Postnormal science and social-ecological systems

Abstract

Postnormal science is an epistemological approach to understand and hopefully help in the solution of societal problems accepting the perspectives of the many social actors that participate in them. Its fundamental characteristics are the acceptance of the uncertainty of facts, disputed values, and the urgency of the decision-making processes. The social-ecological system concept, on the other hand, was proposed as a better way to recognize, study, and manage the relationships between human beings and ecosystems. In this chapter, we discuss both concepts, based on the idea that social-ecological systems should be studied using a postnormal perspective. We provide an example of the study of a Latin American social-ecological system: the Rio Cruces wetland.