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This open access book is a compilation of case studies that provide useful knowledge and lessons that derive from on-the-ground activities and contribute to policy recommendations, focusing on the relevance of social-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) to “transformative change.” The concept of “transformative change” has been gaining more attention to deal with today’s environmental and development problems, whereas both policy and scientific communities have been increasingly calling for transformative change toward sustainable society. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has planned to start the so-called “assessment on transformative change” if approved by the IPBES plenary to be held in 2021. At present, the idea of transformative change, including its scope, methodologies, approaches and strategies, are yet to be clarified. By bringing together all of the different concerns and interests in the land/seascape, SEPLS approaches could provide practical and experience-based insights for understanding and gauging transformative change and identifying determinants of such change. This book explores how SEPLS management relates to the idea of transformative change to further the discussion of sustainable transitions in advancing sustainability science. The introductory chapter is followed by case study chapters offering real-world examples of transformative change as well as a synthesis chapter clarifying the relevance of the case study findings to policy and academic discussions.

Almost all countries are experiencing disasters whose frequency and intensity have increased over the last decades due to many natural and anthropogenic factors, including climate change. These disasters are increasingly deadly, costly, uncertain, complex, and occurring over a range of temporal and spatial scales. They are the outcomes of inevitable hazards that affect highly vulnerable areas and populations with low coping capacities and resilience. The capacity to anticipate, mitigate and adapt to disaster risk is currently making a significant difference as to whether or not a natural hazard turns into a disaster. Presently, there is no region immune to the impacts of hazards and a country’s vulnerability to disaster risk is the outcome of several factors, mainly the failure of its related governance system. Therefore, countries imperatively need to invest in disaster-resilience building, especially through the development of appropriate governance arrangements according to international frameworks while considering local context dynamics. Disaster resilience is understood here as the ability to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development. This process, in order to be effective, requires the consideration of many issues, which will be investigated throughout this chapter, such as: the governance implications of the linkages between disaster risk reduction, climate change and sustainable development goals; the impacts of knowledge gap, uncertainty and science-decision divide; the dynamics through which stakeholder perceptions, awareness and involvement are shaped; the different relevant approaches to be mainstreamed; and the role of laws, policies, and regulations as critical tools in reducing and preventing disaster risk, thus fostering human security.