Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T03:54:27.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Biodiversity revisited through systems thinking

Part of: Multi-dimensionality of the biodiversity crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2021

Federico Davila Open the ORCID record for Federico Davila [Opens in a new window] ,
Roel Plant  and
Brent Jacobs
Federico Davila*
Affiliation:
Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, 253 Jones Street, Ultimo NSW 2007 Australia
Roel Plant
Affiliation:
Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, 253 Jones Street, Ultimo NSW 2007 Australia
Brent Jacobs
Affiliation:
Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, 253 Jones Street, Ultimo NSW 2007 Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Federico Davila, Email: Federico.davila@uts.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Systems thinking provides a comprehensive range of theories and methods that are useful for understanding and managing sustainability challenges. Biodiversity conservation is riddled with complex interactions between science, society and myriad interacting systems through temporal and spatial scales. This article presents a synthetic analysis of the history of systems thinking from a genealogical perspective, drawing from hard and soft systems thinking, and resilience and social-ecological systems. Using the anchor point of system leverage points and system characteristics (parameters, feedbacks, design and intent), we employ a diversity of examples to illustrate their relevance to multiple biodiversity related problems. We conclude by illustrating the opportunities for systems thinking to bridge epistemic divides with multiple biodiversity actors working towards conservation outcomes. Systems thinking can support more integrative biodiversity interventions, as they provide a pluralistic set of tools for bridging knowledges and disciplines, which can be useful to create new shared understandings of how to conserve biodiversity.

Keywords

biodiversity revisitedconservationinterdisciplinaryleverage pointsmanagementsciencesustainabilitysystems thinking
Type
Subject Review
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 16 - 24
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Foundation for Environmental Conservation

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abson, DJ, Fischer, J, Leventon, J, Newig, J, Schomerus, T, Vilsmaier, U, von Wehrden, H et al. (2017) Leverage points for sustainability transformation. Ambio 46: 30–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderies, J (2005) Minimal models and agroecological policy at the regional scale: an application to salinity problems in Southeastern Australia. Regional Environmental Change 5: 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arlaud, M, Cumming, T, Dickie, I, Flores, M, van den Heuvel, O, Meyers, D, Riva, M et al. (2018) The biodiversity finance initiative: an approach to identify and implement biodiversity-centered finance solutions for sustainable development. In: Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy: Principles, Challenges and Perspectives, pp. 77–98. New York, NY, USA: Springer.Google Scholar
Arora-Jonsson, S (2016) Does resilience have a culture? Ecocultures and the politics of knowledge production. Ecological Economics 121: 98–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Artelle, KA, Zurba, M, Bhattacharyya, J, Chan, DE, Brown, K, Housty, J, Moola, F (2019) Supporting resurgent Indigenous-led governance: a nascent mechanism for just and effective conservation. Biological Conservation 240: 108284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bausch, KC (2002) Roots and branches: a brief, picaresque, personal history of systems theory. Systems Research and Behavioral Science 19: 417–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bawden, RJ, Packham, RG (1993) Systemic praxis in the education of the agricultural systems practitioner. Systems Practice 6: 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, NJ, Roth, R, Klain, SC, Chan, K, Christie, P, Clark, DA, Cullman, G et al. (2016) Conservation social science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation. Biological Conservation 93–108.Google Scholar
Berkes, F, Folke, C (1998) Linking social and ecological systems for resilience and sustainability. Linking Social and Ecological Systems: Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience 1: 4.Google Scholar
Biesbroek, R, Lesnikowski, A (2018) The neglected dimension of polycentric climate governance? In: Governing Climate Change, eds. Jordan, A, Huitema, D, van Asselt, H, Forster, J, p. 303. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blythe, J, Nash, K, Yates, J, Cumming, G (2017) Feedbacks as a bridging concept for advancing transdisciplinary sustainability research. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 26–27: 114–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blythe, J, Silver, J, Evans, L, Armitage, D, Bennett, NJ, Moore, M-L, Morrison, TH et al. (2018) The dark side of transformation: latent risks in contemporary sustainability discourse. Antipode 50: 1206–1223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Checkland, P, Scholes, J (1999) Soft Systems Methodology in Action. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Clark, WC, Harley, AG (2020) Sustainability science: toward a synthesis. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 45: 331–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colloff, MJ, Lavorel, S, Kerkhoff, LE, Wyborn, CA, Fazey, I, Gorddard, R, Mace, GM et al. (2017) Transforming conservation science and practice for a postnormal world. Conservation Biology 31: 1008–1017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia (2007) Encouraging Environmental Philanthropy: Lessons from Australian Case Studies and Interviews. Canberra: Department of the Environment and Water Resources.Google Scholar
Contestabile, M (2020) A collaborative process. Nature Sustainability 3: 673–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, CN, Mascia, MB, Schwartz, MW, Possingham, HP, Fuller, RA (2013) Achieving conservation science that bridges the knowledge–action boundary. Conservation Biology 27: 669–678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davidson, DJ (2010) The applicability of the concept of resilience to social systems: some sources of optimism and nagging doubts. Society and Natural Resources 23: 1135–1149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, JS (2016) Why the Philippines chooses to import rice. Critical Asian Studies 48: 100–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davila, F (2020) Human ecology and food discourses in a smallholder agricultural system in Leyte, The Philippines. Agriculture and Human Values 37: 719–741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davila, F, Dyball, R, Amparo, JM (2018) Transdisciplinary research for food and nutrition security: examining research-policy understandings in Southeast Asia. Environmental Development 28: 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dedeurwaerdere, T, Admiraal, J, Beringer, A, Bonaiuto, F, Cicero, L, Fernandez-Wulff, P, Hagens, J et al. (2016) Combining internal and external motivations in multi-actor governance arrangements for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Environmental Science & Policy 58: 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díaz, S, Zafra-Calvo, N, Purvis, A, Verburg, PH, Obura, D, Leadley, P, Chaplin-Kramer, R et al. (2020) Set ambitious goals for biodiversity and sustainability. Science 370: 411–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domínguez, L, Luoma, C (2020) Decolonising conservation policy: how colonial land and conservation ideologies persist and perpetuate Indigenous injustices at the expense of the environment. Land 9: 65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorninger, C, Abson, DJ, Apetrei, CI, Derwort, P, Ives, CD, Klaniecki, K, Lam, DP et al. (2020) Leverage points for sustainability transformation: a review on interventions in food and energy systems. Ecological Economics 171: 106570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovers, S (2005) Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation and Evaluation. Sydney, Australia: The Federation Press.Google Scholar
Dyball, R, Newell, B (2015) Understanding Human Ecology: A Systems Approach to Sustainability. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Evans, MC, Davila, F, Toomey, A, Wyborn, C (2017) Embrace complexity to improve conservation decision making. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1: 1588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fabinyi, M, Evans, L, Foale, SJ (2014) Social-ecological systems, social diversity, and power: insights from anthropology and political ecology. Ecology and Society 19(4): 28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, J, Gardner, TA, Bennett, EM, Balvanera, P, Biggs, R, Carpenter, S, Daw, T et al. (2015) Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social–ecological systems perspective. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 14: 144–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, J, Riechers, M (2019) A leverage points perspective on sustainability. People and Nature 1: 115–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooden, J (2019) A review of critical perspectives on private land conservation in academic literature. Ambio 1–16.Google ScholarPubMed
Griggs, D, Stafford Smith, M, Rockström, J, Öhman, MC, Gaffney, O, Glaser, G, Kanie, N et al. (2014) An integrated framework for sustainable development goals. Ecology and Society 19.Google Scholar
Hakkarainen, V, Anderson, CB, Eriksson, M, van Riper, CJ, Horcea-Milcu, A, Raymond, CM (2020) Grounding IPBES experts’ views on the multiple values of nature in epistemology, knowledge and collaborative science. Environmental Science & Policy 105: 11–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamrick, K (2016) State of private investment in conservation 2016: a landscape assessment of an emerging market. Forest Trends.Google Scholar
Holling, CS (1973) Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 4: 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornberger, GM, Cosby, BJ (1985) Selection of parameter values in environmental models using sparse data: a case study. Mathematics and Computation 17: 335–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, HP (2000) Using traditional ecological knowledge in science: methods and applications. Ecological Applications 10: 1270–1274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, MC (1985) Social systems theory and practice: the need for a critical approach. International Journal of General System 10: 135–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, B, Boronyak, L, Mitchell, P (2019) Application of risk-based, adaptive pathways to climate adaptation planning for public conservationa areas in NSW, Australia. Climate 7: 58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, B, Lee, C, Watson, S, Dunford, S, Coutts-Smith, A (2016) Adaptation planning process and government adaptation architecture support regional action on climate change in New South Wales, Australia. In: Innovation in Climate Change Adaptation, pp. 17–29. New York, NY, USA: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kooiman, J, Jentoft, S (2009) Meta-governance: values, norms and principles, and the making of hard choices. Public Administration 87: 818–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, P (2012) The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations. London, UK: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, D, Wiek, A, Bergmann, M, Stauffacher, M, Martens, P, Moll, P, Swilling, M et al. (2012) Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges. Sustainability Science 7: 25–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leventon, J, Schaal, T, Velten, S, Loos, J, Fischer, J, Newig, J (2019) Landscape-scale biodiversity governance: scenarios for reshaping spaces of governance. Environmental Policy and Governance 29: 170–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louder, E, Wyborn, C (2020) Biodiversity narratives: stories of the evolving conservation landscape. Environmental Conservation 1–9.Google Scholar
Manlosa, AO, Schultner, J, Dorresteijn, I, Fischer, J (2019) Leverage points for improving gender equality and human well-being in a smallholder farming context. Sustainability Science 14: 529–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meadows, D (2008) Thinking in Systems: A Primer. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green.Google Scholar
Meadows, D, Sterman, J, King, A. (2017) Fishbanks: a renewable resource management simulation. In: MIT Management Sloan School.Google Scholar
Meadows, DH (1999) Leverage points: places to intervene in a system. Solutions 1: 41–49.Google Scholar
Meadows, DL, Meadows, D, Randers, J, Berhrens, WW (1972) The Limits to Growth. Washington, DC, UK: Universe Books.Google Scholar
Midgley, G (2000) Systemic Intervention: Philosophy, Methodology and Practice. New York, NY, USA: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Midgley, G (2006) Systems thinking for evaluation. Systems Concepts in Evaluation: An Expert Anthology 11–34.Google Scholar
Miller, BW, Caplow, SC, Leslie, PW (2012) Feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems. Conservation Biology 26: 218–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moon, K, Blackman, D (2014) A guide to understanding social science research for natural scientists. Conservation Biology 28: 1167–1177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moon, K, Cocklin, C (2011) A landholder-based approach to the design of private-land conservation programs. Conservation Biology 25: 493–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munn, Z, Peters, MD, Stern, C, Tufanaru, C, McArthur, A, Aromataris, E (2018) Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology 18: 143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norström, AV, Cvitanovic, C, Löf, MF, West, S, Wyborn, C, Balvanera, P, Bednarek, AT et al. (2020) Principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability research. Nature Sustainability 3: 182–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Government, NSW (2018) Adapt NSW: Understanding and Adapting to Climate Change in NSW. Sydney, Australia: Office of Environment and Heritage.Google Scholar
Government, NSW (2019) North Coast Enabling Regional Adaptation: North Coast Region Report Office of Environment and Heritage. Sydney, Australia: Office of Environment and Heritage.Google Scholar
Olsson, P, Galaz, V, Boonstra, WJ (2014) Sustainability transformations: a resilience perspective. Ecology and Society 19.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E (2009) A general framework for analysing sustainability of socio-ecological systems. Science 325: 1931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelling, M, O’Brien, K, Matyas, D (2015) Adaptation and transformation. Climatic Change 133: 113–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proust, K, Newell, B, Brown, H, Capon, A, Browne, C, Burton, A, Dixon, J et al. (2012) Human health and climate change: leverage points for adaptation in urban environments. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9: 2134–2158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raymond, CM, Brown, G (2011) Assessing conservation opportunity on private land: socio-economic, behavioral, and spatial dimensions. Environmental Management 92: 2513–2523.Google ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, M (2015) Communicating about systems and complexity: from contingency to praxis. In: Gedenkschrift to Honor Brenda Zimmerman’s Contributions to Understanding Complexity and Social Innovation, ed. Patton, MQ. Canada: Social Innovation Generation de L’innovation Sociale.Google Scholar
Reynolds, M, Holwell, S (2020) Systems Approaches to Making Change: A Practical Guide. Milton Keynes, UK: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, DC, Sutherland, WJ, Amano, T, González-Varo, JP, Robertson, RJ, Simmons, BI, Wauchope, HS et al. (2018) The major barriers to evidence-informed conservation policy and possible solutions. Conservation Letters 11: e12564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sachs, JD, Schmidt-Traub, G, Mazzucato, M, Messner, D, Nakicenovic, N, Rockström, J (2019) Six transformations to achieve the sustainable development goals. Nature Sustainability 2: 805–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scoones, I, Stirling, A. (2020) The Politics of Uncertainty: Challenges of Transformation. Oxon, UK: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scullion, JJ, Vogt, KA, Winkler-Schor, S, Sienkiewicz, A, Peña, C, Hajek, F (2016) Designing conservation-development policies for the forest frontier. Sustainability Science 11: 295–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sebastian, I, Jacobs, B (2020) The emergence of relationality in governance of climate change adaptation. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies, ed. Brears, R, pp. 47–67. Sydney, Australia: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sievers-Glotzbach, S, Tschersich, J (2019) Overcoming the process-structure divide in conceptions of Social-Ecological Transformation: assessing the transformative character and impact of change processes. Ecological Economics 164: 106361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soulé, ME (1985) What is conservation biology? Bioscience 35: 727–734.Google Scholar
Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) (2015) A New Song for Coastal Fisheries Pathways to Change: The Noumera Strategy. Noumea, New Caledonia: Pacific Community.Google Scholar
Tanner, T, Bahadur, A (2012) Transformation: Theory and Practice in Climate Change and Development. Google Scholar
Termeer, CJAM, Dewulf, A, Biesbroek, GR (2017) Transformational change: governance interventions for climate change adaptation from a continuous change perspective. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 60: 558–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulrich, W, Reynolds, M (2010) Critical systems heuristics. In: Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practical Guide, pp. 243–292. New York, NY, USA: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulrich, W, Reynolds, M (2020) Critical systems heuristics: the idea and practice of boundary critique. In: Systems Approaches to Making Change: A Practical Guide, eds. Reynolds, M, Holwell, S. Milton Keynes, UK: Springer.Google Scholar
Vatn, A (2018) Environmental governance: from public to private? Ecological Economics 148: 170–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, B, Gunderson, L, Kinzig, A, Folke, C, Carpenter, S, Schultz, L (2006) A handful of heuristics and some propositions for understanding resilience in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 11.Google Scholar
Walker, B, Salt, D (2006) Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press.Google Scholar
Watts, N, Scales, IR (2020) Social impact investing, agriculture, and the financialisation of development: insights from sub-Saharan Africa. World Development 130: 104918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, S, Haider, LJ, Stålhammar, S, Woroniecki, S (2020) A relational turn for sustainability science? Relational thinking, leverage points and transformations. Ecosystems and People 16: 304–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyborn, C, Datta, A, Montana, J, Ryan, M, Leith, P, Chaffin, B, Miller, C et al. (2019a) Co-producing sustainability: reordering the governance of science, policy, and practice. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 44: 319–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyborn, C, Kalas, N, Rust, N (2019b) Seeds of change: provocations for a new research agenda. In: Biodiversity Revisited Symposium Conference Proceedings, 11–13 September 2019, Vienna, Austria: Luc Hoffmann Institute.Google Scholar
Wyborn, C, Louder, E, Harfoot, M, Hill, S (in press) Engaging with the science and politics of biodiversity futures. Environmental Conservation.Google Scholar
Wyborn, C, Montana, J, Kalas, N, Davila, F, Clements, H, Izquierdo, T, Knowles, N et al. (2020) Research and Action Agenda for Sustaining Diverse and Just Futures for Life on Earth. In: Gland, Switzerland: Luc Hoffman Institute.Google ScholarPubMed
Young, O (2002) The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change: Fit, Interplay and Scale. Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar