Social and ecological sciences have developed separately over time and thus the study of culture and nature has largely taken place independently of one another (Berkes et al. 2003) and therefore they do not combine well (Ostrom 2009). Only recently have scientists from both disciplines begun to acknowledge that there is a need to understand socio-ecological systems (SESs) as “linked systems of people and nature, emphasising that humans must be seen as a part of, and not apart from, nature” (Berkes & Folke, 1998). Recently, much work has gone into developing SES science, which has largely focused in the economically important areas of agriculture, commercial fisheries and forestry and has been driven by Elinor Ostrom and her team following her initial landmark papers (Ostrom 2007, 2009) and subsequently via numerous developmental publications (Ostrom and Cox 2010; McGinnis and Ostrom 2014). The framework was developed with the intention of creating a ‘common language’ that could be used by various scientists working in entirely disparate fields of research and allow them to test theories and models that predict which outcomes and influences are particularly relevant under specific settings (McGinnis and Ostrom 2014)