Jag tillägnar denna avhandling till Dig, Morfar. När jag var liten lyckades Du omvandla en märklig verklighet till fantasifulla sagor. Det är rätt svårt att förklara Svea Rikes Lag för en liten 5-årig tjej, men i din fantasi blev den till Morfars Sanna Vänners Förbund (hemligt) (MSVF(h)), där bara Du och jag var medlemmar. Geografi blev till jakten på den försvunna Lakritsgruvan och i alfabetet fanns det plats för både verkliga och overkliga djur. Ormor, fick börja på O istället för M, till exempel. Du lät mig busa och bygga kojjor och försökte locka mig att följa med till Stadshuskällaren för att äta blåbärsgröt. Du tyckte att jag stavade som en kratta innan jag ens hade börjat skolan och Du tog med mig filmer förbjudna för barn under femton när jag bara var tio. Jag tror att Din enorma tilltro till mig och min förmåga har underlättat mitt lärande, lekfullt lockat fram min nyfikenhet och fått mig att i alla fall delvis ta hjälp av fantasin även i mina vetenskapliga eskapader. Du ryckets bort från livet aldeles för tidigt, för ganska exakt 20 år sedan. Jag var bara elva. Jag vill ge dig den här boken som tack för din inspiration, din livsglädje och din tilltro till mig. Min Morfar, väldens bästa Sagomorfar!
Acknowledgements
The work with this thesis did certainly not occur in a vacuum, and none of this could have been done without the fantastic support from several individuals and groups with whom I have had stimulating discussions and fruitful collaboration. John Donne once said:
“No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...”
I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards the people who have in one way or another contributed to my thesis. I will not be able to thank all of you by name, but you are in my thoughts!
Two of the most inspiring people during my work with the thesis have been my supervisors Carl Folke and Malin Falkenmark. Thanks for letting me be part of your exciting bridge-building research on the frontier of science. And thanks for all the fried sparrows (stekta sparvar) you have put into my mouth! Calle, you have a brilliant mind!
Your exceptional ability to synthesise and analyse the complexity of social-ecological change is impressive and inspirational. It has been exciting working with you and I hope our collaborations will continue! Malin, it has been wonderful to work with you and share your never-ending energy, support and enthusiasm. Your holistic thinking and truly integrative intellect has been a great inspiration throughout my research. Thanks for helping me when time was tough, and for pushing and challenging me that little extra at the end of this thesis. I hope you will continue doing this.
Johan Rockström, although not an official supervisor, your support has been fantastic. You helped me out when I continued to run into the wall, head first, as I was
trying to understand the hydrology of croplands. Your help certainly was invaluable.
I admire your enormous work capacity, your research and your leadership, and I am stimulated by your ambition to improve this world. I really look forward to our future collaborations!
Thanks also to my two co-authors in Australia, Michael Dunlop and Barney Foran, for your great support of my research as well as of the water vapour thinking. I am also indebted to the rest of the people at the Resources Future Program at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, especially Brian Walker for inviting me and to Ray Bemelman for all administrative support.
Will Steffen, you have been another extremely inspiring co-author! Thanks for sharing your broad knowledge of the Earth System and help in lifting my perspectives and refining research ideas.
Bror Fredrik Jönsson, thanks for all the time you have spent on the estimations in paper III, and for finally solving the equations in the last minute. Åse Johannessen, thanks for your efforts on paper III, for the friendship, and for good discussions!
Maria Tengö, I don’t know how I would have survived without our intellectually stimulating discussions in various summer and winter cottages in Sweden. Thanks for your smiles, enthusiasm and support.
Lisa Deutsch saved the quality of my papers and made them readable to an English speaking audience. You put the language check of my papers high on your agenda, although you were yourself drowning in work and family issues. And Miriam Huitric, thanks for all the Cafe Lattes!
Patrick Fox and Jenny Barron, just like Johan, helped out at tough times, especially with croplands and vapour flows. Sorry for bothering you with impossible questions…
I have also shared many stimulating discussions with you, Per Olsson. Both while sharing room and at different meetings with our research school.
I have had the enormous fortune of participating in two wonderful groups of interdisciplinary doctoral students, at Center for Research on Natural Resources and the Environment (CNM) and the Research School of Ecological Land Use (ResELU). These groups have inspired me to tackle more trans-disiplinary questions. At CNM I have also had the opportunity of working more with popular science issues.
The whole Natural Resources Group at the Department of Systems Ecology has been fantastic! It is a great atmosphere within the group and I have got many new friends throught these years. I would like to thank everyone of you by name, but I think I´ll do that in the corridor instead! I have also received superb support from the administration at the department.
Jan Bengtsson, thanks for feedback on papers and stimulating discussions. Gunnel Hedman, you have been a great mentor, outside of university and I have truly enjoyed every minute of our meetings. Thanks for your generosity and discussions. I hope to have more lunches with you from now on!
I would also like to mention some of my teachers throughout my life. I have had the fortune to learn from many wise persons! A special thanks goes to Eva Berntzon, Jack Lidström, and AnnMari and Lars-Erik Bergfeldt for triggering my academic interest.
If I had to pick just one learning experience that has helped me with this thesis it would be my participation in the youth exchange program Young Partners in Development, co-ordinated by Centrum för Internationellt Ungdomsutbyte, in the year 1995. This was before the start of this thesis, before I even knew about the research at the Department of Systems Ecology. The six month in Burkina Faso and Östersund that I spent together with my counterpart Minata Ouedragou from Burkina, has taught me more about the way the world works than any of the academic papers I have read during my five years of PhD-studies. Thank you Jonas Nyström and Johannes Wijkman for giving me the opportunity of participating in YPD. By the way, if any of you believe in synchronicity, the first time I met Johan Rockström was in the aeroplane to Ouagadougou.
Jenny Stormbom, you have taught me about love-to-life during our coffee-mornings at Non Solo Bar. How would this thesis have survived without those mornings? Or rather, how would I have survived? And a big enormous thank you to all my friends within and outside the Academic life, who enrich my life and give me a context to my research. I have missed you these last couple of months!
Dear parents, you have provided such a harmonious surrounding to grow up in, and you have given me a curiosity of life and an interest of the complex interactions between people and their surrounding, that is invaluable. The gratefulness I feel about your love and support is not possible to express in words. My sister Tove, you have shown such an uninterest, yet support, of my work! Thanks for that, as well as for the cover and illustrations of this thesis.
Daniel, you fill my life with smiles, surf and sunshine! I enjoy our time together so much, and I look forward to more adventures of life, together with you.