Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
14.5
Some Precisions About Socioecosystem Research
As we have asserted here, socioecosystem research for a sustainable earth
stewardship urges signifi cant changes in the way we do science. We should not
underestimate its urgency, nor the level of commitment required. Thus, it is
important to make some comments about the speed and magnitude of these
changes, because there is a tendency to overstate the roll of scientists, increas-
ing the already heavy load on the research community. Firstly, it is important to
point out that we recognize that what it is needed to stroll along the sustainabil-
ity path is a socio-economic
development model
blended in a socioecosystems
framework (integral, nested multi-level, non-linear, complex, self-organized,
human-biological-physical system). However, what we have been discussing
here is just the need for a change to a more transdisciplinary scientifi c
research
model
that will feed into this new approach for earth stewardship. There is an
important difference between a
transversal approach
(working with different
sectors of society) and a
transdisciplinary approach (
working with different
sources of knowledge). The former is a
development tool
; the latter is an
episte-
mological stance
. We need both. However, scientists do not necessarily need to
become producers, policy makers, business people or developers but, in order to
conduct research in a truly transdisciplinary fashion, they have to participate in
real development situations, as another stakeholder embedded in the collective.
Participating in transversal work is the only way to learn about this “other
knowledge” requirement in real transdisciplinary research. A good analogy is a
university hospital in which scientifi c research on health is conducted with real
patients. However, rather than working as a health service unit for the local
community, the university hospital selects particular cases for treatment based
on their research interests. Transdisciplinary research is conducted in real case
studies, and that is why “site based research” is so important.
Another aspect that requires awareness by scientists interested in socioecosys-
tem research for a sustainable earth stewardship is the recognition of our working
under conditions of high uncertainty. We are not only confronted with highly com-
plex systems, but the climate change scenario is increasing even more this uncer-
tainty. Adaptive management is a conceptual tool developed to deal with this
uncertainty, provided that suitable management options are at hand and reversibil-
ity of very dangerous environmental impacts is possible (Holling
1978
). We no
longer expect to have a complete understanding of the process for making manage-
ment decisions. Rather, managers decide based on the best available knowledge,
but keep a monitoring program to feed back into their decision-making process. If
the system is performing as expected, the decision is maintained; if on the contrary
it is not, the decision is tuned or changed accordingly. Scientists are not managers,
but they should also recognize their limitations as knowledge providers under
these highly uncertain conditions. An
adaptive learning
approach has to be fol-
lowed, but the only way to do it, is working on real situations where
adaptive
management
is conducted.
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