# Towards a Single Integrative Metric on the Dynamics of Social-Environmental Systems
## 3 Empirical Evidence for IMoSES Applications  
The overall mean (and SD) of IMoSES for the 18 PEs over the 25-year study period is 47.19 (90.09) USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\), with the lowest value of 0.23 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\) for Afghanistan in 2001 and the highest of 585.27 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\) for Mongolia in 2012 (Table 2). Ten PEs (AF, TJ, KG, UZ, GS, NX, IQ, IR, JO and SY) have IMoSES of < 10.0 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\); whereas three PEs (KZ, MN, and TB) have IMoSES of > 100.0 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\). Among the three sub-regions of the ADB, IMoSES is the lowest for the Middle East (12.27 \(\pm\) 18.70 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\)) and the highest for East Asia (75.04 \(\pm\) 103.15 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\)). However, these sub-regional IMoSES are highly skewed by a few comparatively more affluent PEs. For example, other than Kazakhstan, all other countries in Central Asia have IMoSES of < 27.13 USD\({}^{2}\) yr\({}^{-2}\) pers\({}^{-2}\) mm\({}^{-1}\). Similarly, the IMoSES for East Asia is skewed by Mongolia and Tibet; whereas Turkey's high IMoSES elevates the overall mean value for the Middle East. While this paper is not designed to assess all the nuances of performance of SES among countries of the ADB region, numerous publications indicate that Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria have been hindered in their SES development by frequent geopolitical conflicts, whereas Turkey, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and some parts of China experienced steady growth of their SES [39; 53]. The large ranges of IMoSES values indicate that this new integrative metric is sensitive to PE and varies in time - a promising sign because a lack of sensitivity would point to an indicator of little practical value for tracking SES dynamics. However, future efforts are needed to calculate IMoSES for a broader range of countries and different time periods so we may examine the relative positions of countries and regions in a global context. To answer the first question (i.e., Is IMoSES sensitive to the differences among the PEs and to time at the annual or decadal scale? ), we can examine the magnitude and variation of IMoSES among the 18 PEs across the ADB region. There appears to be a general increase in IMoSES over the 25-year study period for all 18 PEs, albeit with temporal variation (Figure 4). IMoSES values in all PEs, except Iraq and six provinces of China, decreased during the 1990s. Although it is beyond the scope of this study to detail the causal underlying mechanisms driving the observed changes, the decreasing and rebounding of IMoSES values for the five countries in Central Asia and Mongolia are likely due to the formal disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the profound socio-economic and biogeophysical consequences of this profound shift in institutions [50; 54]. For example, Kazakhstan is heavily reliant on trade with Russia, so the decline in IMoSES after 2013 likely reflects the impacts of international sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Crimea in 2014. For Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, we can speculate that a period of intensifying violence in Iraq related to the Islamic State (BBC 2018; [[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763)]([https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763))), accessed on 1 June 2020), as well as the Gulf Wars (1990-1991) and Iraq-Iran conflicts (1980-1988) that may have degraded the functioning of their SES. Syria presents an interesting case: it showed decreases in the early 1990s--comparable to other Middle East countries--but exhibited stable and increasing IMoSES values during 2001-2011. A sharp decrease appeared after 2011 (Figure 4a), which corresponds well to the beginning of the civil war from 2011 onwards.