Escaping social–ecological traps through ecological restoration and socioeconomic development in China's Loess Plateau

• Published in: People and nature (Hoboken, N.J.) Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 1364 - 1379
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhuangzhuang, Fu, Bojie, Wu, Xutong, Li, Yingjie, Wang, Shuai, Lu, Nan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.08.2023; Wiley
• Subjects: Check dams; China's Loess Plateau; composite system state index; Dam engineering; Developing countries; Ecological effects; ecological restoration; Ecosystems; Environmental restoration; Feedback; Feedback loops; Fisheries; Land degradation; LDCs; Population growth; Poverty; quantitative diagnosis; Restoration; Rural areas; Social organization; Social-ecological systems; social–ecological network; social–ecological traps; Socioeconomics; Soil degradation; Soil erosion; Sustainable development; Terraces; Urbanization; Vegetation; China; Loess Plateau
• ISSN: 2575-8314; 2575-8314
• DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10513

The social–ecological trap is an emerging concept that describes situations in which self‐reinforcing social and ecological feedbacks maintain or push a social–ecological system towards an undesirable state and threaten the sustainability of human societies. Understanding a system's feedback loops and identifying the leading factors of such traps is essential to develop effective management strategies to warn, avoid and escape traps. To better understand the dynamics of social–ecological traps, we developed a quantitative diagnostic framework that combines the social–ecological network approach and composite system state index. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the framework by examining the rural social–ecological evolution in China's Loess Plateau (LP) from 1949 to 2020, an area once faced with severe social–ecological challenges such as soil erosion, land degradation and poverty. Our analysis identified three stages of trap dynamics in LP: locked in the trap (1949–1981), reacting to the trap (1981–2003) and escaping the trap (2003–2020). In the first stage, LP was locked into an undesirable trajectory where reinforcing feedback occurs between rapid population growth, limited livelihood opportunities, excessive reliance on agriculture and severe soil erosion. Our results also found that the LP has made significant progress in escaping this social–ecological trap during the 21st century through ecological restoration practices and socioeconomic development. Similar social–ecological traps are also observed in many other regions of the world, particularly in developing countries. Our analysis recommends three pathways for addressing social–ecological traps in the LP: (1) promoting urbanization and livelihood diversity, (2) implementing site‐specific engineering measures (e.g. terraces and check dams in the LP) and (3) investing in ecological restoration programs. Escaping the trap is not the end of the story, but could be an early stage of another trap. Policymakers and managers should keep assessing and monitoring the policy practices and outcomes to avoid entering new trap situations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. 摘要 社会‐生态陷阱是一个新兴的概念，用来描述这样的情况:自我强化的社会和生态反馈维持或推动社会‐生态系统朝向不理想的状态发展，进而威胁人类社会的可持续性。理解社会‐生态系统的反馈循环、识别陷阱的主导因素是制定有效的管理策略以预警、避免和逃离陷阱的关键。 为了更好地理解社会‐生态陷阱动态，本文发展了一个定量诊断框架，该框架综合了社会‐生态网络方法和复合系统状态指数。黄土高原是中国的一个生态脆弱区，曾经面临着严峻的社会‐生态挑战，例如土壤侵蚀、土地退化和贫困。我们通过研究1949‐2020年黄土高原农村社会‐生态系统的演变展示了该框架的可行性和有效性。 研究结果识别了黄土高原社会‐生态陷阱的三个阶段:锁定在陷阱中(1949–1981)，对陷阱作出反应(1981–2003)和逃离陷阱(2003–2020)。在第一个阶段，快速增长的人口、有限的生计机会、对农业的过度依赖以及严重的土壤侵蚀之间强化的反馈循环使得黄土高原地区陷入了一个不理想的发展轨迹。我们的结果还发现，进入21世纪，黄土高原地区通过生态恢复实践和社会经济发展逃离了社会‐生态陷阱。 不仅在中国黄土高原，类似的社会‐生态陷阱也在其他地区广泛存在，特别是发展中国家。从黄土高原研究案例，我们总结了三条逃离陷阱的路径:(1)推进城市化和生计方式多样化。(2)实施因地制宜的工程措施，例如黄土高原的梯田和淤地坝工程。(3)投资生态恢复项目。逃离社会‐生态陷阱并不意味着系统演变的结束，它也可能成为另一个陷阱的早期阶段。因此，政策制定者和管理者应持续监测和评估社会‐生态系统演变和现有政策效应，以避免进入新的陷阱情景。 Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.