• Science on ecosystems and people to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

    Publication:

    Ecosystems and People

    Year:

    2023

    Authors:

    Matthias Schröter, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Christian Albert, Rosemary Hill, Torsten Krause, Jacqueline Loos, Lelani M. Mannetti, Berta Martín-López, Amrita Neelakantan, John A. Parrotta, Cristina Quintas-Soriano, David J. Abson, Rob Alkemade, Bas Amelung,

    This journal article highlights the relevance of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2022. The article emphasises the importance of the GBF in guiding international biodiversity conservation efforts until 2030, with the ultimate goal of achieving a harmonious coexistence with nature by 2050. It also acknowledges the role of the global scholarly community in contributing insights to support biodiversity strategies and action plans.

  • Varieties of just transition: Public support in South Africa’s Mpumalanga coal community for different policy options

    Publication:

    PLOS Climate

    Year:

    2023

    Authors:

    Nthabiseng Mohlakoana, Muhammed Lokhat, Nives Dolsak, Aseem Prakash

    This article delves into the intricate dynamics of public opinion regarding "Just Transition" policies in South Africa's coal mining sector. As the world strives for decarbonization, the study explores how these policies, designed to compensate communities impacted by the shift away from fossil fuels, can garner political support. By conducting in-depth interviews with coal miners, power plant workers, and community members in Mpumalanga province, the researchers uncover key insights.

  • Critical pedagogical designs for SETS knowledge co-production: online peer- and problem-based learning by and for early career green infrastructure experts

    Publication:

    Urban Transformations

    Year:

    2023

    Authors:

    Feagan, M., Fork, M., Gray, G. et al.

    Despite a growing understanding of the importance of knowledge co-production for just and sustainable urban transformations, early career green infrastructure experts typically lack opportunities to practice transdisciplinary knowledge co-production approaches within their normal training and professional development. This paper explores how pedagogical designs can help create favourable conditions for transdisciplinary knowledge co-production.

  • The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society: an emergent community of practice

    Publication:

    Ecosystems and People

    Year:

    2023

    Authors:

    R. O. Biggs et al.

    This paper reflects on experiences in building the SAPECS community, with the aim of supporting the development of similar networks elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Global South.

  • Assessment Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature

    Publication:

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Pascual et al.

    Decisions based on narrow set of market values of nature underpin the current global biodiversity crisis.  Many opportunities exist to embed the diverse values of nature into decision making for navigating towards more just and sustainable futures.

  • Managing biodiversity in the Anthropocene: discussing the Nature Futures Framework as a tool for adaptive decision‐making for nature under climate change

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Palacios-Abrantes et al.

    This article discusses how conservation approaches to social-ecological systems have historically prioritised preserving nature for its instrumental societal benefits, neglecting the complex relationship between humans and nature and the impact of climate change. The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) offers an alternative perspective, which emphasises the diverse positive values of nature and its contribution to people.

  • How can diverse national food and land‐use priorities be reconciled with global sustainability targets? Lessons from the FABLE initiative

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Mosnier et al.

    How can countries satisfy their demands while jointly delivering the required transformative change to achieve global sustainability targets? Here, we present a collaborative approach developed with the FABLE—Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy—Consortium to reconcile both global and national elements for developing national food and land-use system pathways.

  • Insights for food systems transformation from southern Africa Outcomes of the Southern African Resilience Academy

    Publication:

    GRP & CST Publications

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Sabrina Chesterman, Maike Hamann, Albert Norström

    This insights brief presents key themes and recommendations that emerged from the SARA activities and discussions that were convened over the course of 2021 in order to explore ways of addressing barriers and unlocking key actions to transform food systems in southern Africa.

  • Insights for food systems transformation from southern Africa: Overview of southern African context

    Publication:

    GRP & CST Publications

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Sabrina Chesterman, Maike Hamann, Albert Norström

    This report contextualises the actions of the Southern African Resilience Academy (SARA) in 2021, a year covering many pivotal events towards food systems transformation.

  • Leveraging the potential of wild food for healthy, sustainable, and equitable local food systems: learning from a transformation lab in the Western Cape region

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    L.M. Pereira, S. Boatemaa Kushitor, C. Cramer, S. Drimie, M. Isaacs, R. Malgas, E. Phiri, C. Tembo, J. Willis

    Preserving biocultural diversity is central to ensure the nutrition, resilience, and adaptive capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities who collectively maintain the longest ongoing human experiences with the provision of food under environmental change; a core component of global food security.

  • Climate change and the urgency to transform food systems

    Publication:

    Science

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Zurek, M, Hebinck, A, and Selomane, O.

    Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to human societies, demanding immediate and coordinated actions across all sectors. Food systems are one of the most important contributors to climate change and could compromise efforts to achieve the 2015 Paris Agreement targets. At the same time, food systems themselves will also need to further adapt to climate change impacts.

  • Using Synergic Methods for Being Methodologically Agile (SM4BMA)

    Publication:

    International Journal of Sustainable Development Research

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    van Breda, J.

    The main goal in this paper is to further develop the notion of methodological agility at the methodical level. The need for being methodologically agile is rooted in the global challenges we are facing today in the context of the Anthropocene – which has been described as a new human-induced geological epoch introduced / caused by the net effect of multiple socio-technical human actions since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century in the global north.

  • Towards an understanding of corporate (dis)engagement with social justice advocacy

    Publication:

    African Journal of Business Ethics

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Jones, L & Smit, A.

    There is increasing focus worldwide on the role of business in society today. Globally, sustainability concerns and shifting value systems are re-shaping expectations of socially responsible business, as seen with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global corporate initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), and leading standards such as the King IV Report on Corporate Governance

  • Methodological Agility for Doing Transformative Transdisciplinary Research on Sustainability Transitions in the Context of the Anthropocene

    Publication:

    International Journal of Sustainable Development Research

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Goh, Z. and Van Breda, J.

    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for mobilization across global and local levels, and involves academic actors and societal agents in an emergency response to the planetary challenges facing us in the context of the Anthropocene. Never before in human history have we been required to mobilize ourselves globally around a common set of goals, whilst facing the consequences of our own human actions on a truly planetary scale.

  • South Africa’s contested transition to energy democracy

    Publication:

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Davies, M., Wlokas, H., Callaghan, N., Swilling, M. (Eds).

    In this edited collection of essays, researchers and practitioners, occupying varying positionalities in the energy sector, reflect on their experiences in grappling with the implementation and governance of renewable energy technologies across [...]

  • Centre for Complex Systems in Transition: 2015 – 2020

    Publication:

    CST

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Carolyn Cramer

    A 5 year review of the history and work of the CST.

  • The complex challenge of governing food systems: The case of South African food policy

    Publication:

    Food Security

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    S. B. Kushitor, S. Drimie, R. Davids, C. Delport, C. Hawkes, T. Mabhaudhi, M. Ngidi, R. Slotow, and L. M. Pereira

    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect a growing global consensus on the need to address sustainability challenges. SDG 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. This outcome requires change across multiple domains, including health, development, and agriculture. Achieving this goal requires transformative change across the food system and the political will to effect such changes to recognize the integrated nature of food systems. In essence, food governance has to underpin the ability of present and future generations to meet their food and nutrition needs under extraordinary environmental pressures.

  • Youth Nature Futures for Southern Africa

    Publication:

    CST Publications

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Nadia Sitas, Maike Hamann, Therezah Achieng, Joy Waddell, Hayley Clements, Odirilwe Selomane

    To capture visions of nature-futures as imagined by youth from the Global South, the CST facilitated a series of online events in 2021 with youth organizations and networks operating in southern Africa.

  • Towards Equitable Urban Resilience in the Global South Within a Context of Planning and Management

    Publication:

    Urban Ecology in the Global South

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Sitas, N., Selomane, N., Hamann, M. and Gaudier, S.

    The future of the world is an urban one. This will be especially evident in cities and urban spaces in the Global South which are predicted to account formore than half of theworld’s population by 2050.

  • Rethinking Agency – the 2022 agenda for the systems community

    Publication:

    Systems Research & Behavioural Science

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Klien, L., Buckle, P., Nguyen, N., Preiser, R., and Ison, R.

    Putting the systems community more prominently on the map of correspondents to the current global problematique is the guiding strategy of the International Federation for Systems Research. 

  • The journey to monitoring ecosystem services: Are we there yet?

    Publication:

    Ecosystem Services

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Vaza, A.S., Selomane, O., Jones, L., Gosal, A.S., Ziv, G., Muller-Karger, F.E., and Montes, E.

    The protection and sustainable use of ecosystem services (ES) are at the heart of human prosperity. This is the focus of national and international initiatives, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and post-2020 action on the Convention on Biological Diversity.

  • Exploring the transformative potential of urban food

    Publication:

    Urban Sustainability

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Hebinck, A., Selomane, O., Veen, E., de Vrieze, A., Hasnain, S., Sellberg, M., Sovov, L., Thompson, K., Vervoort, J., and Wood, A.

    Urban food is regarded as a promising lever for transformative change towards sustainability. There are two main reasons for this. First, cities are considered hotbeds for alternative practices and experimentation, which are vital to address the urgent sustainability challenges cities face. Second, food links to diverse domains such as ecological, political, social, health and economic systems. Acknowledging this potential, a shift towards considering urban food practice (UFP) for the design of sustainable cities is visible in both research and policy.

  • When the whole is less than the sum of all parts – Tracking global-level impacts of national sustainability initiatives

    Publication:

    Global Environmental Change

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Downing, A.S, Wong, G.Y., Dyer, M., Aguiar, A.P., Selomane, O., Jim, A. and Aceituno, A.

    In this study, we investigate effects of reforestation programs in China on countries supplying forest and agricultural commodities to China. Using case studies of rubber and palm oil production in Southeast Asian countries, soy production in Brazil and logging in South Pacific Island states, we investigate cross-sector effects of production for and trade to China in these exporting countries.

  • Russia’s Resurgent Interest in Africa: The Cases of Zambia and Tanzania

    Publication:

    SAIIA Report

    Year:

    2022

    Authors:

    Dzvinka Kachur

    This special report looks at Russia’s political, military and economic cooperation with Zambia and Tanzania. It also analyses the Soviet Union’s legacy, from which the Russian government and businesses can benefit in current relationships with African countries.

  • Co-exploring relational heuristics for sustainability transitions towards more resilient and just Anthropocene futures

    Publication:

    Systems Research and Behavioural Science.

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    R. Preiser, R. Biggs, M. Hamann, N. Sitas, O. Selomane, J. Waddell, H. Clements, T. Hichert

    In this paper, four relational heuristic responses for re-imagining modes of engagement or patterns of activity that could enliven efforts of fostering systemic thinking and action to inform sustainability transitions towards more resilient and just Anthropocene futures are offered.

  • Resilience Policy Brief

    Publication:

    CST Publications

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    R. Biggs, C. Pringle, N. Sitas, H. Clements, B. Dube, M. Hamann, W. Malherbe, A. Manyani, R. Preiser, O. Selomane and J. Waddell.

    Use of the term “resilience” has grown rapidly over the past two decades and is currently something of a buzzword.

  • Analyzing the contributions of transdisciplinary research to the global sustainability agenda in African cities

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Thiam, S., Aziz, F., Kushitor, S.B., Amaka‑Otchere, A. B. K., Onyima, B. N., and Odume, O. N.

    Five years into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) journey, the world is not on track to achieve the set goals (United Nations 2020b). With only minimal progress made, Sub-Saharan Africa countries are lagging in implementing these global goals. The COVID-19 pandemic presents another threat to the SDGs, negatively impacting economies and societies worldwide.

  • Assessing the outcomes of implementing natural open space plans in a Global South city

    Publication:

    Landscape and Urban Planning

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Wessels, N., Sitas, N., O'Farrell, P., and Esler, K.J.

    We present a practical approach to assess the outcomes of implementing natural open space plans in urban areas, especially for the local (municipal) level where resource challenges may hinder assessment.

  • Grounding global environmental assessments through bottom-up futures based on local practices and perspectives

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Pereira, L., Asrar, G., Bhargava, R., Fisher, L., Hsu, A., Jabbour, J., Nel, J., Selomane, O., Sitas, N., Trisos, C., Ward, J., van den Ende, M., Vervoort, J. & Weinfurter, A.

    The rapid pace and scale of societal and environmental changes in the anthropocene necessitate important changes in how integrated scientific assessments are carried out to account for such changes from local to regional and global levels. Contemporary global environmental assessments are shifting focus from only synthesizing the current state of knowledge towards understanding transformations and interventions needed to mitigate and manage environmental risks

  • Engaging with complexity in resilience practice

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    M.M. Sellberg, A. Quinlan, R. Preiser, K. Malmborg and G. D. Peterson

    This study synthesizes lessons from how twelve cases of social-ecological resilience practice are engaging with complexity. We assessed how each case engaged with complexity, according to a framework of six features of complex adaptive systems. The cases are situated in a diversity of contexts.

  • The influence of biophysical and socio-economic factors on the effectiveness of private land conservation areas in preventing natural land cover loss across South Africa

    Publication:

    Global Ecology and Conservation

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Alta De Vos

    There is growing recognition of the potential for private land to contribute to global conservation efforts. Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) complement state-owned protected areas by increasing the total area available for biodiversity conservation, protecting species and habitats in threatened landscapes that are under-represented in state-owned protected areas and increasing the diversity of tenure types and conservation models that protect and manage biodiversity. Protected areas with different conservation models are likely to respond differently to social-ecological stressors.

  • Patchwork Earth: navigating pathways to just, thriving, and sustainable futures

    Publication:

    One Earth

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Elena M. Bennett, Reinette Biggs, Garry D. Peterson, and Line J. Gordon

    Different regions, with different contexts and values, will follow different sustainability transformation pathways, giving rise to tensions and opportunities as the outcomes of regional pathways interact. To navigate these changes, we need a better understanding of how regional pathways interact to produce outcomes for people and nature.

  • Advancing a toolkit of diverse futures approaches for global environmental assessments

    Publication:

    Ecosystems and People

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Laura Pereira, Jan J. Kuiper, Odirilwe Selomane, Ana Paula D. Aguiar, Ghassem R. Asrar, Elena M. Bennett, Reinette Biggs, Katherine Calvin, Steve Hedden, Angel Hsu, Jason Jabbour, Nicholas King, Alexandre C. Köberle, Paul Lucas, Jeanne Nel, Albert V. Nors

    Can enough healthy food for all be provided while sustaining the biosphere? What role do different technologies and actors play in achieving this goal? Can globalisation enhance inclusion and respect for bio-cultural diversity? How do abrupt events affect sustainable trajectories of development, and how do we anticipate their adverse impacts? These and other sustainability questions are complex and interconnected, and answering them requires bridging diverse sources of experience and knowledge.

  • Looking across diverse food system futures: Implications for climate change and the environment

    Publication:

    QOpen

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Zurek, M., Hebinck, A. and Selomane, O.

    Agriculture and food systems are in urgent need of transformation. They currently do not provide the needed food and nutrition security outcomes while having far-reaching environmental and social impacts. Many interrelated challenges obscure how to transform the agri-food system towards environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

  • Quantifying the effectiveness of private land conservation areas in preventing losses of natural land cover and biodiversity intactness across South Africa

    Publication:

    Stellenbosch University

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Tafadzwa Shumba

    In South Africa, a long history of conservation on private land conservation areas and the diverse private land conservation areas models provide an interesting case study to address this knowledge gap. The effectiveness of private land conservation areas across South Africa, and factors influencing their effectiveness, were thus quantified using losses in natural land cover and the biodiversity intactness index as proxies.

  • Consequences of recreational hunting for biodiversity conservation and livelihoods

    Publication:

    One Earth

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    E.D. Minin, H.S. Clements, R.A. Correia, G. Cortes-Capano, C. Fink, A. Haukka, A. Hausmann, R. Kulkarni, and C.J.A. Bradshaw

    We provide an overview of the peer-reviewed literature on recreational hunting of terrestrial birds and mammals between 1953 and 2020.

  • Culturally diverse expert teams have yet to bring comprehensive linguistic diversity to intergovernmental ecosystem assessments

    Publication:

    One Earth

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Lynch, A.J., Fernández-Llamazares, A., Palomo, I., Jaureguiberry, P., Amano, T., Basher, Z., Lim, M., Mwampamba, T.H., Samakov, A. and Selomane, O.

    To incorporate more linguistic diversity into global ecosystem assessment processes, we present actionable steps for global science teams to recognize and incorporate non-English-language literature and contributions from non-Anglophones.

  • Russia’s Resurgence in Africa: Zimbabwe and Mozambique

    Publication:

    South African Institute of International Affairs

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Dzvinka Kachur

    While Russia’s relationship with Africa goes back decades, to the continent’s anti-colonial struggles, the past few years have seen a resurgence in relations.

  • Supporting transformative climate adaptation: community-level capacity building and knowledge co-creation in South Africa

    Publication:

    Climate Policy

    Year:

    2021

    Authors:

    Gina Ziervogel, Johan Enqvist, Luke Metelerkamp & John van Breda

    Given that marginalized communities are highly vulnerable to climate risk, it is important to build their capacity to adapt locally and to integrate their perspectives into higher level adaptation measures. Current adaptation policy does not pay sufficient attention to this. Using a Cape Town-based project on water governance in low income urban settlements, this paper explores how a transdisciplinary research project supported capacity building.

  • Informality and water justice: community perspectives on water issues in Cape Town’s low income neighbourhoods

    Publication:

    International Journal of Water Resources Development

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Johan Enqvist, Gina Ziervogel, Luke Metelerkamp, John van Breda, Ntombikayise Dondi, Thabo Lusithi, Apiwe Mdunyelwa , Zinzi Mgwigwi, Mpumelelo Mhlalisi, Siya Myeza, Gciniwe Nomela, Ann October, Welekazi Rangana & Maggie Yalabi

    Water justice requires attention be paid to the range of everyday realities that exist in the spectrum from formal to informal settlements.

  • The GRIN Meeting: A ‘third place’ for managers and scholars of social-ecological systems

    Publication:

    South African Journal of Science

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Roux, D. Clements, H., Currie, B., Fritz, H., Gordon, P., Kruger, N. & Freitag-Ronaldson, S.

    The Garden Route Interface and Networking (GRIN) Meeting was initiated in 2017 with the aim of creating a third place for dialogue on, and advancement of, research and practice dealing with the interactions between natural and social systems, and with how those interactions affect the challenge of sustainability. Held in the Garden Route over 3 days during September–October of each year

  • Exploring resilience capacities with food innovators: a narrative approach

    Publication:

    Global Sustainability

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Lindow, M, Preiser, R, and Biggs R.

    We interviewed grassroots food innovators in South Africa to explore the diverse ways in which their narratives expressed different capacities for resilience, such as dealing with surprise and shaping desirable change. We drew on key resilience themes of rootedness, resourcefulness and resistance (the 3Rs) as lenses through which to view their personal stories and efforts to build resilience and reshape the future. We used narrative and interpretative methods to connect the personal and context-specific experiences of food innovators to the 3Rs, exploring a new approach to uncovering resilience capacities. We suggest that this approach could be usefully employed to understand potential resilience capacities that could help address diverse sustainability challenges around the world.

  • Systems approaches to food and nutrition security and urban resilience: Lessons from Cape Town, South Africa and Kumasi, Ghana

    Publication:

    LIRA

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Kushitor, S.B,. Currie, P., Drimie, S., Badu, M., Faragher, T., Bhikoo, J. and Cramer, C.

    As part of the Inclusive Metabolism project, researchers and city officials from Cape Town, South Africa, and Kumasi, Ghana, shared their perspectives on how improving food systems can have wider socio- economic benefits for society, building resilience to shocks. Important approaches included adopting a food-water-energy nexus approach and embracing the value of informality to build resilience in city food systems.

  • Scenarios for Just and Sustainable Futures in the Miombo Woodlands

    Publication:

    Miombo Woodlands in a Changing Environment: Securing the Resilience and Sustainability of People and Woodlands

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Sitas, N,; Selomane, O. & Pereira, L.

    Drawing on data and information from numerous studies conducted in the last 20 years, the book presents a comparative analysis of policy changes and management experiences in the countries concerned.

  • Imagining transformative biodiversity futures

    Publication:

    Nature Sustainability

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Wyborn, C; Davila, F.; Pereira, L.; Lim, M.; Alvarez, I.; Henderson, G.; Luers, A.; Harms, M.J.M.; Maze, K.; Montana, J.; Ryan, M.; Sandbrook, C; Shaw, R. & Woods, E.

    Biodiversity research is replete with scientific studies depicting future trajectories of decline that have failed to mobilize transformative change. Imagination and creativity can foster new ways to address longstanding problems to create better futures for people and the planet.

  • The relevance of ecosystem services to land reform policies: Insights from South Africa

    Publication:

    Land Use Policy

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Clements, H.S.; De Vos, A.; Bezerra, J.C.; Coetzer, K.; Maciejewski, K.; Mograbib, P.J.; Shackleton, C.

    In this perspectives paper, we highlight why land reform programmes could benefit from considering ecosystem services in their planning processes, to better achieve their goals of socioeconomic development and equity.

  • Social capital reduces vulnerability in rural coastal communities of Solomon Islands

    Publication:

    Ocean and Coastal Management

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Malherbe,W., Sauer, W. and Aswani, S.

    This study seeks to measure attributes of social capital in five marine dependent communities of Solomon Islands.

  • The Ocean Transition: What to Learn from System Transitions

    Publication:

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Mark Swilling, Mary Ruckelshaus and Tanya Brodie Rudolph

    This paper proceeds from the assumption that the ocean is a commons. The problem this paper seeks to address is the complex challenge of governing the ocean as a commons. Governance systems since the dawn of modernity have evolved to govern city-states nation-states and international relations. But the transformations to sustainability require governing interlinkages and interactions that have not previously existed across sectors, and scales with multiple actors.

  • TRANSFORMATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE for Development of a Wellbeing Economy in Africa

    Publication:

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Desta Mebratu & Mark Swilling

    African countries face unprecedented challenges of defining a future development pathway in a resource- and carbon-constrained world. This book addresses this challenge, with special reference to the set of infrastructure that most African countries require to meet the sustainable development goals and fulfil the aspirations of Agenda 2063. Infrastructure is a key factor that determines how resource and energy flow and transform through socio-economic systems. Decisions made today by African countries on their infrastructural configuration will determine the inclusivity, resource intensity and climate resilience of their development pathways for decades to come. This book is a product of a two‑year research conducted by a group of African scholars who have an extensive academic and practical experience on the development of key infrastructure sectors in Africa.

  • Towards nature-based resilience in infrastructure development and assessment

    Publication:

    GRAID Policy Brief

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Dr Michelle Audouin and Dr Nadia Sitas

    Infrastructure is critical to Africa’s development and its ability to address poverty. Achieving Africa’s development aspirations hinges on ensuring equitable access, not only to basic infrastructure such as water and sanitation systems, new electricity lines, roads and storm water drainage; but also to enhanced access to telecommunications and modern agricultural technologies for food security.

  • Exploring resilience through the stories of food innovators in the Western Cape, South Africa

    Publication:

    GRAID Policy Brief

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Lindow, M., Biggs, R., Preiser, R. and Pereira, L.

    This book explores ‘storymaking’ as a way of unpacking some of the different capacities that social innovators in the food system of the Western Cape, South Africa, are drawing on in their efforts towards resilience.

  • Impacts of a trophy hunting ban on private land conservation in South African biodiversity hotspots

    Publication:

    Conservation Science and Practice

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Parker, K., De Vos, A., Clements, H.S., Biggs, D. and Biggs, R.

    In southern Africa, where many PLCAs rely on trophy hunting as an income-generating strategy, a potential ban on trophy hunting locally or abroad holds unknown consequences for the future conservation of these lands. In this study, we investigate the consequences of a potential trophy hunting ban in private land conservation areas in two biodiversity hotspots in South Africa's Eastern and Western Cape provinces.

  • Advancing understanding of natural resource governance: a post-Ostrom research agenda

    Publication:

    Environmental Sustainability

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    G. S. Cumming; S. Chawla; G. G. Gurney; T. H. Morrison; G. Epstein; J. M. Anderies; C. I. Apetrei; J. Baggio; Bodin; M. Schlüter; H. S. Clements; M. Cox; L. Egli; R. Seppelt; B. Müller; M. Lubell; N. Magliocca; H. Unnikrishnan; S. Villamayor-Tomas; C. M.

    In our current context of global environmental change, the need for effective institutions (i.e., formal laws, rules, norms and customs) to moderate human impacts, through environmental governance and management, has never been greater.

  • Adopting process-relational perspectives to tackle the challenges of socialecological systems research

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Mancilla García, M., T. Hertz, M. Schlüter, R. Preiser, and M. Woermann

    In this paper, we demonstrate that adopting a process relational perspective, which focuses on nonequilibrium dynamics and relations between processes, provides novel opportunities to advance SES research.

  • Using A Social‐ecological Regime Shift Approach to Understand the Transition from Livestock to Game Farming in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

    Publication:

    Land

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Achieng, T., Maciejewski, K., Dyer, M. and Biggs, R.

    This study explored the shift in land use from livestock farming to game farming in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, from a social‐ecological regime shift perspective.

  • Food System Transformation: Integrating a Political–Economy and Social–Ecological Approach to Regime Shifts

    Publication:

    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Pereira, L.M., Drimie, S., Maciejewski, K., Bon Tonissen, P. and Biggs, R.

    It is increasingly apparent that a deep transformation in the way we produce and consume food is needed in order to ensure a more just and sustainable future.

  • Effectiveness of private land conservation areas in maintaining natural land cover and biodiversity intactness

    Publication:

    Global Ecology and Conservation

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Shumba, T.,De Vos, A., Biggs, R., Esler, K.J., Ament, J.M., Clements, H.S.

    Private land conservation areas are increasingly looked to for meeting the deficit left by state-owned protected areas in reaching global conservation targets.

  • Learning for transitions: a niche perspective

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Metelerkamp, L., R. Biggs, and S. Drimie.

    Roughly eight hundred million youth are projected to enter the African job market by 2050. By training the youth in new practices and approaches, they could be central to creating new systems and African futures that are more sustainable and just.

  • Scenarios of Good Anthropocenes in southern Africa

    Publication:

    Futures

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    M. Hamann, R. Biggs, L. Pereira, R. Preiser, T. Hichert, R. Blanchard, H. Warrington-Coetzee, N. Kingh, A. Merriec, W. Nilsson, P. Odendaal, S. Poskitt, D. Sanchez Betancourt, G. Ziervogel.

    In the rapidly changing and uncertain world of the Anthropocene, positive visions of the future could play a crucial role in catalysing deep social-ecological transformations to help guide humanity towards more sustainable and equitable futures.

  • Resilience and Sustainable Peace

    Publication:

    GRAID Policy Brief

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Downing, A.S., Spijkers, J., Norström, A. & Preiser, R.

    A system in conflict can also be resistant to peacebuilding efforts, locked into dynamics that reinforce and reproduce causes of tensions. Resilience thinking and the science on transformations can help identify leverage points for change and inform on how to use shocks and disturbances to spur renewal and innovative thinking.

  • Assessing the sustainable infrastructure of a low carbon community: case study of the Lynedoch ecovillage.

    Publication:

    University of Stellenbosch

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Sharne Bloem

    Urban areas are responsible for 70% of global CO2 emissions and the rapid growth in urbanisation presents a significant risk to cities. It is predicted that by 2030 more than 70% of the South African population will be living in cities.

  • Addressing community energy challenges with utility scale renewables: A case study of Hopefield Wind Farm.

    Publication:

    University of Stellenbosch

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Kyle Swartz

    This thesis documents how a utility-scale renewable energy project has addressed community energy challenges through the development of a wind farm as part of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

  • The Development Impact of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme on South Africa’s Small Towns.

    Publication:

    University of Stellenbosch

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Jeeten Morar

    This thesis aims to explore how effective economic development efforts in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Produce Programme (REIPPPP) have been at creating long term improvements in the livelihood of low income communities.

  • Does the South African renewable energy programme exclude black woman owned businesses?

    Publication:

    University of Stellenbosch

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Fezeka Nobuntu Stuurman

    The main aims of this thesis were to investigate and critically evaluate the participation of Black women owned businesses (BWOBs) within the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), and to make recommendations to improve levels of participation of Black women in the REIPPPP in future rounds of the programme.

  • Youth attitudes towards agricultural careers in South Africa

    Publication:

    CST Research insights

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Metelerkamp, L., Biggs, R. and Drimie, S.

    The development of local support networks and visible role models offers a promising entry point for supporting increased youth participation and systemic change in the food system.

  • The multiple dimensions of equity in sustainable development

    Publication:

    CST Key Concepts

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Wong, G., Downing, A., Selomane, O. and Sitas, N.

    This brief aims to clarify some of the key dimensions of the concept of equity.

  • CST RESEARCH INSIGHTS: Biological Invasions – Implications for biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being

    Publication:

    CST Research Insights

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Shackleton, R. and Biggs, R.

    Biological invasions arise from the human-mediated spread of organisms out of their native range to new areas of the world whether purposefully or accidentally.

  • CST TOOLKIT: NET-MAP – A frontline tool for supporting place-based learning in spaces of uncertainty

    Publication:

    CST Toolkit

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Metelerkamp,L. and Biggs, R.

    Net-Map is an easy to use social network mapping tool that can be used to assist grass-roots educators develop place-based, action learning in spaces where traditional structures of support are weak or absent. This toolkit provides an introduction to the use of Net-Map as a learning support tool

  • Generating visions of Good Anthropocenes: The Mānoa Mash-up Scenarios Methodology

    Publication:

    CST Toolkit

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Hichert, T., Biggs, R. and Preiser, R.

    The Anthropocene poses highly uncertain, high stakes futures (one always refers to multiple futures, because we influence the future through our choices and actions in the present, and multiple different futures are therefore always possible). Given the Anthropocene context, it becomes vitally important for communities, citizens, policymakers, leaders and individuals to have visions of positive, hopeful futures that can help guide our choices and actions towards creating more just and sustainable futures.

  • Principles for knowledge co-production in sustainability research

    Publication:

    Nature Sustainability

    Year:

    2020

    Authors:

    Norström, A.V., Cvitanovic, C., Löf, M.F., Biggs, R., Reyers, B. et al.

    We propose a set of four general principles that underlie high-quality knowledge co-production for sustainability research.

  • CST POLICY BRIEF: Framework for resilient essential services

    Publication:

    CST Policy Brief

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Van der Merwe, L., Biggs, R., and Preiser, R.

    Essential services, like water and electricity, underpin modern life. Disruption in service delivery exposes critical inter-dependency, ranging from community level to the national economy.

  • CST Toolkit: A formative resilience assessment approach

    Publication:

    CST Toolkit

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Van der Merwe, L., Biggs, R., and Preiser, R.

    A resilience building workshop was designed to enhance the resilience of essential service delivery in a sociotechnical systems context through ongoing formative resilience assessments. The workshop utilizes seven generic resilience building principles, derived from social-ecological systems, found to enhance the resilience of ecosystem services.

  • Understanding Social Ecological Regime Shifts: The case of woody encroachment in South Africa.

    Publication:

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Luvuno, L.

    Humanity has been very successful in modifying the planet to meet the demands of a rapidly growing human population. The dissertation emphasises the importance of understanding the social and ecological interactions that underlie woody encroachment, including the worldviews of land users and managers.

  • Advancing resilience assessments: the social dimensions of electricity supply in South Africa

    Publication:

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Dr Susara Elizabeth van der Merwe

    Electricity supply serves as a lifeline, is foundational to the effective functioning of modern society, and powers multiple layers of other critical infrastructure systems. This dissertation uses the implications of complexity thinking and resilience thinking to investigate approaches to assess and build the resilience of the embedded social resources required to ensure resilient essential service delivery.

  • T-labs for Alternative Food Systems in the Western Cape

    Publication:

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Zgambo, O., Pereira, L., Boatemaa, S., Drimie, S.

    There is a growing body of experience feeding the design of and motivation for social innovation labs as spaces that can be used to enable transformation or change. Olsson et al. (2004) have described transformation as...

  • Sustainable energy transition framework for unmet electricity markets.

    Publication:

    Energy Policy

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Batinge B, Musango JK, Brent AC

    Efficient energy supply is a means for people to gain access to a wide range of energy-related services. In unmet energy markets where energy supply is inadequate or lacking, such [...]

  • Understanding electricity legitimacy dynamics in an urban informal settlement in South Africa: A Community Based System Dynamics approach.

    Publication:

    Energy for Sustainable Development

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

  • Affordability of battery electric vehicles based on disposable income and the impact on provincial residential electricity requirements in South Africa

    Publication:

    Energy

    Year:

    2019

    Authors:

    Pillay NS, Brent AC, Musango JK

    South Africa's political history, unique demographic profile, and economic growth drivers, present a challenge in adopting universal strategies and business models to plan for the impact of battery electric vehicles [...]

  • Towards Measuring the Informal City: A Societal Metabolism Approach

    Publication:

    Journal of Industrial Ecology

    Year:

    (in press)

    Authors:

    Smit S, Musango JK, Kovacic Z, Brent AC

    The rapid growth of urban informal settlements, or slums, poses a particular challenge for balancing developmental and environmental goals. In South Africa, high levels of inequality, poverty, and unemployment contribute to widespread migration.

  • Challenges Facing South Africa’s Electricity Sector Integrated Resource Plan: A Qualitative System Dynamics Approach

    Publication:

    Administratio Publica

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Mqadi L, Musango JK, Brent AC

  • Rethinking strategic sustainability planning for the electricity sector in South Africa

    Publication:

    The South African Journal of Industrial Engineering

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Mqadi L, Musango JK, Brent AC

    A series of processes is now converging to force the issue of sustainability to drive South Africa's low-carbon energy transitions. This raises the question of how a 'sustainability transition' framework [...]

  • The Correlation between Energy Cost Share, Human, and Economic Development: Using Time Series Data from Australasia, Europe, North America, and the BRICS Nations

    Publication:

    Energies

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Roberts R, Musango JK, Brent AC, Heun M.

    This paper investigates how a change in a region’s energy cost share (ECS), a ratio of a region’s energy expenditure as a fraction of its gross domestic product (GDP), affects the region’s social and economic development.

  • Estimating current and future global urban domestic material consumption

    Publication:

    Environmental Research Letters

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Baynes T, Musango JK

    Urban material resource requirements are significant at the global level and these are expected to expand with future urban population growth. However, there are no global scale studies on the [...]

  • Towards new configurations of urban energy governance in South Africa’s renewable energy procurement programme.

    Publication:

    Energy Research & Social Science

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Davies, M., Swilling, M., Wlokas, H.L.

    The South African Department of Energy launched the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Program (REIPPPP) in 2011 to secure additional renewable energy generation capacity for South Africa’s national electricity [...]

  • Renewable energy and local development: seven lessons from the mining industry

    Publication:

    Development Southern Africa

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Marais, L & Wlokas, HL & de Groote, J & Dube, A & Scheba, A

    Having long depended on fossil fuels for energy generation, South Africa is now investing in renewable energy. Like its mining operations, its renewable energy plants will have local implications. Renewable [...]

  • Energy and moral judgment: Conceptual frameworks and new frontiers in energy justice.

    Publication:

    Energy Policy

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Sovacol, B & Burke, M & Baker, L & Kumar Kotikalapudi, C & Wlokas, HL

    This article explores how concepts from justice and ethics can inform energy decision-making and highlight the moral and equity dimensions of energy production and use. It defines “energy justice” as [...]

  • A response to the dialogical hermeneutics of critical complexity thinking in Kunneman’s re-framing of ‘The political importance of voluntary work’.

    Publication:

    Foundations of Science

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Preiser, R.

    Responding to Kunneman’s argument that the notion of ‘ethical complexity’ introduces an existential and ethical turn in the field of complexity thinking, it is argued that Kunneman’s concept of ‘diapoiesis’ [...]

  • Participatory Scenario Planning: From Scenario ‘Stakeholders’ to Scenario ‘Owners’.

    Publication:

    Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Freeth, R and Drimie, S.

  • Rising food prices and household food security

    Publication:

    South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition Editorial

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Faber, M and Drimie, S.

    For many South Africans a healthy, balanced diet is elusive. Food security in both urban and rural South Africa is heavily dependent on cash incomes for household purchase of food [...]

  • From coherence towards commitment: Changes and challenges in Zambia’s nutrition policy environment.

    Publication:

    Global Food Security

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Harris J, Drimie S, Roopnariane T, and Covic N.

    An enabling environment for malnutrition reduction includes creating policy and political momentum, and converting momentum to implementation and impact. We used several qualitative data sources to investigate changes in policy [...]

  • Utilisation of system dynamics in Southern Africa: A systematic review.

    Publication:

    Systems Research and Behavioural Science.

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Brent AC, Musango JK, Smit S et al.

    Research efforts using system dynamics to understand and evaluate societal and policy‐related problems in Southern Africa are becoming essential. This paper undertook a systematic review to examine the extent of [...]

  • Probing uncertainty levels of electrification in informal urban settlements: A case from South Africa.

    Publication:

    Habitat International

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Kovavic Z, Smit S, Musango JK, Brent AC, Giampietro M.

    This paper assesses the different levels of uncertainty that affect the analysis of informal urban settlements and the implementation of upgrading policies, with a specific focus on electrification. The rapid [...]

  • Analysing challenges facing smallholder farmers and conservation agriculture in South Africa: A system dynamics approach.

    Publication:

    South African Journal of Economic Management Sciences.

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Von Loeper W, Musango JK, Brent AC, Drimie S.

    Smallholder farmers in South Africa find it challenging to participate in the modern economy. Most of these farmers have limited access to credit and insurance, and to markets in which [...]

  • Investigating a green economy transition of the electricity sector in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

    Publication:

    South Africa Journal of Industrial Engineering

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Oosthuizen J, Brent AC, Musango JK, de Kock I

    The Western Cape Government in South Africa has identified the concept of a green economy as a way to transform the Province's economy to one that is more sustainable from [...]

  • African urbanisation: assimilating urban metabolism into sustainability discourse and practice.

    Publication:

    Journal of Industrial Ecology

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Currie P, Musango JK.

    Shaping sustainable, equitable African cities requires strengthened investigations into the cities’ current resource flows, infrastructure systems, and future resource requirements. The field of urban metabolism (UM) offers multiple forms of [...]

  • Conceptualising Slum in an urban African context

    Publication:

    Cities

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Smit S, Musango JK, Brent AC, Kovavic Z

    Increasing urbanisation and the proliferation of slums require a holistic understanding of the urban metabolism of cities. However, existing urban metabolic analyses exclude a detailed understanding of how urban slums [...]

  • Implications of biofuel production in the Western Cape Province of South Africa: A system dynamics modelling approach.

    Publication:

    Journal of Energy in Southern Africa

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Jonker WD, Brent AC, Musango JK, de Kock IH

    The national government instated a mandatory blending policy to facilitate the uptake and establishment of a biofuels sector in South Africa. Uncertainty exists, however, regarding the implications and effects of [...]

  • Developing building typologies to examine energy efficiency in representative low cost buildings in Cape Town townships.

    Publication:

    Sustainable Cities and Society

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Muringathuparambil RJ, Musango JK, Brent AC

    Studies for building designs exist both internationally and, to a lesser degree, in the South African context. However, there is limited understanding of the various types of low-cost buildings and [...]

  • Urban metabolism: A review with reference to Cape Town.

    Publication:

    Cities

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Currie P, Musango JK, May N

    Improved sustainability of cities requires equitably distributed and ecologically safe, if not restorative, infrastructure systems, as well as reduced reliance on resources from beyond urban boundaries. To shape infrastructure systems [...]

  • Agriculture sector implications of a green economy transition in the Western Cape Province

    Publication:

    South African Journal of Industrial Engineering

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    van Niekerk JBS, Brent AC, Musango JK, de Kock I

    The Western Cape Province of South Africa has introduced a green economy plan called "Green is Smart". This initiative has the envisaged possibility of providing the Province with a sustainable [...]

  • Infrastructure implications of a green economy transition in the Western Cape Province of South Africa: A system dynamics modelling approach

    Publication:

    Development Southern Africa

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    York T, Brent AC, Musango JK, de Kock I.

    As cities grow, their environmental and natural resource footprints also tend to grow to keep up with the increasing demand on essential urban services such as passenger transportation, commercial space, [...]

  • Environmental and natural resource implications of sustainable urban infrastructure systems

    Publication:

    Environmental Research Letters

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Joseph D Bergesen, Sangwon Suh, Timothy M Baynes and Josephine Kaviti Musango

    As cities grow, their environmental and natural resource footprints also tend to grow to keep up with the increasing demand on essential urban services such as passenger transportation, commercial space, [...]

  • Proposing a master’s programme on participatory integrated assessment of energy systems to promote energy access and energy efficiency in Southern Africa.

    Publication:

    International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Kiravu C, Diaz-Maurin F, Giampietro M, Brent AC, Bukkens SGF, Chiguvare Z, Gasennelwe-Jeffrey MA, Gope G, Kovacic Z, Magole L, Musango JK, Hernando UR-R, Smit S, Barquero AV, Mezquita FY.

    This paper aims to present a new master’s programme for promoting energy access and energy efficiency in Southern Africa. A transdisciplinary approach called “participatory integrated assessment of energy systems” (PARTICIPIA) [...]

  • Guest Editorial: Applied research for enhancing human well-being and environmental stewardship: using complexity thinking in Southern Africa.

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Palmer CG, R Biggs, GS Cumming

    Humans all over the planet are struggling and aspiring to engage with the scale and scope of the challenge of achieving human well-being and environmental stewardship for all. This special [...]

  • Regime shifts in social-ecological systems

    Publication:

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Regime shifts are sudden, long-lasting changes in the structure and function of social-ecological systems that may have profound effects on human economies and societies. Regime shifts have been documented in a variety [...]

  • Stewardship of the earth’s social-ecological systems

    Publication:

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Clements, H

    Human actions have affected the earth’s climate and environment in ways that threaten the ecosystem services on which human well being depends. This has necessitated a dramatic change in human relationships [...]

  • Key features of Complex Adaptive Systems and practical implications for guiding action

    Publication:

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Preiser, R

    The growing recognition of the intertwinedness of society and the environment is driving a reframing of the conventional divide between social and natural systems and has given rise to the study [...]

  • Background note: Transformative Infrastructure for sustainability transition in Africa

    Publication:

    Year:

    Authors:

    Swilling, M., Belay, DM.

    This is the background note on this book project. It has been more than 25 years since the terms ‘sustainable development’ and ‘sustainability’ rose to the prominence in international development discourse. [...]

  • How One Word Can Change The Game: A Case Study Of State Capture And The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA)

    Publication:

    How One Word Can Change The Game: A Case Study Of State Capture And The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA)

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Swilling, M., Foley, R.

    The State Capacity Research Project today released a new report, How One Word Can Change The Game:  A Case Study Of State Capture And The South African Social Security Agency [...]

  • The guiding logics and principles for designing emergent transdisciplinary research processes: learning experiences and reflections from a transdisciplinary urban case study in Enkanini informal settlement, South Africa

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Van Breda, J., Swilling, M.

    Transdisciplinarity is not a new science per se, but a new methodology for doing science with society. A particular challenge in doing science with society is the engagement with non-academic actors [...]

  • Navigating alternative framings of human-environment interactions: Variations on the theme of ‘Finding Nemo’

    Publication:

    Anthropocene

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Rika Preiser, Laura M. Pereira, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs

    Wide agreement exists that the “Anthropocene” demands new forms of engagement and responses to achieve sustainability, but different fields suggest quite different approaches. In this communication, we set out four perspectives that [...]

  • Food, Energy and Water Sustainability: Emergent Governance Strategies

    Publication:

    Earthscan, Routledge

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Laura M. Pereira, Caitlin A. McElroy, Alexandra Littaye, Alexandra M. Girard

    Societies around the world face an increasingly uncertain future as social and ecological changes create pressure on resource governance, and this uncertainty calls for new models that illuminate the intersections [...]

  • Causation, constructors and codes

    Publication:

    Biosystems

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Jannie Hofmeyr

    Relational biology relies heavily on the enriched understanding of causal entailment that Robert Rosen's formalisation of Aristotle's four causes has made possible, although to date efficient causes and the rehabilitation [...]

  • Multiscale scenarios for nature futures

    Publication:

    Nature Ecology & Evolution

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Isabel M. D. Rosa, Henrique M. Pereira, Simon Ferrier, Rob Alkemade, Lilibeth A. Acosta, H. Resit Akcakaya, Eefje den Belder, Asghar M. Fazel, Shinichiro Fujimori, Mike Harfoot, Khaled A. Harhash, Paula A. Harrison, et al.

    Targets for human development are increasingly connected with targets for nature, however, existing scenarios do not explicitly address this relationship. Here, we outline a strategy to generate scenarios centred on our [...]

  • A diagnostic framework for food system governance arrangements: The case of South Africa

    Publication:

    NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Catrien J.A.M. Termeer; Scott Drimie; John Ingram; Laura Pereira; Mark J. Whittingham

    Although policymakers and scientists are increasingly embracing the food system perspective, it has been poorly reflected in institutional terms. We aim to fill this gap by addressing the question as [...]

  • The Weight of Cities: Resource Requirements of Future Urbanization

    Publication:

    A report for the International Resource Panel. Paris: United Nations Environment Programme.

    Year:

    2018

    Authors:

    Swilling, M., Hajer, M. et al.

    This report looks at the resource implications of projected urbanization, and calls for substantial changes in urban form, governance and design. Coordinated by Mark Swilling and Blake Robinson of the [...]

  • Greening African Cities: Urbanization, Structural Transformation and Sustainable Resource Use

    Publication:

    In Castells, M. & Cloete, N. (Eds). African Development in the Information Age.

    Year:

    Forthcoming.

    Authors:

    Swilling, M.

  • Flows, Infrastructures and the African Urban Transition

    Publication:

    In Frantzeskaki, N., Castan Broto, V., Coenen, L. & Loorbach, D. (Eds). Urban Sustainability Transitions. Routledge.

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Swilling, M., Musango, J., Robinson, B. & Peter., C.

  • Developmental states and sustainability transitions: prospects of a just transition in South Africa

    Publication:

    Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18(5):650-672.

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Swilling, M., Musango, J. & Wakeford, J.

  • Ecocultures: Blueprints for Sustainable Communities

    Publication:

    New York: Routledge. 218-238

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Swilling, M.

  • Untamed Urbanism

    Publication:

    New York: Routledge

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Allen, D., Lampis, A. & Swilling, M. (Eds).

  • City-level decoupling: urban resource flows and the governance of infrastructure transitions

    Publication:

    A report of the working group on cities of the international resource panel. United Nations Environment Program.

    Year:

    2013

    Authors:

    Swilling, M., Robinson, B., Marvin, S., Hodson, M. & Hajer, M.

  • Decoupling Natural Resource use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth

    Publication:

    Report for the International Resource Panel. Paris: United Nations Environment Programme.

    Year:

    2011

    Authors:

    Fischer-Kowalski, M. & Swilling, M.

  • Just transitions: Explorations of sustainability in an unfair world

    Publication:

    Cape Town: UCT

    Year:

    2012

    Authors:

    Swilling, M. & Annecke, E.

    Current economic growth strategies around the world are rapidly depleting the natural resources and eco-system services that we depend on. Just Transitions gives a comprehensive overview of these global challenges [...]

  • Economic Crisis, Long Waves and the Sustainability Transition: An African Perspective

    Publication:

    Environmental Innovations and Societal Transitions, 6:96-115.

    Year:

    2013

    Authors:

    Swilling, M.

  • Preparing for Global Transition: Implications of the Work of the International Resource Panel

    Publication:

    Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace (Vol. 10). Springer.

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Swilling, M.

  • Greening the South African Economy

    Publication:

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Mark Swilling, Josephine Musango, Jeremy Wakeford

    The depletion of South Africa’s (and in some cases the world’s) natural resources and the degradation of environmental sinks (including the atmosphere, lakes and rivers, and land) are continuing at [...]

  • Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is being stolen

    Publication:

    Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is being stolen

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Bhorat, H., Buthelezi, M., Chipkin, I., Duma, S., Mondi, L., Peter, L., Qobo, L., Swilling, M., et al.

    A major new study on the country's emerging Shadow State by the State Capacity Research Project.  

  • The domestication of fire as social-ecological regime shift

    Publication:

    Past Global Changes

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Biggs R, WJ Boonstra, GD Peterson, M Schlüter

    Social-ecological regime shifts involve large, often abrupt, reorganizations in interlinked social and ecological systems. The domestication of fire illustrates how physiological and social changes enabled humans to start actively controlling [...]

  • Social-Ecological Resilience and Biosphere-Based Sustainability Science

    Publication:

    Ecology & Society

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Folke C, R Biggs, A Norström, B Reyers, J Rockström

    Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere. The focus is shifting from the environment as externality to the biosphere as precondition for social justice, economic [...]

  • An exploration of human well-being bundles as identifiers of ecosystem service use patterns

    Publication:

    PLoS ONE

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Hamann MH, R Biggs, B Reyers

    We take a social-ecological systems perspective to investigate the linkages between ecosystem services and human well-being in South Africa. A recent paper identified different types of social-ecological systems in the [...]

  • Governance Arrangements for the Future Food System: Addressing Complexity in South Africa

    Publication:

    Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Laura Pereira, Scott Drimie

    Feeding the world’s population a healthy, affordable and environmentally sustainable diet is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century and has been highlighted in Sustainable Development Goals 2 [...]

  • Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture across Africa

    Publication:

    Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Laura Pereira

    Although African agricultural systems are highly reliant on their environment, their diversity, context specificity, and the existing generations of traditional knowledge offer elements of resilience in the face of climate [...]

  • Advances in Food Security and Sustainability in South Africa

    Publication:

    Advances in Food Security and Sustainability

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    S Drimie, L Pereira

    There is overwhelming evidence that the national food system in South Africa is in crisis, without any clear or shared understanding of a pathway toward a more sustainable configuration (Pereira [...]

  • Bright spots: seeds of a good Anthropocene

    Publication:

    Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    EM Bennett, M Solan, R Biggs, T McPhearson, AV Norström, P Olsson, L Pereira, GD Peterson, C Raudsepp-Hearne, F Biermann, SR Carpenter, EC Ellis, T Hichert, V Galaz, M Lahsen, M Milkoreit, B Martin López, KA Nicholas, R Preiser, G Vince, JM Vervoort, J Xu

    The scale, rate, and intensity of humans’ environmental impact has engendered broad discussion about how to find plausible pathways of development that hold the most promise for fostering a better [...]

  • Towards integrated food policy: Main challenges and steps ahead

    Publication:

    Environmental Science and Policy

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Jeroen J.L. Candel and Laura Pereira

    Repeated food crises have resulted in increased recognition of the boundary-spanning nature of governing food systems and in consequent calls for more holistic food governance. An increasing number of governments [...]

  • Learning from the literature on community development for the implementation of community renewables in South Africa

    Publication:

    Journal of Energy in Southern Africa 28(1): 35–44.

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Holle L. Wlokas, Peter Westoby, and Sue Soal

    Implementation of large-scale wind, solar and hydro projects in South African communities is intended to contribute to local economic development. Government policy, through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement [...]

  • A review of the local community development requirements in South Africa’s renewable energy procurement programme

    Publication:

    WWF Technical Report ZA

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Holle Linnea Wlokas

    By May 2015, the renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP) programme had approved 79 wind, solar and hydro projects and asked each of them to contribute towards local community [...]

  • Transformative Collaborative Governance Relations Towards Sustainability: The Case of the Stellenbosch River Collaborative

    Publication:

    Stellenbosch University

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Charon Lynette Buchner Marais

    This thesis challenges and complements the transdisciplinary inquiry into the governance of commons. Using a combination of auto-ethnography and participatory action research I contribute to the call to “rethink governance [...]

  • Guidance for Resilience in the Anthropocene: Investments for Development

    Publication:

    Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST), Stellenbosch University

    Year:

    2017

    Authors:

    Rika Preiser, Laura Pereira, Oonsie Biggs Scott Drimie, Luke Metelerkamp, Maike Hamann, Kristi Maciejewski, Deon Cloete

  • Generating and Disseminating Scientific Policy

    Publication:

    Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST), Stellenbosch University

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Rika Preiser and Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs

  • Report on the Anthropocene Visioning Workshop

    Publication:

    Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST), Stellenbosch University

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Hamann M., Biggs R., Pereira L., Preiser R., Hichert T., Merrie A., Cloete D., Poskitt S., Loubser G., Salley R., Blanchard R., Coetzee H., Fioramonti L., Gomera M., Hermanus L., Johnson G., Johnson L., Karakashian A., Khan Z., King N., Nkontwana, P.

  • Critical Complexity: Collected Essays by Paul Cilliers

    Publication:

    De Gruyter

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Cilliers, P. Editor(s): Preiser, R.

    This book is a collection of all the single authored essays by Paul Cilliers, published between 1990-2011. Being one of few authors who approached the study of complexity from a [...]

  • A systems approach to understanding the effect of Facebook use on the quality of interpersonal communication

    Publication:

    Technology in Society

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Davies M, Musango JK, Brent AC

  • Probing uncertainty levels of electrification in informal urban settlements: A case from South Africa

    Publication:

    Habitat International

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Kovacic Z, Smit S, Musango J, Brent AC, Giampietro M

  • Utilizing international networks for accelerating research and learning in transformational sustainability science

    Publication:

    Sustainability Science

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Keeler LW, A Wiek1, DJ Lang, M Yokohari, J van Breda, L Olsson, B Ness, J Morato, J Segalas, P Martens, LA Bojorquez-Tapia, J Evans

  • Exploring connections in social-ecological systems: The links between biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing in South Africa

    Publication:

    Stockholm University, Sweden

    Year:

    2016

    Authors:

    Hamann, M

  • Renewable energy gathers steam in South Africa

    Publication:

    Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Walwyn DR, Brent AC

  • Utility-scale PV power and energy supply outlook for South Africa in 2015

    Publication:

    Renewable Energy

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Giglmayr S, Brent AC, Gauché P, Fechner H

  • The transition to a green economy: A systems approach to managing technology

    Publication:

    Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science Studies

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Brent AC

  • Undertaking individual transdisciplinary PhD research for sustainable development: Case studies from South Africa

    Publication:

    International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    van Breda J, JK Musango, AC Brent

  • The Resilience Approach

    Publication:

    Pan European Networks: Government 13

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Biggs R

  • Building Resilience to Regime Shifts

    Publication:

    Pan European Networks

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Biggs R

  • Regime Shifts in the Anthropocene

    Publication:

    Stockholm University, Sweden

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Rocha, J.

  • Reflections on Building Resilience: Interactions among Principles and Implications for Governance

    Publication:

    Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems.

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Schlüter M, R Biggs, ML Schoon, MD Robards, JM Anderies

  • Principle 3 – Manage slow variables and feedbacks

    Publication:

    Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems.

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Biggs R, L Gordon, C Raudsepp-Hearne, M Schlüter, B Walker

  • Principle 1 – Maintain diversity and redundancy

    Publication:

    Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems.

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Kotschy K, R Biggs, T Daw, C Folke, P West

  • Politics and the Resilience of Ecosystem Services

    Publication:

    Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems.

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Schoon ML, M Robards, K Brown, N Engle, C Meek, R Biggs

  • An introduction to the resilience approach and principles to sustain ecosystem services in social-ecological systems

    Publication:

    Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Biggs R, M Schluter, ML Schoon

  • Applied Research for Enhancing Human Well-Being and Environmental Stewardship: Using Complexity Thinking in Southern Africa.

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Palmer C, R Biggs, GC Cumming (eds)

  • Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems

    Publication:

    Cambridge University Press.

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Biggs, R, M Schlüter, M Schoon

  • Marine Regime Shifts: Drivers and Impacts on Ecosystems Services

    Publication:

    Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Rocha J, J Yletyinen, R Biggs, T Blenckner, and GD Peterson

  • Planetary Boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet

    Publication:

    Science

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Steffen W, K Richardson, J Rockström, SE Cornell, I Fetzer, EM Bennett, R Biggs, SR Carpenter, W de Vries, CA de Wit, C Folke, D Gerten, J Heinke, GM Mace, LM Persson, V Ramanathan, B Reyers, S Sörlin

  • Strategies for managing complex social-ecological systems in the face of uncertainty: Examples from South Africa and beyond

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Biggs R, C Rhode, S Archibald, LM Kunene, SS Mutanga, N Nkuna, PO Ocholla, and LJ Phadima

  • Applied research for enhancing human well-being and environmental stewardship: using complexity thinking in Southern Africa

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Palmer CG, R Biggs, GS Cumming

  • Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social-ecological systems perspective

    Publication:

    Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Fischer J, TA Gardner, EM Bennett, P Balvanera, R Biggs, SR Carpenter, T Daw, C Folke, R Hill, T Hughes, T Luthe, Ml Maass, M Meacham, AV Norström, G Peterson, C Queiroz, R Seppelt, M Spierenburg, J Tenhunen

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque vel finibus nulla, sed pharetra risus. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Donec quis [...]

  • Synchronous failure: The emerging causal architecture of global crisis

    Publication:

    Ecology and Society

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Homer-Dixon T, B Walker, R Biggs, A-S Crepin, C Folke, EF Lambin, GD Peterson, J Rockström, M Scheffer, W Steffen, and M Troell

  • Mapping social-ecological systems: Identifying ‘green-loop’ and ‘red-loop’ dynamics based on characteristic bundles of ecosystem service use

    Publication:

    Global Environmental Change 34: 218–226

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Hamann MH, R Biggs, B Reyers

  • Towards integrated social-ecological sustainability indicators: exploring the contribution and gaps in existing global data

    Publication:

    Ecological Economics 118: 140–146.

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Selomane O, B Reyers, R Biggs, S Polasky, H Tallis

  • Regime shifts in the Anthropocene: drivers, risks, and resilience

    Publication:

    PLoS ONE 10(8)

    Year:

    2015

    Authors:

    Rocha J, GD Peterson, R Biggs

  • Regime Shifts Database

    Publication:

    Year:

    Authors:

  • Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS)

    Publication:

    Year:

    Authors:

  • Seeds of Good Anthropocenes project

    Publication:

    Year:

    Authors: