Month: December 2015

Systems in the eyes of the beholder

Over a month ago, we organised a stakeholder workshop as part of the GLOBAQUA project with the goal of identifying ecosystem services (goods and services obtained from nature – for more information see Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) and understanding how human activities within the catchment influence those important services. This workshop was the first stakeholder interaction planned for the project and I am pleased to present to you a summary of what happened on that day.

So what is GLOBAQUA? Well, it is a project funded by the Seventh EU Framework Programme under the full title Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity.

Systems versus Linear thinking

A few weeks ago, Alozie led a PhD workshop on systems thinking; exploring the concept’s theoretical roots and some research applications in both the management of water resources and mineral active regions.

Systems thinking in simple terms implies a rather general and superficial awareness of systems (a purposeful structure that consists of interrelated and interdependent elements or components) and using that awareness to treat something (a problem, an occurrence, a phenomenon) as a system. The concept has emerged in mainstream environmental science as a means to address the complex nature of environmental problems and as a result of the criticisms and limitations associated with more conventional and reductionist management thinking (“divide and conquer mentality”).