Telecoupling

Telecoupled systems have 5 components: agents, causes, and effects, sending systems, and receiving systems. Agents facilitate system interactions which perform as the causes for the resulting effects. Change to one governance, or agent, within the system causes change to the other governance within the system due to their interactions. The effects are characterized as both socioeconomic and environmental, and are usually indirect, and therefore often ignored and difficult to create general policy around. The interactions between systems vary in substance. Fields such as "trade, knowledge transfer, species dispersal, tourism, water transfer, human migration, waste transfer, biophysical, technology transfer, investment, animal migration, and Ecosystem services flow" An extension of telecoupled flows is the presence of feedback from the receiving, spillover, and sending systems. The feedback itself can effect the telecoupled system as a whole either by reinforcing the telecoupling, or weakening it. A singular change within telecoupled systems can result in a multitude of feedback loops among the involved governances. == Forms of coupling ==

There are various categories of coupled systems, all of which are distinguished from one another as a result of their position, and scale. is a new concept of research to systematically understand human-nature interactions (couplings), which can be classified into three major types: human-nature interactions within a coupled system (intracoupling), between distant coupled systems (telecoupling), and between adjacent coupled systems (pericoupling). Together, they constitute metacoupling. Metacoupling consists of intracoupling and intercoupling, which in turn includes pericoupling and telecoupling. In Tromboni et al. 2021 the metacoupling framework is applied to the field of macrosystems biology in an effort to find reconciliation for ecological issues at the global scale. A metacoupling framework would expose unacknowledged connections within various fields of science, and provide new perspective as to how to analyze those connections. For example, Tromboni et al. justifies that ecologists working within a metacoupled framework would not confine themselves to the location of a species while analyzing a niche, but they would instead incorporate environmental factors experienced throughout the globe to study the species more comprehensively. In addition, the metacoupling framework, much like the telecoupling framework, seeks to analyze both socioeconomic and environmental effects concurrently. == Power structures ==

Spillover sites are locations that are also affected by change within coupled human and natural system, but commonly play a peripheral role within the system's interactions. The spillover sites often undergo disturbances from telecoupled systems and without compensation because they are unnoticed by the other, more central, agents. However, telecoupling as an analytical tool offers insight that could improve predictive models by acknowledging spillover sights; policy makers may be more comprehensively informed of the potential socioeconomic and environmental impacts that result from each policy change. Power dynamics between governances are more clearly revealed when analyzing coupled human and natural system flows, especially when compensation is not given to spillover sites despite complaint. The atmospheric system, as a result of greenhouse gas accumulation, is a spillover site that lacks a governance, and has therefore been unrepresented. The unacknowledged, destructive effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the atmosphere has been integral to current climate change. == Telecoupling, globalization and urbanization ==

Globalization Globalization increases the effects of telecouplings in the rate, scale, and scope. As a result, the demand for more resources from cities indirectly increases deforestation and places greater pressure on forests from which natural resources are extracted. A high demand for meat from an expanding population requires farmers in Brazil to cut down trees and plant crops to feed their animals. This feed (generally soybeans) can be exported to countries around the world to support animal agriculture. This example is provided in more detail in the section below, and highlights the relevance of both globalization and urbanization in the telecoupling framework. Bryan Walsh writes, "It’s a bit like the old butterfly effect—only instead of a butterfly flapping its wings in Peking and creating a storm in America, it's an urban laborer in Beijing buying a bowl of pork noodles and causing a tree to be cut down in Brazil." == Examples ==

Biofuel mandates The European Union enacted policy aimed at reducing fuel emissions in response to increasing climate change. This mandate was created to promote the domestic production of biofuels and reduce overall emissions. There were unintended consequences as a result of these policies due to it being a telecoupled system. Soybean exports China is a major consumer of Soybeans; they provide sustenance for Chinese people, as well as for their livestock. Brazil is an agricultural producer of soybeans that frequently exports this agricultural product to China. While Brazil's economy is bolstered by this exportation, the Amazonian rainforest is depleted as it is deforested to expand agricultural lands. Deforestation has a multitude of detrimental effects on both the land, and its people. On a global scale, deforestation contributes to climate change-the spillover site for soybean exportation is then the entirety of the globe. Gasparri and Waroux 2015 state that the Republic of south africa is the leading nation in soybean importation. The economic impacts of the project have been researched extensively, while the potential social, and ecological impacts have been largely unacknowledged. Upon examination of the Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) potential social, and ecological impacts, Yang et al. 2017 identify a plethora of challenge that may ensue, and require addressing, resulting from the telecoupled nature of the project. The relationship between these nations may prove to be unstable due to this dependence, and negatively affect the participation in the BRI, as well as its economic standing. Telecoupled systems always share environmental issues. As a result, the 65 countries involved will share their experiences of pollution, species invasion, etc. Lastly, Yang analyzes the socioeconomics of the countries involved. Without the transportation provided by the BRI, there are frequent disputes over boundaries, resource usage, religion, and ethnicity. The telecoupled nature of the project may exacerbate or calm these current conditions. == Limitations ==

Telecoupling is a relatively new framework that will require time and commitment to overcome its limitations. The novelty of the telecoupling framework means that there is sometimes a lack of investment from researchers that can help to progress the operationalization of the framework. Data limitations also restrict the framework from moving forward efficiently, and telecoupling endeavors will have to address these gaps in research and data to optimize the effectiveness of the framework itself. Liu writes, "Specific areas that have been understudied include how telecouplings emerge and dissolve, their impact on sustainability and best practices for encouraging positive rather than negative impacts, and more explicit accounting for local and regional interactions in a broader context." Further dedication to exploring these areas will allow the telecoupling framework to evolve in a socioeconomically and environmentally conscious manner. Governance of telecoupling efforts has also been noted by scholars as a primary limitation to framework development. Understanding all flows among and between the variable of telecoupling is necessary for successful application of the framework. Moreover, comprehension of how these relationships change across various scales can be helpful in supporting the telecoupling framework and holistically analyzing broader themes of socioeconomic and environmental discourse. == Conclusion ==

Globalization requires that autonomous governances interact, and therefore maintain interdependent relationships. However, telecoupling is an analytical tool that can only be applied to system interactions that include all the components of a telecoupled system. Without all components (three systems, agents, causes, effects, and flows) the relationship is not a telecoupling. As a result, while telecoupling is a framework that comprehensively recognizes both the socioeconomic and environmental factors present within system interactions, it cannot be universally applied nor used, as many system interactions can only be labeled as couplings, not telecouplings. == References ==