Trees

News

Nine conditions for a more all-purpose kind of resilience
2013-04-26

Through history unprecedented and unexpected catastrophes have occurred, such as the Krakatao eruption 1883, killing 36 000 and lowering the Earth’s temperature the following years, through the ash particles released. Examples from recent years could be the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011 or the mad cow disease outbreak.

To better cope with such events requires general resilience, and economists and ecologists on the Beijer Institute’s annual Askö meeting 2010, in a recently published paper in the journal Sustainability point to the increasing need for a "general resilience" and they suggest nine important conditions to achieve it.

"General resilience is the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt or transform in response to unfamiliar, unexpected and extreme shocks. Processes for building general resilience are an emerging and crucially important area of research," write the team of scientists, including Beijer Institute researchers Anne-Sophie Crepin, Gustav Engström, Carl Folke and Karl-Göran Mäler together with Economics Laureate Kenneth Arrow and others .
 

Absorb shocks of all kind
Hence, general resilience is about strengthening the capacity to absorb shocks like storms and floods, even financial meltdowns.  Building such broad resilience to unknown disturbances is far more difficult than planning for specific resilience to known types of disturbances. In fact, large-scale disturbances like the mad cow disease and the huge Japan earthquake and tsunami, are outside the scope of experience. The latter example was an earthquake which was extraordinarily powerful and triggered a tsunami with a 14 meter wave that breached the seawalls designed for the expected maximum wave height of 5.7 meter. In addition, the tsunami damaged nuclear power stations by shutting down back up diesel generators which were located in “safe" places on the assumption that the sea walls would hold.
 

"Such events are unusually so intense or extensive that they require another type of resilience building," argue the authors.
"We should build more 'all-purpose kind' of resilience, although building such resilience is far more difficult and costly than planning for known types of disturbance."
 

Among the conditions that enable general resilience, the authors of the new paper include nine important aspects: (1) diversity, (2) modularity, (3) openness, (4) reserves, (5) feedbacks, (6) nestedness, (7) monitoring, (8) leadership, and (9) trust.
 

Diversity, openness and trust
Diversity, for example, entails species that have similar functions but different responses to disturbance (response diversity), so the function is maintained even if one component of an ecosystem is damaged. Diversity of perspectives and experience also matters as much as individual ability, when teams of people are solving complex problems.
Modularity is important because it helps to contain disturbances by separating social-ecological systems from each other, e.g. land management with prescribed fire that uses firebreaks to limit the spread of the fire. Similarly, quarantine mechanisms may restrict the spread of epidemics or invasive species.
 

In other cases, openness of a social-ecological system might be the key to general resilience, e.g. seed dispersal as a key to recovery from large infrequent forest fires. Hence, there are a number of trade-offs between modularity and openness that is well understood for some social-ecological systems, but not for others.
 

"Development of trust is another important aspect when building general resilience, determining whether people will be able to collaborate effectively in relation to unfamiliar, unexpected and extreme shocks," the authors conclude.

Read online

Read more about resilience and related articles

Carpenter, S.R.; Arrow, K.J.; Barrett, S.; Biggs, R.; Brock, W.A.; Crépin, A.-S.; Engström, G.; Folke, C.; Hughes, T.P.; Kautsky, N.; Li, C.-Z.; McCarney, G.; Meng, K.; Mäler, K.-G.; Polasky, S.; Scheffer, M.; Shogren, J.; Sterner, T.; Vincent, J.R.; Walker, B.; Xepapadeas, A.; Zeeuw, A.D. General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events. Sustainability 2012, 4, 3248-3259

 


 

The future state of sustainability - State of the World report 2013
2013-04-26

For more than 25 years, Worldwatch Institute's annual flagship State of the World Reports have presented key insights and perspectives on everything from global security to urban growth via agricultural innovation.

This year's report asks the fundamental and somewhat uncomfortable question: What is the future of sustainability? Has the concept sustainability played its part?

"Every day, we are presented with a range of "sustainable" products and activities—from "green" cleaning supplies to carbon offsets—but with so much labeled as "sustainable", is it time to abandon the concept altogether, or can we find an accurate way to measure sustainability? If so, how can we achieve it? And if not, how can we best prepare for the coming ecological decline?" the report asks.

Reconnecting to the biosphere

To help clarify and indeed put things in perspective, Carl Folke, Beijer Institute director and science director at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, has contributed with a chapter on the need to respect planetary boundaries and reconnect to the biosphere.

"The biosphere, the part of the Earth's crust, waters and atmosphere where life dwells, is the global ecological system all humans and societies depend on. For too long we have looked at the environment as an externality for economic progress, a handy and limitless stock of resources for human exploitation," Folke says.

In his contribution, Folke describes how humans have rapidly become the single most dominant force on Earth, capable of changing the trajectory of the Earth's future.

"It is indeed a remarkable achievement for a single species to become this dominant, but it has to a large extent been enabled by the human ability to draw on the functioning of the biosphere."

Read more and related articles

Two Research Positions with focus on global social-ecological dynamics and marine stewardship in a global context
2013-01-16

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (www.kva.se ) announces two positions as Early Career Academy Researcher, one for a scholar with a documented background in economics and one for a scholar with a documented background in research on social-ecological interactions. The positions will be part of the new Family Erling Persson’s Academy Program on The Ecological Economics of Global Change, lead by Prof. Carl Folke.

Human wellbeing and the Earth system on which it depends are in transition. In a globalised world the economy, society, technology and the environment interact in novel and even unexpected ways. A key challenge is to foster social and economic development that is favourable and sustainable for current and future generations, taking into account and respecting the capacity of the biosphere to support such development. Research will address the complex, multi-scale dynamics of social–ecological systems, economic development and critical ecosystem services in the new global context. The dynamics include nonlinear thresholds that can lead to large, persistent changes but also to transformations of human actions toward stewardship of social–ecological systems for global sustainability. Part of the program will focus on marine issues in this context.

The Ecological Economics of Global Change program aims to address such challenges and is searching for key collaborators to achieve this. The positions are two plus three years, with potential for continuation. We envision early-career researchers at the level of post doc or similar. Documented experience from interdisciplinary collaboration is a bonus. The two early career Academy Researcher positions will be part of a team with two Academy researchers, a visiting professor and two other early career researchers, which will form the core of the program.

The call is open until 20 February 2013

Click here for more information and details on how to apply

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences seeks Finance and HR administrator for the Beijer Institute and new research program (for Swedish speakers)
2013-01-15

Ekonom/Administratör

Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien (KVA) startar upp ett nytt forskningsprogram ”Ecological Economics of Global Change”, med fokus på globala miljöförändringar, i nära samarbete med Beijerinstitutet för ekologisk ekonomi på KVA (www.beijer.kva.se). Rekrytering av forskare till programmet pågår och nu behöver vi en ekonom/administratör som vill vara med och bygga upp verksamheten.

Tjänsten är delad mellan programmet och Beijerinstitutet för ekologisk ekonomi vid KVA. Det är en relativt liten, informell arbetsplats inom Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien med sammanlagt ett tjugotal forskare som arbetar tvärvetenskapligt och i ett omfattande internationellt nätverk. Korrespondens/kontakter sker till stor del på engelska varför den vi söker måste kunna uttrycka sig väl både på svenska och engelska. Vi hoppas hitta någon som är självständig, initiativrik, strukturerad, prestigelös och vill arbeta i ett mindre team.

Arbetsuppgifter

Ekonomi – löpande bokföring såsom avstämningar, projektredovisning, fakturering, utbetalningar, reseräkningar m.m. Arbetsuppgifterna innebär också medverkan i budgetarbete och budget/kostnadsuppföljning.

Kontorsadministration – t.ex. beställningar, bokningar, prenumerationer, ordna internmöten och personalaktiviteter.

Personaladministration – bl.a. underlag till anställningskontrakt, support till gästforskare samt att förmedla kunskap om KVA:s personalrutiner.

Tyngdpunkten i tjänsten ligger på ekonomi (ca 50 %).

Din profil

• Erfarenhet från liknande arbetsuppgifter

• Intresse och förmåga att utveckla system, rutiner och arbetsprocesser

• Bred erfarenhet inom ekonomiområdet, gärna i en organisation där engelska är arbetsspråk

• Erfarenhet från rapportering/redovisning inom EU-projekt är meriterande

• Goda kunskaper i svenska och engelska

• Gymnasieekonom samt god användare av MS Office, speciellt Excel

Sista ansökningsdag 2013-02-18

Klicka här för att ladda ner annonsen

 

See seminar on various aspects of ecosystem services research
2012-12-20

 Reconnecting to the Biosphere through Ecosystem Services

Seminar in honour of Gretchen Daily, Volvo Environment Prize Laureate 2012, 21 November 2012

The concept of ecosystem services has become a useful tool in highlighting the value of healthy ecosystems for human well-being. This seminar will explore key challenges and research frontiers when moving from theory to real-world application in achieving more sustainable land management practices. What are the potential for replicating and scaling up successful approaches to achieve meaningful impact globally?

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystem processes. These include water and air purification, flood control, erosion control, generation of fertile soils, detoxification of wastes, resistance to climate and other environmental changes, pollination, and aesthetic and cultural benefits that derive from nature

About Gretchen Daily

Gretchen Daily was awarded the Volvo Environment Prize in 2012 for her pio­neering work on quantifying and valuing natural capital. In 2002 she published her book The New Economy of Nature: the Quest to Make Conservation Profit­able (written with Katherine Ellison).

In 2006 she and others founded the Natural Capital Project, where Stanford University, together with the Worldwide Fund for Nature and The Nature Con­servancy, develops methods for measuring the economic value of ecosystem services.

Professor Gretchen Daily is not only a prominent theoretician in her field, she is also in demand as adviser to projects across the world where efforts are be­ing made to protect the biological productivity of land areas while at the same time enabling sustainable economic growth.

Program

Driving innovation and impact of natural capital approaches

Professor Gretchen Daily, Stanford University see video

Urban ecosystem services for sustainable development

- from local to global

Dr. Åsa Gren, The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics see video

Payment for ecosystem services (PES )and biodiversity offsets: complexity blinders or a tool for a more sustainable market economy?

Dr. Thomas Hahn, Stockholm Resilience Centre see video

Cultural services and governance in social-ecological systems

Dr. Maria Tengö, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University  video will be available soon

How social-ecological systems organize bundles of ecosystem services

Professor Garry Peterson, Stockholm Resilience Centre see video

Reflections and Discussion  see video

Moderator Agneta Sundin, Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics

 

 

Community gardens as arenas for environmental learning
2012-12-07

One concern about increasing urbanization and reduced access to green areas, is that it creates a sort of generational amnesia about people's relationships to, and dependence upon, ecosystems.

In a recently published article in Landscape and Urban Planning, Pim Bendt (formerly), the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics along with Beijer colleague Johan Colding and Stephan Barthel, Stockholm Resilience Centre, have looked at how public access community gardens in Berlin can help teach communities the importance of urban ecosystems and green areas.

They found  that the gardens that intertwine gardening with social, political and economic practices can boost learning about the interdependencies between humans and nature, and help develop a sense-of-place in degraded neighbourhoods.

Through geographical mapping and in-depth interviews, Barthel and his colleagues selected four community gardens in Berlin that would serve as appropriate case studies. Interviewing community members involved in the gardens, the researchers could analyse their perceptions of gardening practices and community dynamics as well as the communities' interactions with local authorities.

"We found that the gardens constitute learning environments that engages individuals in the community and provide them with an increased understanding of local ecological conditions such as soil quality," says lead author Pim Bendt.

The four gardens differed in types of activities, openness and number of members, which is reflected in the types of learning and knowledge generated. Public access gardens that combine collective gardening with other activities, for example art, political activity or business development, draw in people from diverse backgrounds and are promising for countering extinction of experience and display learning in a wide array of issues. Gardens with fewer active members concentrating on gardening over a longer period of time can in turn develop a more in-depth local ecological knowledge.

Read more

Request paper from author

Bendt, P. Barthel, S. and Colding, J. (2012). Civic greening and environmental learning in public-access community gardens in Berlin. Landscape and Urban planning.

 

 

New positions
2012-11-14

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (www.kva.se ) is pleased to announce two positions as Academy Researcher with focus on global social-ecological dynamics and marine stewardship in a global context, one for a scholar with a documented background in economics and one for a scholar with a documented background in research on social-ecological interactions. The posi­tions will be central for the Family Erling Persson’s Academy Program on The Ecological Economics of Global Change, lead by Prof. Carl Folke.

Human wellbeing and the Earth system on which it depends are in transition. In a globalised world the economy, society, technology and the environment interact in novel and even unexpec­ted ways. A key challenge is to foster development that is favourable and sustainable for current and future generations. This challenge rests upon the capacity of the biosphere to support such a development. Research will address the complex, multi-scale dynamics of social–ecological systems and critical ecosystem services for societal development and human wellbeing. The dyna­mics include nonlinear thresholds that can lead to large, persistent changes but also transforma­tions of human actions toward stewardship of social–ecological systems for global sustainability. Part of the program will focus on marine issues in this context.

The Ecological Economics of Global Change program aims to address such challenges and is sear­ching for key collaborators to achieve this. The positions are three plus two years, with potential for continuation. We envision a mid-career researchers at the level of associate professor (docent) or similar. Documented skills in leading research and research teams will be highly valued and experience from interdisciplinary collaboration a bonus. The two Academy Researcher positions, with four post docs and a visiting professor will form the core of the program. The funding availa­ble for an Academy Researcher position can be used for own salary, or combined with support to post docs, PhD-students or similar.

Click here for more information and details on how to apply

 

 

Gap between science and policy threatens deep fish stocks
2012-10-03

As traditional fish stocks have progressively been depleted, new technology has helped fisheries search deeper and deeper in search of new fishing grounds and commercial opportunities.

In a new article recently published in Ocean Costal Management, Beijer Institute Mäler Scholar Sebastian Villasante from University of Santiago de Compostela together with Stockholm Resilience Centre researcher Henrik Österblom and other colleagues conducts an analysis of the changes in European Union deep-sea fishing between 1950 and 2006 and whether they comply with agreed catch limits.

So has it? No, is the short answer.

"The current scientific evidence suggests that many deep-sea fish stocks are being exploited beyond sustainable levels," says Henrik Österblom.

Part of the problem is that new fisheries develop much faster than what scientific communities and policy-makers can keep up with. The consequence is that some of the most important data about the species is gathered long after the stock has actually collapsed.

This is also true for fishing on a European scale. The historical expansion of global fishing has received much more attention than on smaller scales. The European Union began to show an interest in deep-sea fisheries in 1992 when it was stated that most of the exploited deep-water species were being harvested outside safe biological limits. But data is still scarce and compliance with any policies is modest at best.

Österblom and his colleagues warn that the gap between scientific advice and policy recommendations is too big and needs to be dealt with.

Read more about the results on the Stockholm Resilience centre webpage

 

 

Full reference: Villasante S, Morato T, Rodriguez-Gonzalez D, Antelo M, Österblom H, Watling L, Nouvian C, Gianni M, Macho G. (2012) Sustainability of deep-sea fish species under the European Union Common Fisheries Policy. Ocean & Coastal Management.

Beijer Young Scholars Program
2012-05-29

The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics is initiating a new network of young scientists conducting research related to social-ecological systems. The Beijer Young Scholars (BYS) program, launched with a workshop 20-25 May at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and at the island of Fejan in the Stockholm Archipelago, gathers early career researchers with background in economics, ecology, political science and related disciplines.

The aim of the workshop was to trigger collaboration between young scientists with different disciplinary backgrounds, supporting them in creating their own research networks with strong links to the Beijer Institute’s and the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s network of researchers and institutes. The group, with members from eight different countries, discussed the topic How can we stimulate social innovation and steer technological progress to promote desirable and resilient futures for humanity, and is now in the process of preparing a scientific paper on the issue.

“Our ambition is to create a neutral space where ambitious early career researchers could meet and inspire each other to do innovative research.  We hope that putting people together and letting them work intensively in a nice and relaxed environment creates trust and triggers creative cooperation over disciplinary borders to better address the global challenges we are facing”, says Anne-Sophie Crépin, deputy director of the Beijer Institute and one of the senior resource persons for the group. Other resource persons were Beijer Director and Carl Folke, Scott Barrett, Columbia University and chairman of the Beijer board, Victor Galaz, Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Beijer Fellow Steve Polasky, University of Minnesota.

Within the BYS program, the Beijer Institute in future plans to host post docs, young faculty and advanced PhD-students as well as support working groups and workshops. This first workshop proved a big success with many of the participants testifying to how fruitful it is to interact with scholars outside their own field to collaborate on a common challenge.

Efthymia Kyriakopoulou, economist from Greece, is doing her post-doc at Gothenburg University: “Taking part in interdisciplinary group work was a completely new experience for me. After this productive and inspiring week that helped us to get to know each other and develop a better idea of how people from different disciplines think, the next step is to combine our knowledge and study the global challenges related to social – ecological systems in depth.”

The BYS workshop was funded by the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation and the Anna-Greta and Holger Crafoord Foundation.

Science article present reform measures that can improve global sustainability governance.
2012-03-16

With the wider acknowledgement that human pressure on the planet is propelling Earth into a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, calls for improved governance of Earth´s resources is simultaneously gaining momentum. Structural change is needed, both inside and outside the UN system and involving both public and private actors.

In an article recently published in Science, Beijer Institute director Carl Folke, along with an international team of Earth System governance experts, presents seven reform measures that can improve global sustainability governance.

First, the environmental agencies and programmes of the United Nations must be reformed and potentially upgraded. Creating a governance body equivalent to the UN Security Council is largely believed to be too centralised and top-heavy, but turning the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) into a UN agency for environmental protection on par with the World Health Organization or the International Labour Organization is considered a better option.

"We need a strong, environmental organisation with a sizable role in agenda-setting, norm-development, science assessment and capacity-building," says Carl Folke, who is also Science director at Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Lead author Frank Biermann of VU University Amsterdam, continues:

"The most promising route is creating a high-level UN Sustainable Development Council directly under the UN General Assembly. To be effective, such a council should give special predominance to the 20 largest economies in the world but also welcome access for civil society representatives. Only such a strong novel role for these countries will allow the council to have a meaningful influence in areas such as economic and trade governance."

More information at the Stockholm Resilience Centre website

Full reference:  Biermann, F., K. Abbott, S. Andresen, K. Bäckstrand, S. Bernstein, M.M. Betsill, H. Bulkeley, B. Cashore, J. Clapp, C. Folke, A. Gupta, J. Gupta, P.M. Haas, A. Jordan, N. Kanie, T. Kluvánková-Oravská, L. Lebel, D. Liverman, J. Meadowcroft, R.B. Mitchell, P. Newell, S. Oberthür, L. Olsson, P. Pattberg, R. Sánchez-Rodríguez, H. Schroeder, A. Underdal, S. Camargo Vieira, C. Vogel, O.R. Young., A. Brock, and R. Zondervan. 2012. Navigating the Anthropocene: Improving Earth System Governance. Science 335: 13.06-1307