Sustainable Management of Socio-ecological Systems (SES)  | Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy

Faculty associated with the cluster: Guntra Aistara, Brandon P. Anthony, Viktor Lagutov,

For the purposes of this collaborative area, socio-ecological systems (SES) are defined as spatial and/or functional units with closely integrated ecological, economic, socio-cultural, and governance components. The area covers and studies systemic properties and management of SES in diverse place-based contexts to understand their complex structures and functions, non-linear and emergent behavior and ability to maintain resilience and integrity while delivering goods and services necessary to meet both human and non-human needs. SES are studied on multiple scales in diverse geographic, political, and ecosystem contexts using quantitative and qualitative, including participatory, methods and with an emphasis on using multiple lines of evidence to support decision-making. Thematic foci include biodiversity conservation, environmental monitoring, SDG implementation, adaptive management and resilience, and agroecology. (It also covers: human-wildlife conflicts and their mitigation; protected area management; governance of global environmental assessment systems; sustainable cities and communities; sustainable development goals.)

Associated working groups and calls:
Call in protected areas management effectiveness (PAME) evaluation

Ongoing projects include:

a management effectiveness evaluation in the Kruger-to-Canyons Biosphere Reserve:
and a study of predation induced livestock loss adjacent to the Kruger National Park – monitoring the scale, scope and the impact of compensation;
documenting and analyzing the intellectual history of UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook system;
the Horizon-2020 NATure based Urban innoVATION (NATURVATION) project on urban nature-based solutions;
and the European University of Social Sciences (CIVICA).

Research highlights:

Matar, Diane & Anthony, Brandon P. 2019. Sense and Sustainability: The Story of Biosphere Reserves in Lebanon. In UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: Supporting Biocultural Diversity, Sustainability and Society. Reed, M. & Price, M. (eds). pp. 135-148. London, UK: Earthscan.
Milatovic, Luna, Anthony, Brandon P., & Swemmer, Tony. 2019. Estimating conservation effectiveness across protected areas in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Koedoe 61(1): a1530.
Sukanan, Darunee & Anthony, Brandon P. 2019. Community attitudes towards bears, bear bile use and bear conservation in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 15: 15 pp. 
Frantzeskaki, N., T. McPhearson, M.J. Collier, D. Kendal, H. Bulkeley, A. Dumitru, C. Walsh, K. Noble, E. van Wyk, C. Ordonez, C. Oke and L. Pintér. 2019. Nature-based solutions for urban climate change adaptation: Linking science, policy, and practice communities for evidence-based decision-making. BioScience 69 (6) 455–466.
Pintér, L., M. Kok and D. Almassy. 2017. Implementing sustainable development goals and measuring progress: A governance perspective. In F. Biermann and N. Kanie, editors. Governing through Goals: Sustainable Development Goals as Governance Innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.