Spotlighting power dynamics: Metacoupling as a lens for understanding equitable resilience in southern African

The document introduces 'metacoupling' as a research lens to understand the interdependence of social-ecological systems (SES) across local (intracoupling), adjacent (pericoupling), and distant (telecoupling) scales. By integrating an equity lens—focusing on distributional, procedural, and recognitional dimensions—the framework reveals how global flows of resources and capital influence local inequities. Case studies in South Africa and Namibia illustrate that international market demands and certification standards often marginalize small-scale producers and riverine communities, while power imbalances between local actors and multinational entities constrain equitable resource access.

• The metacoupling framework analyzes human-nature interactions across three scales: intracoupling (within a system), pericoupling (between adjacent systems), and telecoupling (between distant systems). This approach reveals how 'environmental changes and resource use in one area can affect communities and ecosystems in distant locations', highlighting that local actions can have global consequences.
• Integrating an equity lens into metacoupling allows for the identification of leverage points across three dimensions: distributional equity (fair distribution of benefits and harms), procedural equity (equal participation in decision-making), and recognitional equity (validation of diverse claims, rights, and knowledge).
• In the Breede River Catchment of South Africa, the export of stone and pome fruit to markets in Europe, the UK, and Russia creates distributional inequities. High capital costs for certification standards required by international markets make it 'harder for emerging and small-scale producers to participate and draw benefits out of the high-value export market'.
• In the Groot Letaba Catchment of South Africa, citrus export value chains exhibit procedural and recognitional inequities in water governance. Smallholder farmers lack representation in Water User Associations, and meetings are conducted in English and Afrikaans, excluding those who speak Sepedi and Xitsonga, which 'makes it difficult for smallholders and contract farmers to engage in water management decisions'.
• Transboundary fish trade in Namibia's Zambezi region demonstrates how a 'power vacuum' and lack of regulation lead to the exploitation of communal resources. This results in distributional burdens for vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and female-headed households, as fish prices have more than doubled while consumption has 'roughly halved' over the last decade.
• The research concludes that conventional value chain analyses often miss equity dimensions by focusing on macro actors. A metacoupling lens surfaces how 'increased connectedness in coupled systems alters social structures, access to natural resources, and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers'.

APA

Global Resilience Partnership (n.d.). Spotlighting power dynamics: Metacoupling as a lens for understanding equitable resilience in southern African. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/metacoupling-brief_7march.pdf

Chicago

Global Resilience Partnership. Spotlighting power dynamics: Metacoupling as a lens for understanding equitable resilience in southern African. n.d. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/metacoupling-brief_7march.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Resilience Partnership |title=Spotlighting power dynamics: Metacoupling as a lens for understanding equitable resilience in southern African |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/metacoupling-brief_7march.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalresiliencepartnershipndspotlighting, author = {{Global Resilience Partnership}}, title = {{Spotlighting power dynamics: Metacoupling as a lens for understanding equitable resilience in southern African}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/metacoupling-brief_7march.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }