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Sustainability requires a combination of meaningful co-production of locally relevant solutions, synthesis of insights gained across regions, and increased cooperation between science, policy and practice. The Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) has been coordinating Place-Based Social-Ecological Sustainability Research (PBSESR) across the globe and emphasizes the need for regional scientific nodes from diverse biocultural regions to inform sustainability science and action. In this paper, we assess the strengths of the PBSESR communities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We provide an overview of PBSESR literature associated with this region and highlight the achievements of two prominent regional networks: The Social-Ecological Systems and Sustainability Research Network from Mexico (SocioEcoS) and the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies from Uruguay (SARAS Institute). Finally, we identify the potential in these nodes to constitute a regional PECS node in Latin America and discuss the capacity needed to ensure such function. The results of the literature review show that while still loosely interconnected across the region, networks play key roles in connecting otherwise cloistered teams and we illustrate how the SocioEcoS network (focusing on transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge towards sustainability) and the SARAS Institute (focusing on innovative approaches for looking at complex social-ecological problems, rooted in slow science and arts) operate as key connectors in the region. We conclude that these organizations combined can embody a Latin American node for PECS, and would thereby not only contribute to regional but also global capacities to advance the sustainability agenda.

Resilience is already one of the most important analytical approaches to the study of socio-ecological problems. Forced migration for environmental reasons is one of the main consequences of global environmental change. Socio-ecological resilience identifies factors that would diminish the effects of environmental migration, especially concerning the governance of such issues. We will draw attention to the fact that recent waves of migration have made Central America a hotspot for environmentally induced displacement. In response, international aid geared towards climate change adaptation could reduce the displacement of the inhabitants of the Central American Dry Corridor. However, favored practices, such as Hass avocado cultivation, are controversial in terms of environmental sustainability., RESUMO A resiliência é já um dos referenciais de análise mais importantes para estudar os problemas socioecológicos. A migração forçada por razões ambientais é uma das principais consequências da mudança ambiental global. A resiliência socioecológica permite identificar fatores que diminuirão os efeitos da migração ambiental, principalmente em torno da governança desses problemas. Mostramos que recentes ondas migratórias posicionam a América Central como um ponto crucial da migração induzida por causas ambientais. Diante disso, a ajuda internacional destinada à adaptação à mudança climática poderia diminuir o deslocamento de habitantes do chamado “Corredor Seco Centro-Americano”. Contudo, práticas favorecidas, como o cultivo do abacate Hass, são polêmicas do ponto de vista da sustentabilidade ambiental., RESUMEN La resiliencia es ya uno de los marcos analíticos más importantes para estudiar los problemas socioecológicos. La migración forzada por razones ambientales es una de las principales consecuencias del cambio ambiental global. La resiliencia socioecológica permite identificar factores que disminuirían los efectos de la migración ambiental, sobre todo en torno a la gobernanza de dichos problemas. Mostraremos que recientes oleadas migratorias ubican a Centroamérica como un punto neurálgico de la migración inducida por causas ambientales. Frente a ello, la ayuda internacional destinada a la adaptación al cambio climático podría disminuir el desplazamiento de habitantes del llamado Corredor Seco Centroamericano. Sin embargo, prácticas favorecidas, como el cultivo del aguacate Hass, son polémicas desde el punto de vista de la sostenibilidad ambiental.

Projections of a burgeoning population coupled with global environmental change offer an increasingly dire picture of the state of the world's food security in the not-too-distant future. But how can we transform the current food system to become more sustainable, more equitable and more just? We identify kitchens as sites of transformative innovation in the food system where cooks and chefs can leverage traditional food knowledge about local food species to create delicious and nutritious dishes. Achieving a sustainable food system is a grand challenge, one where cooks in particular are stepping forward as innovators to find solutions.

The term tipping point has experienced explosive popularity across multiple disciplines over the last decade. Research on social-ecological systems (SES) has contributed to the growth and diversity of the term's use. The diverse uses of the term obscure potential differences between tipping behavior in natural and social systems, and issues of causality across natural and social system components in SES. This paper aims to create the foundation for a discussion within the SES research community about the appropriate use of the term tipping point, especially the relatively novel term 'social tipping point.' We review existing literature on tipping points and similar concepts (e.g. regime shifts, critical transitions) across all spheres of science published between 1960 and 2016 with a special focus on a recent and still small body of work on social tipping points. We combine quantitative and qualitative analyses in a bibliometric approach, rooted in an expert elicitation process. We find that the term tipping point became popular after the year 2000-long after the terms regime shift and critical transition-across all spheres of science. We identify 23 distinct features of tipping point definitions and their prevalence across disciplines, but find no clear taxonomy of discipline-specific definitions. Building on the most frequently used features, we propose definitions for tipping points in general and social tipping points in SES in particular.

The main objective of this essay is to analyze how the rise of perspectives towards dryland environments challenges traditional ideas about ecological dynamics. To reach that goal, the essay is divided in three sections: the first part analyzes the characteristics of ecology systems and the way in which dryland environments challenge the traditional concepts of loading capacity, the area-biodiversity postulate and the biodiversitystability postulate. The second part will analyse the rise of “new ecology” and how concepts from non-equilibrium ecology diverge from those in the conventional ecology systems. The third part considers some features of dryland environments in which this conceptual shifting has been evident; this part highlights the ecological postulates adopted on policy design and implementation regarding management, administration and support for dryland environments., El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar cómo lasperspectivas acerca de los ambientes semidesérticos y desérticos desafían las ideas tradicionales acerca de las dinámicas ecológicas. Para alcanzar este objetivo, el artículo se divide en tres partes: la primera analiza las características de la ecología de sistemas y la forma en la que dichos ambientes disputan los conceptos tradicionales de capacidad de carga y los postulados de área-biodiversidad y estabilidad. La segunda parte analiza el resurgimiento de la “nueva ecología” y cómo los conceptosde no-equilibrio divergen de aquellos pertenecientes a la corriente más convencional de ecología de sistemas. Finalmente se consideran algunas características de los ambientes semidesérticos y desérticos que evidencian dicha dicotomía conceptual; esta sección busca acentuar los postulados ecológicos adoptados en el diseño e implementación de políticas en torno al manejo, administración y conservación de ambientes semidesérticos y desérticos.