Overview
This lecture introduces seven principles of resilience thinking for managing the interactions between people and ecosystems in a globalized world.
Principle 1: Maintain Diversity and Redundancy
- Diverse systems with many species, actors, or knowledge sources are more resilient.
- Diversity allows some components to compensate if others fail or are lost.
Principle 2: Manage Connectivity
- Well-connected systems recover from disturbances quickly.
- Overly connected systems can allow disturbances to spread rapidly.
Principle 3: Manage Slow Variables and Feedbacks
- Slow variables (like phosphorus concentration) can trigger rapid and hard-to-reverse changes if unmanaged.
- Feedbacks may reinforce change (positive feedback loops) or dampen it (negative feedback).
Principle 4: Foster Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking
- Recognize that social-ecological systems have many interactions at different levels.
- Accept unpredictability, uncertainty, and multiple perspectives.
Principle 5: Encourage Learning
- Systems are always changing, so knowledge must be regularly revised.
- Collaborative learning processes are important for adaptation.
Principle 6: Broaden Participation
- Broad participation builds trust and shared understanding, key for collective action.
- Involving diverse stakeholders strengthens group function.
Principle 7: Promote Polycentric Governance
- Multiple governing bodies (polycentricity) can support collective action during change.
- Polycentric governance needs a balance between openness and decision-making authority; tensions can arise among actors.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Resilience — The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change.
- Feedback loop — A process where the output of a system influences its own input, reinforcing or dampening changes.
- Polycentric governance — A system where multiple governing bodies interact and share decision-making power.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review each principle of resilience thinking.
- Reflect on examples of these principles in real-world ecosystems or communities.