Centre for All Interacting Evolving Systems Science (AIESS )

(From an anthropocentric to all interacting systems perspective of education, research, practice, and policy)


The Six Key Dimensions:

Ecology: Ecology in our study represents a basic comprehensive unit (habitat-ecosystem) of our planet that is driven by the fundamental principles of nature. Ecology includes all living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) objects in a given habitat. The natural principles of interconnection, interdependence, complementarities and caring for the weakest shall be the principal axioms to the study of ecology. The design and systems analysis of the other concentric and embedded layers of any ecosystem shall also be determined by the above natural principles. The key factors that shall be discussed include Changes (atmospheric), Renewability (of resources), Balance (of species), Compatibility (of human & natural systems), Openness (in ecosystems).

Governance: Governance has been an encompassing dimension in subsystems and systems of our society. It has therefore been an important component with regard to sustainability of our community systems. The focus of our study has been to identify factors and principles of governance that can facilitate sustainable community systems at the lowest level of governance as well as are technically consistent for sustainability at higher level of governance, viz., district, national state, and global level. The key factors of study include frequency of interactions, decision-making method, problem solving approach, resource dependency and governance architecture & responsibilities.

Organization: Organizations have been the key engines of economic growth in human enterprise system. However, today’s organizational designs seem to greatly facilitate private financial capital creation as compared to social wealth creation in a society. Organization need to be designed such that they can evolve to be community enterprise systems than a private enterprise. The farmer producer organization (FPO) has been a special case of study under organizations. FPOs for our analysis includes different forms of collectives; viz., primary cooperative, SHGs, Farmer’s clubs, producer organizations, and producer companies. Accordingly, organizational design factors that can facilitate higher frequency of interactions among the members/owners, greater number of transactions throughout the year and help members find greater value through these interactions and transactions need further exploration. The key design factors for study of FPOs and organizations in general include size, scope, technology, ownership and management. Size refers to the number of membership and geographical extent. Scope refers to the number and type of activities that an organization can engage in. Technology refers to the process and product technology suitable for an organization. Ownership refers to shareholding structure in the organization and Management refers to management structure, type of managerial skills appropriate for an organization.

Production: Production include primary, secondary, and tertiary nature of production in any ecosystem. Agriculture, the primary production activity is greatly being impacted by climate changes and has been increasingly becoming unsustainable across the world. It appears that in the course of our taking agriculture forward for greater productivity through intensive external inputs; we have made many small farmers unviable, increased risk in food safety, and degraded environment. Secondary (manufacturing and processing sector) and tertiary (service sector) are being studied from the lens of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) compass. The key factors that shall be discussed include Infrastructure (farm forestry-support structures-local networks), Resource Base (moisture-raw material-machinery), Competence Base (seed-product technology-process technology), Systems Services (soil-systems coordination), Diversity (production scope-actors & actants-cultures).

Institutions: Institutions are the norms, rules and conventions that regulate the functioning of an ecosystem. Deciphering the issue and factors of institution has been one of the most challenging one. Increasingly there has been the realization that without appropriate institutions, sustainability can only be a distant dream. The Centre’s analysis and action research shall focus on factors of institutions for ecological sustainability. The key factors of study include norms & conventions, rules & regulations, principles of justice, interaction intensity and institutional loading.

Relationships: The nature and state of relationships often shape the sustainability of our endeavor in production systems, organizational designs, community governance, and institutions within and outside the community. Indeed, relationships seem to have been at the core of human engagements and our endeavor towards sustainability. Systems science and spirituality perspectives have been used to study this dimension. However, it appears that unless the relationships are not in alignment with the ecological principles, inter-generational sustainability shall remain a distant dream. The key factors of study include sense of interdependence, notion of capital & wealth, mental construct, morals & values and faith & belief.

Chart 1: Spectrum of Factors for Transition



International Symposium on Regenerative Ecosystems scheduled on 29-30 November, 2022


Click to View Details