Transformative Governance for Complex Socio-Ecological Systems

Abstract

Africa is confronting a convergence of environmental and social pressures, including climate change, biodiversity loss, resource degradation, rapid urbanization, and growing demands on land and water systems. These challenges expose important limitations in governance approaches that rely on sectoral fragmentation, centralized decision-making, and narrowly technocratic solutions. At the same time, diverse governance practices emerging across the continent demonstrate how Indigenous knowledge systems, local institutions, scientific expertise, and digital technologies can interact to support more adaptive responses to socio-ecological change. This Element examines the potential of transformative governance as an approach to navigating complexity, uncertainty, and interdependence in African socio-ecological systems.