Towards Addressing Societal Concerns: Moving Through Genecology and Ecosystems to Socio-Ecological Systems

摘要

Having been trained in biophysical dimensions of ecology with an ecosystem approach, the move towards a larger interdisciplinary approach with emphasis on socio-ecological systems analysis with implications to related ecological studies to societal concerns was indeed a challenging task. Having had to face with differential paradigms determining natural vs. social sciences, it was soon realized that arriving at compromises between these two knowledge streams holds the key for addressing sustainability concerns in the area of natural resource management linked with livelihood/developmental concerns of human societies ranging from the very 'traditional' to the most 'modern'. In such an effort, 'knowledge systems', particularly 'traditional ecological knowledge' (TEK) available with local communities through an experiential process was considered the key towards linking the biophysical with the socio-economic-cultural dimensions of the issues under consideration, bringing in text-book based 'formal ecological knowledge' to the extent required and appropriate depending upon what the socio-ecological situation demands. Very traditional societies living close to nature and natural resources around them may have to have TEK being brought in to a much larger degree so as to avoid social disruptions setting in, compared to the more modern societies who may need TEK only to be brought in so as to create buffering mechanisms within the socio-ecological system and thus cope up with the ill-effects arising from excessive use of energy-intensive technologies. In other words, community participatory approaches based on a value system that they understand and appreciate and therefore can participate in the process of conservation linked sustainable development is the key to combat environmental uncertainties, arising on one hand from ecological 'global change' and on the other economic 'globalization'. This is an emerging area of study in which I have had the privilege of getting involved towards understanding socio-ecclogical system structure and functions, the inspiration for which came from my teacher, late Professor R. Misra who always encouraged me to move away from the trodden path; and to a great measure from very traditional societies who have always valued their closeness to 'nature', and which formed the basis of their cultural identity. This paper is a summary of what I have been able to do when I moved into the realm of 'socio-ecological systems analysis', in the early 1970s, from an 'ecosystem analysis' approach which I pursued for the first two decades of my ecological researches.