Maja Schlüter

• Professor at Stockholm University

Process-relational perspectives have been proposed as new ways of conceptualising, analysing and engaging with social–ecological systems (SES) that are capable of dealing with intertwinedness and complexity. The application of PR perspectives in SES research, however, remains challenging and largely conceptual. We explore the possibilities of combi...

Process-relational perspectives (PRP) have been put forward as a crucial contribution for conceptualizing radical transformations towards sustainability. This is because PRP conceptualize transformations as open processes. This openness is attributed, first, to processes and relations having performative power, which means that processes and relati...

Food insecurity remains a global challenge, with differing narratives shaping interventions in subSaharan Africa. The “crisis narrative,” favored by aid agencies, links insecurity to production issues, advocating agricultural innovations. Meanwhile, the “chronic poverty narrative,” reflected in African policy, ties insecurity to farmer poverty, emp...

When reasoning about causes of sustainability problems and possible solutions, sustainability scientists rely on disciplinary-based understanding of cause–effect relations. These disciplinary assumptions enable and constrain how causal knowledge is generated, yet they are rarely made explicit. In a multidisciplinary field like sustainability scienc...

In this paper we extend the use of a relational approach to simulation modelling, a widely used knowledge practice in sustainability science. Among modellers, there is awareness that model results can only be interpreted in view of the assumptions that inform model construction and analysis, but less systematic questioning of those assumptions. Mor...

Process-relational perspectives (PRP) have been proposed as new ways of conceptualising, analysing and engaging with social-ecological systems (SES) that are capable of dealing with intertwinedness and complexity. The application of PRP in SES research, however, remains challenging and mostly conceptual. We explore the possibilities and limitations...

Social-ecological systems research aims to understand the nature of social-ecological phenomena, to find ways to foster or manage conditions under which desired phenomena occur or to reduce the negative consequences of undesirable phenomena. Such challenges are often addressed using dynamical systems models (DSM) or agent-based models (ABM). Here w...

A crop boom is a sudden, nonlinear and intense expansion of a new crop. Despite their large impacts, boom-bust dynamics are not well understood; booms are largely unpredictable and difficult to steer once they unfold. Based on the striking resemblances between land regime shifts and crop booms, we apply complex systems theory, highlighting the pote...

When talking about causes we often think of an imagined contrast to the real sequence of events: we use a counterfactual, asking what would have happened if the cause had not occurred. But one might be doubtful about the explanatory force of this analysis. The basic problem is that the truth or falsity of a counterfactual statement cannot be determ...

In this chapter we explore the connections between on the one hand causal relations and on the other hand strict and less strict laws, i.e., regularities, expressed as correlations and regressions. It is tempting to think that laws and regularities describe general causal relations. They do not. Neither laws nor regularities distinguish between cau...

There is no such class of things as causes . The terms ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ are relational terms, in other words, our concern is the causal relation ‘x causes y’. This relation is applied to pairs of singular events and states of affairs, to pairs of types of events/and states of affairs and to pairs of variables. In science we are mostly intereste...

The terms ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ are very common in both ordinary and scientific discourse. Since they have a number of synonyms (or near synonyms), there is no point in trying to define ‘cause’ or ‘effect’ using any of these synonyms; ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ belong to the most fundamental level of language learnt in childhood. The way to give their mea...

There are several forms of explanation, one of which being causal explanations. Causal explanations are often descriptions of mechanisms, i.e., descriptions of how a state change in one object, labelled ‘the cause’, is transmitted through a number of intermediate objects to the final effect, i.e., a state change in another object. So the fundamenta...

In this chapter we start the discussion about causal idiom by giving excerpts from three papers, each discussing the dynamics of a social-ecological system. There is plenty of talk about causes in these papers, but, interestingly, the authors talk about causes and effects without much reflection on the criteria for something being a cause of someth...

The book has so far introduced fundamental ideas about causation, i.e., the relation between cause and effect, from philosophy, particularly those ideas that underlie studies of causation based on quantitative data and statistical methods of causal inference (Chaps. 1 – 7 ). Knowledge of these concepts, ideas and associated methods is essential as...

Empirical results often consist of data organised as values of variables.The first question is whether an observed correlation is evidence enough for a correlation in the entire population. If the answer is yes, the next question is whether this correlation reflects a causal connection or not. That need not be the case, there might be a common caus...

This chapter gives an overview of causal idiom in ordinary language and introduces some fundamental semantic distinctions. The main points are: The words ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ have quite a number of near synonyms. ‘Cause’ and ‘effect’ are relational terms. Causal relations relate three kinds of things: events, categories of events and variables used...

Understanding causation in social-ecological systems (SES) is indispensable for promoting sustainable outcomes. However, the study of such causal relations is challenging because they are often complex and intertwined, and their analysis involves diverse disciplines. Although there is agreement that no single research approach (RA) can comprehensiv...

Food insecurity is a persistent global challenge, prompting diverse interpretations of its causes and solutions. In sub-Saharan Africa, two prevailing narratives guide agricultural interventions: the "crisis narrative," endorsed by scientific and aid agencies, attributes insecurity to a production crisis heightened by climate change and population...

The rapid, human-induced changes in the Earth system during the Anthropocene present humanity with critical sustainability challenges. Social–ecological systems (SES) research provides multiple approaches for understanding the complex interactions between humans, social systems, and environments and how we might direct them towards healthier and mo...

Scientists seek to understand the causal processes that generate sustainability problems and determine effective solutions. Yet, causal inquiry in nature–society systems is hampered by conceptual and methodological challenges that arise from nature–society interdependencies and the complex dynamics they create. Here, we demonstrate how sustainabili...

Dynamical systems modeling (DSM) explores how a system evolves in time when its elements and the relationships between them are known. The basic idea is that the structure of a dynamical system, expressed by coupled differential or difference equations, determines attractors of the system and, in turn, its behavior. This leads to structural underst...

Agricultural innovations involve both social and social-ecological dynamics where outcomes emerge from interactions of innovation actors embedded within their ecological environments. Neglecting the interconnected nature of social-ecological innovations can lead to a flawed understanding and assessment of innovations. In this paper, we present an e...

Society is facing pressing interrelated, multilevel, and systemic challenges. Human consumption patterns are driving biodiversity loss and climate change, with unevenly distributed impacts that exacerbate preexisting inequalities. Structural or systems-level solutions to these challenges depend on group- and individual-level change, and vice versa....

Fisher-trader relations are influential in many small-scale fisheries worldwide. The ability to influence emergent fishing practices has shifted traders into focus of fisheries policy-making. Formal policies could be more effective if they were complementary to and build on an understanding of the role of traders, their interaction with fishers, an...

Metacognition, the ability to monitor and evaluate our own cognitive processes, confers advantages to individuals and their own judgment. A more recent hypothesis, however, states that explicit metacognition may also enhance the collective judgment of groups, and may enhance human collaboration and coordination. Here, we investigate this social fun...

Since antiquity, philosophers in the Western tradition of virtue ethics have declared practical wisdom to be the central virtue of citizens involved in public and social life. Practical wisdom is of particular importance when values are conflicting, power is unequal and knowledge uncertain. We propose that practical wisdom and virtue ethics can inf...

Various analytical frameworks have been developed to examine the interactions between humans and nature in social-ecological systems (SES). When studies of SES do not make explicit how a framework is used to build conceptual models, they leave a black box for scholars aiming to use such frameworks. Our study highlights such a process, focusing on t...

Models are widely used for investigating cause-effect relationships in complex systems. However, often different models yield diverging causal claims about specific phenomena. Therefore, critical reflection is needed on causal insights derived from modeling. As an example, we here compare ecological models dealing with the dynamics and collapse of...

We review the past decade’s widespread application of resilience science in sustainable development practice and examine whether and how resilience is reshaping this practice to better engage in complex contexts. We analyse six shifts in practice: from capitals to capacities, from objects to relations, from outcomes to processes, from closed to ope...

Understanding complex (social) phenomena benefits from combining different tools, perspectives, expertise, and experiences. Research designs that combine approaches are gaining in popularity. Carrying out research in interdisciplinary teams, however, is a challenging, high-investment activity. Unawareness of and reflecting on conflicting ways of se...

In social-ecological systems (SES), where social and ecological processes are intertwined, phenomena are usually complex and involve multiple interdependent causes. Figuring out causal relationships is thus challenging but needed to better understand and then affect or manage such systems. One important and widely used tool to identify and communic...

The complex nature of sustainability problems and the aim of sustainability science to support emergent processes of transformation require rethinking how we build and make use of theories. We highlight the diversity of ways in which theories, as assemblages of different elements that can serve a variety of purposes, can emerge within inter-discipl...

Local and regional trade networks in small-scale fisheries are important for food security and livelihoods across the world. Such networks consist of both economic flows and social relationships, which connect different production regions to different types of fish demand. The structure of such trade networks, and the actions that take place within...

In the Anthropocene, the social dynamics of human societies have become critical to understanding planetary-scale Earth system dynamics. The conceptual foundations of Earth system modelling have externalised social processes in ways that now hinder progress in understanding Earth resilience and informing governance of global environmental change. N...

Co-management is often put forward as a way to foster sustainability and improve the adaptive capacity of small-scale fisheries. Transformations towards co-management are enabled by processes that support social change, such as nurturing leadership, collective action and learning, as well as political processes that change legislative frameworks fr...

Recent research has demonstrated the multidimensional nature of poverty and the multi-level organization of social-ecological systems that display poverty traps. The traps on these different levels can reinforce each other, and therefore multi-level traps pose particular challenges for poverty alleviation. Yet, poverty trap models rarely consider m...

The complex, context-dependent, and dynamic nature of human behavior is increasingly recognized as both an important cause of sustainability problems and potential leverage for their solution. Human beings are diverse, as are the social, ecological, and institutional settings in which they are embedded. Despite this recognition and extensive knowle...

The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems provides a synthetic guide to the range of methods that can be employed in social-ecological systems (SES) research. The book is primarily targeted at graduate students, lecturers and researchers working on SES, and has been written in a style that is accessible to readers en...

Small-scale fisheries are critically important for livelihoods around the world, particularly in tropical regions. However, climate variability and anthropogenic climate change may seriously impact small-scale fisheries by altering the abundance and distribution of target species. Social relationships between fishery users, such as fish traders, ca...

Small-scale fisheries (SSF) contribute substantially to global food security, sustainable marine ecosystems and poverty alleviation. Yet many SSF face problems of overexploitation and poverty calling for novel governance approaches that enhance human-wellbeing, equity and ecological sustainability. External policies and interventions to support suc...

The interdependence of social and ecological processes is broadly acknowledged in the pursuit to enhance human wellbeing and prosperity for all. Yet, development interventions continue to prioritise economic development and short-term goals with little consideration of social-ecological interdependencies, ultimately undermining resilience and there...

Small-scale fisheries’ actors increasingly face new challenges, including climate driven shifts in marine resource distribution and productivity. Diversification of target species and fishing locations is a key mechanism to adapt to such changes and maintain fisheries livelihoods. Here we explore environmental and institutional factors mediating ho...

Incorporating representations of human decision-making that are based on social science theories into social-ecological models is considered increasingly important – yet choosing and formalising a theory for a particular modelling context remains challenging. Here, we reflect on our experiences of selecting, formalising and documenting psychologica...

In social-ecological systems (SES) research the conceptualization of social-ecological interactions has advanced from viewing SES as separate social and ecological systems where one system acts as an exogenous “driver” on the other, to conceptualizing them as coupled or linked ecological and social systems (Berkes and Folke 1998), as embedded syste...

The relationship between nature and culture in biocultural landscapes runs deep, where everyday practices and rituals have coevolved with the environment over millennia. Such tightly intertwined social–ecological systems are, however, often in the world’s poorest regions and commonly subject to development interventions which effect biocultural div...

Non-state actors play an increasingly important role in environmental policy. Lobbying by interest groups has been associated with policy stagnation and environmental degradation as well as with sustainable governance. However, little is known about how competition between economic and environmental interests influences the ability of governance sy...

Ecological regime shifts from clear to turbid water states in shallow temperate lakes are quite well-investigated phenomena but critical time lags from human interaction with the lake and restoration activities are much less understood. This is a complex challenge for institutions who manage lakes but are usually less familiar with non-linear dynam...

Faced with accelerating environmental challenges, research on social-ecological systems is increasingly focused on the need for transformative change towards sustainable stewardship of natural resources. This paper analyses the potential of rapid, large-scale socio-political change as a window of opportunity for transformative change of natural res...

Despite improved knowledge and stricter regulations, numerous fish stocks remain overharvested. Previous research has shown that fisheries management may fail when the models and assessments used to inform management are based on unrealistic assumptions regarding fishers' decision‐making and responses to policies. Improving the understanding of fis...

Institutions are vital to the sustainability of social-ecological systems, balancing individual and group interests and coordinating responses to change. Ecological decline and social conflict in many places, however, indicate that our understanding and fostering of effective institutions for natural resource management is still lacking. We assess...

Harvesting has received most theoretical, empirical, and policy attention towards understanding common-pool resource dilemmas. Yet, pre-harvesting and post-harvesting activities influence harvesting outcomes as well. Broadening the analytical focus beyond harvesting is needed to imagine new ways of theorizing and governing the commons. Fishing—whic...

Development of new biocides has dominated human responses to evolution of antibiotic and pesticide resistance. Increasing and uniform biocide use, the spread of resistance genes, and the lack of new classes of compounds indicate the importance of navigating toward more sustainable coevolutionary dynamics between human culture and species that evolv...

Research on social‐ecological systems (SES) has highlighted their complex and adaptive character and pointed to the importance of recognizing their intertwined nature. Yet, we often base our analysis and governance of SES on static and independent objects, such as actors and resources which are not well suited to address complexity and intertwinedn...

Despite many recent advances in sustainability science, researchers still struggle to address the key characteristics of social-ecological systems that underlie many of today's problems. Complex cross-scale dynamics and tightly interrelated social and ecological processes characterize social-ecological systems (SES). These features lead to constant...

Significance Managing regime shifts is often associated with “turning back from the brink” assuming that once a system has transgressed a tipping point, it moves unavoidably toward the undesired state. We show that a regime shift is rather a slippery slope that can be managed and even reversed when transient dynamics and time lags in the coupled so...

The sustainable governance and management of small-scale fisheries (SSF) is challenging, largely due to their dynamic and complex nature. Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a computational modeling approach that can account for the dynamism and complexity in SSF by modeling entities as individual agents with different characteristics and behavior, and s...

The sustainable governance and management of small-scale fisheries (SSF) is challenging, largely due to their dynamic and complex nature. Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a computational modeling approach that can account for the dynamism and complexity in SSF by modeling entities as individual agents with different characteristics and behavior, and s...

Most of the world's poorest people come from rural areas and depend on their local ecosystems for food production. Recent research has highlighted the importance of self-reinforcing dynamics between low soil quality and persistent poverty but little is known on how they affect poverty alleviation. We investigate how the intertwined dynamics of hous...

Human behaviour is of profound significance in shaping pathways towards sustainability. Yet, the approach to understanding human behaviour in many fields remains reliant on overly simplistic models. For a better understanding of the interface between human behaviour and sustainability, we take work in behavioural economics and cognitive psychology...

In social-ecological systems (SESs), social and biophysical dynamics interact within and between the levels of organization at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Cross-scale interactions (CSIs) are interdependences between processes at different scales, generating behaviour unpredictable at single scales. Understanding CSIs is important for impr...

In the Pamir Mountains of Eastern Tajikistan, the clearance of mountain forests to provide fuelwood for an increasing population is a major source of environmental degradation. International development organisations have implemented joint forestry management institutions to help restore once-forested mountainous regions, but the success of these i...

Most of the world's poorest people come from rural areas and depend on their local ecosystems for food production. Recent research has highlighted the importance of self-reinforcing dynamics between low soil quality and persistent poverty but little is known on how they affect poverty alleviation. We investigate how the intertwined dynamics of hous...

Social-ecological systems (SES) are complex adaptive systems. Social-ecological system phenomena, such as regime shifts, transformations, or traps, emerge from interactions among and between human and nonhuman entities within and across scales. Analyses of SES phenomena thus require approaches that can account for (1) the intertwinedness of social...

Explanations that account for complex causation, emergence, and social-ecological interdependence are necessary for building theories of social-ecological phenomena. Social-ecological systems (SES) research has accumulated rich empirical u nderstanding of SES; however, integration of this knowledge toward contextualized generalizations, or middlera...

Agent-based modelling (ABM) simulates Social-Ecological-Systems (SESs) based on the decision-making and actions of individual actors or actor groups, their interactions with each other, and with ecosystems. Many ABM studies have focused at the scale of villages, rural landscapes, towns or cities. When considering a geographical, spatially-explicit...

In social-ecological systems (SESs), social and biophysical dynamics interact within and between structural levels separated by spatial and temporal scales. Cross-scale interactions (CSIs) are interdependences between processes at different scales, generating behaviour unpredictable at single scales. Understanding CSIs is important for improving SE...

Dynamic models have long been a common tool to support management of ecological and economic systems and played a prominent role in the early days of resilience research. Model applications have largely focused on policy assessment, the development of optimal management strategies, or analysis of system stability. However, modeling can serve many o...

We present a recent extension from our agent-based simulation model to evaluate multiple ecosystem services related to lake water quality and how they are managed over time.

Price and market structures in fisheries change rapidly, now 40% of seafood is traded internationally and are associated with overharvesting of marine species. We have developed a bio-economic fishery model to address the pressing need of managing the interplay of different markets. We first regard local, multi-level and global markets individually...

This paper proposes an epistemological approach to analyse social-ecological systems from a process perspective in order to better tackle the co-constitution of the social and the ecological and the dynamism of these systems. It highlights the usefulness of rethinking our conceptual tools taking processes and relations as the main constituents of r...

Rising levels of antimicrobial and pesticide resistance increasingly undermine human health and systems for biomass production, and emphasize the sustainability challenge of preserving organisms susceptible to these biocides. In this Review, we introduce key concepts and examine dynamics of biocide susceptibility that must be governed to address th...

The AQUACROSS project was an unprecedented effort to unify policy concepts, knowledge, and management of freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems to support the cost-effective achievement of the targets set by the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. AQUACROSS aimed to support EU efforts to enhance the resilience and stop the loss of biodiversity of...

In the Anthropocene, social processes have become critical to understanding planetary-scale Earth system dynamics. The conceptual foundations of Earth system modelling have externalised social processes in ways that now hinder progress in understanding Earth resilience and informing governance of global environmental change. New approaches to globa...

Today, humans have a critical impact on the Earth system and vice versa, which can generate complex feedback processes between social and ecological dynamics. Integrating human behavior into formal Earth system models (ESMs), however, requires crucial modeling assumptions about actors and their goals, behavioral options, and decision rules, as well...

Adaptation of environmental policies to often unexpected crises is an important function of sustainable governance arrangements. However the relationship between environmental change and policy is complicated. Much research has focused on understanding institutional dynamics or the role of specific participants in the policy process. This paper dra...

We review recent literature on participatory scenario development and analysis within the context of ecosystem services (ESS) and biodiversity research. Beyond direct use for AQUACROSS, this deliverable exemplifies how ecosystem-based management (EBM) in aquatic ecosystems can be supported by participatory scenarios. Following the AQUACROSS Asses...