ABSTRACT
Global environmental change (GEC) science has traditionally been studied as separate parts of the Earth system. These include physical and biophysical aspects (e.g. the climate sub-system, the oceanic sub-system, the carbon cycle, etc.), and social, economic and/or political dimensions, which are particularly important when studying the drivers of change. An alternative approach is to study how these functional aspects interact in sub-global geographical regions. Regions are a natural level for such analysis, and especially for studies of social-ecological systems (such as food systems), as – while clearly not homogenous in all ways – they are often defined by shared cultural, political, economic and biogeographical contexts (Tyson et al, 2002).
