Introduction

A new paradigm, post-normal science based on systems thinking, has been developed and continues to evolve. It is being promoted and adopted as a means to understand decision-making processes under conditions of uncertainty and counterintuitive behaviour of complex linked social, ecological and economic systems (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1992; Jasanoff et al., 1997; Kinzig et al.; Gunderson and Holling, 2002). The principles, theory concepts and language of this paradigm are contributing to the considerable effort now being directed towards meeting the real world challenges of policy development and management for sustainable natural resources management from the perspective of social-ecological systems (SESs).

The WA agricultural region is an example of a SES with a history of agriculture of over 116 years described in Chapter 2. The region has successively been changed from a highly biologically diverse system dominated by perennial native vegetation to one dominated by annual cropping systems contributing to the regional, state and national economies. However, this has come at a cost. The negative environmental impacts of the dominant land management practices are now well documented (Chapter 3).