Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau
Abstract The social–ecological trap is an emerging concept that describes situations in which self‐reinforcing social and ecological feedbacks maintain or push a social–ecological system towards an undesirable state and threaten the sustainability of human societies. Understanding a system's fe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2023-08-01
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| Series: | People and Nature |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10513 |
| _version_ | 1797755533954908160 |
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| author | Zhuangzhuang Wang Bojie Fu Xutong Wu Yingjie Li Shuai Wang Nan Lu |
| author_facet | Zhuangzhuang Wang Bojie Fu Xutong Wu Yingjie Li Shuai Wang Nan Lu |
| author_sort | Zhuangzhuang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The social–ecological trap is an emerging concept that describes situations in which self‐reinforcing social and ecological feedbacks maintain or push a social–ecological system towards an undesirable state and threaten the sustainability of human societies. Understanding a system's feedback loops and identifying the leading factors of such traps is essential to develop effective management strategies to warn, avoid and escape traps. To better understand the dynamics of social–ecological traps, we developed a quantitative diagnostic framework that combines the social–ecological network approach and composite system state index. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the framework by examining the rural social–ecological evolution in China's Loess Plateau (LP) from 1949 to 2020, an area once faced with severe social–ecological challenges such as soil erosion, land degradation and poverty. Our analysis identified three stages of trap dynamics in LP: locked in the trap (1949–1981), reacting to the trap (1981–2003) and escaping the trap (2003–2020). In the first stage, LP was locked into an undesirable trajectory where reinforcing feedback occurs between rapid population growth, limited livelihood opportunities, excessive reliance on agriculture and severe soil erosion. Our results also found that the LP has made significant progress in escaping this social–ecological trap during the 21st century through ecological restoration practices and socioeconomic development. Similar social–ecological traps are also observed in many other regions of the world, particularly in developing countries. Our analysis recommends three pathways for addressing social–ecological traps in the LP: (1) promoting urbanization and livelihood diversity, (2) implementing site‐specific engineering measures (e.g. terraces and check dams in the LP) and (3) investing in ecological restoration programs. Escaping the trap is not the end of the story, but could be an early stage of another trap. Policymakers and managers should keep assessing and monitoring the policy practices and outcomes to avoid entering new trap situations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:48:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-88d9fb36eccc4e94b0a8ec9845812d75 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2575-8314 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:48:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | People and Nature |
| spelling | doaj.art-88d9fb36eccc4e94b0a8ec9845812d752023-08-03T10:26:59ZengWileyPeople and Nature2575-83142023-08-01541364137910.1002/pan3.10513Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess PlateauZhuangzhuang Wang0Bojie Fu1Xutong Wu2Yingjie Li3Shuai Wang4Nan Lu5State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco‐Environmental Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco‐Environmental Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing ChinaDepartment of Fisheries and Wildlife, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USAState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco‐Environmental Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing ChinaAbstract The social–ecological trap is an emerging concept that describes situations in which self‐reinforcing social and ecological feedbacks maintain or push a social–ecological system towards an undesirable state and threaten the sustainability of human societies. Understanding a system's feedback loops and identifying the leading factors of such traps is essential to develop effective management strategies to warn, avoid and escape traps. To better understand the dynamics of social–ecological traps, we developed a quantitative diagnostic framework that combines the social–ecological network approach and composite system state index. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the framework by examining the rural social–ecological evolution in China's Loess Plateau (LP) from 1949 to 2020, an area once faced with severe social–ecological challenges such as soil erosion, land degradation and poverty. Our analysis identified three stages of trap dynamics in LP: locked in the trap (1949–1981), reacting to the trap (1981–2003) and escaping the trap (2003–2020). In the first stage, LP was locked into an undesirable trajectory where reinforcing feedback occurs between rapid population growth, limited livelihood opportunities, excessive reliance on agriculture and severe soil erosion. Our results also found that the LP has made significant progress in escaping this social–ecological trap during the 21st century through ecological restoration practices and socioeconomic development. Similar social–ecological traps are also observed in many other regions of the world, particularly in developing countries. Our analysis recommends three pathways for addressing social–ecological traps in the LP: (1) promoting urbanization and livelihood diversity, (2) implementing site‐specific engineering measures (e.g. terraces and check dams in the LP) and (3) investing in ecological restoration programs. Escaping the trap is not the end of the story, but could be an early stage of another trap. Policymakers and managers should keep assessing and monitoring the policy practices and outcomes to avoid entering new trap situations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10513China's Loess Plateaucomposite system state indexecological restorationquantitative diagnosissocial–ecological networksocial–ecological traps |
| spellingShingle | Zhuangzhuang Wang Bojie Fu Xutong Wu Yingjie Li Shuai Wang Nan Lu Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau People and Nature China's Loess Plateau composite system state index ecological restoration quantitative diagnosis social–ecological network social–ecological traps |
| title | Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau |
| title_full | Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau |
| title_fullStr | Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau |
| title_full_unstemmed | Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau |
| title_short | Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau |
| title_sort | escaping social ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in china s loess plateau |
| topic | China's Loess Plateau composite system state index ecological restoration quantitative diagnosis social–ecological network social–ecological traps |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10513 |
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