General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Data and Perceptions about Record-Breaking Events
3. General Resilience as a Strategy
System Property | Elements or Examples | Questions |
---|---|---|
Diversity | Species, functional, and response diversity | Can multiple elements of the system perform similar functions if one element is knocked out? |
Cultural diversity | ||
Heterogeneity of social-ecological system types on the lan dscape or seascape | Can different elements of the system respond in different ways to shocks? | |
Modularity | Quarantine mechanisms for pathogens or invasive species | Are subsets of the system insulated so that shocks cannot spread? |
People with different approaches to problem-solving | ||
Independent organizations with similar functions in society | Does the insulation prevent spread of ideas or technologies? | |
Openness | Strength of connection between a social-ecological system and neighboring social-ecological systems | Can the social-ecological system maintain free trade with neighboring systems? |
Can the social-ecological system muffle shocks that originate outside the system? | ||
Is there an optimal solution to the tradeoff of openness and modularity? | ||
Reserves | Capacities to re-mobilize features of the system that have been lost to disturbance, such as seed banks, recolonization from neighboring systems, or social memory. | Can key components of the social-ecological system be regenerated? |
Feedbacks | Nutrient cycles and over- or under-enrichment of ecosystems | Are control variables linked directly and effectively to response variables? |
Networks of economic transactions | ||
Consequences of decisions | Are sanctions and incentives tightly connected to human actions? | |
Nestedness | Subwatersheds within watersheds Township, County, Province, National, Global interacting levels of governance systems | Can the societal response to an opportunity or problem be tuned to the natural scale? |
Monitoring | Regular, transparent, and shared measurements of social-ecological variables | How much do people know about the status and trends of the system that supports their lives, livelihoods and society? |
Leadership | Recognition of barriers and bridges that could change resilience | Can the society frame problems for effective action in complex social-ecological contexts? |
Building networks | ||
Trust | Development of trust in repeated interactions | Can people collaborate effectively in relation to uncertainty? |
4. Fostering General Resilience
5. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Conflict of Interest
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Carpenter, S.R.; Arrow, K.J.; Barrett, S.; Biggs, R.; Brock, W.A.; Crépin, A.-S.; Engström, G.; Folke, C.; Hughes, T.P.; Kautsky, N.; Li, C.-Z.; McCarney, G.; Meng, K.; Mäler, K.-G.; Polasky, S.; Scheffer, M.; Shogren, J.; Sterner, T.; Vincent, J.R.; Walker, B.; Xepapadeas, A.; Zeeuw, A.D. General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events. Sustainability 2012, 4, 3248-3259. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4123248
Carpenter SR, Arrow KJ, Barrett S, Biggs R, Brock WA, Crépin A-S, Engström G, Folke C, Hughes TP, Kautsky N, Li C-Z, McCarney G, Meng K, Mäler K-G, Polasky S, Scheffer M, Shogren J, Sterner T, Vincent JR, Walker B, Xepapadeas A, Zeeuw AD. General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events. Sustainability. 2012; 4(12):3248-3259. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4123248
Chicago/Turabian StyleCarpenter, Stephen R., Kenneth J. Arrow, Scott Barrett, Reinette Biggs, William A. Brock, Anne-Sophie Crépin, Gustav Engström, Carl Folke, Terry P. Hughes, Nils Kautsky, Chuan-Zhong Li, Geoffrey McCarney, Kyle Meng, Karl-Göran Mäler, Stephen Polasky, Marten Scheffer, Jason Shogren, Thomas Sterner, Jeffrey R. Vincent, Brian Walker, Anastasios Xepapadeas, and Aart De Zeeuw. 2012. "General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events" Sustainability 4, no. 12: 3248-3259. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4123248