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Resilience and governance of social-ecological systems
Citation:
Garmestani, A. Resilience and governance of social-ecological systems. Invited virtual seminar to Lund University, Sweden, Lund, N/A, SWEDEN, June 15, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
· This study advances understanding of how to improve ecosystem management, which has critical ramifications for improving environmental outcomes. This presentation advances research on ecosystem management (coral reef management) by analyzing the issue and providing guidance for moving forward. In the long-term, improving ecosystem management has broad-scale implications for the environment in the United States, with particular interest for Regions (2 and 4), communities (Puerto Rico, USVI) and the general public.
Description:
Ecosystem management has largely developed around the prevailing scientific understanding that there is a “balance of nature” that could be sustained in perpetuity or mitigated if out of balance; a dated conception that is at odds with the dynamics of social-ecological systems. Accelerating environmental change will likely result in more frequent non-linear change in systems of humans and nature (e.g., regime shifts in coral reef systems; emergence of novel viruses; more frequent, larger, and intense wildfires and tropical storms), and thus formal institutions are now just one piece of the puzzle for ecosystem management. This perspective has important ramifications for ecosystems moving forward in the Anthropocene. In order to better account for cross-scale dynamics, ecosystem management (coral reef management) should further tap adaptive and transformative approaches, as well as subsidiarity principles in order to improve governance of social-ecological systems.