Videos
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A biosphere-based sustainability science that sees people and nature as interdependent social-ecological systems provides exciting opportunities for societal development in tune with the biosphere. This talk will discuss challenges and opportunities of stewardship of the biosphere for human wellbeing and sustainability and the role of PECS research in this context.
About Garry Peterson - Garry Peterson is Professor in Environmental Sciences with key focus on resilience in social-ecological systems. While people depend upon the benefits they receive from nature, our actions are undercutting the ability of nature to produce these benefits. Dr Peterson's research addresses this problem by working to improve people's ability to ensure a reliable supply of the ecosystem services that support human well-being. He uses complex systems theory, spatial analysis, and the synthesis of social and ecological data, to develop theory and practical understanding that people can use to better manage the ecosystems they live within. |
Biosphere stewardship
Garry Peterson: A biosphere-based sustainability science Key note presentation during the 2015 PECS conference |
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The recognition of agroforestry and biodiversity conservation into productive landscapes has become an imperative subject of recent land sharing scenario. Agroforestry practice can contribute to biodiversity conservation and examples of actionable practices will be presented based on the multiple roles of agroforestry for biodiversity conservation in African context.
About Cheikh Mbow - Dr Cheikh Mbow is Senior Scientist on climate change and development at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Mbow is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the Forestry Department of Michigan State University-USA. He was a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) from 2012-2013. Dr Mbow currently serves on the Science Committee of Future Earth. He is a lead author for Working Group 3 of the IPCC AR5 (Chapter 11 on Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses). He is a regional expert on disturbances of savanna vegetative systems, particularly the impact of bush fires and other land cover changes in rural areas. He has experience with above-ground carbon stock assessments, vegetation inventory the use for carbon models, and the monitoring of vegetative communities. |
Agroforestry
Cheikh Mbow: agroforestry solutions in Africa Key note presentation during the 2015 PECS conference |
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This presentation will explore the conference theme of "Understanding social-ecological dynamics in the Anthropocene" and the application of that understanding in development choices from local to global scales. The presentation will explore a set of use cases in South Africa that have adopted a social-ecological systems lens and actionable tools in partnership with public and private sectors to address a series of complex challenges.
Professor Belinda Reyers is the Director of the GRAID program at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. The GRAID program (Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development) is an innovative long-term collaboration to build on the Centre’s ongoing extensive academic research in the theory and practice of resilience for development. Belinda Reyers plays a number of advisory roles to national government and international bodies including: Vice Chair of the Science Committee of Future Earth; the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the Global Earth Observation: Biodiversity Observation Network. Her publications include over 90 articles in scientific journals and chapters in books. She is an editor and reviewer for a number of scientific journals and research funders. |
Adopting a social-ecological lens
Belinda Reyers: resilience thinking in South Africa Key note presentation during the 2015 PECS conference |
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Taking the Amazon delta region as a reference, this presentation reflects on understanding social-ecological dynamics in the Anthropocene. Doing field research for over 25 years in a region undergoing accelerated changes – social and environmental – has forced us to confront the strengthens and limitations of our concepts, analytical frameworks, and methodologies; and, of course, reflect on the relevance of our research questions.
About Eduardo S. Brondizio - Brondizio is Professor of Anthropology, co-director of the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change (ACT) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University Bloomington. Brondizio is a member of the inaugural Science Committee of the international program Future Earth and the Science Committee of International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), and co-Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier's Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability. Professor Brondizio has been closely engaged with international global changed research programs since the mid-1990s and has contributed to several past and on-going global assessments. On-going research projects include international collaborations on the vulnerabilities and sustainability of delta regions, the impact of institutional arrangement and property regimes on land use change, comparative analysis of sustainable development indicators in the Amazon, rural-urban interactions in the Amazon, and farmers' adaption to climate change. |
Cultural ecology
Eduardo Brondizio: reflections on the history of social-ecological research Key note presentation during the 2015 PECS conference |
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There is a growing realization that the world has changed and that it will continue to change, driven by forces such as globalization, urbanization and climate change. In this world of increasing uncertainty, scientists and practitioners alike are being drawn into the uncomfortable and politically charged space between research and policy making. This is a personal socio-ecological story of a biologist who became a local government official to try and better negotiate this space. In telling the story there is the opportunity to reflect on some of the lessons learned in the transition from blue sky to coal face.
About Debra Roberts Dr Debra Roberts established and heads the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department of eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). She was a lead author of Chapter 8 (Urban Areas) and a contributing author to Chapter 12 (Africa) of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report. She is a member of the South African climate negotiating team and sits on various international advisory bodies focused on climate change issues in cities (e.g. the Rockefeller Foundation’s Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network). Dr Roberts was vice-chair of UN-Habitat’s HS-NET Advisory Board which oversaw the production of the 2011 "Cities and Climate Change" Global Report and is a founding member of the Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity for All. She is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Thematic Group on Sustainable Cities, working towards the establishment of an urban SDG as part of the post-2015 development regime. Dr Roberts was also appointed as a member of the Future Earth Engagement Committee and as thematic policy expert on Africa for UNEP’s GEO6. |
Science and society
Debra Roberts: dealing with gaps between science, practice and policy Key note presentation during the 2015 PECS conference |
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Eduardo S. Brondizio is Professor of Anthropology, co-director of the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change (ACT) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University Bloomington. Brondizio is a member of the inaugural Science Committee of the international program Future Earth and the Science Committee of International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), and co-Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier's Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability.
Professor Brondizio has been closely engaged with international global changed research programs since the mid-1990s and has contributed to several past and on-going global assessments. On-going research projects include international collaborations on the vulnerabilities and sustainability of delta regions, the impact of institutional arrangement and property regimes on land use change, comparative analysis of sustainable development indicators in the Amazon, rural-urban interactions in the Amazon, and farmers' adaption to climate change. |
Global change
Eduardo Brondisio on how the Amazon rainforest reflects global development Interviewed during the 2015 PECS conference |
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Professor Steve Carpenter serves as the Director of the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is the Stephen Alfred Forbes Professor of Zoology. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
He is a leader of whole-ecosystem experiments and adaptive ecosystem management focused on freshwaters. Topics include trophic cascades and their effects on production and nutrient cycling, contaminant cycles, freshwater fisheries, eutrophication, nonpoint pollution, ecological economics of freshwater, and resilience of social-ecological systems. Professor Carpenter is Chair of the Science Committee for the Program on Ecosystem Change and Society of the International Council of Science (PECS). He is co-Editor in Chief of Ecosystems, and a member of governing boards for the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics and the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies. |
Sustainability research
Steve Carpenter on science, scenarios and the fast evolving Anthropocene Interviewed during the 2015 PECS conference |
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Dr Cheikh Mbow is Senior Scientist on climate change and development at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr Mbow is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the Forestry Department of Michigan State University-USA. He was a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) from 2012-2013. Dr Mbow currently serves on the Science Committee of Future Earth.
He is a lead author for Working Group 3 of the IPCC AR5 (Chapter 11 on Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses). He is a regional expert on disturbances of savanna vegetative systems, particularly the impact of bush fires and other land cover changes in rural areas. He has experience with above-ground carbon stock assessments, vegetation inventory the use for carbon models, and the monitoring of vegetative communities. |
Agroforestry
Cheikh Mbow on the benefits of agroforestry Interviewed during the 2015 PECS conference |
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Professor Belinda Reyers is the Director of the GRAID program at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. The GRAID program (Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development) is an innovative long-term collaboration to build on the Centre’s ongoing extensive academic research in the theory and practice of resilience for development.
Belinda Reyers plays a number of advisory roles to national government and international bodies including: Vice Chair of the Science Committee of Future Earth; the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the Global Earth Observation: Biodiversity Observation Network. Her publications include over 90 articles in scientific journals and chapters in books. She is an editor and reviewer for a number of scientific journals and research funders. |
Sustainability thinking in South Africa
Belinda Reyers on applying resilience thinking in South Africa Interviewed during the 2015 PECS conference in South Africa |
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Dr Debra Roberts established and heads the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department of eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). She was a lead author of Chapter 8 (Urban Areas) and a contributing author to Chapter 12 (Africa) of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report.
She is a member of the South African climate negotiating team and sits on various international advisory bodies focused on climate change issues in cities (e.g. the Rockefeller Foundation’s Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network). Dr Roberts was vice-chair of UN-Habitat’s HS-NET Advisory Board which oversaw the production of the 2011 "Cities and Climate Change" Global Report and is a founding member of the Alliance for Sustainability and Prosperity for All. She is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Thematic Group on Sustainable Cities, working towards the establishment of an urban SDG as part of the post-2015 development regime. Dr Roberts was also appointed as a member of the Future Earth Engagement Committee and as thematic policy expert on Africa for UNEP’s GEO6. |
Urbanisation in South Africa
Debra Roberts on South African urbanisation and the illusion of sustainability Interviewed during the 2015 PECS conference in South Africa |