A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems
Elinor Ostrom1,2,*
A major problem worldwide is the potential loss of fisheries,
forests, and water resources. Understanding of the processes
that lead to improvements in or deterioration of natural resources
is limited, because scientific disciplines use different concepts
and languages to describe and explain complex social-ecological
systems (SESs). Without a common framework to organize findings,
isolated knowledge does not cumulate. Until recently, accepted
theory has assumed that resource users will never self-organize
to maintain their resources and that governments must impose
solutions. Research in multiple disciplines, however, has found
that some government policies accelerate resource destruction,
whereas some resource users have invested their time and energy
to achieve sustainability. A general framework is used to identify
10 subsystem variables that affect the likelihood of self-organization
in efforts to achieve a sustainable SES.
2 Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
* E-mail: ostrom{at}indiana.edu
