Challenges and opportunities for modeling coupled human and natural systems

LI Yan |National Science Review

Challenges and opportunities for modeling coupled human and natural systems

Yan Li, Shan Sang, Safa Mote, Jorge Rivas, Eugenia Kalnay

National Science Review

Published March 07 2023

https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwad054/7071902

Abstract

The Earth is a very large and complex system that consists of human and natural components interacting bidirectionally with each other, thus forming coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) . The increasing dominance of human impacts, especially after the 1950s , marked a new era for the Earth, the Anthropocene, which means humans have become the main drivers of the evolution of changes in the Earth system. Therefore, modeling CHANS is essential for understanding the emergent system properties of CHANS, predicting dynamics and feedbacks (e.g. regime shift, tipping point, and resilience), and informing governance of environmental systems to ensure a path toward sustainability .