Bridging social–ecological systems and ecological economics to navigate polycrisis

Louis Delannoy, Giulia Rubin, Bernardo A. Bastien-Olvera, Felipe Benra, Nicolas Choquette-Levy, Jordana Composto, Giorgio Dini, Tarikua Erda, Jacqueline Hamilton, Mari Kawakatsu, Niak S. Koh, Noah Linder, Marius von Essen, Emmy Wassénius, Adam H. Wiechman

Human societies and ecological systems experience interacting and compounding crises, a condition often described as ‘polycrisis’. To better navigate it, we propose a synthesis agenda at the interface of ecological economics (EE) and social–ecological systems (SES) research. Through collaborative synthesis and building on a practical framework of crisis dynamics as shocks and creeping changes, we identify four research avenues that specify where integration is feasible and promising. We focus on (i) the mediating role of human-made infrastructures in shock propagation; (ii) the influence of polycrisis dynamics on risk perception and behavioral response; (iii) trust and variations in collective action in response to threats; and (iv) shifting social–ecological meaning through the lens of diverse values of nature. For each avenue, we outline frontier questions that connect EE and SES, and examine interdisciplinary methodologies to address them. We also provide three specific examples with causal loop diagrams representative of the research avenues. We conclude by discussing the implications of combining EE and SES perspectives, and invite scholars from both traditions to engage more systematically together with the infrastructures, institutions, and power relations through which crises are experienced and governed.