“.......whether a person is Aboriginal or non Aboriginal, if they are born in Nyoongar Country the Country knows them. If they have lived in Nyoongar Country for more than six years the Country knows them. And if they intend to stay in Nyoongar Country they have a responsibility and that responsibility is to care.”
Noel Nannup1
Cluster: Fundamental Practice Patterns
Type: Essential Practice Pattern
Purpose
The Natural Systems Pattern places the care of natural systems at the heart of human development and our capacity for human flourishing.
Pattern Description
The Natural Systems Pattern is founded on the concept of ecosystem limits at the territorial/regional level and planetary boundaries at the global level. The Pattern is an acknowledgement that human flourishing and livelihood are entirely dependent on healthy natural systems and the ecosystem services they provide. The Pattern is mindful of human-nature interaction and embodies understanding of how human action impacts on natural systems.
From a Living Systems perspective, natural systems without human intervention will follow their own goals through processes of self-organisation to sustain long-term system stability over cycles of growth, stability, collapse and re-organisation. Due to our socio-technical and socio-ecological interdependence with natural systems, human overreach and overexploitation of natural resources and destruction of ecosystem services is now out of control. Widespread disruption and destabilisation of natural systems is now the norm.
Independence from the impact of human activity is now a virtual impossibility for natural systems under current human practices. It is thus incumbent on us that we temper our interactions with nature in a way that cares for country, protects and restores ecosystems, enables nature to regenerate and sustain ecosystem flourishing.
The Natural Systems Pattern is thus a non-negotiable core dimension of Living Systems Practice.
Elemental Patterns
Care: In this Elemental Pattern, an ethic of “care for country” is a fundamental attitude that sustainability practitioners and participants in sustainability transformation should cultivate. Everything we do in sustainability practice should be informed by the simple test: Are we taking responsibility to care for country? The challenge then, is how we apply this ethos in each practice context.
Protect: This Elemental Pattern promotes protection of natural systems. In every decision we make about how we develop our modern technological society - in material development or in the knowledge/service economy - there is potential for negative ecological impact. It is thus incumbent on society to protect natural systems from exploitation and over-development; and some areas - especially wilderness areas, old growth forests, aquifers, alpine environments rivers and marine ecosystems - should be permanently protected from development.
Restore: This Elemental Pattern accommodates restoration of severely damaged ecosystems, often in urban locations, but also in remote areas. Development of land and buildings on degraded land or brownfield sites are ideal opportunities for restoration of local ecosystems and increasing local biodiversity. Former industrial and mine sites also provide opportunities for rehabilitation and bioremediation of ecosystems or to provide wildlife corridors and watercourse remediation. Much of our poor development and land use from the early years of industrialisation, modern agriculture, industrial forestry and enclosed waterways in urban areas can be restored through appropriate environmental management and sustainable development processes.
Regenerate: Through application of this Elemental Pattern, degraded ecosystems can be regenerated when development and resource extraction pressures are removed. Through appropriate human stewardship and allowing natural regeneration processes to run their course, ecosystems can return to a natural state. Regeneration of natural systems can take time, especially old growth forests and woodlands, and while biodiversity and natural systems can regenerate, not all systems can return to what existed prior to exploitation. A “caring for country” ethos should prioritise regeneration of degraded ecosystems.
Sustain: This Elemental Pattern extends the caring ethos to sustaining ecosystem repair, whether protecting existing intact ecosystems; restoring badly damaged urban land; or regenerating degraded ecosystems. Generally, protection, restoration and regeneration processes require varying degrees of human involvement to ensure that their protection and improvement can be sustained. And sustaining that human involvement is an on-going challenge.
Atlas Navigation
Go to the Elemental Patterns within the Natural Systems Pattern (under construction):
Care - Protect - Restore - Regenerate - Sustain
Go to the Sustainable Systems Pattern within the Fundamental Practice Patterns Cluster
Go to the Human Systems Pattern within the Fundamental Practice Patterns Cluster
Version
Version 1.1 - 8 May 2025
Version 1.2 - 15 July 2025
Noel Nannup, (2010) Introduction to Aboriginal Australia. Edmund Rice Institute, cited in China, Nandi, (2015) Poepatetics: walking and writing in the Anthropocene, Westerley 2015 60/1.