Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals
Many governments and organisations are currently aligning many aspects of their policies and practices to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Achieving the SDGs should increase social-ecological resilience to shocks like climate change and its impacts. Here, we consider the relationship amongs...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6967 |
| _version_ | 1797746997400174592 |
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| author | K J Allen F Reide C Gouramanis B Keenan M Stoffel A Hu M Ionita |
| author_facet | K J Allen F Reide C Gouramanis B Keenan M Stoffel A Hu M Ionita |
| author_sort | K J Allen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many governments and organisations are currently aligning many aspects of their policies and practices to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Achieving the SDGs should increase social-ecological resilience to shocks like climate change and its impacts. Here, we consider the relationship amongst the three elements—the SDGs, social-ecological resilience and climate change—as a positive feedback loop. We argue that long-term memory encoded in historical, archaeological and related ‘palaeo-data’ is central to understanding each of these elements of the feedback loop, especially when long-term fluctuations are inherent in social-ecological systems and their responses to abrupt change. Yet, there is scant reference to the valuable contribution that can be made by these data from the past in the SDGs or their targets and indicators. The historical and archaeological records emphasise the importance of some key themes running through the SDGs including how diversity, inclusion, learning and innovation can reduce vulnerability to abrupt change, and the role of connectivity. Using paleo-data, we demonstrate how changes in the extent of water-related ecosystems as measured by indicator 6.6.1 may simply be related to natural hydroclimate variability, rather than reflecting actual progress towards Target 6.6. This highlights issues associated with using SDG indicator baselines predicated on short-term and very recent data only. Within the context of the contributions from long-term data to inform the positive feedback loop, we ask whether our current inability to substantively combat anthropogenic climate change threatens achieving both the SDGS and enhanced resilience to climate change itself. We argue that long-term records are central to understanding how and what will improve resilience and enhance our ability to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, for uptake of these data to occur, improved understanding of their quality and potential by policymakers and managers is required. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:44:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2fff1dfa752e43749c6a8aa6caf28c41 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:44:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-2fff1dfa752e43749c6a8aa6caf28c412023-08-09T15:28:06ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262022-01-0117505501110.1088/1748-9326/ac6967Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goalsK J Allen0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8403-4552F Reide1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4879-7157C Gouramanis2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2867-2258B Keenan3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0274-8878M Stoffel4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0816-1303A Hu5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1337-287XM Ionita6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8240-4380School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania , Churchill Avenue, Sandy Bay 7005, Australia; School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne , 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond 3121, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Heritage, University of New South Wales , Sydney 2052, AustraliaDepartment of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University , Moesgård Allé 20, Højbjerg 8270, DenmarkResearch School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University , Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 0200, AustraliaDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University , Montréal, QC H3A 0E8, CanadaClimate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-CIA), Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva , 66 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, Geneva 1205, Switzerland; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva , 13 rue des Maraîchers, Geneva 1205, Switzerland; Department F.A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Research, University of Geneva , 66 Boulevard Carl-Vogt, Geneva 1205, SwitzerlandNational Center for Atmospheric Research , 850 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, CO 80305, United States of AmericaAlfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research , Bremerhaven 27570, Germany; Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology, Romanian Academy , Cluj-Napoca 400006, RomaniaMany governments and organisations are currently aligning many aspects of their policies and practices to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Achieving the SDGs should increase social-ecological resilience to shocks like climate change and its impacts. Here, we consider the relationship amongst the three elements—the SDGs, social-ecological resilience and climate change—as a positive feedback loop. We argue that long-term memory encoded in historical, archaeological and related ‘palaeo-data’ is central to understanding each of these elements of the feedback loop, especially when long-term fluctuations are inherent in social-ecological systems and their responses to abrupt change. Yet, there is scant reference to the valuable contribution that can be made by these data from the past in the SDGs or their targets and indicators. The historical and archaeological records emphasise the importance of some key themes running through the SDGs including how diversity, inclusion, learning and innovation can reduce vulnerability to abrupt change, and the role of connectivity. Using paleo-data, we demonstrate how changes in the extent of water-related ecosystems as measured by indicator 6.6.1 may simply be related to natural hydroclimate variability, rather than reflecting actual progress towards Target 6.6. This highlights issues associated with using SDG indicator baselines predicated on short-term and very recent data only. Within the context of the contributions from long-term data to inform the positive feedback loop, we ask whether our current inability to substantively combat anthropogenic climate change threatens achieving both the SDGS and enhanced resilience to climate change itself. We argue that long-term records are central to understanding how and what will improve resilience and enhance our ability to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, for uptake of these data to occur, improved understanding of their quality and potential by policymakers and managers is required.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6967sustainable development goalsadaptive resiliencepalaeo-recordsarchaeological recordshistorical recordssocial-ecological systems |
| spellingShingle | K J Allen F Reide C Gouramanis B Keenan M Stoffel A Hu M Ionita Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals Environmental Research Letters sustainable development goals adaptive resilience palaeo-records archaeological records historical records social-ecological systems |
| title | Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals |
| title_full | Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals |
| title_fullStr | Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals |
| title_short | Coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental, historical and archaeological archives to support social-ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals |
| title_sort | coupled insights from the palaeoenvironmental historical and archaeological archives to support social ecological resilience and the sustainable development goals |
| topic | sustainable development goals adaptive resilience palaeo-records archaeological records historical records social-ecological systems |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac6967 |
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