Response Diversity and Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

In the past decades, social-ecological systems (SESs) worldwide have undergone dramatic transformations with often detrimental consequences for livelihoods. Although resilience thinking offers promising conceptual frameworks to understand SES transformations, empirical resilience assessments of real-world SESs are still rare because SES complexity requires integrating knowledge, theories, and approaches from different disciplines. Taking up this challenge, we empirically assess the resilience of a South African pastoral SES to drought using various methods from natural and social sciences. In the ecological subsystem, we analyze rangelands’ ability to buffer drought effects on forage provision, using soil and vegetation indicators. In the social subsystem, we assess households’ and communities’ capacities to mitigate drought effects, applying agronomic and institutional indicators and benchmarking against practices and institutions in traditional pastoral SESs. Our results indicate that a decoupling of livelihoods from livestockgenerated income was initiated by government interventions in the 1930s. In the post-apartheid phase, minimum-input strategies of herd management were adopted, leading to a recovery of rangeland vegetation due to unintentionally reduced stocking densities. Because current livelihood security is mainly based on external monetary resources (pensions, child grants, and disability grants), household resilience to drought is higher than in historical phases. Our study is one of the first to use a truly multidisciplinary resilience assessment. Conflicting results from partial assessments underline that measuring narrow indicator sets may impede a deeper understanding of SES transformations. The results also imply that the resilience of contemporary, open SESs cannot be explained by an inward-looking approach because essential connections and drivers at other scales have become relevant in the globalized world. Our study thus has helped to identify pitfalls in empirical resilience assessment and to improve the conceptualization of SES dynamics.

A majority of the literature discussing human adaptation to climate change in socialecological systems has not been quantitative in nature; discussions of adaptation are typically based on theory or anecdotal case studies. It is, however, important to analytically identify which factors lead to successful adaptation to climate change, in order to better determine how communities can cope with climate shocks. This paper reviews the most highly cited studies that empirically identify the drivers of adaptation to climate change, from the fields of human ecology, anthropology, psychology, and economics. The primary factors that are cited are 1) strong institutions and networks, 2) social memory and previous exposure to disturbance, 3) access to capital, 4) cognitive factors, such as perceived risk and ability to adapt, and 5) diversification of livelihoods. While these studies offer insights into the possible drivers of adaptation, there are several ways in which future studies should be improved: new studies should consider 1) biophysical factors that may constrain communities' ability to adapt, 2) multiple factors within the same multivariate analysis, and 3) the spatial and temporal scale at which these factors may influence adaptation. Based on these considerations, a new analytical framework for identifying the drivers of successful adaptation is outlined.

Ecology and Society, 2016

In the past decades, social-ecological systems (SESs) worldwide have undergone dramatic transformations with often detrimental consequences for livelihoods. Although resilience thinking offers promising conceptual frameworks to understand SES transformations, empirical resilience assessments of real-world SESs are still rare because SES complexity requires integrating knowledge, theories, and approaches from different disciplines. Taking up this challenge, we empirically assess the resilience of a South African pastoral SES to drought using various methods from natural and social sciences. In the ecological subsystem, we analyze rangelands' ability to buffer drought effects on forage provision, using soil and vegetation indicators. In the social subsystem, we assess households' and communities' capacities to mitigate drought effects, applying agronomic and institutional indicators and benchmarking against practices and institutions in traditional pastoral SESs. Our results indicate that a decoupling of livelihoods from livestockgenerated income was initiated by government interventions in the 1930s. In the post-apartheid phase, minimum-input strategies of herd management were adopted, leading to a recovery of rangeland vegetation due to unintentionally reduced stocking densities. Because current livelihood security is mainly based on external monetary resources (pensions, child grants, and disability grants), household resilience to drought is higher than in historical phases. Our study is one of the first to use a truly multidisciplinary resilience assessment. Conflicting results from partial assessments underline that measuring narrow indicator sets may impede a deeper understanding of SES transformations. The results also imply that the resilience of contemporary, open SESs cannot be explained by an inward-looking approach because essential connections and drivers at other scales have become relevant in the globalized world. Our study thus has helped to identify pitfalls in empirical resilience assessment and to improve the conceptualization of SES dynamics.

Journal of Natural Resources and Development

In this paper we will analyze the dynamics of a social-ecological system (SES), which requires an integrated understanding of both the interrelatedness of biophysical and socioeconomic components and the adaptive capacity of these system's components to external drivers. Social-ecological resilience, the adaptive cycle metaphor and livelihood development are presented as the guiding conceptual framework to analyze local strategies, aiming towards the sustainable use of natural resources and to encourage the participation of the community in the management of ecosystem services, thereby improving human well-being. Furthermore, in the light of recurring unpredictable changes, adaptive capacity building and a high responsiveness to these changes may serve as fundamental assets to increase both ecological resilience, including the protection of biodiversity, and social resilience, including social and human capital and institutional capacity. An integrated analysis of SESs considers i) the interplay of internal and external factors and their role in SES dynamics, ii) potential thresholds whose crossing may shift the system into an undesirable state, and iii) cross-scale spatial and temporal interactions. Ultimately, an SES approach favors ecosystem stewardship in that it enhances the sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystem services, and simultaneously resilient livelihood development. Review article Over the past six decades, the effects of global environmental change (climate change, land use change, loss of biodiversity, invasion of exotic species) and social change (urbanization, migration, globalization) have had a drastic impact on the distribution, availability and condition of natural resources and ecosystem goods and services [1], [2]. In particular, human appropriation of land and continuous land use change are currently the leading global change drivers due to pressing needs to support more than seven billion people with food, fiber, forage, water, and shelter. Without changes in land use policies, deforestation, land conversion, intensification of agriculture, exploitative water use, and air pollution may continue and likely negatively influence ecosystem functioning and will in the long-term jeopardize the provision of ecosystem goods and services [3] with direct impacts on human wellbeing [4]. These complex conditions emerge from continuous interrelations and feedback among the socioeconomic and biophysical components of these land use systems and thus require a conceptual framework that fully integrates both human and ecological dimensions. The concept of a complex social-ecological system (SES) was first introduced by Berkes and Folkert in 1998 to address human's dependency on ecosystem goods and services and the reciprocal influence of ecosystem dynamics on human decision-making, including terrestrial and aquatic systems. A SES consists of the subsystems of nature and humans, with all their biophysical and social-cultural-politicaleconomic characteristics, respectively. Each subsystem has its own inherent elements, structures, functions and interconnections, which are changing over time. The subsystems are coupled, in that they are interrelated and interacting, while the nature, dynamics, and strength of interaction(s) may change over time in a non-linear fashion [5], [6]. These ecological and human subsystems are also self-organizing and highly adaptive in response to internal or external biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of change [5].

2010

While increased emphasis is placed on interactions between natural and human systems, understanding of social components of global environmental change (GEC) remains weak. Concepts of resilience, vulnerability and adaptive capacity become crucial in addressing these dimensions and need to be integrated to enhance our knowledge of consequences and responses to GEC in the context of development. In the past, approaches to GEC often solely focused on managing vulnerability while poor people were categorized as victims of environmental variability, economic exploitation and political marginalization. However, people have capabilities to cope with change and look for risk reduction strategies. A rigid vulnerability focus does not consider these capabilities and ignores levels of resilience and adaptive capacity of communities. A more positive approach is to recognize people as active agents with varying abilities to respond to change, rather than passive victims; thus highlighting resili...

Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice, 2017

This article explores the concept of resilience as outlined in a recent World Bank publication that applies the concept to rangeland areas in Africa. The paper does not attempt to speak to all of the dimensions of resilience and debates about the concept's applications to pastoral ecology and rangelands. Instead, we utilize a panel data set from northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia that has been analysed in other published studies to reconsider it from a resilience perspective. We show how different livelihood groups in the region are impacted by climate, disease, market, conflict, and land use shocks in a time characterized by a drought phase and a recovery phase. In many cases, there are livelihood-specific impacts of these shocks, and these help explain long-term herd dynamics and pastoralist poverty traps. Our analysis then turns to different ways of measuring resilience and finds that measurements of combined income and asset thresholds provide the most convincing outcomes. We further assess some broader opportunities and innovations that have the potential to enhance resilience in the drylands. Finally, different policy relevant steps that can be taken to enhance resilience are discussed in the context of the considerable heterogeneity in livelihood strategies which occurs in African rangelands.

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 2011

Purpose -This paper presents an approach aimed at facilitating nature conservation that (i) builds on the ecological and social synergies that exist in traditionally managed landscapes in and around protected areas and (ii) integrates conservation and social goals to achieve a reduction in the levels of marginalization of indigenous and local communities while preventing ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss.

2008

People have made unprecedented demands on ecosystems in recent decades to meet growing demands for food, water, fibre and energy. These demands have placed pressure on ecosystem balances, depleted the ability of the natural environment to replace biocapacity consumed and weakened the capacity to deliver ecosystem services such as purification of air and water, waste disposal and aesthetically pleasing environments. There is an apparent tension between the aspirations of social and economic development and environmental sustainability. Direct drivers of change that engender a reduction in ecosystem goods and services include habitat change, invasive species, over exploitation, pollution and, climate variability and change. These processes threaten to diminish socio-ecological resilience and heighten sensitivity to both environmental and socioeconomic change. This paper seeks to discuss the scientific ways in which socio-ecological vulnerability and resilience can be examined, in particular the inter disciplinarity of approach necessary to address these wide ranging issues. It will also analyse the nature of socio-ecological resilience and adaptation to vulnerability. This is contextualised in a discussion covering the historical and contemporary production of politico-economic and socio-cultural dynamics affecting resilience. The study considers floodplain ecosystems, sites of human settlement, productivity and the appearance of 'hydraulic civilisations'. An example discussed here is the Bulozi 'natural' floodplain of the Upper Zambezi Valley in western Zambia, currently exhibiting biophysical and socioeconomic change. This floodplain was populated by the ancestors of the present Lozi peoples who, using the ecological goods and services offered by the plain, produced a strong and vibrant politicoeconomy that became dominant in the region, using surplus food with which to specialise, raise an army and take advantage of economic opportunities. Today Bulozi is an arena of relative underdevelopment and this condition may become exacerbated by increasing climate dynamics, but these act only as additional stressors to socially created vulnerabilities that became entrenched over time. The paper identifies the production of vulnerability in Bulozi and the adaptive capacity required to increase resilience. It also discusses recent activities in the domain of community adaptation to climate change and concludes that people's capacity to adapt to exogenous and endogenous pressures and maintain the integrity of the socio-ecological system (SES) depends much on their ability to engage with stressors from a position of autochthonous 'ownership'. It depends also on their ability to access new capabilities and diversify productive activities so that society can regain a sense of momentum, control and motivation to enhance living standards whilst conserving the integrity of the SES.

Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2021

Abstract: Arid areas are widespread globally and support a third of the world's population's livelihoods. The increasing population, urbanization, land-use changes, and the climate significantly affect coupled natural and human systems and threaten environments and socio-ecological land systems. The degradation of drylands poses a severe and widespread threat to the lives of millions of people, especially in developing countries and in the global environment. This review assesses published literature on dryland socio-ecological systems to reveal current research trends and changes in research themes over time and introduces basic theories and advances in dryland socio-ecological system frameworks, resilience measurement, and regime shifts. Developing a more general but adaptable framework and a more practical strategy for long-term coordination and partnership and attaining specific insights into ecological services should receive more attention and be strengthened in future...

Appiah Francis Kwame, 2021

The impacts of climate change are set to increase in the foreseeable future posing a great challenge for livelihoods in most rural areas in the developing countries. Drought is one of the main long-term stresses that impacts livelihoods dependent on agriculture and is set to increase in intensity and severity as a result of climate change. Building social-ecological resilience is therefore increasingly recognised as a necessary pathway to sustainable development within dryland communities. However, there are challenges with the sustainability of resilience interventions in communities where the need for poverty reduction and enhancement of livelihood systems is urgent. While the influence of ecological factors is widely documented, little is known about the role of deep-seated socio-cultural factors that can potentially mediate resilience building processes. To address this knowledge gap, this thesis explores the role of resilience building principles by way of literature review and an empirical case-study. The current evidence suggests there are key principles that should be considered when designing strategies to respond to climate change and build resilience in communities that are most impacted. This research therefore draws on 120 surveys, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions covering six villages of the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa district in the Upper West Region of Northern Ghana for the empirical study. The findings of the study revealed the significant role that principles such as intent-driven trust, attachment to cultural identity and traditional values play in the processes of building community resilience to climate and environmental change. These principles, working together or individually, can significantly determine the successful adaptation of resilience strategies in communities and therefore should be understood and embraced. Trust for example was shown to mediate acceptance and therefore can ensure the successful implementation and long-term engagement of strategies that are designed to improve and build resilience in the face of deleterious climate change impacts. Additionally, addressing community and family cultural identity attachments was identified as a significant consideration to ensure that people are not alienated from their cultural alignment, which has the potential of leading to the rejection of viable resilience strategies. Finally, adherence to traditional values and practices was highlighted in the research to influence how people respond to, and conduct their daily living activities. Consequently, resilience building strategies should be designed in a way to incorporate significant traditional values. The major conclusion of the study is that individuals and communities may not necessarily accept and ensure the success of projects merely based on anticipated benefits to them. But, rather, they may consider what they determine to be socially and culturally acceptable principles they can work with and are accustomed to. The implication of this is that resilience building policies and strategies should be designed with context-specific socio-cultural principles at the core, and from the outset, in order to secure community buy-ins required for effective and successful implementation of climate adaptation projects.