The 24^th Resilience Seminar

Abstract:

Social-ecological systems are inherently complex and composed of dynamics at multiple spatial scales that govern their behavior. An important part of these systems is how humans interact with each other, how these interactions change their behaviors and how their actions affect the biophysical environment. Agent-based models are one tool that can be used to examine these types of system dynamics.

This seminar will discuss past research employing agent-based models (ABMs) to study household level behavior in social-ecological systems with an emphasis on land cover change, especially deforestation and reforestation. These ABMs are used to examine how households make land-use decisions and how these decisions lead to macro-level outcomes at a regional scale of analysis. Agent-based approaches are useful for this type of research because they are designed to identify the interactions between actors and the heterogeneity of actors.

To demonstrate this research, examples will be discussed from the following set of studies: 1) the process of reforestation in the Midwest United States, 2) the transition from slash and burn agriculture to rubber plantations in Laos PDR, 3) and a prototype of a model to study adaptation to climate change in Zambia. The seminar will also discuss different methods of linking actors to the physical environment using geographic information systems (GIS), and the scale-dependence of social-ecological systems. The overall objective of this presentation is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these types of local-level approaches, and new emerging directions of household-based research on the human-dimensions of global change.

Contact:

Takashi Kume (Ph.D)

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN)

zip code: 603-8047

457-4, Motoyama Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto City, Japan(access)

tel: +81-75-707-2209 fax: +81-75-707-2506

e-mail:

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