A conceptual framework for analyzing deltas as coupled social–ecological systems: an example from the Amazon River Delta

Sustainability Science

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2016, Pages 591-609

  Brondizio, Eduardo S ^a   Vogt, Nathan D ^a,b,c   Mansur, Andressa V ^a,d   Anthony, Edward J ^e   Costa, Sandra ^c   Hetrick, Scott ^a  

^a INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE PESQUISAS ESPACIAIS   (Brazil)

^c INSTITUTO DE PESQUISA E DESENVOLVIMENTO   (Brazil)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CÁDIZ   (Spain)

^e AIX MARSEILLE UNIVERSITY   (France)

Author keywords

Amazon; Deltas; Governance; Social ecological systems; Sustainability; Telecoupling

Indexed keywords

EID: 84969849762     PISSN: 18624065     EISSN: 18624057     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11625-016-0368-2     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. Aligica PD, Boettk PJ (2009) Challenging institutional analysis and development: the Bloomington School. Routledge, New York
2. Anthony EJ, Gardel A, Gratiot N (2014) Fluvial sediment supply, mud banks, cheniers and the morphodynamics of the coast of South America between the Amazon and Orinoco river mouths. In: Martini IP, Wanless HR (eds) Sedimentary Coastal Zones from high to low latitudes: similarities and differences. Geological Society, London, pp 533–560
3. Ashley C, Carney D (1999) Sustainable livelihoods: lessons from early experience. Department for International Development, vol 7, no 1. Russel Press, London
4. Ballesteros E, Brondizio ES (2013) Building negotiated agreement: the emergence of community based tourism in Floreana (Galapagos Islands). Hum Organ 72(4):323–335
5. Berkes F, Folke C (eds) (1998) Linking sociological and ecological systems: management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience. Cambridge University Press, New York
6. Binder CR, Hinkel J, Bots PWG, Pahl-Wostl C (2013) Comparison of frameworks for analyzing social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 18(4):26. doi:10.5751/ES-05551-180426
7. Boateng I (2010) Spatial planning in coastal regions: facing the impacts of climate change. Report of FIG working group 8.4. Federation of International Surveyor (FIG), Copenhagen
8. Boateng I (2012) GIS assessment of coastal vulnerability to climate change and coastal adaption planning in Vietnam. J Coast Conserv 16:25–36
9. Bosma R, Ahmad SS, Paul Z, Aditya A, Visser L (2012) Challenges of a transition to a sustainably managed shrimp culture agro-ecosystem in the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Welt Ecol Manag 20:89–99. doi:10.1007/s11273-011-9244-0
10. Brondizio ES (2008) The Amazonian Caboclo and the Acai Palm: forest farmers in the global market. The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York, p 402
11. Brondizio ES (2011) Forest resources, family networks and the municipal disconnect: examining recurrent underdevelopment in the Amazon Estuary. In: Pinedo-Vasquez M, Ruffino M, Padoch C, Brondizio ES (eds) The Amazonian Várzea: the decade past and the decade ahead. Springer Publishers co-publication with The New York Botanical Garden Press, Dordrecht, pp 207–232
12. Brondizio ES, Ostrom E, Young O (2009) Connectivity and the governance of multilevel socio-ecological systems: the role of social capital. Annu Rev Environ Resour 34:253–278
13. Brondizio ES, Vogt N, Siqueira A (2013) Forest Resources, City Services: globalization, household networks, and urbanization in the Amazon estuary. In: Morrison K, Hetch S, Padoch C (eds) The social life of forests. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 348–361
14. Bucx T, Marchand M, Makaske A, van de Guchte C (2010) Comparative assessment of the vulnerability, and resilience of 10 deltas—synthesis report. Delta Alliance report number 1. Delta Alliance International, Delft-Wageningen, The Netherlands
15. Burns SJ (1999) The natural step: a compass for environmental management systems. Corp Environ Strategy 6(4):3–15. doi:10.1016/S1066-7938(00)80049-4
16. Castello L, McGrath DG, Hess LL, Coe MT, Lefebvre PA, Petry P, Macedo MN, Renó VF, Arantes CC (2013) The vulnerability of Amazon freshwater ecosystems. Conserv Lett 6:217–229. doi:10.1111/conl.12008
17. Cole DH, Epstein G, McGinnis MD Toward a New Institutional Analysis of Social-Ecological Systems (NIASES): combining Elinor Ostrom’s IAD and SES frameworks (2014). Indiana legal studies research paper no. 299; Indiana University, Bloomington School of Public and Environmental Affairs Research paper no. 2490999. http://ssrn.com/abstract=2490999
18. Costa SM, Brondizio ES (2009) Inter-urban dependency among Amazonian cities: urban growth, infrastructure deficiencies, and socio-demographic networks. REDES, v 14, n 3, pp 211–234, set/dez
19. Costa SM, Brondizio ES (2011) Cities along the floodplains of the Brazilian Amazon, pp 83–100. In: Pinedo-Vasquez M, Ruffino M, Padoch C, Brondizio ES (eds) The Amazonian Várzea: the decade past and the decade ahead. Springer Publishers co-publication with The New York Botanical Garden Press, Dordrecht, pp 207–232
20. de Groot RS, Wilson MA, Boumans RMJ (2002) A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecol Econ 41:393–408. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00089-7
21. Eloy L, Brondizio ES, Pateo R (2014) New perspectives on mobility, urbanisation, and resource management in Amazônia. Bull Latin Am Res (BLAR) 2014:1–16. doi:10.1111/blar.12267
22. Epstein G, Pittman J, Alexander SM, Berdej S, Dyck T, Kreitmair U, Raithwell KJ, Villamayor-Tomas S, Vogt J, Armitage D (2015) Institutional fit and the sustainability of social-ecological systems. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 14:34–40
23. Ericson JP, Vörösmarty CJ, Dingman SL, Ward LG, Meybeck M (2006) Effective sea-level rise and deltas: causes of change and human dimension implications. Glob Planet Change 50(1–2):63–82
24. Eurostat (1999) Towards environmental pressure indicators for the EU. First Report. Panorama of the European Union, Theme 8, Environment and energy. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg
25. Foufoula-Georgiou E, Syvitski J, Paola C, Mai T, Kien A, Noble PT, Dubois MD, Vörösmarty C, Kremer HH, Kabat P, van de Guchte C, Brondizio ES, Saito Y (2011) International year of deltas 2012 (IYD-2012) a proposal. EOS Forum. American Geophysical Union. EOS 92(40):4
26. GEOAMAZONIA (2009) Environment outlook in Amazonia. United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), Nairobi
27. Geyer WR, Hill PS, Kineke GC (2004) The transport, transformation and dispersal of sediment by buoyant coastal flows. Cont Shelf Res 24:927–949
28. Glaser M, Ratter B, Krause G, Welp M (2012) New approaches to the analysis of human-nature relations. In: Glaser M, Ratter B, Krause G, Welp M (eds) Human-nature interactions in the Anthropocene: potentials of social-ecological systems analysis. New York, London, pp 3–12
29. Goeldi E (1889) Maravilhas da Natureza na Ilha de Marajó. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi 3:370–399
30. Gratiot N, Gardel A, Anthony EJ (2007) Trade-wind waves and mud dynamics on the French Guiana coast, South America: input from ERA-40 wave data and field investigations. Mar Geol 236:15–26
31. Guyot JL, Jouanneau JM, Soares L, Boaventura GR, Maillet N, Lagane C (2007) Clay mineral composition of river sediments in the Amazon Basin. Catena 71:340–356
32. Hinderer M (2012) From gullies to mountain belts: a review of sediment budgets at various scales. Sed Geol 280:21–59
33. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) (2010) Brazilian Institute of geography and statistics. Data from demographic census 2010. Census online: http://www.ibge.gov.br
34. IPCC (2013) Annex III: glossary. In: Planton S, Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds) Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group i to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
35. Islam MN, Malak MA, Islam MN (2013) Community-based disaster risk and vulnerability models of a coastal municipality in Bangladesh. Nat Hazards 69:2083–2103. doi:10.1007/s11069-013-0796-6
36. Lázár AN, Clarke D, Adams H, Razzaque Akanda A, Szabo S, Nicholls RJ, Matthews Z, Begum D, Saleh AFM, Abedin MdA, Payo A, Streatfield PK, Hutton C, Mondal MS, Moslehuddin AZMd (2015) Agricultural livelihoods in coastal Bangladesh under climate and environmental change—a model framework. Environ Sci: Process Impacts 17:1018–1031
37. Lelie HM, Basurto X, Nenadovic M, Sievanen L, Cavanaugh KC, Cota-Nieto JJ, Erisman BE, Finkbeiner E, Hinojosa-Arango G, Moreno-Báez M, Nagavarapu S, Reddy SMW, Sánchez-Rodríguez A, Siegel K, Ulibarria-Valenzuela JJ, Hudson Weaver A, Aburto-Oropeza O, Operationalizing the social-ecological systems framework to assess sustainability PNAS 2015 112(19), 5979–5984; published ahead of print April 27, 2015. doi:10.1073/pnas.1414640112
38. Liu J, Hull V, Batistella M, DeFries R, Dietz T, Fu F, Hertel TW, Izaurralde RC, Lambin EF, Li S, Martinelli LA, McConnell WJ, Moran EF, Naylor R, Ouyang Z, Polenske KR, Reenberg A, de Miranda Rocha G, Simmons CS, Verburg PH, Vitousek PM, Zhang F, Zhu C (2013) Framing sustainability in a telecoupled world. Ecol Soc 18(2):26. doi:10.5751/ES-05873-180226
39. Liu J, Mooney H, Hull V, Davis SJ, Gaskell J, Hertel T, Lubchenco J, Seto KC, Gleick P, Kremen C, Li S (2015) Systems integration for global sustainability. Science 347(625):1258832. doi:10.1126/science.1258832
40. Mansur AV, Brondízio ES, Roy S, Hetrick S, Vogt DN, Newton A (2016) An assessment of urban vulnerability in the Amazon Delta and Estuary: a multi-criterion index of flood exposure, socio-economic conditions and infrastructure. Sustain Sci. doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0355-7
41. Martinez JM, Guyot JL, Filizola N, Sondag F (2009) Increase in sediment discharge of the Amazon River assessed by monitoring network and satellite data. Catena 79:257–264
42. Mcginnis MD (2011) An introduction to IAD and the language of the ostrom workshop: a simple guide to a complex framework. Pol Stud J 39(1):169–183. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2010.00401.x
43. Milliman JD, Farnsworth KL (2011) River discharge to the coastal ocean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
44. Milliman JD, Meade RH (1983) World-wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans. J Geol 91:1–21
45. Organization of American States (2005) Integrated and sustainable management of transboundary water resources in the Amazon River Basin. Water Project Series, 8. World wide web access: http://www.oas.org/osde
46. Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press, New York
47. Ostrom E (2005) Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton University Press, Princeton
48. Ostrom E (2007) A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas. Proc Natl Acad Sci (PNAS). 104(39):15181–15187
49. Ostrom E (2009) A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 325(5939):419–422
50. Ostrom E (2011) Background on the institutional analysis and development framework. Pol Stud J 39(1):7–27. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2010.00394.x
51. Padoch C, Brondizio ES, Costa SM, Pinedo-Vasquez MA, Sears RR, Siqueira AD (2008) Urban forest and rural cities: multi-sited households, consumption patterns, and forest resources in Amazonia. Ecol Soc 13(2). http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art2/
52. Pahl-Wostl C, Holtz G, Kastens B, Knieper C (2010) Analyzing complex water governance regimes: the management and transition framework. Environ Sci Pol 13:571–581. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2010.08.006
53. Pinedo-Vasquez M, Barletti JP, del Castillo TD, Coffey K (2001) Post-boom logging in Amazonia. Hum Ecol 29:219–239
54. Pinedo-Vasquez M, Ruffino M, Padoch C, Brondizio ES (eds) (2011) The Amazonian Várzea: the decade past and the decade ahead. Springer Scientific Publishers co-publication with The New York Botanical Garden Press, Dordrecht, p 362
55. Pirrone N, Trombino G, Cinnirella S, Algieri A, Bendoricchio G, Palmeri L (2005) The driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) approach for integrated catchment-coastal zone management: preliminary application to the Po catchment-Adriatic Sea coastal zone system. Reg Environ Change 5:111–137
56. Poteete A, Janssen M, Ostrom E (2010) Working together: collective action, the commons, and multiple methods in practice. Princeton University Press, Princeton
57. RAISG (2013) Amazonia under pressure, Amazonian network of georeferenced socio-environmental information. Instituto Socioambiental, São Paulo
58. Roosevelt AC (1991) Moundbuilders of the Amazon: geophysical archaeology on Marajo Island, Brazil. Academic Press, New York, p 495
59. Schaan DP (2009) A cultura marajoara. Editora SENAC, Sao Paulo, p 400
60. Schellnhuber H-J, Crutzen PJ, Clark WC, Hunt J (2005) Earth system analysis for sustainability. Environ: Sci Pol Sustain Dev 47(8):10–25. doi:10.3200/ENVT.47.8.10-25
61. Scholz RW, Binder CR (2003) The paradigm of human-environment systems. Working paper 37. Natural and social science interface. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
62. Scoones I (1998) Sustainable rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis. IDS Working paper 72. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton
63. Sebesvari Z, Renaud FG, Haas S, Tessler Z, Kloos J, Szabo S, Tejedor A, Kuenzer C (2016) Vulnerability indicators for deltaic social–ecological systems: a review. Sustain Sci 1–16. doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0366-4
64. Smith TF, Thomsen DC, Gould S, Schmitt K, Schlege B (2013) Cumulative pressures on sustainable livelihoods: coastal adaptation in the Mekong Delta. Sustainability 5:228–241. doi:10.3390/su5010228
65. Steward A (2007) Nobody farms here anymore: livelihood diversification in the Amazonian Community of Carvao, a historical perspective. Agric Hum Values 24(1):75–92
66. Su S, Pi J, Wan C, Li H, Xiao R, Li B (2015) Categorizing social vulnerability patterns in Chinese coastal cities. Ocean Coast Manag 116:1–8
67. Swapan MSH, Gavin M (2011) A desert in the delta: participatory assessment of changing livelihoods induced by commercial shrimp farming in Southwest Bangladesh. Ocean Coast Manage 54:45–54
68. Syvitski JPM, Kettner AJ, Overeem I, Hutton EWH, Hannon MT, Brakenridge GR, Day J, Vorosmarty C, Saito Y, Goisan L, Nicholls RJ (2009) Sinking deltas due to human activities. Nat Geosci 2:681–686
69. Szabo S, Brondizio ES, Hetrick S, Matthews Z, Renaud F, Sebesvari Z, Nicholls RJ, Costa S, Dearing JA, Foufoula-Georgiou E (2016) Population dynamics, delta vulnerability and environmental change:comparison of the Mekong, Ganges–Brahmaputra and Amazon delta regions. Sustain Sci. doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0372-6
70. Tejedor A, Longjas A, Zaliapin I, Foufoula-Georgiou E (2015a) Delta channel networks: 1. A graph-theoretic approach for studying connectivity and steady state transport on deltaic surfaces. Water Resour Res 51:3998–4018
71. Tejedor A, Longjas A, Zaliapin I, Foufoula-Georgiou E (2015b) Delta channel networks: 2. Metrics of topologic and dynamic complexity for delta comparison, physical inference, and vulnerability assessment. Water Resour Res 51:4019–4045
72. Tengö M, Brondizio ES, Malmer P, Elmqvist T, Spierenburg M (2014) A multiple evidence base approach to connecting diverse knowledge systems for ecosystem governance. AMBIO. doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0501-3
73. Tessler ZD, Vörösmarty CJ, Grossberg M, Gladkova I, Aizenman H, Syvitski JPM, Foufoula-Georgiou E (2015) Profiling risk and sustainability in coastal deltas of the World. Science 349:638–643
74. Turner BL, Kasperson RE, Matson P, McCarthy JJ, Corell RW, Christensen L, Eckley N, Kasperson JX, Luers A, Martello ML, Polsky C, Pulsipher A, Schiller A (2003) A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proc Natl Acad Sci 100(14):8074–8079. doi:10.1073/pnas.1231335100
75. Vogt ND, Pinedo-Vasquez M, Brondizio ES, Almeida O, Rivero S (2015) Forest transitions in Mosaic landscapes: smallholder’s flexibility in land-resource use decisions and livelihood strategies from WWII to the present in the Amazon Estuary. Soc Nat Resour Int J. doi:10.1080/08941920.2015.1014603
76. Vogt ND, Pinedo-Vasquez M, Brondízio ES, Rabelo FG, Fernandes K, Almeida O, Rivero S, Deadman PJ, Dou Y (2016) Local ecological knowledge in incremental adaptation to changing flood patterns in the Amazon Delta. Sustain Sci. doi:10.1007/s11625-015-0352-2
77. Wittmann H, Von Blackenberg F, Maurice L, Guyot JL, Filizola N, Kubik PW (2011) Sediment production and delivery in the Amazon River basin quantified by in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides and recent river loads. Geol Soc Am Bull 123:934–950
78. Young OR (2002) The institutional dimensions of environmental change: fit, interplay, and scale. MIT Press, Cambridge
79. Young O, Berkhout F, Gallopin GC, Janssen MA, Ostrom E, van der Leeuw S (2006) The globalization of socio-ecological systems: an agenda for scientific research. Glob Environ Change 16(2006):304–316
80. Yuan Li, Zhenming G, Fan X, Zhang L (2014) Ecosystem based coastal zone management: a comprehensive assessment of coastal ecosystems in the Yangtze Estuary coastal zone. Ocean Coast Manag 95:63–71