IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jworld/v2y2021i1p2-31d474755.html

Socioecological System Transformation: Lessons from COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Kaitlin Kish

    (Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada)

  • Katharine Zywert

    (School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

  • Martin Hensher

    (Institute for Health Transformations, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia)

  • Barbara Jane Davy

    (School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

  • Stephen Quilley

    (School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada)

Abstract

Environmentalists have long warned of a coming shock to the system. COVID-19 exposed fragility in the system and has the potential to result in radical social change. With socioeconomic interruptions cascading through tightly intertwined economic, social, environmental, and political systems, many are not working to find the opportunities for change. Prefigurative politics in communities have demonstrated rapid and successful responses to the pandemic. These successes, and others throughout history, demonstrate that prefigurative politics are important for response to crisis. Given the failure of mainstream environmentalism, we use systemic transformation literature to suggest novel strategies to strengthen cooperative prefigurative politics. In this paper, we look at ways in which COVID-19 shock is leveraged in local and global economic contexts. We also explore how the pandemic has exposed paradoxes of global connectivity and interdependence. While responses shed light on potential lessons for ecological sustainability governance, COVID-19 has also demonstrated the importance of local resilience strategies. We use local manufacturing as an example of a possible localized, yet globally connected, resilience strategy and explore some preliminary data that highlight possible tradeoffs of economic contraction.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaitlin Kish & Katharine Zywert & Martin Hensher & Barbara Jane Davy & Stephen Quilley, 2021. "Socioecological System Transformation: Lessons from COVID-19," World, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:2:y:2021:i:1:p:2-31:d:474755
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/2/1/2/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/2/1/2/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hensher, Martin & Tisdell, John & Canny, Ben & Zimitat, Craig, 2020. "Health care and the future of economic growth: exploring alternative perspectives," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 419-439, October.
    2. Kyle R. Myers & Wei Yang Tham & Yian Yin & Nina Cohodes & Jerry G. Thursby & Marie C. Thursby & Peter Schiffer & Joseph T. Walsh & Karim R. Lakhani & Dashun Wang, 2020. "Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(9), pages 880-883, September.
    3. Stephen Quilley & Katharine Zywert, 2019. "Livelihood, Market and State: What does A Political Economy Predicated on the ‘Individual-in-Group-in-PLACE’ Actually Look Like?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Max Nathan & Henry Overman, 2020. "Will coronavirus cause a big city exodus?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(9), pages 1537-1542, November.
    5. Johan Rockström & Will Steffen & Kevin Noone & Åsa Persson & F. Stuart Chapin & Eric F. Lambin & Timothy M. Lenton & Marten Scheffer & Carl Folke & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber & Björn Nykvist & Cynthia , 2009. "A safe operating space for humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7263), pages 472-475, September.
    6. Dirk Helbing, 2013. "Globally networked risks and how to respond," Nature, Nature, vol. 497(7447), pages 51-59, May.
    7. Colin D. Butler, 2016. "Sounding the Alarm: Health in the Anthropocene," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bianca Blum & Bernhard K. J. Neumärker, 2021. "Lessons from Globalization and the COVID-19 Pandemic for Economic, Environmental and Social Policy," World, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Wai-Ming To, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of World Issues—Social, Political, Economic, and Environmental Dimensions," World, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20, August.
    3. Marcel Franke & Bernhard K. J. Neumärker, 2022. "A Climate Alliance through Transfer: Transfer Design in an Economic Conflict Model," World, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Sudhanshu Joshi & Manu Sharma, 2022. "A Literature Survey on Vaccine Supply Chain Management Amidst COVID-19: Literature Developments, Future Directions and Open Challenges for Public Health," World, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-28, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Magdalena Gil & Constanza Hurtado-Acuna & Máximo Quiero-Bastías & Marigen Narea & Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar, 2023. "Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on researchers: evidence from Chile and Colombia," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Weidong Lin & Jose Olmo & Abderrahim Taamouti, 2025. "Portfolio Selection under Systemic Risk," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(4), pages 905-949, June.
    3. Huiyuan Guan & Yongping Bai & Chunyue Zhang, 2022. "Research on Ecosystem Security and Restoration Pattern of Urban Agglomeration in the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Igor Linkov & Benjamin Trump & Greg Kiker, 2022. "Diversity and inclusiveness are necessary components of resilient international teams," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-5, December.
    5. Filipa Correia & Philipp Erfruth & Julie Bryhn, 2018. "The 2030 Agenda: The roadmap to GlobALLizaton," Working Papers 156, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    6. Birgit Kopainsky & Anita Frehner & Adrian Müller, 2020. "Sustainable and healthy diets: Synergies and trade‐offs in Switzerland," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 908-927, November.
    7. Hervé Corvellec & Johan Hultman & Anne Jerneck & Susanne Arvidsson & Johan Ekroos & Niklas Wahlberg & Timothy W. Luke, 2021. "Resourcification: A non‐essentialist theory of resources for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 1249-1256, November.
    8. Tetsuya Tsurumi & Shunsuke Managi, 2025. "Income and Subjective Well-Being: The Importance of Index Choice for Sustainable Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-32, June.
    9. repec:plo:pone00:0090265 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Carina Mueller & Christopher West & Mairon G. Bastos Lima & Bob Doherty, 2023. "Demand-Side Actors in Agricultural Supply Chain Sustainability: An Assessment of Motivations for Action, Implementation Challenges, and Research Frontiers," World, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-20, September.
    11. Man Li & Tao Ye & Peijun Shi & Jian Fang, 2015. "Impacts of the global economic crisis and Tohoku earthquake on Sino–Japan trade: a comparative perspective," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(1), pages 541-556, January.
    12. Sarah Shandera & Jes L Matsick & David R Hunter & Louis Leblond, 2021. "RASE: Modeling cumulative disadvantage due to marginalized group status in academia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Laura M. Canevari‐Luzardo & Frans Berkhout & Mark Pelling, 2020. "A relational view of climate adaptation in the private sector: How do value chain interactions shape business perceptions of climate risk and adaptive behaviours?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 432-444, February.
    14. Janet Judy McIntyre‐Mills, 2013. "Anthropocentrism and Well‐being: A Way Out of the Lobster Pot?," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 136-155, March.
    15. Hametner, Markus, 2022. "Economics without ecology: How the SDGs fail to align socioeconomic development with environmental sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    16. Ewa Małgorzata Szepietowska & Ewa Zawadzka & Sara Filipiak, 2022. "Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Sense of Gains and Losses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-19, March.
    17. Ourania Tzoraki & Svetlana Dimitrova & Marin Barzakov & Saad Yaseen & Vasilis Gavalas & Hani Harb & Abas Haidari & Brian P. Cahill & Alexandra Ćulibrk & Ekaterini Nikolarea & Eleni Andrianopulu & Miro, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Working Conditions, Employment, Career Development and Well-Being of Refugee Researchers," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, July.
    18. Iveta Silova & Jeremy Rappleye & Hikaru Komatsu, 2025. "What If More Education Is Not the Answer? Beyond the Business-as-Usual Approach to SDGs," Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, , vol. 19(2), pages 203-215, September.
    19. Zhao, Yujia & McLellan, Benjamin Craig & Wang, Chaofan & Shuai, Jing & Xiang, Wanting & Shuai, Chuanmin, 2026. "Risk dynamics and strategies of China's solar PV industry chain under trade frictions: A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    20. Ronja Teschner & Jessica Ruppen & Basil Bornemann & Rony Emmenegger & Lucía Aguirre Sánchez, 2021. "Mapping Sustainable Diets: A Comparison of Sustainability References in Dietary Guidelines of Swiss Food Governance Actors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    21. Ellinas, Christos & Allan, Neil & Johansson, Anders, 2016. "Project systemic risk: Application examples of a network model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 50-62.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:2:y:2021:i:1:p:2-31:d:474755. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.