Navigating Social-Ecological Systems Building Resilience for Complexity and Change

Merges forefront research from different disciplines into a common framework for new insights on sustainability.

In the effort towards sustainability, it has become increasingly important to develop conceptual frames to understand the dynamics of social and ecological systems. Drawing on complex systems theory, this book investigates how human societies deal with change in linked social-ecological systems, and build capacity to adapt to change. The concept of resilience is central in this context. Resilient social-ecological systems have the potential to sustain development by responding to and shaping change in a manner that does not lead to loss of future options. Resilient systems also provide capacity for renewal and innovation in the face of rapid transformation and crisis. The term navigating in the title is meant to capture this dynamic process. Case studies and examples from several geographic areas, cultures and resource types are included, merging forefront research from natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities into a common framework for new insights on sustainability.

1. Introduction Fikret Berkes, Johan Colding and Carl Folke; Part I. Perspectives on Resilience: 2. Adaptive dancing Lance Gunderson; 3. Nature and society through the lens of resilience Iain J. Davidson-Hunt and Fikret Berkes; 4. Redundancy and diversity Bobbi Low, Elinor Ostrom, Carl Simon and James Wilson; Part II. Building Resilience in Local Management Systems: 5. The strategy of the commons Lars Carlsson; 6. Management practices for building adaptive capacity Maria Tengö and Monica Hammer; 7. Living with disturbance Johan Colding, Per Olsson and Thomas Elmqvist; Part III. Social-ecological Learning and Adaption: 8. Exploring the role of local ecological knowledge in ecosystem management Madhav Gadgil, Per Olsson, Fikret Berkes and Carl Folke; 9. Facing the adaptive challenge Kristen Blann, Steve Light and Jo Ann Musumeci; 10. Caribou co-management in northern Canada Anne Kendrick; Part IV. Cross-scale Institutional Response to Change: 11. Dynamics of social-ecological changes in a lagoon fishery in southern Brazil Cristiana Seixas and Fikret Berkes; 12. Keeping ecological resilience afloat in cross-scale turbulence Janis Alcorn, John Bamba, Stefanus Masiun, Ita Natalia and Antoinette Royo; 13. Policy transformations in the US Forest Sector, 1970–2000 Ronald L. Trosper; 14. Synthesis Carl Folke, Johan Colding and Fikret Berkes.

Drawing on complex systems theory, this book investigates how linked social-ecological systems build capacity to adapt to uncertainty and change. This book merges forefront research from different disciplines, with case studies from several geographic areas, cultures and resource types, into a common framework for new insights on sustainability.

Fikret Berkes, of the Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, has previously co-edited Linking Social and Ecological Systems 0521 785626.
Johan Colding is at the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics in Sweden.
Carl Folke of the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Sweden, has previously co-edited Linking Social and Ecological Systems 0521 785626.