Social Ecological Systems and barn swallows

The concept of socio-ecological system gives way of viewing ecological systems not as separate entities but as being part of a larger entity which also includes societal actors (humans or organizations) and the governing actors. Elinor Ostrom’s updated framework for analyzing SESs includes four core subsystems, namely the resource system (RS), the resource units (RU), the governance system (GS), and the users (U). These subsystems consist of various variables such as quantity, size, mobility, amount of interactions, economic values, various activities, etcetera. Finally, they also interact with the social, economic and political settings (S) and with related ecosystems (ECO). 

As an SES to analyse with this framework I propose to look at the Hageland area in Belgium. This area is renowned for its picturesqueness and agricultural industry which has been present for many centuries. My parents have a house there which used to be a farm so I’m most definitely connected. My family is a user of the land as we grow some vegetables and breed fish. Additionally, I make long hikes and mountain bike rides through the country side. Furthermore, I’m connected to the local GS as I vote for the local municipality. Concluding, I’m a multilevel user (U). 

In case of industrial ecology we look more at sustainability problems than any other. Here, I shall take the occurring problem that less and less barn swallows are present in the region. How is this possible and what can be done about it? In order to answer this question I shall use the framework. First, we have the (RU) which is the barn swallow. The RS is the geographical area, Hageland (but can actually be extended to cover entire Belgium and the Netherlands). The RS contains several rivers, woodland, open farmland, (industrial) farms, small towns and medium sized towns. A related ecosystem (ECO) close to this one is the entire region of Flanders and even Belgium and the Netherlands with it. In the entirety of this region the barn swallow is having trouble, so this related ecosystem also influences the outcome of the interactions by/with the subsystems. 

The RS is the area between four major cities, Aarschot, Leuven, Tienen en Diest. The GS, therefore, encompasses the federal Belgium government, the Flemish regional government, the province of Brabant and Limburg and several municipalities. The GS, thus, is very segmented with a lot of different responsibilities.

Finally, we have the users. There are many farmers (industry) and regular citizens (housing) in the area, other users are tourists, tourist agencies (e.g. Regionaal landschap Hageland and Tourisme Hageland) and last but not least, the non-profit association Natuurpunt (nature reservation). The resources that get depleted are not the swallows, but these are not ‘used’ as such by the users. They are an attraction for tourist and do have an economic benefit in that way, but they are not necessary for farmers (main economic activity) to grow their crops or animals. 

The federal government does not address issues as small as the disappearance of the sparrows but it does provide money and some additional resources. The municipalities often work together with the provinces and in some cases have their own programs. The case of the disappearing swallows is something that gets noticed only by two instances. The direct users (in the beginning even only these ones), like farmers and tourists and Natuurpunt. It is Natuurpunt in this case which has noticed the reasons behind the disappearance.  The barn swallow uses mud, twigs and leaves to create its nests. It also specifically searches very dark and dry places to put its nests. This has evolved throughout the centuries. The ideal site used to be houses and farms. The past centuries the houses in the area became more airtight. The past decades the farms also became more clean, with less manure, less twigs, less mud and also, more airtight. Furthermore, specifically in the Hageland, cow farmers declined which gave rise to less barns in total, but more centralized ones with bigger farmland. This very much narrowed down the breeding spots for the barn swallow. Analyzing this system it is obvious that the farmers (U) are the cause for the decline, but may also have been the cause for the rise and creation of this niche swallow in the first place. No blame is given, but solutions have to be found.

Therefore, several organizations and municipalities, with Natuurpunt leading ahead, are searching for foster families. These foster families can be farmers or private owners who get informed about swallows and in some cases get a nest to hang up somewhere. These nests have to be paid for, but are quite cheap made because of some funds from the government. It seems that in this case the interactions (I) between the users of the resource system and the social, economic, and political setting (S) created the problem. It disrupted the normal interaction between the resource unit and the users by demanding more sterile conditions and more centralized/industrialized farms. Further analysis with variables like mobility, size and economic value is not included here. Finally, the solution to the problem seemed to be the reestablishment of the initial interaction between the users and the resource unit which got disrupted by the S. 

The principle of Friedman (‘The business of business is to make profit’) could be  constructive here. The use of the swallows as a tourist attraction seems obvious. Here, making shelters and nests for the swallows can be an activity. Even voluntary work might be able to increase some tourist activities, even though it would only be in the food service industry used by the voluntaries. Furthermore, the construction materials of the nests and everything surrounding the building increases sales in the economic system. The farmers specifically can increase profit by coupling tourist work with their farming activities. This is already being done to some extent.