Articles | Volume 8, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-255-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-255-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 Apr 2017
Research article |
| 11 Apr 2017
Sustainable use of renewable resources in a stylized social–ecological network model under heterogeneous resource distribution
Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg A31, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Department of Physics, Humboldt University, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Jonathan F. Donges
Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg A31, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 114 19 Stockholm, Sweden
Marc Wiedermann
Transdisciplinary Concepts & Methods, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg A31, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Department of Physics, Humboldt University, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Wolfgang Lucht
Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg A31, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Department of Geography, Humboldt University, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems, Humboldt University,
Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
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T. Nocke, S. Buschmann, J. F. Donges, N. Marwan, H.-J. Schulz, and C. Tominski
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pattern–process–service–sustainabilitycascade framework. The use of this framework is systematically illustrated by a review of CHANS research experience in China's Loess Plateau in terms of coupling landscape patterns and ecological processes, linking ecological processes to ecosystem services, and promoting social–ecological sustainability.
Mohammad Shamsudduha and Richard G. Taylor
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 755–774, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-755-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-755-2020, 2020
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Recent assessments of the sustainability of global groundwater resources using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites assume that the underlying trends are linear. Here, we assess recent changes in groundwater storage (ΔGWS) in the world’s large aquifer systems using an ensemble of GRACE datasets and show that trends are mostly non-linear. Non-linearity in ΔGWS derives, in part, from the episodic nature of groundwater replenishment associated with extreme precipitation.
Mehran Homayounfar, Rachata Muneepeerakul, John M. Anderies, and Chitsomanus P. Muneepeerakul
Earth Syst. Dynam., 9, 1159–1168, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-1159-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-1159-2018, 2018
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For many complex social-ecological systems, robustness and resilience are difficult to quantify and the connections and trade-offs between them difficult to study. In this study, we present an analytical framework to address the linkage between robustness and resilience more systematically. The results reveal the trade-offs between robustness and resilience. They also show how the nature of such trade-offs varies with the choices of certain policies, internal stresses, and external disturbances.
Philipp de Vrese, Tobias Stacke, and Stefan Hagemann
Earth Syst. Dynam., 9, 393–412, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-393-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-393-2018, 2018
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The potential food supply depends strongly on climatic conditions, while agricultural activity has substantial impacts on climate. Using an Earth system model, we investigate the climate–agriculture interactions resulting from a maximization of the global cropland area during the 21st century. We find that the potential food supply can be increased substantially, but guaranteeing food security in dry areas in Northern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia will become increasingly difficult.
Brian J. Dermody, Murugesu Sivapalan, Elke Stehfest, Detlef P. van Vuuren, Martin J. Wassen, Marc F. P. Bierkens, and Stefan C. Dekker
Earth Syst. Dynam., 9, 103–118, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-103-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-103-2018, 2018
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Ensuring sustainable food and water security is an urgent and complex challenge. As the world becomes increasingly globalised and interdependent, food and water management policies may have unintended consequences across regions, sectors and scales. Current decision-making tools do not capture these complexities and thus miss important dynamics. We present a modelling framework to capture regional and sectoral interdependence and cross-scale feedbacks within the global food system.
Björn Claremar, Karin Haglund, and Anna Rutgersson
Earth Syst. Dynam., 8, 901–919, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-901-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-901-2017, 2017
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Shipping is the most cost-effective option for the global transport of goods, and over 90 % of world trade is carried by sea. The shipping sector, however, contributes to emissions of pollutants into the air and water. Estimates of deposition and near-surface concentrations of sulfur, nitrogen, and particulate matter originating from shipping in the Baltic Sea region have been developed for present conditions concerning traffic intensity and fuel as well as for future scenarios until 2050.
Ole Mertz, Kjeld Rasmussen, and Laura Vang Rasmussen
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 969–976, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-969-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-969-2016, 2016
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Conflicts over land and water resources between livestock herders and farmers are common in the Sahelian region of Africa. In this paper we show that improved information on weather, grazing areas, and water resources may reduce the level of conflict if communicated in such a way so that not too many livestock herds go to the same areas. However, if this information is not accompanied by information on herd crowding and potential conflict areas, it may lead to more conflict.
Timothy M. Lenton, Peter-Paul Pichler, and Helga Weisz
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 353–370, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-353-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-353-2016, 2016
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We identify six past revolutions in energy input and material cycling in Earth and human history. We find that human energy use has now reached a magnitude comparable to the biosphere, and conclude that a prospective sustainability revolution will require scaling up new solar energy technologies and the development of much more efficient material recycling systems. Our work was inspired by recognising the connections between Earth system science and industrial ecology at the "LOOPS" workshop.
J. Heitzig, T. Kittel, J. F. Donges, and N. Molkenthin
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 21–50, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-21-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-21-2016, 2016
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The debate about a safe and just operating space for humanity and the possible pathways towards and within it requires an analysis of the inherent dynamics of the Earth system and of the options for influencing its evolution. We present and illustrate with examples a conceptual framework for performing such an analysis not in a quantitative, optimizing mode, but in a qualitative way that emphasizes the main decision dilemmas that one may face in the sustainable management of the Earth system.
T. Ide and C. Fröhlich
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 659–671, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-659-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-659-2015, 2015
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We investigate why some social groups engage in conflicts over shared natural resources while other groups cooperate over the same issue. Drawing on evidence from the particularly puzzling case of water conflict and cooperation in Israel and Palestine, we show that the discursive construction of identities and situation assessments is a crucial explanatory factor. This finding highlights the relevance of bottom-up discursive conflict transformation.
M. V. Ogra and R. Badola
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 505–523, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-505-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-505-2015, 2015
R. Cremades, J. Wang, and J. Morris
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 399–410, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-399-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-399-2015, 2015
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Econometric analyses results revealed that policy support via subsidies and extension services have played an important role in promoting the adoption of irrigation technology. Strikingly, the present irrigation pricing policy has played significant but contradictory roles in promoting the adoption of different types of irrigation technology. Irrigation pricing showed a positive impact on household-based irrigation technology, and a negative impact on community-based irrigation technology.
A. Milan, G. Gioli, and T. Afifi
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 375–388, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-375-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-375-2015, 2015
M. Abid, J. Scheffran, U. A. Schneider, and M. Ashfaq
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 225–243, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-225-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-225-2015, 2015
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Based on a farm household survey of 450 farmers, this study examined the adaptation to climate change and factors affecting the adoption of various adaptation measures at the farm level in Pakistan. The study demonstrates that awareness of climate change is widespread in the area, and farmers are adapting their crops to climate variability. However the adaptation process is constrained due to several factors such as lack of information, lack of money, lack of resources and shortage of water.
T. K. Lissner, D. E. Reusser, J. Schewe, T. Lakes, and J. P. Kropp
Earth Syst. Dynam., 5, 355–373, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-355-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-355-2014, 2014
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Climate change will have impacts on many different sectors of society, but a systematic method to quantify human well-being and livelihoods across sectors is so far unavailable. This paper presents the AHEAD approach, which allows for relating impacts of climate change to 16 dimensions of livelihoods and well-being. Using the example of changes in water availability, the results show how climate change impacts AHEAD. The approach also provides a tool to frame uncertainties from climate models.
S. P. K. Bowring, L. M. Miller, L. Ganzeveld, and A. Kleidon
Earth Syst. Dynam., 5, 43–53, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-43-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-5-43-2014, 2014
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Short summary
Human societies depend on the resources ecosystems provide. We study this coevolutionary relationship by utilizing a stylized model of resource users on a social network. This model demonstrates that social–cultural processes can have a profound influence on the environmental state, such as determining whether the resources collapse from overuse or not. This suggests that social–cultural processes should receive more attention in the modeling of sustainability transitions and the Earth system.
Human societies depend on the resources ecosystems provide. We study this coevolutionary...
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