Agricultural Socioecological Systems

Resilience, sustainability and governance of agricultural systems in the face of global change.

Human well-being, resource sustainability and food security in traditional agrifood systems are increasingly challenged by the growing social and environmental uncertainties of our global world. The reference research group on Agricultural Socioecological systems, SISEC, aims to understand how agrifood systems respond to these challenges and to find robust solutions for their successful adaptation to globalization and climate change.

SISEC research focuses on the governance, resilience and sustainability of agricultural and livestock systems, and examines the strong interactions between the social, ecological and institutional components of agrifood systems. The group is formed by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) and Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre of Aragon (CITA). Our research articulates into five main areas:

Last news

Last publications:

This paper explores research on extensive livestock systems and the balance of attention across their ecological, social, institutional, and governance dimensions. https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol31/iss2/art36

Outreach activities:

Enrique Muñoz is doing a research stay at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) to model the evolution of ecosystem services in mountain and rural areas.
Dr. Carlos Bopp conducted a research stay at the University of Zaragoza, focusing on the study of the governance of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) systems and the institutional factors that influence the adoption of these techniques by farmers in central Chile. This activity took place in collaboration with Dr. Irene Pérez-Ibarra, as part of the FONDECYT Initiation Project 11260054 led by the visiting researcher.
Participation by the group members, Blanca Vidao and Carlota Vegas, in the 16th Spanish Congress of Sociology: Challenges, Evidence, Solutions (Bilbao, July 2026) with the following presentations: “Sociocultural and Relational Dimensions of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) in Ibero-American Rural Communities” and “Subjective Dimensions of Success and Climate Resilience in Agricultural Communities: An International Comparative Study.”