Launch event for new ESG-GLP working group on governance of socio-ecological systems

We would like to inform you that we will start a new joint ESG-GLP Working Group on Governance of Social-Ecological Systems. In this new Working Group, we are keen on exploring and discussing the challenges, possibilities, and opportunities one encounters when seeking to understand and explain complex emergent social-ecological phenomena - such as shifts in governance arrangements, ecosystem collapses, or the emergence of innovations. We attempt to do so through diverse conceptual avenues. Social-ecological systems (SES) are characterized by co-evolutionary dynamics that define the relationships between human and non-human components and through which diverse phenomena emerge. Understanding how social and ecological entities in SES interact, develop agency, and lead to specific emergent phenomena is vital to govern the system towards sustainability, e.g., higher resilience.

We want to build an interdisciplinary community of researchers interested in improving theories, concepts, models, frameworks, and tools to better grasp the intricacies of the human-nature interface and respond to the multiple challenges of studying emergent SES phenomena.

The working group will start at this year’s Earth System Governance Conference in October 2023. The meeting will take place in a hybrid format. If you are interested in joining this Working Group, please email Elke Kellner: ekellner@asu.edu

Papers linked to the topic:

• Kellner, Elke; Martin, Dominic A. 2023. “Learning from past coevolutionary processes to envision sustainable futures: Extending an action situations approach to the Water-Energy-Food nexus.” Earth System Governance 15: 100168. DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2023.100168.
• Herzog, Laura; Tanguay, Louis; Beisner, Beatrix E.; Pahl-Wostl, Claudia; Audet, René; Schlüter, Maja (2022): Studying human-nature relations in aquatic social-ecological systems using the social-ecological action situations framework: how to move from empirical data to conceptual models. In Ecology and Society 27 (3). DOI: 10.5751/ES-13268-270307.
• Orach, Kirill; Schlüter, Maja (2021): Understanding the dynamics of fish politics: The role of diverse actor interactions in transformations towards co-management. In Environmental Science & Policy 124 (4), pp. 195–205. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2021.06.010.
• Schlüter, Maja; Haider, L. Jamila; Lade, Steven J.; Lindkvist, Emilie; Martin, Romina; Orach, Kirill et al. (2019): “Capturing emergent phenomena in social-ecological systems: an analytical framework.” In Ecology and Society 24 (3). DOI: 10.5751/ES-11012-240311.

Best wishes,
Elke Kellner and Maja Schlüter, on behalf of the co-conveners