A Framework for Resilience-based Governance of Social-Ecological Systems

Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Benson, Melinda Harm

doi:10.5751/es-05180-180109

Cited by 219 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…While there has been concern that the law itself does not easily accommodate a resiliencebased perspective, more recent developments on un-packing how different facets of the legal system might foster social-ecological resilience deserve greater attention in conservation adaptation literature (Ebbesson, 2010;Garmestani and Benson, 2013;Hill et al, in review;Ruhl, 2012). Within the specific context of the legal frameworks addressed in this paper, progress towards implementing these shifts could be made by: expanding provisions and policies beyond listing of priority species (e.g.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpine aquatic ecosystem conservation policy in a changing climate

Khamis

Hannah

Clarvis

et al. 2014

Environmental Science & Policy

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Freshwater ecosystems are often of high conservation value, yet many have been degraded significantly by direct anthropogenic impacts and are further threatened by global environmental change. Traditionally, conservation science and policy has promoted principles based on preservation and restoration paradigms, which are linked to assumptions of stationarity and uniformitarianism. Adaptation requires new approaches based on flexibility, iterativity, non-linearity, and redundancy. Many high alpine river networks represent near natural, pristine river systems and important biodiversity 'hotspots' of European freshwater fauna. However, there remains a lack of guidance on alpine river conservation strategies under a changing climate at EU, regional and local levels. A critical evaluation of current conservation and adaptation principles and governance frameworks was undertaken with relation to predicted climate change impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Case studies are presented from two alpine zones in mainland Europe (the Pyrénées and the Swiss Alps). The complexity of climate change impacts on hydrological regimes, habitat and biota from both case study regions suggests that current legislative and policy mechanisms, which frame conservation approaches, need to be realigned. In particular, a shift in focus from species-centric approaches to more holistic ecosystem functioning conservation is proposed.A methodological approach is set out that may help conservationists and resource managers to both prioritise their efforts, and better predict future habitat and biotic responses to set ecological baseline conditions. Due to the complexity and limited potential for preventative intervention in these systems, conservation strategies should focus on: (i) the maintenance and enhancement of connectivity within and between alpine river basins and (ii) the control and reduction of additional anthropogenic stressors.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alpine aquatic ecosystem conservation policy in a changing climate

Khamis

Hannah

Clarvis

et al. 2014

Environmental Science & Policy

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“…Environmental governance aimed at building ecological resilience to avoid regime shifts works toward either preserving a desired regime through adaptation to disturbances (e.g., preventing or mitigating invasions) or by facilitating the transformation of undesirable regimes toward more desirable ones (e.g., reestablishing key ecosystem services lost as a result of disturbance) (Olsson et al, 2006). A resilience-based framing of environmental governance can inform the choice of management strategies applied to achieve a desired regime amidst complexity and uncertainty (Garmestani and Benson, 2013;Chaffin et al, 2014), which includes managing the impacts and interactions of biological invasions. 'Adaptive governance' describes one resilience-based approach to environmental governance with the potential to inform future efforts to manage biological invasions (Cook et al, 2010).…”

Section: Governing Biological Invasionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, 'governance' describes the "social and political process of defining goals for the management of [social-ecological systems] and resolving tradeoffs, and management is defined as the actions taken to achieve these goals and includes monitoring and implementation" (Biggs et al, 2012citing Pahl-Wostl, 2009). Gaining an understanding of biological invasions in terms of ecological resilience allows for the deliberate engagement with resilience-based approaches to governance (Garmestani and Benson, 2013) that can coordinate the management of invasive species at scales relevant to ecosystems, ecosystem function and the provision of ecosystem services, instead of at anthropocentric scales such as political and jurisdictional boundaries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological invasions, ecological resilience and adaptive governance

Chaffin

Garmestani

Angeler

et al. 2016

Journal of Environmental Management

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a b s t r a c tIn a world of increasing interconnections in global trade as well as rapid change in climate and land cover, the accelerating introduction and spread of invasive species is a critical concern due to associated negative social and ecological impacts, both real and perceived. Much of the societal response to invasive species to date has been associated with negative economic consequences of invasions. This response has shaped a war-like approach to addressing invasions, one with an agenda of eradications and intense ecological restoration efforts towards prior or more desirable ecological regimes. This trajectory often ignores the concept of ecological resilience and associated approaches of resilience-based governance. We argue that the relationship between ecological resilience and invasive species has been understudied to the detriment of attempts to govern invasions, and that most management actions fail, primarily because they do not incorporate adaptive, learning-based approaches. Invasive species can decrease resilience by reducing the biodiversity that underpins ecological functions and processes, making ecosystems more prone to regime shifts. However, invasions do not always result in a shift to an alternative regime; invasions can also increase resilience by introducing novelty, replacing lost ecological functions or adding redundancy that strengthens already existing structures and processes in an ecosystem. This paper examines the potential impacts of species invasions on the resilience of ecosystems and suggests that resilience-based approaches can inform policy by linking the governance of biological invasions to the negotiation of tradeoffs between ecosystem services.

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“…All of the interviewees were clear this represented a 'new, resilient way of doing things'. This resonates with Garmestani and Benson's (2013) articulation of the capacity to learn as being a fundamental requirement of institutional capacity to manage for resilience.…”

Section: From This Programme a Complementary Project Has Been Identifmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is suggested in the literature that polycentric institutions are well suited to managing for resilience, because they can enable the flow of local social and ecological knowledge and facilitate linkages between scales because they have diverse information flow capabilities (Ostrom 2010;Garmestani and Benson 2013). From an institutional perspective, Anderies et al (2004) propose a framework for analysing robustness of institutions, rather than their resilience, arguing this is a more useful term when considering the design of institutional arrangements to manage a system.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blending adaptive governance and institutional theory to explore urban resilience and sustainability strategies in the Rome metropolitan area, Italy

Vandergert

Collier

Kampelmann

et al. 2015

International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development

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Adaptive governance is an emerging theory in natural resource management. This paper addresses a gap in the literature by exploring the potential of adaptive governance for delivering resilience and sustainability in the urban context. We explore emerging challenges to transitioning to urban resilience and sustainability: bringing together multiple scales and institutions; facilitating a social-ecologicalsystems approach and; embedding social and environmental equity into visions of urban sustainability and resilience. Current approaches to adaptive governance could be helpful for addressing these first two challenges but not in addressing the third. Therefore, this paper proposes strengthening the institutional foundations of adaptive governance by engaging with institutional theory. We explore this through empirical 1 Corresponding author. Email: p.vandergert@uel.ac.uk research in the Rome Metropolitan Area, Italy. We argue that explicitly engaging with these themes could lead to a more substantive urban transition strategy and contribute to adaptive governance theory.

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A Framework for Resilience-based Governance of Social-Ecological Systems

Cited by 219 publications

References 59 publications

Alpine aquatic ecosystem conservation policy in a changing climate

Alpine aquatic ecosystem conservation policy in a changing climate

Biological invasions, ecological resilience and adaptive governance

Blending adaptive governance and institutional theory to explore urban resilience and sustainability strategies in the Rome metropolitan area, Italy

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