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.

Fikret Berkes (Edited by), Johan Colding (Edited by), Carl Folke (Edited by)

9780521061841, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 April 2008

416 pages, 35 b/w illus. 13 tables
22.8 x 15.3 x 2.4 cm, 0.63 kg

"...the book is a useful addition, introducing the role of property rights in different management systems across scales and providing an interesting review that explores the relationship between ecological and social systems from a range of disciplines. It should be of interest to anyone interested in research into, or application of, new ways of thinking about social and ecological systems and how they interact." Ecoscience

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.

Subject Areas: Agricultural science [TVB], Applied ecology [RNC], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]