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Evaluating transformative policies in complex land-use systems

Droste, Nils LU orcid ; Brownell, Huntley ; D'Amato, Dalia ; Ekström, Hanna LU orcid ; Fridén, Alexia LU ; Harrinkari, Teemu ; Iliev, Bogomil ; May, Wilhelm LU orcid ; Nebasifu, Ayonghe and Thomsen, Marianne (2025) In Ecological Economics 238.
Abstract

Policies that facilitate sustainability transformations require knowledge about the dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems, including biophysical mechanisms and diverse human-nature relationships. Such a comprehensive evidence base can only be built by integrating multiple types of knowledges. Ontology, epistemology, and semantics are a well-established terminology to structure and facilitate such knowledge integration. Co-creation with societal knowledge-holders can furthermore generate a more robust understanding of societal processes. Here, we present an approach that we call integrated policy assessment and use the case of Nordic forest policies to illustrate how such an integration can look in practice. We present three... (More)

Policies that facilitate sustainability transformations require knowledge about the dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems, including biophysical mechanisms and diverse human-nature relationships. Such a comprehensive evidence base can only be built by integrating multiple types of knowledges. Ontology, epistemology, and semantics are a well-established terminology to structure and facilitate such knowledge integration. Co-creation with societal knowledge-holders can furthermore generate a more robust understanding of societal processes. Here, we present an approach that we call integrated policy assessment and use the case of Nordic forest policies to illustrate how such an integration can look in practice. We present three guiding principles to coordinate such transdisciplinary socio-ecological modelling: 1) a theory of change as a shared ontological ground about the structure of the system and causal mechanisms therein, 2) a modular architecture that integrates epistemologically distinct approaches and operationalizes data flows between various models, methods and scales, 3) a co-creative procedure that can create a shared problem understanding to semantically integrate knowledges from multiple stakeholders and address societal challenges in a relevant and legitimate way. The general idea of such co-creative modular architecture for integrated policy assessments can in principle be applied to any land use policy nexus.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Integrated policy assessment, Land use change, Methodological pluralism, Socio-ecological systems, Transformation
in
Ecological Economics
volume
238
article number
108734
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105011196876
ISSN
0921-8009
DOI
10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108734
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors
id
316afdb4-1b5a-46d5-9bc4-60ff9d515832
date added to LUP
2025-07-30 09:10:13
date last changed
2025-07-30 12:36:37
@article{316afdb4-1b5a-46d5-9bc4-60ff9d515832,
  abstract     = {{<p>Policies that facilitate sustainability transformations require knowledge about the dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems, including biophysical mechanisms and diverse human-nature relationships. Such a comprehensive evidence base can only be built by integrating multiple types of knowledges. Ontology, epistemology, and semantics are a well-established terminology to structure and facilitate such knowledge integration. Co-creation with societal knowledge-holders can furthermore generate a more robust understanding of societal processes. Here, we present an approach that we call integrated policy assessment and use the case of Nordic forest policies to illustrate how such an integration can look in practice. We present three guiding principles to coordinate such transdisciplinary socio-ecological modelling: 1) a theory of change as a shared ontological ground about the structure of the system and causal mechanisms therein, 2) a modular architecture that integrates epistemologically distinct approaches and operationalizes data flows between various models, methods and scales, 3) a co-creative procedure that can create a shared problem understanding to semantically integrate knowledges from multiple stakeholders and address societal challenges in a relevant and legitimate way. The general idea of such co-creative modular architecture for integrated policy assessments can in principle be applied to any land use policy nexus.</p>}},
  author       = {{Droste, Nils and Brownell, Huntley and D'Amato, Dalia and Ekström, Hanna and Fridén, Alexia and Harrinkari, Teemu and Iliev, Bogomil and May, Wilhelm and Nebasifu, Ayonghe and Thomsen, Marianne}},
  issn         = {{0921-8009}},
  keywords     = {{Integrated policy assessment; Land use change; Methodological pluralism; Socio-ecological systems; Transformation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Ecological Economics}},
  title        = {{Evaluating transformative policies in complex land-use systems}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108734}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108734}},
  volume       = {{238}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}