How integration of socio-ecological data can shape regional environmental management decisions: an example from Australia
January 1, 2024 - Larson, Silva; Stoeckl, Natalie; Jia, Jing; Adams, Vanessa M.
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EmailJournal or Book Title: AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
DOI:10.1080/14486563.2024.2433995
Abstract: In this article, we explore how sensitive recommendations that guide transferability of environmental management solutions are to the type of data used. Working with an integrated Australian data set containing over 200 variables, we use clustering techniques to identify similar regions. We find that variables that drive cluster membership come from all three data domains: biophysical (climate, extreme events, type of vegetation, community and species richness, habitat condition), social (political orientation, personal, household, economic characteristics, built infrastructure, Indigenous governance, land tenure) and interactions (adaptive capacity, disaster resilience, land use, grant value and ecosystem services). We demonstrate that regions cluster differently when only biophysical or only interaction or only social data are used in the analysis. We therefore argue that policy-makers need to be clear about what their policy seeks to achieve and by which mechanisms, before exploring data to find regions to where the policy can successfully be transferred. To use information that only describes one part of the interconnected system is to risk overlooking or misunderstanding other parts of it. Policy makers require information about social and ecological systems and about interactions between systems in order to better understand, analyse and take action to improve the state of environment.
Type of Publication: Article; Early Access