An Indicator Framework for Assessing Agroecosystem Resilience

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Taking departure in the theory of resilience in social-ecological systems, we present an analysis and discussion of how resilience theory can be applied to agroecosystems. Building on the premise that agroecosystems are too complex for resilience to be measured in any precise manner, we delineate behavior-based indicators of resilience within agroecosystems. Based on a review of relevant literature, we present and discuss an index of 13 such indicators, which, when identified in an agroecosystem, suggest that it is resilient and endowed with the capacity for adaptation and transformation. Absence of these indicators identifies points of intervention for managers and stakeholders to build resilience where there is vulnerability. The indicators encompass various phases in the adaptive cycle and seek to link core aspects of social-ecological systems. We stress the strong societal need for building resilience in agroecosystems and advocate for a broader way of evaluating resilience in agroecosystems.

Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience

“…SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN CROPPING SYSTEMS A wide range of approaches has been developed to evaluate the potential value of alternative agricultural practices, including both ecological and social components (e.g., Xu and Mage 2001;Darnhofer et al 2010b;Cabell and Oelofse 2012). While assessment approaches differ, common themes of profitability, sound environmental practice (sustainability), and resilience (both ecological and social), recur throughout the literature.…”

“…For the purposes of this analysis, we have identified a potential set of criteria in each of these theme areas, as outlined below and in Table 1. Despite the difficulty in defining appropriate criteria (Darnhofer et al 2010b;Cabell and Oelofse 2012;Koohafkan et al 2012), their use here is both to emphasize the need for accepted criteria and to highlight the potential of alternative systems and practices to be better than the dominant industrial agricultural model.…”

“…Resilience refers to the ability of a system to undergo change while still retaining control of its structure and function (Cabell and Oelofse 2012). Heterogeneity in space and time, as well as functional and response diversity, are key components of both ecological and social resilience.…”

Designing agroecological transitions; A review

“…Here, like other authors, we consider an agroecosystem to be composed of an ecosystem managed with the intention of producing, distributing and consuming food, fuel and fibre and of the resources, infrastructure, markets, institutions and people involved in these functions. It thus "encompasses all the complexity a socialecological system can have" (Cabell and Oelofse 2012;Koohafkan et al 2011;Marsden 2012;Pretty 2008). Biggs et al (2012), through their thorough review of scientific literature and expert knowledge about conditions that increase production and resilience of ecosystem services, identify three properties of the social-ecological system to manage and four principles for its governance.…”

“…These criteria must be rendered into operational indicators of adaptive management. Based on a resilience framework of a rural socialecological system, Cabell and Oelofse (2012) and Schouten et al (2012) developed indicators of the state of ecological and social systems. Indicators for the ecological system include (i) diversity and heterogeneity of crops and landscapes, (ii) the state of resources (e.g.…”