Dwelling in the biosphere: exploring an embodied human–environment connection in resilience thinking

Resilience has emerged as a prominent paradigm for interpreting and shaping human–environment connections in the context of global environmental change. Resilience emphasizes dynamic spatial and temporal change in social–ecological systems where humans are inextricably interwoven with the environment. While influential, resilience thinking has been critiqued for an under-theorized framing of socio-cultural dynamics. In this paper, we examine how the resilience concepts of planetary boundaries and reconnecting to the biosphere frame human–environment connection in terms of mental representations and biophysical realities. We argue that focusing solely on mental reconnection limits further integration between the social and the ecological, thus countering a foundational commitment in resilience thinking to social–ecological interconnectedness. To address this susceptibility we use Tim Ingold’s ‘dwelling perspective’ to outline an embodied form of human–environment (re)connection. Through dwelling, connections are not solely produced in the mind, but through the ongoing interactivity of mind, body and environment through time. Using this perspective, we position the biosphere as an assemblage that is constantly in the making through the active cohabitation of humans and nonhumans. To illustrate insights that may emerge from this perspective we bring an embodied connection to earth stewardship, given its growing popularity for forging local to global sustainability transformations.     

Developing an integrated framework to assess agri-food systems and its application in the Ecuadorian Andes

Agri-food systems assessment can be performed following official and alternative framings, each linked to different objects of study, methods of analysis, and policy responses. Alternative frames conceptualize agri-food systems as the integration and interaction of humans and the agro-environment (i.e., as socio-ecological systems). This conceptualization allows studying the cross-level, cross-scale, and nonlinear interactions within and between the components of the system and help assess policy proposals, such as food sovereignty, in a more systemic way. To facilitate this, we link reflections and methodologies from complex system thinking and vulnerability studies applied to agri-food systems to propose an integrated framework of assessment, which links the agroecological context and the social function of agriculture, considering actor’s agency and institutional processes. This framework is suitable to analyze agri-food systems in fragile and marginal environments such as the Andean region. We apply the framework to assess vulnerability of local agri-food systems to global change in the southern Ecuadorian Andes, taking into account the role of peasant institutions (agroecological associations, comunas) and indigenous culture. The framework also allows understanding how agri-food policies change the configuration of agri-food systems and determines whether these changes are consistent with communities’ livelihoods reproduction.     

Landscape changes and environmental quality: the evolution of land vulnerability and potential resilience to degradation in Italy

Resilience, considered as the ability of a system to absorb and compensate pressures derived from human and natural systems, is a topic of interest in the Mediterranean region whose landscape is the joint result of social, economic and environmental factors. The present study analyses the changes in the Italian landscape over two periods (1960–1990 and 1990–2010) of the last 50 years through a composite index of environmental resilience and vulnerability to land degradation. Results indicate that the spatial distribution of this index has been considerably changed from a relatively simple geography (mainly reflecting a latitude gradient) to a more complex pattern. The level of vulnerability of southern Italian land maintained quite stable while increasing significantly in Northern and Central Italy. The (potential) resilience level decreased over time in Central and Northern Italy while growing moderately in Southern Italy. This means that important processes of environmental changes impacting landscape resilience occurred with a different spatial trend in Italy. The composite index derived from vulnerability and potential resilience estimates at the regional scale revealed crucial to map over time the increase of surface land exposed to desertification risk. Results support the adoption of measures promoting a sustainable land management in environmentally vulnerable land with low potential to resilience.     

土地利用变化对生态系统服务的影响研究综述

土地利用/覆被变化是全球环境变化的重要组成部分和主要原因之一,不仅带来了地表结构的巨大变化,而且对生态系统服务也造成重要影响。土地利用变化和生态系统服务研究已成为国际上生态学和地理学等跨学科研究的热点之一。从土地利用变化和生态系统服务的概念及其影响因素分析入手,综述了土地利用面积变化、土地利用方式变化和土地利用空间格局变化等对生态系统服务的影响,归纳了土地利用变化对生态系统服务的影响研究的主要方法和模型,分析了相关研究的不足,并提出了加强生态系统服务动态评估方法和时空动态评估模型的研究、强化土地利用变化对生态系统服务影响的生态学机制研究和注重土地利用变化下生态系统服务评估结果的集成应用研究等建议,以期对我国的土地利用变化与生态系统服务评估研究提供科学参考。     

Does community resilience decrease social–ecological vulnerability? Adaptation pathways trade-off in the Bolivian Altiplano

Worsening climate change impacts and environmental degradation are increasingly supporting policies and plans in framing a linear understanding of resilience building and vulnerability reduction. However, adaptations to different but interacting drivers of change are unclear in the mix of opportunities and threats related to increasing connections, emerging technologies, new patterns of dependency and possible lock-in effects. This paper discusses a more open-ended understanding of the relationship between resilience and vulnerability, highlighting emerging trade-offs among adaptive capacities and exposures to different (and new) threats as they relate to social–ecological sustainability. The transition of the Southern Bolivian Altiplano, from being a remote rural area of subsistence farming to a global leader in quinoa production and exportation, has been taken as a study case. Results from 18 workshops organised within different communities provide insights about a range of trade-offs between community resilience attributes and social–ecological vulnerability induced from land use changes, livestock strategies, communities’ behavioural change and institutions’ emerging policies. The main theoretical advances of the paper relate to the need for critically framing multiple threat exposures and adaptive capacity trade-offs, contributing to arguing the usually positive meaning of resilience, and taking into account “to whom or to what is positive which adaptation” and “which trade-off should be accepted, and why”. Framing adaptive pathways through these questions would serve as a tool for addressing sustainable development goals, while avoiding lock-ins or unsustainable path dependencies.     

三峡库区腹地土地功能演变及其驱动机制分析

土地利用功能在一定程度上反映了土地利用方式和强度的变化。以三峡库区腹地奉节县和巫山县为研究区域,以1986、2000、2007和2015年多时相遥感影像资料为数据源,通过空间自相关和冷热点分析等研究方法,分析土地利用功能的时空演变规律,并探索其与海拔、坡度和岩性等自然因子,以及人口、道路等社会经济条件的耦合驱动机制,揭示土地利用功能的理论现实意义。研究发现：(1)就土地利用功能数量而言,生活用地增加,生产功能减少,生态用地总体趋于稳定;就土地利用功能面积变化格局而言,三生功能均向稳定性方向发展。(2)就其集散程度而言,生产功能由大集聚向小集聚转变且集聚面积减少;生活功能集聚性持续增强,且集聚面积扩大;生态功能由集聚向分散变化,且空间范围增加。(3)就土地利用功能的驱动机制而言,包括高程、坡度和岩性在内的自然因子影响其空间分布状况,人口及道路分布影响三生功能的空间数量变化。     

Regional integration and local change: road paving, community connectivity, and social–ecological resilience in a tri-national frontier, southwestern Amazonia

Initiatives for global economic integration increasingly prioritize new infrastructure in relatively remote regions. Such regions have relatively intact ecosystems and provide valuable ecosystem services, which has stimulated debates over the wisdom of new infrastructure. Most prior research on infrastructure impacts highlights economic benefits, ecological damage, or social conflicts. We suggest a more integrative approach to regional integration by appropriating the concepts of connectivity from transport geography and social?Cecological resilience from systems ecology. Connectivity offers a means of observing the degree of integration between locations, and social?Cecological resilience provides a framework to simultaneously consider multiple consequences of regional integration. Together, they offer a spatial analysis of resilience that considers multiple dimensions of infrastructure impacts. Our study case is the southwestern Amazon, a highly biodiverse region which is experiencing integration via paving of the Inter-Oceanic Highway. Specifically, we focus on the ??MAP?? region, a tri-national frontier where Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru meet and which differs in the extent of highway paving. We draw on a tri-national survey of more than 100 resource-dependent rural communities across the MAP frontier and employ indicators for multiple dimensions of connectivity and social?Cecological resilience. We pursue a comparative analysis among regions and subregions with differing degrees of community connectivity to markets in order to evaluate their social?Cecological resilience. The findings indicate that connectivity and resilience have a multifaceted relationship, such that greater community connectivity corresponds to greater resilience in some respects but not others. We conclude by noting how our findings integrate those from heretofore largely disparate literatures on infrastructure. The integration of transport geography with resilience thought thus stands to advance the study of infrastructure impacts.     

Community-led reforestation: cultivating the potential of virtuous cycles to confer resilience in disaster disrupted social–ecological systems

Human relationships with trees can result in widespread citizen-led reforestation projects that catalyze social–biological-reinforcing feedback loops and set in motion virtuous cycles that restore perturbed social–ecological systems. These virtuous cycles confer resilience in such systems that counterbalance the tendency for vicious cycles to be triggered by destructive behavior and neglect. Given this argument, we ask: how do we cultivate the potential for virtuous cycles to confer resilience in social–ecological systems? To answer this question, we review feedback mechanisms and identify virtuous cycles catalyzed via ecological restoration to highlight their importance to the resilience of social–ecological systems. We then conceptualize these cycles with a causal map (also known as a causal loop diagram) illustrating an example where restoration activities and civic ecology practices contributed to feedbacks and virtuous cycles. Following from this example, we discuss approaches for recognizing and investing in virtuous cycles that accompany social–ecological systems and outline approaches for managing such cycles.     

基于生态足迹服务价值法的生态承载力时空演化

为了客观地评价生态承载力及其时空演化规律，通过构建以价值量为单位的生态足迹-服务价值法的生态承载力分析框架，选取2000~2015年陕西省97个区县的面板数据，运用全局Moran’s I、LISA集聚图和空间杜宾模型等方法，分析了陕西省生态承载力指数的分布特征、演化路径及驱动因素。研究表明：（1）陕西省及三大地区生态承载力指数先快速升高后缓慢降低，存在显著的空间自相关和空间异质性，低值集聚现象明显，且向关中地区集中。（2）林地面积和当量因子价值是促进生态承载力指数提高的主要因素，人均消费价值是抑制生态承载力指数提升的主要因素。（3）影响陕北、关中和陕南地区生态承载力指数的驱动因素存在差异。因此，陕西省需要加大生态修复工程投入力度，减缓人均消费价值增长速度，实施差异化的生态承载力政策，以达到改善生态承载力的目标。     

土地集约利用与生态效率的耦合协调发展研究

如何处理好土地集约利用与生态环境之间的关系,实现土地利用的经济、社会和生态三效益协调发展是新型城镇化建设中面临的一个重要问题。该文利用2005～2016年中国30个省、直辖市、自治区面板数据,通过全局主成分分析方法和超效率SBM模型对土地集约利用综合指数和生态效率进行测算,试图揭示土地集约利用与生态效率的耦合协调发展状况。结果表明：（1）土地集约利用水平呈逐步递增趋势,增长幅度表现为东部>中部>西部>东北地区;（2）生态效率逐年增加,增长幅度表现为东部>中部>西部>东北地区;（3）2016年,7个（23%）省市达到协调发展类,4个（14%）省市属于濒临失调类;19个（63%）省市属于失调衰退类。其中,上海和宁夏属于生态效率滞后型,其他省市均属于土地集约利用滞后型。此外,二者的耦合协调度有较明显的空间正相关性,但集聚程度逐渐减弱,空间分异愈加明显。     

The scientific challenge of bridging the gap from the local to the earth system level: lessons from the study of mangroves and people in North Brazil

This article aims to address the challenges of sustainable earth system governance from a multi-scale level perspective. The local to regional system level reviews findings from a social–ecological system approach of a mangrove ecosystem in North Brazil. Seven challenges (Glaser et al. in Mangrove dynamics and management in North Brazil. Ecological studies series. Springer, Berlin, pp 307–388, 2010) that could provide relevant knowledge to society were identified. Their respective justification and recommendations are presented here. Further, these “challenges from the field” are linked and discussed with those challenges on earth system level elaborated by the International Council for Science in 2010. There it was stressed that sustainability problems are increasingly caused by drivers from multiple spatial and institutional levels in a single global human–nature system. The comparison between the global and local to regional challenges shows that most of these are reappearing disregarding the level of analysis, indicating that there is a universal core of global change problems. However, there are gaps visible which hamper the effective connections across the different spatial levels. These pertain to the subjects of knowledge generation and stakeholder inclusion. The final section elaborates on these recognized gaps and their science–policy dimensions. The article closes with the identification of a number of factors which currently impede global sustainability efforts: shortcomings in inter- and transdisciplinary research practice, lack of consistent structures for earth system governance and shortcomings in dealing with upscaling challenges whilst remaining locally relevant. A blueprint for a globally focused but regionally informed social–ecological analysis framework remains to be worked out.     

武汉市耕地非农化的空间自相关分析

经济发展和城市扩张使包括耕地在内的大量开放空间被不断侵蚀,随着人们对耕地非市场价值和生态功能认识的不断加深,如何合理高效可持续地利用耕地被广泛关注。采用空间自相关分析方法从乡镇尺度定量研究了武汉市耕地非农化的空间关系,以探讨快速发展时期平原城市耕地非农化空间关系的变化及其原因。研究表明:(1)全局Morans I显示武汉市耕地非农化在1990~2011年的4个时期均呈现出显著的全局空间自相关,其聚集强度以2005年为分界点,前3个时期不断加强后有所下降;(2)通过EB修正的武汉市耕地非农化的LISA图显示武汉市耕地非农化的聚集区域由开始处于区域外围的LL型聚集为主导逐步转变为处于城乡交错区域的LH+HH型聚集为主导;(3)通过绘制不同时期不同聚集类型的重心移动路径可以发现LH+HH型聚集均出现先向东南再向东北移动的趋势,这种耕地非农化趋势与区域的产业布局有密切关系。通过空间自相关分析掌握武汉市耕地非农化的空间特征是开展耕地保护和实现耕地合理利用的基石,根据研究结果可以确定重点和优先管制区域以提升土地利用管制效果,协调好城市建设和耕地资源保护间的关系。     

Environmental characteristics and land-use pattern changes of the Old Huanghe River delta,eastern China,in the sixteenth to twentieth centuries

The interaction between human and land in estuarine–coastal areas has become a focus of the global change research. Since the sixteenth century, the Old Huanghe River delta has experienced rapid accretion, the formation of rich ecological resources and diverse land use pattern changes; such information, in combination with a large number of historical documents, provides a unique research area for revealing the processes for ecosystem–human changes. We use historical documents and adopt multidisciplinary methods, to identify the relationship between ecosystem changes and human activities, on the basis of spatial and temporal analysis, for in the Old Huanghe River delta region. The results indicate that, in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, the long-term monopolistic development pattern under the government leadership, which occupied large quantities of ecological resources, controlled the coastal salt industry and marsh land exploitation. However, along with the delta ecosystem change and population growth, the development pattern became gradually unsustainable, i.e., the salt industry migrated toward the north, while the farming activities migrated toward the south with enhanced intensity of marsh reclamation. The government monopoly collapsed in the late nineteenth century, which enlarged the independent development space for the local residents, which, to a large extent, improved the land-use efficiency and reduced the population pressure.     

Impacts of climate change in rapidly urbanizing region – a case study in Hangzhou (China)

Climate change is expected to be a major driving force of landscape in the coming decades. It will have a multitude of potential impacts that vary in intensity and effect according to region and sector. In the context of global warming, the climate of China has changed significantly in the recent 100 years. The reason for climate change in China is mainly due to irrational land use caused by human activities, which chiefly results in the rapid industrialization and urbanization process. Based on an assessment model, this research represents a picture of the impacts of climate change in six districts of Hangzhou region. The aim of this paper is to conclude, on the one hand, some of Hangzhou sensitivities in relation to the primary effects of climate change. On the other hand, a reflection is made on a methodology to formulate preconditions on a scientific basis for further research by design of integrated adaptation options for the future spatial developments in function to upgrade Hangzhou resilience in relation to climate change challenges.     

基于“三生”功能的江苏省国土空间特征及分区调控

随着新型城镇化的推进,土地利用方式进入转型期,深入分析土地利用多宜性可为科学土地利用布局提供理论支持。以江苏省55个县域为研究对象,从生产-生活-生态3个维度构建国土空间"三生"功能识别体系,借助GIS空间分析、空间计量模型探析江苏省县域"三生"功能的空间格局特征,结合地理探测器和双变量空间自相关方法揭示关联性,并根据主导功能差异提出优化对策。结果表明:(1)江苏省生产-生活-生态功能用地空间分异明显,呈现以南京、苏州、无锡为主导的生产空间,环洪泽湖、沿海、依山的生态空间和以城镇为中心的生活空间集聚特征;(2)区域经济发展水平、生活承载能力、生态因素共同驱动"三生"功能空间格局,各因素间存在明显的强度差异和空间异质性,经济发展-生活承载驱动、生态保育-生活提升驱动、农业生产-生活发展制约、经济发展-生活承载制约4种类型机理各异并呈现自东南向西北渐变特征;(3)依据生产-生活-生态三大维度功能在不同空间的强弱主次特征确定了生产-生活主导功能区、生产功能主导辅以生活功能提升区、生态功能为主导限制生产功能区、生产功能主导生态功能培育区四类功能区,并以强化生产生活功能凝聚力及保育生态功能为逻辑主线,分析总结其对应的土地利用策略。研究结果不仅可明确江苏省各县域单元的土地利用功能定位,也是优化主体功能区划及合理调控区域功能结构的理论补充和实践参考,为提升区域可持续发展能力提供了科学依据。     

基于邻接关系的土地利用变化空间关联规则研究

空间关联规则可在海量空间数据中挖掘出空间对象之间相互作用、空间依赖、因果或共生的模式。将空间关联规则方法引入土地利用变化时空特征分析中,以浙江省桐庐县2004~2009年的两种典型地类变化(城镇用地的转入、耕地的转出)为例,结合GIS的空间统计和空间分析功能,首先通过土地利用转移矩阵分析土地利用面积变化的整体情况,再采用经典Apriori算法挖掘这两种典型地类变化与其周边邻接的地类变化间的关联性规律。研究表明:(1)桐庐县土地利用呈现明显的非农化趋势,这主要归因于城镇化进程以及其作为特色发展的生态建设;(2)城镇用地的发展主要依靠耕地和农村居民点的转型,表现为集中连片的扩展方式,且城镇用地与交通水利建设用地的发展具有明显的共生现象;(3)耕地的同种转变类型在空间上呈现连片集聚分布,且耕地发展易受相邻地类的驱动或制约,尤其是林地和农村居民点。空间关联规则挖掘能够定量分析在空间邻接的情况下地类间的转变倾向以及变化的关联规律,为土地利用变化时空分析提供有用信息。     

Sustainable place-making for sustainability science: the contested case of agri-food and urban–rural relations

The paper explores the concept of ‘sustainable place-making’ and its necessary relationships and opportunities with the emerging, broader and interdisciplinary field of sustainability science. This implies a reconsideration of the new and emerging interrelationships between economy, community and ecology as a basis for active place-making. The paper then examines the new dynamics of place-making with regard to the contested emergence of the bio-economy and the eco-economy, and the principles and place framings that lie behind these competing paradigms of spatial development. The reference point here is agri-food and urban–rural relations; and it is argued that research in these fields is in need of being contextualised critically and normatively within this dynamic, highly contested and place-making context. The analysis also holds important implications for a more critical and engaging sustainability science.     

南昌市中心城区城市建设用地集约利用特征及空间相关性分析

城市化进程不可避免的要占用大量土地资源,当前城市土地集约利用已经成为地理学、土地科学等相关学科研究的热点问题。为了从中观尺度科学分析城市土地集约利用空间分布规律和趋势,以南昌市中心城区为研究对象,在城市建设用地集约利用评价的基础上,运用全域Moran's I和局域Moran's I系数分析建设用地集约度的空间自相关格局(依赖性),揭示建设用地利用集约度的空间局部聚集和局部异常特征。结果表明:建设用地利用集约度全域空间相关性和局域空间相关性指标均显著,从城市边缘到中心区(或副中心)呈现递增的空间形态,其中居住功能区集约度空间相关性最高,教育功能区则最低;各功能区都存在正局域相关,空间分布呈现典型的空间聚集现象。对于高值聚类区应以结构挖潜为主,通过旧城改造和用地置换优化用地布局,低值和高低值聚类区应以管理潜力挖潜为主,通过规划管理和政策引导提高集约度,达到经济社会生态效益相统一的目标,可为南昌市城市建设用地集约利用提供必要的支撑和依据。     

安徽省土地利用变化下的生态敏感性时空规律

土地利用变化过程中生态敏感性的研究有利于土地利用的科学管理和健康长效的城市化发展。选择安徽省为研究区域,通过分析土地利用变化对生态系统的敏感性的影响机制,构建出基于弹性概念的生态敏感性指数模型,并利用2002~2011年安徽省的土地利用变更数据,对其10年的生态敏感性的时空变化规律进行研究。结果表明:(1)2002~2011年,安徽省土地利用综合强度由2.26增加到2.49,生态服务价值由2.84×10¹²元减少到2.75×10¹²元,两者呈现出很强的负相关,且安徽省17个地级市的土地利用综合强度与生态服务价值也均呈现负相关关系;(2)安徽省土地利用变化下的生态敏感性指数由2003年的2.26上升到2011年的2.49,在研究期内均属于低敏感性,表明安徽省整个生态系统受其土地利用变化的影响程度不是很强烈,能够适应目前城市化发展的速度和强度;(3)安徽省由2003年的16个生态系统低敏感或不敏感市(占全省总面积的92.97%)减少到2011年的12个低敏感市(占全省总面积的67.06%),表明人类活动对生态系统已经造成了一定的影响。