abstract: This dissertation investigates the long-term consequences of human land-use practices in general, and in early agricultural villages in specific. This pioneering case study investigates the "collapse" of the Early (Pre-Pottery) Neolithic lifeway, which was a major transformational event marked by significant changes in settlement patterns, material culture, and social markers. To move beyond traditional narratives of cultural collapse, I employ a Complex Adaptive Systems approach to this research, and combine agent-based computer simulations of Neolithic land-use with dynamic and spatially-explicit GIS-based environmental models to conduct experiments into long-term trajectories of different potential Neolithic socio-environmental systems. My analysis outlines how the Early Neolithic "collapse" was likely instigated by a non-linear sequence of events, and that it would have been impossible for Neolithic peoples to recognize the long-term outcome of their actions. The experiment-based simulation approach shows that, starting from the same initial conditions, complex combinations of feedback amplification, stochasticity, responses to internal and external stimuli, and the accumulation of incremental changes to the socio-natural landscape, can lead to widely divergent outcomes over time. Thus, rather than being an inevitable consequence of specific Neolithic land-use choices, the "catastrophic" transformation at the end of the Early Neolithic was an emergent property of the Early Neolithic socio-natural system itself, and thus likely not an easily predictable event. In this way, my work uses the technique of simulation modeling to connect CAS theory with the archaeological and geoarchaeological record to help better understand the causes and consequences of socio-ecological transformation at a regional scale. The research is broadly applicable to other archaeological cases of resilience and collapse, and is truly interdisciplinary in that it draws on fields such as geomorphology, computer science, and agronomy in addition to archaeology. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2013

abstract: Institutions (rules, norms, and shared strategies) are social feedback systems that structure actors’ decision-making context. It is important to investigate institutional design to understand how rules interact and generate feedbacks that affect robustness, i.e., the ability to respond to change. This is particularly important when assessing sustainable use/conservation trade-offs that affect species’ long-term survival. My research utilized the institutional grammar (IG) and robust institutional design to investigate these linkages in the context of four international conservation treaties. First, the IG was used to code the regulatory formal treaty rules. The coded statements were then assessed to determine the rule linkages and dynamic interactions with a focus on monitoring and related reporting and enforcement mechanisms. Treaties with a regulatory structure included a greater number and more tightly linked rules related to these mechanisms than less regulatory instruments. A higher number of actors involved in these activities at multiple levels also seemed critical to a well-functioning monitoring system. Then, drawing on existing research, I built a set of constitutive rule typologies to supplement the IG and code the treaties’ constitutive rules. I determined the level of fit between the constitutive and regulatory rules by examining the monitoring mechanisms, as well as treaty opt-out processes. Treaties that relied on constitutive rules to guide actor decision-making generally exhibited gaps and poorer rule fit. Regimes which used constitutive rules to provide actors with information related to the aims, values, and context under which regulatory rules were being advanced tended to exhibit better fit, rule consistency, and completeness. The information generated in the prior studies, as well as expert interviews, and the analytical frameworks of Ostrom’s design principles, fit, and polycentricity, then aided the analysis of treaty robustness. While all four treaties were polycentric, regulatory regimes exhibited strong information processing feedbacks as evidenced by the presence of all design principles (in form and as perceived by experts) making them theoretically more robust to change than non-regulatory ones. Interestingly, treaties with contested decision-making seemed more robust to change indicating contestation facilitates robust decision-making or its effects are ameliorated by rule design. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Environmental Social Science 2020

Local social-ecological systems (SES) have diverse needs owing to their heterogeneous properties such as distinctive histories, cultures and environments. Previous studies have illustrated that a failure to recognize spatial and temporal dynamics, especially in the context of the Anthropocene, where ‘time and space are compressed’ due to globalization, gives rise to the problem of ‘fit’. My question investigates to what extent development goals consider cross-scale dynamics for the development of local SES and its importance for SES resilience. I explored these dynamics in the remote Himalayan villages of West Sikkim, India, through interviews with village and government actors at four different scales of governance, specifically exploring narratives about agricultural development. There has been a rapid shift from subsistence to commercial farming, with monocultures of large cardamom in the lowlands of the case study region. Additionally, there was a major reduction in livestock population and access to forest resources. Policies for agriculture intensification, conservation, a national food subsidy and the effects of globalization combined – are pushing these communities to become extremely dependent on external markets and subsidies for income and food, and bringing a change in their diets (as they substitute local food with imported products). My findings suggest that imposing uniform institutions, so-called “monocropping institutions” have caused the local SES to become increasingly homogenized, and consequently vulnerable to multiple threats. Simplified solutions for development with the added pressure of globalization could thus be seen as a homogenizing force on local SES, ultimately threatening social-ecological resilience at the global scale.

The idea of evolutionary resilience in complex systems has gained attention in the recent years. This approach provides better insights in the context of emergence and adaptive capacity, that characterises complex adaptive systems (CAS) such as social-ecological systems (SES), than traditional reductionist and engineering resilience approaches. Departing from this premise, a set of methodologies that are funded in these principles have been developed, with promising perspectives for the analysis of these systems. In this thesis, one of these methodologies, the panarchy, is applied into La Marjaleria case study, in Castelló (Spain), in order to explore its capacity to offer new useful insights for the management of the area throught he scope of resilience. Looking for a systematic methodological approach, the focal SES and their scales are initially defined, followed by an adaptive cycle approach, performed for each of the scales, and finally a panarchy approach that is applied through focusing on the interactions between the adaptive cycles at the different scales. The results are also presented through a new graphic approach that accounts for the representation of the adaptive cycles at the different scales and their interactions in a dynamic manner that includes the time variable, and that can therefore facilitate its understanding. From the analysis performed, the system is found to be stuck in a rigidity trap because of the lack of transformative visions from both scales above (municipality) and below (households). Furthermore, the influence of cascade effects from both the upper and lower scale in the manner through which the focal scale navigated the adaptive cycle has become evident. The panarchy has also helped to discover some existing mismatches and archetypes affecting the system. After all, a general resilience assessment has helped to find out that the system presents a low resilience, and therefore an inherent risk of collapse in the event of external shocks that can make thresholds to be crossed. A further analysis, focused on the specific resilience, has been performed for the risk of flooding. The results show that the engineering resilience approach through which this risk has been traditionally managed could have helped to underestimate flood hazard and therefore contributed to an irresponsible occupation of the floodable area. New approaches towards resilience risk management could help to address the problematics caused by floods and also open new opportunities for long-term sustainability of the system. The panarchy approach can offer useful insights for the assessment of SES from the scope of complexity and multi-scale interactions, providing an approach consistent with the evolutionary resilience characteristic of CAS. However, there still exist some gaps, both in its perception by practitioners and in the availability of solid grounds towards the standardization of its application, implying that there is still room for further improvement in this methodological approach.

Stewardship as a concept is increasingly brought forward as a goal to reach sustainability goals of ensuring human wellbeing within the limits of Earth’s life support systems. Scholarship on the required capacities for planetary stewardship is growing rapidly, as are the insights. This thesis focuses on contributing with knowledge about what stewardship implies in terms of civic engagement in environmental issues, particularly in contexts where these can be particularly challenging: rapidly changing cities. Paper I describes the internal functioning of a citizen network engaged in various environmental issues in Bangalore, India. Analyzing social network structure and desired outcomes, it shows that while the loose structure inhibits efficiency, it encourages inclusiveness and builds legitimacy among members. Despite a reduced capacity to actively mobilize members, the network facilitates ecosystem monitoring and serves as an information platform to connect diverse groups across the city. Paper II describes how local engagement to restore Bangalorean lakes can influence city-level governance of water supply. Following key events in the 1960s, Bangalore has become increasingly dependent on a single source of water and seems unable to explore other supply approaches for its rapidly growing population. The study shows that the system’s trap-like dynamics can be rewired by citizen-based lake groups by incentivizing authorities to break long-standing centralization trends. By re- acknowledging the water bodies’ multifunctional role as man-made water harvesting units, groups have gathered local support and improved monitoring to protect lakes after restoration. Together, the two papers show that civic involvement in urban environmental stewardship can improve governance by complementing and acting as a watchdog over public authorities.

Urban trees provide a wide array of benefits and values for urban dwellers as a foundational part of the biodiversity, the generation of ecosystem services and mitigation of negative impacts of climate change. However, management in cities often fail to acknowledge the diversity of ecosystem services in urban landscapes needed for improving resilience. Through interviews with actors managing tree communities within the city of Stockholm, along with a review of municipal policy documents, this study explores the qualities, values and benefits, focusing on biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation, that are considered when making decisions about tree management. The interview results and policy documents were analyzed using an analytical framework for three different phases of management: (i) goals, (ii) strategies and measures and (iii) monitoring and evaluation. Most of the actors to some extent consider biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation through ecosystem services in management. The strategies of including a more diverse set of values and benefits are still in its early stages, which is reflected in a low degree of strategical work, lack of clearly defined goals and limited operationalization of the concepts, and few actors work with monitoring and evaluation. However, more aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services are gaining attention within management, and there is an ambition to incorporate such values to a greater extent.

The question of peatlands management in Ireland is characterised by tensions between environmental, social and economic concerns, making it of central relevance to the field of sustainable development. This thesis examines the complexities associated with the current peatlands landscape in Ireland through the analytical framework of social-ecological systems including the concepts of environmentalism, heritage and future agency. The landscape and its complexities are demonstrated through an analytical description, the analysis of interviews with Irish people involved in peatlands, and the development of future scenarios. The results show that the Irish peatlands landscape is a highly complex topic displaying clashes between rural communities, government and environmental authorities in numerous ways. They also indicate that the heritage associated with Irish peatlands is diverse and multi-dimensional. Within this context, there is a need for balance between environmental and social concerns. However, the question of sustainability might never be settled in the future and instead will likely require constant evaluation and re-evaluation by the various actors involved in carrying it out.

Since the 1980s, approaches to managing forest resources in the US and around the world have been shifting from the conventional sustained yield approach towards ecosystem management. Ecosystem management is a resource management paradigm that seeks to employ a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to landscape scale conservation, as well as the integration of socio-economic and biophysical considerations with the overall goal of enhancing the health and resilience of coupled social-ecological systems. While the role of natural resource conflicts as drivers of the transition towards ecosystem management has received some research attention, the potential roles of ecosystem management in emerging natural resource conflicts have not been adequately explored. The effective implementation of ecosystem management requires adaptive governance mechanisms capable of integrating diverse stakeholder values and knowledge systems across scales. The absence of such institutional mechanisms could contribute to the emergence of wicked problems – a class of problems that defy clear definitions and definitive solutions. Using the Shawnee National Forest as a case study, the purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the role of natural resource conflicts in the transition towards ecosystem management, as well as the consequences of ecosystem management on emerging resource conflicts. The study also aimed to assess the extent to which the approaches and strategies used in managing natural resource conflicts meet the institutional requirements for managing wicked problems. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2021 among 24 key informants representing the US Forest Service and relevant stakeholder groups, such as environmental groups, recreationists, and local businesses. The interviews were preceded by a review of documents to understand the context of changing forest policies and evolving conflicts in the Shawnee National Forest since the 1980s. The data were analyzed with the NVivo software using a deductive coding approach. The results showed that the transition towards ecosystem-based forest management in the Shawnee National Forest was primarily triggered by conflicts between environmental groups and the US Forest Service over timber harvesting. Although the institutional framework for alternative dispute resolution existed at the time, these conflicts were largely managed through the national legal system. Since the transition to ecosystem management with the adoption of the 2006 Forest Plan, new conflicts have emerged, this time, mostly among various recreational groups. The lifting of the injunction on timber harvesting and the increased focus of the US Forest Service on active forest management as part of forest restoration efforts appear to have set the stage for the potential re-emergence of conflicts over timber harvesting. Regarding conflict management, the use of alternative conflict management techniques, such as negotiation and mediation have received increased attention since the adoption of the 2006 Forest Plan, although the effectiveness of these processes has been hampered by various institutional and attitudinal constraints, including conflicting procedural requirements, limited capacity, and lack of agency commitment towards meaningful stakeholder engagement. Meanwhile, the fear of lawsuits continues to shape forest management decisions on the Shawnee National Forest. These findings highlight the inadequacy of the national legal system in managing wicked problems and they highlight the need for investments in effective institutional mechanisms for conflict management, such as adaptive governance.

The conversion of grasslands to woodlands is an ecosystem transformation that threatens grassland biodiversity, the provision of important ecosystem services, and the sustainability of rural livelihoods. A global phenomenon, woody plant encroachment (WPE) has been particularly problematic in the Southern Great Plains of the United States where the actions of private landowners are integral to sustaining grasslands. Increased diversity in landowners’ motivations for owning land have shifted the social landscape of rural areas necessitating a better understanding of landowners’ perspectives about WPE and their subsequent management actions. Towards this purpose, I employed a mail survey to private landowners in the Edwards Plateau of Texas, Central Great Plains of Oklahoma, and Flint Hills of Kansas to investigate landowner perceptions and management responses to WPE. First, I assessed landowners’ acceptance of WPE as a function of how they relate to their land (i.e., sense of place), their beliefs about the positive and negative consequences of woody plants, and their perceived threat of grassland conversion. Then, I examined the drivers of landowners’ goal intentions to manage woody plants and their current use of five adaptive management practices that prevent WPE. My results demonstrate that landowners vary in their sensitivity to WPE based on how they feel connected to their land. This was true even though most landowners had low acceptance thresholds for WPE, believed it led to numerous negative outcomes, and perceived it as increasingly threatening at greater levels of encroachment. Most landowners wanted to control or remove woody plants and were actively engaged in management practices to do so. These findings address uncertainties about landowners’ acceptance of WPE and grassland conservation actions and provide broad implications for how people perceive and respond to ecosystem transformation. / Master of Science / Around the world, grasslands are converting to tree and shrub woodlands at an unprecedented rate. This transformation profoundly reduces habitat available for grassland plants and animals and diminishes many ecosystem services that people and rural communities rely on. This loss of grasslands has been especially far-reaching throughout the Southern Great Plains of the United States. Because most of this region is privately owned, the management actions of landowners play a crucial role in preventing or allowing this conversion to continue. Recent shifts in land ownership motivations expanding beyond traditional agricultural production have created increased uncertainty about how private landowners view and react to this change. To investigate how landowners perceive and respond to this woody plant encroachment (WPE) phenomenon, I conducted a mail survey of landowners in the Edwards Plateau of Texas, the Central Great Plains of Oklahoma, and the Flint Hills of Kansas. Using sense of place, landowners’ beliefs about the potential positive and negative consequences of woody plants, and their perceptions of how threatening grassland conversion is, I assessed the thresholds at which landowners’ do or do not accept WPE. Then, I examined how acceptance of WPE relates to landowners’ management goals and current use of management practices to control or reduce woody plants. I found that most landowners believed that woody plants had many negative consequences and perceived increasing levels of threat at greater levels of encroachment. This related to low levels of acceptance for woody plants in grasslands. However, landowners’ threat perceptions and acceptance of WPE varied based on their sense of place. Finally, most landowners wanted to control or remove woody plants and were actively engaged in management practices to do so. My results provide critical information regarding how current landowners’ view and respond to grassland conversion and offer broad implications for how people perceive and respond to large-scale environmental change.

Inland freshwater salinity is rising worldwide and threatens the quality of our water resources, a phenomenon called the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS). Simultaneously, the practice of indirect potable reuse (IPR) that augments critical water supplies with treated wastewater to enhance water security presents complexities in water quality management. This dissertation explores the complex interplay between FSS and IPR in the Occoquan Reservoir, an important drinking-water source in the Mid-Atlantic United States, within its diverse environmental, social and political contexts. Using extensive data collected over 25 years, this research quantifies contributions of multiple salinity sources to the rising concentration of sodium (a major ion associated with the FSS) in the reservoir and the finished drinking water. These sources encompass two rapidly urbanizing watersheds, a sophisticated water reclamation facility and the drinking water treatment utility. The novel application of unsteady transit time theory reveals that stream salinization can be linked to watershed salt sources using stream water age as a master variable and provides a real-time prediction model for sodium concentration in the reservoir. These results identify substantial opportunities to mitigate sodium pollution and help set the stage for stakeholder-driven bottom-up management by improving the predictability of system dynamics, enhancing knowledge of this social-ecological system and supporting the development of collective action rules. / Doctor of Philosophy / The global rise in freshwater salinity, termed as the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS), poses a significant threat to water quality in our freshwater resources. The practice of indirect potable reuse (IPR), which involves reusing treated wastewater to supplement and secure our water supplies presents significant challenges in managing water quality. This dissertation delves into the intricate relationship between FSS and IPR, focusing on the Occoquan Reservoir-a vital drinking water source in the Mid-Atlantic United States-within its multifaceted environmental, social, and political contexts. This study uncovers the contributions of various sources of salinity to rising sodium ion concentrations (a key FSS-associated ion) in the reservoir and in finished drinking water. Sodium ions are contributed by road salts, chemicals used in water and wastewater treatment, commercial and industrial discharges, household products (e.g., laundry detergents) and human excretion. An innovative approach of examining the age of water in the stream and in the reservoir outflow enables us to trace origins of salinity within the watershed and predict the concentration of sodium ions in the reservoir, respectively. These findings reveal promising avenues for effectively addressing sodium pollution at this site. Furthermore, this research underscores the significance of convergence research, bringing diverse stakeholders together to develop collaborative strategies to manage freshwater salinization using a bottom-up approach.