nature interactions. As a countermeasure, river restoration has progressively been implemented globally to improve rivers' ecological quality and rejuvenate human-nature connections. In China, urban river restoration has been facilitated to improve river water quality and enhance nature-based recreation. Despite this nation-driven effort towards restoration, scholarly understanding of whether and how river restoration could align with societal preferences remains scarce. This study examined the social-ecological interactions associated with urban rivers with a social science methodology; a questionnaire survey was conducted at three Water Museums in three Chinese cities in summer 2022 and collected 654 responses from highly educated respondents. The results revealed an appreciation for rivers' environmental and recreational value among urban residents, with childhood experiences playing a role in shaping these evaluations and perceptions. Respondents generally preferred prioritizing biological elements in urban river restoration. They also stress the importance of a balanced approach, integrating nature conservation and recreational functionality while maintaining physical water access. These findings challenge the current approach of urban river restoration in the three Chinese cities, which tend to emphasize aesthetic and recreational aspects over comprehensive ecological considerations. The ANCOVA analysis further indicated that preferences for river restoration are influenced by individuals' perceptions of the positive and negative social-ecological impacts of rivers, emphasizing the need to enhance environmental awareness regarding river ecosystems. Finally, in alignment with China's vision of promoting human-nature harmony, the study advocated for strategies that harmonize ecological functionality with societal needs in urban river management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1992 Rio Conference, the sustainable development agenda envisioned a transformative change for the management of natural resources, where the well-being of human society would be enhanced through the sustainable use of natural capital. Several decades on, relentless economic growth persists at the expense of natural capital, as demonstrated by biodiversity decline, climate change and other environmental challenges. Why is this happening and what can be done about it? We present three agent-based models that explore the social, economic and governance factors driving (un)sustainability in complex social–ecological systems. Our modelling results reinforce the idea that the current economic system fails to safeguard the natural capital upon which it relies, leading to the prevailing decoupling between the economic and natural systems. In attempting to find solutions for such disjunction, our research shows that social–ecological systems are complex, dynamic and non-linear. Interestingly, results also reveal that there are common factors to most social–ecological systems that have the potential to improve or diminish sustainability: the role of financial entities and monetary debt; economic speculation; technological development and efficiency; long-term views, tipping point management and government interventions; and top-down and bottom-up conservation forces. These factors can play a dual role, as they can either undermine or enhance sustainability depending on their specific context and particular conditions. Therefore, the current economic system may not be inherently unsustainable, but rather specific economic mechanisms, decision-making processes and the complex links between economic and natural systems could be at the root of the problem. We argue that short- and medium-term sustainability can be achieved by implementing mechanisms that shift capitalist forces to support environmental conservation. Long-term sustainability, in contrast, requires a more profound paradigm shift: the full integration and accounting of externalities and natural capital into the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is known about disaster mitigation (DM) actions, but little is known about the impact of migration as an exogenous shock. Rural farmers in mountainous areas are under the pressure of poverty, and also face the threat of geo‐hazards. Therefore, a more complex relationship exists between rural farmers' willingness to out‐migration for work and their DM behavior. To gain insight into the relationship between the two, we constructed the social–ecological system (SES) framework based on the survey data of 864 households in 53 villages in Chongqing, and verified our findings using the endogenous switching regression model and the mediation effect model. The results show that labor out‐migration has a negative correlation with the DM behavior of peasant households. When the total effect is further categorized into the direct effect and mediation effect; the negative total effect of labor out‐migration on the DM of farmers changes from a significant to an insignificant negative direct effect. It can be seen that labor out‐migration is not the direct cause of low motivation for DM, but the loss of leadership caused by labor out‐migration, the dilution of farmers' sense of place, and the decline of farmers' risk perception are the causes that ultimately lead to the decline of farmers' action ability for DM. This study confirms that the SES framework is suitable for empirical research on how labor out‐migration affects the ability of local villages to ensure DM action. These findings add new theoretical insights to the literature on DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature‐based tourism provides an outlet for people to experience non‐material nature's contributions to people (NCP) and can even promote care for nature. Yet, the literature on NCP is still dominated by studies on regulating and material NCP, with limited research on non‐material contributions.Semi‐structured interviews and photo‐elicitation methods were conducted online with 38 former tourists who have hiked Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, to investigate NCP experiences during their hiking journey. Drawing on the guiding principles of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an interwoven approach was used to link context‐specific NCP expressed by tourists to the generalizing perspective.Ten context‐specific non‐material NCP emerged including Aesthetic experiences; Learning and life‐changing perspectives; New and unique experiences; and Social cohesion and bonding. All context‐specific NCP were linked back to the generalizing perspective, with most NCP falling under the generalizing category of Physical and psychological experiences.This paper reveals the unique and diverse ways that nature contributes to people's lives, promoting the visibility of multiple perspectives and their incorporation into biodiversity conservation and sustainable management strategies. Through an interwoven approach, NCP can be compared on a universal scale while respecting the context‐specificity of human–nature interactions across different social‐ecological contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of land use sustainability (LUS) coupling socioeconomic and ecological systems has drawn the interest of researchers and decision-makers concerned with sustainable development. Exploring the relationships between land use systems can offer a coordinated route for localized and effective land governance strategies. We proposed a new theoretical framework for LUS considering coordinated development between socioeconomy and ecology. We applied it further to the Xiongan New Area, typical of a new region with government-led construction in eastern China, to explore in depth the coupling and coordination relationship among land use systems and their driving factors. Results revealed that: (1) ecological sustainability grew while socioeconomic sustainability declined in most areas of Xiongan New Area during 2010–2020 at the township level, (2) relationships among land use systems in 2010–2020 showed a trend of coordinated development, but generally, their coordination was still only at a primary and moderate level, with a shift from prominent ecological lag to prominent socioeconomic lag, (3) economic factors are critical to the coordinated development of land use systems, while the influence of ecological factors is also increasing, and (4) four development types were identified for the towns: coupling and developed, coupling and undeveloped, tradeoff and developed, and tradeoff and undeveloped. Policymakers can better appreciate the importance of government interventions in future land use planning in terms of sustainable development with the help of land use zoning optimization and sustainable land governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem services and the biodiversity that supports them directly provision food and livelihoods to millions around the world within environments increasingly facing multifaceted changes. Yet the perspectives of resource users on the value of those resources and the challenges they face amid social-ecological change are still too often poorly understood. In this study, we use Photovoice methodology and a social-ecological systems perspective to understand the value of access to fish resources and the impacts of changing access for small-scale fishing communities in Cambodia. Contrasting the perspectives of households in different ecological settings, including adjacent to the Tonle Sap Lake and within its floodplain, revealed stark differences in the experiences of regulation enforcement and fisheries management for communities that had viable alternatives to fishing compared to those without options beyond fishing. The study addresses the need to understand both the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of environmental changes, and to disentangle the heterogeneous experiences across and within communities to improve resource management and community support in complex, changing social-ecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Many landscapes are constrained into pathways featuring deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and rising mega-disturbances due to legacies and feedbacks preserved in ecosystems and institutions. Institutions are the norms and rules that emerge locally or are set by prevailing powers, and that mediate coupled social-ecological dynamics. Objectives: We analyzed coupled landscape-institutional dynamics contributing to path-dependent mega-disturbances and the depletion of old-growth forests in temperate forests of British Columbia, Canada (1858–2020). Methods: We used qualitative historical review to contextualize dynamics in a hierarchy of institutional structures (i.e., power dynamics), functions (i.e., policy interventions), and processes (i.e., land management activities) and quantitative data to reconstruct their landscape outcomes. We examined connections between institutions and landscapes with a focus on temporal lags, legacies, and feedbacks. Results: Institutional structure persisted as an overarching colonial legacy (since 1858) whereas institutional functions (e.g., policy interventions) were added more frequently (every 10–30 years) but tended to layer onto existing functions rather than replace them. Institutional processes dynamically reshaped forests through regimes of harvesting, tree planting, and fire suppression, while a fourth process of landscape monitoring acted as a feedback to enable institutional adaptation depending on what was monitored and by who. Conclusions: We describe lags, legacies, and feedbacks as causal forces of change in landscape-institutional co-evolution, and contribute to emerging theory on the landscape ecology of institutions. To foster social-ecological resilience we recommend to (1) manage forests more locally; (2) restore complex landscapes; and (3) use reflective processes to help transform institutions to meet emerging landscape challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively managing the diversity and complexity of human settlements is pivotal in tackling the sustainability challenges we face in the Anthropocene. Conceptualizing a city's human settlement as a unified social–ecological system and investigating its system archetype and evolutionary pattern offer a promising approach to understanding sustainability challenges within specific spatio-temporal contexts. This study introduced a novel approach to assessing and characterizing human settlements using a spatio-temporal two-tier structure archetype analysis for human settlement systems. Applying inductive clustering to an integrated dataset, we identified five typical human settlement systems for 2019 and eight change patterns (2001–2019) in the Yangtze River Delta region. By linking inductively recognized human settlement systems into deductive categories of human-nature connectedness and associating inductive change patterns with deduced phases within the adaptive cycle, we defined five system spatial archetypes and three archetypical evolutionary patterns, revealing the typical interaction between them. This enabled us to understand sustainability challenges for each interaction, formulating seven tailored solutions to promote place-based development in human settlements. Generally, our approach showcases considerable potential in uncovering human settlement challenges, ultimately contributing to addressing these challenges at the local level within the broader context of global sustainability issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]