An individual’s health is influenced by more than just the health care system, but also in large part by the social determinants of health. People exist within broader social, cultural, and ecological systems which influence their health outcomes through the social determinants of health. This doctoral dissertation examines social, cultural, and ecological systems to understand several factors that support and hinder community health and wellbeing to inform future policy. This dissertation incorporates a mix of methodological approaches across four interrelated research studies to better understand direct and indirect factors influencing community health and wellbeing. In doing so, this thesis is divided into four research chapters. Study 1 consists of a community-based research project that examines how food security, cultural continuity, and community health and wellbeing are connected through the sharing of harvested country food in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. Based on this understanding we can demonstrate how climate change and increased shipping along the inlet affects the community as a result of changes in marine mammals and harvesting activities. Study 2 presents a logistic regression that models how cultural continuity variables impact self-rated health for participants living in Inuit Nunangat in Canada. This model uses the Arctic Supplement questions of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey to compare measures of cultural continuity to traditional measures based on government services. This study demonstrates an important link between cultural continuity and self-rated health for Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat. iv Study 3 contains a case study of different implementation successes and challenges of Locally Managed Marine Areas globally. These cases are used to understand how community member involvement as stakeholders in marine resource decision-making not only aligns with existing local and Indigenous ways of management, but also can enhance biodiversity as well as local livelihoods. Finally, Study 4 uses ontology engineering methods to represent the results from the first three studies. This study demonstrates how this novel method can be used to illustrate the interconnectedness of results from different disciplines using diverse data sources and through the creation of different scenarios. Taken together, these studies provide timely insights regarding the ways policy can support or hinder efforts to improve community health and wellbeing and adapt to climate changes. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The goal of this doctoral dissertation was to develop a better understanding of how social, cultural, and ecological systems impact community health and wellbeing in various contexts. Findings indicate climate and shipping changes impact Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut through the relationship between food security, cultural continuity, and community health and wellbeing. Relatedly, harvesting activities, access to country food, satisfaction in Inuit governance, and community involvement all increase the probability that an Inuk living in the Arctic has good or great self-rated health. Additionally, Locally Managed Marine Areas, an approach to marine resources management that includes community members as key stakeholders, not only aligns with existing local and Indigenous management practices, but can also support biodiversity and increased catch of various species. Finally, by representing these research results in a single model called an ontology, we can make educated guesses about how these different studies are interconnected. The insights gained from this work can be adopted by decision- makers to create supports for and remove barriers to improved community health and wellbeing and community efforts to adapt to changes.

I arbete med flyktingar är resiliens en viktig faktor för att bli hållbar i en extremt pressad situation i socialt arbete. I denna fallstudie kom vi fram till vilka faktorer inom individ- organisation- och på samhällsnivå, det vill säga på mikro-, meso- och makronivå, som påverkade socialarbetarens resiliens i arbetet med flyktingar i Grekland. Empirin bestod av semistrukturerade intervjuer med socialarbetare som arbetade i Grekland inom frivilliga hjälporganisationer. Syftet med vår kandidatuppsats är att öka kunskapen om vad som påverkar olika professioners resiliens i socialt arbete som befinner sig i komplexa och svåra situationer.   Studien utgick från nationell och internationell forskning, dels om begreppet resiliens och resiliens i socialt arbete. Vi använde oss av ekologisk systemteori för att förklara socialarbetarens interaktion i de olika kontexterna som påverkade deras resiliens.  Resultatet visade att kön, arbetslivs- och livserfarenhet, utbildning, tro, egenomsorg, gränssättning, självkänsla, skyddsmekanismer, attityder och egenskaper hade påverkan på socialarbetarens resiliens på individnivå. På organisationsnivå var det ansvarsfördelning inom organisationen, stöttning av kollegor på arbetsplatsen, handledning och att prata om sitt resiliens inom organisationen, som hade inverkan på deras resiliens. Resultatet visade även att om de arbetade som volontär eller socialarbetare påverkade det individen på olika sätt. På samhällsnivå visade vårt resultat att det som påverkade socialarbetarens resiliens var politik och attityder. Religionen i landet hade inte påverkan på socialarbetarens resiliens. Resultatet visade på flertalet påverkansfaktorer som går i linje med tidigare forskning. Socialt arbete är ett riskyrke och därför är behovet att medvetandegöra resiliens inom utbildning viktigt för att få en ökad hållbarhet inom socialt arbete. / Resilience is an important factor in working with refugees for becoming sustainable in an extremely stressed situation. In this case study, we found which factors within the societal organization and at the individual level that affected the social workers resilience in the work with refugees in Greece. The empirical study consisted of semi-structured interviews with social workers who worked in Greece within NGO’s. The purpose of our master’s thesis is to increase knowledge about what affects the social worker's resilience in complex and difficult situations.  The study was based on national and international research, partly on the concept of resilience, and resilience in social work. We used ecological system theory to explain the social workers interaction in different contexts that affected their resilience.  The result showed at the individual level that gender, work life and life experience, education, belief, self-care, boundary, self-esteem, protection mechanisms, mindset and characteristics had an impact on the social worker's resilience. At the organization level, it was the division of responsibility within the organization, supporting colleagues at the workplace, supervision and talking about their resilience within the organization, which had an impact on their resilience. The result also showed that if they worked as a volunteer or social worker, it affected the individual’s resilience in different ways.  What influenced the social worker's resilience at the societal level was politics and attitudes. The religion in Greece did not affect the social worker’s resilience. The results showed the majority of influence factors that are in line with previous research. Social work is a risky profession and therefore the need to raise awareness of resilience in education is important in order to achieve increased sustainability in social work.

L’aquaculture des ormeaux (Haliotis spp.) fournit un bon cas étude des défis techniques, sociaux et environnementaux concernant l'introduction d’organismes marins nouvellement domestiqués sur le marché. En effet, l'élevage de l'ormeau a débuté au Japon au cours des années 1960 et, d'après la FAO (2012), est aujourd'hui l'une des industries aquacoles les plus dynamiques dans le monde. Pourtant, toutes les tentatives n'ont pas connues le même succès. Cette dissertation vise à comprendre les facteurs qui ont permis ou entravé le succès environnemental, social et technique de l’halioticulture, en mettant l'accent sur la France. Plus précisément, nous examinons trois grandes catégories de facteurs qui peuvent expliquer son évolution: - L'importance des facteurs socio-écologiques dans la gestion de la ressource en ormeaux - Les facteurs socioculturels qui étayent le statut de l'ormeau en tant que ressource éligible pour l'aquaculture. - Le rôle de la science dans l'industrialisation de l'élevage d'ormeaux. / Abalone aquaculture (Haliotis spp.) or halioticulture provides a good case study of the technical, social and environmental challenges of introducing newly domesticated marine organisms into the market. Abalone farming began in Japan in the 1960s and, according to FAO (2012), is now one of the most dynamic aquaculture industries in the world. Yet all attempts have not met with the same success. This essay aims to understand the factors that have allowed or hindered the environmental, social and technical success of halioticulture, with an emphasis on France.More specifically, we examine three main categories of factors that may explain its evolution:- The importance of socio-ecological factors in the management of abalone resource.- Socio-cultural factors that support the status of the abalone as an eligible resource for aquaculture.- The role of science in the industrialization of abalone farming.

Human activities worldwide have altered nature in ways that create new combinations of species and environmental processes. To understand so-called "novel ecosystems" it is important to consider both the natural and the societal factors that shape them, and how those factors are interconnected or "coupled." We used such an approach to explore options for managing a non-native invasive frog, the coqui, which has become established on the island of Hawaii and threatens to spread to other parts of the state. The nighttime calls of the coqui create a nuisance for property owners when populations become dense enough, as often occurs in Hawaii where the frogs have no natural enemies. Humans have tried various ways to eliminate coqui on the island of Hawaii with little success. Therefore we studied how property owners cope with their presence, both through management practices and psychological coping strategies. We also examined results of those efforts. People whose properties had more frogs were more likely to take action to reduce their numbers, but also attitudes toward the coqui were less negative when people had grown used to having to share their properties with the frogs. For those who cannot cope psychologically, we found it would be possible to manage properties to reduce densities but only when leaf litter and low shrubs were completely removed from near a home. Information campaigns about managing coqui should be different when targeting people that already host frogs and those that do not.

The southwest Yukon social-ecological system (SES) is marked by complex changes, including a climate induced directionally changing landscape, an increasing shift away from traditional subsistence lifestyles, and changing species composition. The addition of “new” ungulate species through human and non-human introductions has spawned many management questions. This study developed qualitative scenarios through a participatory process, utilizing scientific and traditional knowledge from within the social-ecological system’s local context. The study worked with local management groups to address two main objectives: 1.) Collaboratively envision alternate future scenarios with management groups from which to collaboratively develop management goals for wood bison, elk, and mule deer to cope with the changing social and ecological landscape of the southwest Yukon and 2.) Discover resource managers’ and local stakeholders’ perceptions of scenario planning as a method identify wildlife management goals. A series of three workshops with the Alsek Renewable Resource Council, the Yukon Wood Bison Technical Team, and the Yukon Elk Management Planning Team addressed the first objective, while two surveys addressed the second objective. Major findings included southwest Yukon-specific wildlife management goals and considerations for using scenario planning in a wildlife management context. The scenarios themselves warn of plausible events that might unfold, such as novel disease and pest outbreaks. Several participants mentioned that the value attributed to different species will change based on scenario context. This prompts warnings for wildlife managers not to “shut the door” on a species today that may be highly valuable for solving food security challenges of the future. Findings suggest that one of scenario planning’s most significant contribution is a forum for people to share perspectives and develop trust and understanding of one another. All participants valued the holistic and long-term thinking aspects of scenario planning, seeing it as a complementary tool to enhance existing planning processes. Major resource management plans and/or resource development projects in the future should consider using a scenarios approach to better articulated goals in terms of whole system impacts.

Syftet med studien var att lyfta förskolechefers syn på och arbete kring likvärdig undervisning i förskolan. I studien har kvalitativa intervjuer använts som datainsamlingsmetod, med en intervjuguide där följdfrågorna baserades på respondenternas svar. I undersökningen har fem förskolechefer intervjuats för att få en bredd på förskolechefens syn på likvärdig undervisning. Analyseringsarbetet har skett genom tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att alla deltagande förskolechefer ansåg att likvärdig undervisning är ett viktigt begrepp för att lyfta fram förskolans kvalitet och betydelse. De lyfte även vikten av att ha kunnig och professionell personal ute på förskolorna, då de ansåg att det hade stor betydelse för hur de som chefer kunde fullfölja sitt uppdrag. Resultatet är kopplat till den ekologiska systemteorin. / The purpose of this study is to raise the point of view and the work around equivalent education in preschool. In the study, qualitative interviews has been used as data collection method according to a guide, but follow up questions have been based on the responders answers. Five different preschool managers has been interviewed to get a wide range of their look on equivalent education. The responder’s answers has been analyzed according to the thematic analysis. The result shows that all the different head of preschools felt that equivalent education is an important matter to raise the quality and the meaning of the preschool. They also felt that it’s important to have knowledgeable and professional staff at the preschools, because it has a big meaning of how the head of preschools can complete their assignments. The result is connectedto the ecological system theory.

Ecosystèmes et sociétés humaines interagissent de façon bidirectionnelle, notamment via la perte de biodiversité et de services écosystémiques. Au sein de cette boucle de rétroaction, les interactions d'échelles (spatiales et temporelles) mènent à des découplages qui peuvent réduire le bien-être humain et la durabilité des systèmes socio-écologiques (SSEs). Par une approche de modélisation, cette thèse explore les conséquences de long terme de telles interactions d'échelle. Nous montrons que le découplage temporel dû aux dettes d'extinction peut mener à des effondrements. De plus, ces découplages temporels réduisent la capacité d'adaptation du système, rendant plus probables des transitions soudaines vers des trajectoires non durables. Cependant, la conservation des habitats naturels et l'internalisation économique des conséquences de la perte de biodiversité permettent d'éviter ou de réduire ces crises. Cette étude met en évidence le rôle des rétroactions et des interactions d'échelles dans les SSEs, et insiste sur l'importance d'une vision de long terme pour la durabilité des sociétés humaines. / Human-nature interactions form a feedback loop that is driven by the loss of biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services. These interactions occur over many spatial and temporal scales, and mismatches between the scales of human dynamics and ecological processes can contribute to a decrease in human well-being and sustainability. This thesis investigates theoretically the long-term consequences of biodiversity feedbacks on the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs). Temporal mismatches resulting from extinction debts can generate unsustainable human population cycles, especially in the most technology-intensive SESs. Moreover, temporal mismatches postpone desirable behavioral changes and reduce resilience, thus increasing the probability of abrupt regime shifts towards unsustainable trajectories. However, natural habitat conservation, e.g. through land set aside or the economic internalization of biodiversity feedbacks, can help prevent or mitigate such crises. This thesis thus emphasizes the role of feedbacks and scales in human-nature interactions, and highlights the importance of foresight for the sustainability of human societies.

Depuis des millénaires, l’éléphant d’Asie joue un rôle important dans la culture, l’économie et la construction des pays asiatiques. Près d’un quart de la population de cette espèce emblématique et menacée est constituée d’éléphants dits captifs. Toutefois, les législations nationales comme les programmes de conservation ont tendance à traiter séparément les populations captives et sauvages. Au Laos et au Myanmar, la tradition d’élevage par les villageois et les interactions entre éléphants sauvages et éléphants de villages perdurent.L’objectif de cette thèse est de qualifier et quantifier ces interactions afin de mieux comprendre leurs dynamiques et leurs rôles dans la survie de l’espèce. Je me suis attaché à décrire les facteurs déterminant le système socio-écologique humain - éléphant de village - éléphant sauvage et sa résilience à travers une approche interdisciplinaire et intégrative.Une étude ethnoécologique a permis d’analyser l’évolution récente du système socio-écologique homme-éléphant au Laos et ses conséquences sur les relations humain-éléphant, les pratiques d’élevage et la perception de l’espèce chez les propriétaires d’éléphants. L'émergence depuis les années 2000 de la marchandisation de la nature et de la restriction de l'accès aux forêts a conduit, d’une part, à la ségrégation entre éléphants sauvages et éléphants de villages, et d’autre part, à l’intensification de l'élevage de ces derniers. Or, la tolérance des communautés à la présence des éléphants sauvages semble liée au principe de réciprocité. Ainsi, les propriétaires ayant accès aux mâles sauvages pour féconder leurs femelles acceptent leur présence contrairement aux cornacs engagés dans le débardage du bois.J’ai ensuite construit un modèle bio-économique pour quantifier les effets des stratégies socio-économiques sur la viabilité à long terme de la population d’éléphants de villages du Laos. J’ai montré que la fécondité est impactée en premier lieu par la dynamique de la population sauvage à travers la reproduction entre femelles de villages et mâles sauvages. En second lieu, le taux de fécondité dépend de l’intérêt financier des propriétaires à faire de la reproduction. Ainsi la viabilité de la population est fortement dépendante des conditions socio-économiques sur le court terme et de l’efficience de la conservation des populations sauvages sur le long terme.Une étude de génétique des populations a montré que la diversité génétique des populations sauvages et de villages était élevée et que ces populations constituaient un ensemble homogène au Laos et au Myanmar. L’isolement des populations sauvages et la ségrégation croissante des populations de villages engendreront un appauvrissement génétique sur le long terme qu’il est possible de limiter par des mesures de gestion favorisant le flux de gènes au niveau régional et entre les deux populations, notamment en les considérant comme une unité de gestion commune.Ces deux études illustrent que la résilience du système socio-écologique est la résultante de multiples facteurs agissant à différents niveaux ou échelles, dont les effets sont parfois opposés.Cette thèse permet enfin de discuter des conditions de la résilience et de la viabilité à long terme du système socio-écologique humain-éléphant et d’explorer différents scénarios futurs en s’interrogeant également sur le possible processus de domestication de l’espèce. / For thousands of years, the Asian elephant has played an important role in the culture, economy and construction of Asian nations. Almost a quarter of the population of this emblematic and threatened species consists of so-called captive elephants. However, both national legislation and conservation programmes tend to treat captive and wild populations separately. In Laos and Myanmar, the tradition of elephant handling by villagers and the interactions between wild and village elephants still persist.The objective of this thesis is to qualify and quantify these interactions to better understand their dynamics and roles in the survival of the species. I described the factors driving the socio-ecological system between humans, village and wild elephants and its resilience through an interdisciplinary and integrative approach.Based on an ethnoecological study, I analyzed the recent evolution of the human-elephant socio-ecological system in Laos and its consequences on human-elephant relations, husbandry practices and the perception of the species among elephant owners. The emergence since 2000 of the commodification of nature and the restriction of access to forests has led, on the one hand, to the segregation between wild and village elephants and, on the other hand, to the transition from a traditional to an intensive keeping system of village elephants. Community perception and tolerance towards wild elephants is linked to the principle of reciprocity. Owners having access to wild males to sire their females accept the presence of wild elephants contrary to mahouts engaged in logging activities.I then built a bio-economic model to quantify the effects of socio-economic strategies on the long-term viability of village elephant population in Laos. I demonstrated that fecundity is impacted primarily by the dynamics of the wild population through reproduction between village females and wild males. Second, the fecundity is impacted by the financial incentive of elephant owners tobreed their animals instead of working. Thus population viability is highly dependent on socio-economic conditions in the short term and the efficiency of wild elephant conservation in the long term.A population genetics study showed that the genetic diversity of wild and village elephant was high and differentiation was weak between Laos and Myanmar. The isolation of wild populations and the increasing segregation of village elephants will lead to genetic loss and inbreeding that can be managed by promoting gene flows at the regional level and between the two populations. The study suggests considering both populations from the two countries as a unique management unit. These two studies illustrate that resilience of the socio-ecological system is the result of multiple factors acting at different levels or scales, sometimes in opposite ways.Finally, this thesis allows to discuss the conditions of resilience and long-term viability of the human-elephant socio-ecological system and to explore potential scenarios including the on-going domestication process of the species.

abstract: The coastal fishing community of Barrington, Southwest Nova Scotia (SWNS), has depended on the resilience of ocean ecosystems and resource-based economic activities for centuries. But while many coastal fisheries have developed unique ways to govern their resources, global environmental and economic change presents new challenges. In this study, I examine the multi-species fishery of Barrington. My objective was to understand what makes the fishery and its governance system robust to economic and ecological change, what makes fishing households vulnerable, and how household vulnerability and system level robustness interact. I addressed these these questions by focusing on action arenas, their contexts, interactions and outcomes. I used a combination of case comparisons, ethnography, surveys, quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand what influences action arenas in Barrington, Southwest Nova Scotia (SWNS). I found that robustness of the fishery at the system level depended on the strength of feedback between the operational level, where resource users interact with the resource, and the collective-choice level, where agents develop rules to influence fishing behavior. Weak feedback in Barrington has precipitated governance mismatches. At the household level, accounts from harvesters, buyers and experts suggested that decision-making arenas lacked procedural justice. Households preferred individual strategies to acquire access to and exploit fisheries resources. But the transferability of quota and licenses has created divisions between haves and have-nots. Those who have lost their traditional access to other species, such as cod, halibut, and haddock, have become highly dependent on lobster. Based on regressions and multi-criteria decision analysis, I found that new entrants in the lobster fishery needed to maintain high effort and catches to service their debts. But harvesters who did not enter the race for higher catches were most sensitive to low demand and low prices for lobster. This study demonstrates the importance of combining multiple methods and theoretical approaches to avoid tunnel vision in fisheries policy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Social Science 2014

This study considers the emergence of Marine Spatial Planning as a tool for ecosystem-basedmanagement using an innovation diffusion perspective that combines elements of classical diffusionof innovations theory with a consideration of individual and networked agency and cross-scaledynamics in the context of a social-ecological systems perspective. The main findings are that thediffusion of Marine Spatial Planning does not follow a linear, technologically deterministic process asindicated by many diffusion of innovation studies but instead the diffusion process can becharacterised by a hybrid diffusion system that cascades over a series of phases and where individualsembedded in informal networks play a key role in driving the emergence of Marine Spatial Planningacross scales.This study provides a valuable contribution to considering how the study of innovation and diffusiondynamics could be applied to provide explanatory power when considering innovations that gobeyond being technological that might emerge in the context of addressing challenges facing linkedsocial-ecological systems at the global level and thus assist in resolving the mismatches between thescale of ecological processes and the governance of ecosystems to ensure an ongoing delivery ofecosystem services. These innovations are also important to study in the context of innovation being acatalyst for transformation of marine social-ecological systems to a more sustainable trajectory.