This book has been produced as a part of the project ‘Social-Ecological Systems at the Indian Rural-Urban Interface: Functions, Scales, and Dynamics of Transition’. It addresses transition processes in agriculture and society triggered by urbanization, focusing on Bengaluru as an example of a rapidly growing megacity in India. Adopting a holistic, multidisciplinary approach embedded within a social-ecological systems research framework, it explores how the physical and socio-economic landscapes have led to changes in economic priorities, which have overpowered ecological and traditional priorities with regard to ecosystem governance. Allowing readers to gain a deeper understanding of this unexplored dimension of socio-ecological systems, this book is a valuable resource for international researchers, scholars and master’s students in the field of environmental science, socio-ecology, forestry and agriculture.
Dr. Sunil Nautiyal is Professor at the Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. He works to develop an integrated interdisciplinary approach for sustainable landscape development. This includes an operational framework to integrate approaches from ecological and social sciences to assess the impact of policy and behavioural changes linked with natural resource conservation and management and livelihoods of communities in various agro-ecological regions of India. Dr. Nautiyal has published 14 books and over 170 scientific papers/articles which have received good citation scores. He participated as Coordinator in 20 research projects in the thematic areas of biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, ecological modelling, rural ecosystem and livelihood development, and RS-GIS in landscape dynamics during the last couple of years. He is on the editorial board of06 international journals. Dr. Nautiyal has been working in close coordination with the scientists in India, Germany, UK, Australia, Japan and Bangladesh.
Dr. Mrinalini Goswami is a researcher in ecological science and associated with Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. She received her Ph.D. in Environmental Science for her research on sustainability of ecosystem-based livelihoods in peri-urban landscape. She has been engaged in research on varied topics including environmental sustainability, climate change, natural resource management, water management and urban development. Dr. Goswami also has substantial work experience in development sector which has motivated her towards interdisciplinary approach in environmental research.
Puneeth S is an aspiring researcher in the field of Geo-Spatial Technology Applications. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and Postgraduation inGeo-Informatics. He has worked in river basin planning and profiling in ACIWRM, Bengaluru, as Research Assistant. He worked as JRF/RA in agro-ecology and climate resilient projects in ISEC, Bengaluru.
