This study is aimed at analyzing anthropological ecology and ecological anthropology as a framework approach for the analysis of socio-ecological sustainable development. It departs from the assumption that sustainable development requires a socio-ecological approach sustained by anthropology and ecology. The method used is analytical reflection based on the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical literature review. The study concludes that anthropology and ecology combine elements to sustain the anthropological ecology and ecological anthropology approaches to develop the framework for the analysis of a socio-ecological sustainable development.
TopIntroduction
Ecology is adopted by various disciplines, geography, economics, psychology, behavioral ecology, sociology, anthropology, anthropological ecology, cultural ecology, urban ecology, political ecology, urban political ecology, urban planning and design, ecological planning and design, landscape architecture (Lyle, 1985; McHarg, 1969; Ndubisi, 2002, Ndubisi, 2014; Palazzo, 1997; Steiner, 2001, Steiner, 1991, Steiner, 2016; Thompson & Steiner, 1997; Van der Ryn & Cowan 2007). The concept of human ecology evolved to embrace disciplines, such as economics, geography, land use, psychology, sociology, socioecology, socio-technology, sociobiology, anthropology, cultural ecology, anthropological ecology, etc. (Petterson, Kensek & Noble, 2017). This is due to the growing need to study the interaction between human beings and their environment with the aim of making this relationship sustainable.
In the same line of study of the relationships between the human being and its environment is anthropological ecology, which seeks to study the wide range of human responses to environmental problems. In turn, it has theoretical and practical implications on organizational sustainability through the integration of social and environmental dimensions. Sociology and anthropology are integrated into the organizational management aimed at co-evolution sustainability. The ecology of sustainability is a resource available to manage environmental changes in areas such as market forces, technology, geographical locations, natural resources, etc. Anthropology as well as psychology, medicine and social sciences have been interested in the study of diet in health and environmental effects of ecological adaptations (Montgomery, Bennett, & Scudder, 1973; Netting, 1974).
The engagements of urban political ecology with the public health crisis of Covid-19 led to important anthropological and biological insights. This is because through urban political ecology it is possible to explore the interactions between social, political, economic, and natural factors both in the production and reproduction of urban environments. As a result of the health crisis, it was possible to become aware not only of its effects on health, economy, and social development, but also the impact of human beings on earth, where industrialization, massive deforestation, extensive use of pesticides in the Agriculture, consumerism, the indiscriminate use of plastics, among other practices, are present and deepen the environmental disorders linked to climate change, which originate from human action.
Focus on climate change brings vulnerabilities with unsustainable development practices with impacts through material changes in socio-ecosystems driven by climate processes (Barnett & Adger, 2003). Anthropological and ethnographic ecology are used in policy making in climate change, considered a biophysical phenomenon. The ethnographic analysis of the human-centered efforts is directed towards a sustainable environment and ecological and relations. Comparative analysis of ecological anthropology uses cross-cultural datasets in ecological dynamics influencing human population size, land ownership, environmental impact, social behavior, social inequality, etc. (Bliege Bird & Codding, 2022).