ALEJANDRA MARIA BELTRAN

RESEARCH TEAM

DR. JACK

SOURCE ANALYSIS #2

 

With this source analysis (reading assignment) being the second that we do for this class, I can notice that the central theme will continue to be sustainability and everything that surrounds it. This time, the main purpose of this chapter is to guide us on problem analysis and solution development. In the past source analysis, I defined the meaning of sustainability and talked about theproblems related to it. This gave me an introduction to what I learned in this reading and helped me to understand everything we are about to talk about on this source analysis. The beginning of the lecture describes how the sustainability problems don’t have a final solution because sustainability is a process. To be able to find a solution and work on it we must organize our mind and our ideas and on page 123 we can find a TSR framework that would helpus to give a detailed and deep answer to the next questions: Where are we (current state), Where are we heading? (Future scenarios), How do we get there? (Sustainable development strategy), and last but not least, where do we want to go? Now, I would like to highlight the following points.
1. Defining the system and classifying drivers.
2. Causal Chain Analysis.
3. Stakeholder Analysis.

To begin with the point number one, it’s important to mention and define Drivers as governing forces that act on a system, either causing it to change or to remain in its current state and it divides on direct and indirect drivers, and they can be natural or human-caused. Direct drivers are drives that clearly and unequivocally influence the behavior of a system and the Indirect Drivers are the ones that influence the behavior of a system in a more diffuse way by altering one or more direct drives. It is important to mention that drivers cannot be classified until the specific system is defined and that one of our first steps. Defining a system means to identify the boundaries, components, processes, and drivers relevant to a problem that is embedded in a specific place, and context. A part that we need and really should not miss is to define the system boundaries, componentsand interactions. System boundaries are significant because they have an impact on how a system is viewed, comprehended, designed, implemented, and managed. Setting clear and suitable system boundaries allows you to concentrate on a system’s crucial components and connections while minimizing needless complexity. It is also possible to specify the interfaces and interactions between a system and its surroundings as well as the sources and sinks of information, energy, and materials that flow into and out of a system. Finally, you can develop standards and metricsfor assessing a system’s effectiveness and efficiency, as well as its results. Just like we say in Mexico: A problem with neither head nor feet will be impossible to resolve, so it’s really important to start with this.

When systems are defined in a way that is specific to a local context, then local drivers can be accurately identified, and appropriate solutions will be found and applied more effectively. The next thing I want to talk about is about classifying Driver scale. “Drivers span many spatial scales” When a system and its drivers are successfully identified, it is essential to take into account scaling at bigger and smaller spatial scales both outside and inside the system’s limits.Given that socio-ecological systems are open systems in which energy, matter, and information can move across system boundaries, this is necessary for a full comprehension of the forces that govern the system. Moving forward a little but still talking about Drivers, we need to classify their influence. “Natural and human drivers can influence socioecological systems either directly and unequivocally, or indirectly and more diffusely. The definition of direct and undirect drivers thatwe described a couple of paragraphs before was defined by the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Now that we are done defining everything about Drivers, we can move forward to talk about Causal chain Analysis. Causality is the relationship of cause and effect, the principle that nothing can happen without being caused. “Cause is complicated, but establishing cause is necessary for finding targeted solutions to sustainability problems”.

Causal chain analysis helps trace cause-effect pathways form the problem back to the drivers regulating the socioecological system and considers the relationship among interacting drivers. I really liked the example on page 147 because it made everything easier to comprehend. “The reason that you have sour milk in your fridge might be because you were so busy this week that you did not have time to go to the grocery store to get fresh milk.” Then the chain will look like this: Hectic week (Indirect Driver), sour milk (Direct Driver), Stomachache (Effect).

(Indirect Driver)——- (Direct Driver)———– (Effect).
Before delving into these aspects of causal chain analysis, one more note on causality must bemade: CORRELATION—CAUSATION. Means that if two variables are correlated, one does not necessarily cause the other. Another great example that helped me to understand this is: In the late 1940s, a nationwide study found a strong correlation between the incidence rate of new cases of polio among children in a community and per capita ice cream consumption inthat community. In other words, as ice cream consumption increased, polio incidence increased. This led some to believe that polio was caused by ice cream consumption. However, other researchers realized that the data sets showing a strong correlation between high icecream consumption and high incidence of new polio cases were gathered in the summer. Data gathered in the winter showed a lower incidence of new polio cases and a lower rate of icecream consumption. We now know that polio is a viral infection that spreads more easily when children gather to play in unsanitary conditions, such as during summer vacation, than when children play together under more sanitary school conditions during the winter. Imagine if policy makers had listened to researcher’s first explanation of causation: “Polio is caused by ice cream consumption.” This could have led to an unnecessary ice cream ban! It also would have delayed the development of a vaccine for the disease.
Our last but not least topic is: Identifying Stakeholders. Stakeholders may be broadly describedas anyone with an interest or investment in a particular policy, dispute, or organizational seek, but are not always easy to identify. There are three general types of methods that can be employed: Focus groups, interviews and snow-ball sampling. There are also types of Stakeholders that are primary, secondary and key Stakeholders. The primary one means the ones who strongly affect others by their actions or are profoundly affected by the actions of other Stakeholders. The secondary one means the ones who are intermediary and indirectly affect others. The key one means that a critical class of them, can be primary or secondary or neither, and have the power to significantly influence or change a given situation.

Stakeholder involvement in and influence over a sustainability issue reveals power dynamics, advantageous alliances, and serious threats. Stakeholder behavior factors lead to actions that have an impact on the sustainability of a system. There is an image of a framework created by sustainability scientist Professor Arnim Wiek on page 166, that describes various factors to take actions that contribute to, and are affected by, a sustainability problem.

“Dictionary Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/dictionary. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.

“Dictionary Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/dictionary. Accessed 14 Sept. 2023.