Both the ‘cascade model’ of ecosystem service provision and the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework individually contribute to the understanding of human–nature interactions in social–ecological systems (SES). Yet, as several points of criticism show, they are limited analytical tools when it comes to reproducing complex cause–effect relationships in such systems. However, in this paper, we point out that by merging the two models, they can mutually enhance their comprehensiveness and overcome their individual conceptual deficits. Therefore we closed a cycle of ecosystem service provision and societal feedback by rethinking and reassembling the core elements of both models. That way, we established a causal sequence apt to describe the causes of change to SES, their effects and their consequences. Finally, to illustrate its functioning we exemplified and discussed our approach based on a case study conducted in the Alpujarra de la Sierra in southern Spain.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0651-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, guide societies to achieve a better and more sustainable future. Depleting fossil fuels and climate change will strongly increase the demand for biomass, as governments shift towards bioeconomies. Though research has estimated future biomass availability for bioenergetic uses, the implications for sustainable development have hardly been discussed; e.g., how far the estimates account for food security, sustainability and the satisfaction of basic human needs, and what this implies for intragenerational equity. This research addresses the gap through a systematic literature review and our own modeling. It shows that the biomass models insufficiently account for food security; e.g., by modeling future food consumption below current levels. The available biomass, if fairly distributed, can globally replace fossil fuels required for future material needs but hardly any additional energy needs. To satisfy basic human needs, the material use of biomass should, therefore, be prioritized over bioenergy. The different possibilities for biomass allocation and distribution need to be analyzed for their potential negative implications, especially for the poorer regions of the world. Research, society, business and politicians have to address those to ensure the 'leave no one behind´commitment of the SDGs.Sustainability 2019, 11, 5078 2 of 26 human-nature relationships and in view of the long-term and inherently uncertain future, including (i) justice between humans of different generations ("intergenerational" justice), (ii) justice between different humans of the same generation, in particular the present generation ("intragenerational" justice), and (iii) justice between humans and nature." Both justice and equity relate to a fair balance of mutual claims and obligations within a local or global community [9]. The World Commission on Environment and Development has defined sustainable development in its report "Our Common Future," also known as the Brundtland Report, as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [12] (page 54). From this report, Holden et al. [6] derive four sustainability dimensions: (i) The need for long-term ecological sustainability, (ii) the satisfaction of human needs, (iii) intragenerational equity; i.e., equity between humans within a country and between countries of the same generation, and (iv) intergenerational equity, which means that future generations must also be able to meet their needs.The growing biomass demand poses new challenges to the sustainability of biomass production, the efficient use of biomass and the economies of scale in biomass mobilization [13]. Large amounts of biomass will be necessary to replace fossil fuels and to meet the future increase of food demand [13] However, the global biomass supply is limited despite biomass being renewable [14,15]. Competition exists between the alternative uses of biomass; i...

The transition from net deforestation to net reforestation in China has received much scientific attention, in the hope that, by understanding the underlying drivers and processes, it might be reproduced in other regions of the world. The scientific literature has suggested that this process was driven by the creation of off-farm opportunities and huge state afforestation programs by economic growth. Recent publications, however, have noted a lack of inclusion of local dynamics in this analysis. We used the social-ecological interactions (SEI) framework, designed for the assessment of ecosystem services in socio-ecological systems, to trace the causes and patterns of the local use of forest biomass in a village in Northwest Yunnan. Our results suggest that societal values, in particular, are key to understanding the local resource use underlying the forest transition in Yunnan. However, societal values have been neglected, both in the analysis of forest transition as well as in social-ecological systems research, in general.