|
Social Ecological Systems |
Social-Ecological systems combine social interactions and political decision making processes with the availability and dynamics of biophysical resources of a system. Understanding the behavior of these systems is central for their management and the appropriate creation of governing institutions. Understanding the conditions under which ecological systems can be sustained, and how this goal can be achieved is a major question on local as well as on global scales.
Many studies in this field can and have been done with agent based models that draw upon insights from decision science. Some central questions in this area are:
- Which governing systems enhance the likelihood of cooperative solutions to be found and to be adapted?
- How well do these systems cope with uncertainty in the behavior of the ecology and how can this uncertainly be dealt with?
- Under which conditions do ecological systems break down, can such a breakdown be predicted, softened or avoided?
- How much tolerance does a society have before its functionality is severely constrained, and under which circumstances do small constraints have positive feedback leading to complete collapse?
- And if a system collapses, how does the process of reorganization take place? Does a system have multiple equilibria, and if so, to which will it return after a major shock?
- How strongly depends the management of ecological resources on the knowledge management of the society?
|
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
|
