Measuring social-ecological systems outputs and outcomes with remote sensing

Abstract:

Global change has resulted in significant losses, degradation, and sorting of biodiversity with major implications for ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Scientific advances on how to monitor biodiversity from space have demonstrated feasibility and integration of earth observations from multiple platforms and across scales with modeling of ecological and earth system processes. However, we are yet to be able to integrate earth observation measurements and biodiversity and earth system model outputs in the coupled dynamic system that links biodiversity and ecological processes to social processes that determine rate of appropriation and demand for ecosystem services and the underlying ties with biodiversity. To enable this observation-modeling integration towards an understanding of the processes that drive the dynamics between social and ecological systems (i.e. SES) across scales of space and time, it is important to assess the potential of remote sensing observations for: (i) monitoring the components of SES, i.e., ecosystem services, water, people, etc., (ii) quantifying the connections between components of SES, and (iii) determining the scalability of SES outputs and outcomes. I will present a conceptual framework that intergrates these three necessary components, and illustrate the potential of using remote sensing data along with auxiliary data to measure these three aspects in different cases studies of SES processes that are biodiversity-dependent. Understanding these relationships and feedbacks within SES is fundamental to answering questions regarding the performance of sustainable development goals (SDGs), and biodiversity and climate policies.