Humans depend on ecosystems, and ecosystems are in turn increasingly impacted by human activities. Sustainability and integrity of earth's social-ecological systems depend on effective environmental stewardship, yet current stewardship frameworks lack validation and are limited in their ability to show progress towards sustainability goals. In this study we examined institutional and local stewardship actions and their ecological and social outcomes along 7000 km of Australia’s coastline in order to develop an empirically-grounded stewardship model.
We used mixed methods including underwater visual census (Reef Life Surveys), coastal user interviews and observational surveys to collect both ecological and social data sets. Social data were analysed using grounded theory and qualitative data analysis, and social-ecological relationships were analysed using linear mixed-effects models.
We found that the combination of local and institutional stewardship led to improved ecological outcomes, which in turn enhanced social values and motivated further stewardship to form a virtuous cycle. Virtuous cycles may proceed over multiple iterations, which we represent in a new spiral model enabling visualisation of progress of the social-ecological system towards sustainability goals over time. Our study has important implications for collaborative earth stewardship and the role of policy in enabling virtuous cycles and sustainable futures.