Social Resilience
The previous sections of this toolkit discussed resilience in terms of the coral reef ecosystem. Resilience also refers to the social community associated with the ocean environment. Changes in marine ecosystems have impacts on, and consequences for, the human communities that depend on these systems, but how human communities respond to these changes can have reciprocal impacts on marine ecosystems. Understanding and managing for the resilience of an ecosystem requires an understanding of the dynamic and complex processes that support or undermine resilience, and of the socio-economic drivers and governance systems that shape the use of marine resources. Community resilience is the capacity of a community to adapt to and influence the course of environmental, social and economic change, and encompasses a combination of three characteristics:1
Koh Lanta, Thailand: Social resilience refers to the social community associated with the ocean. Photo © Shara Kilarski
- the magnitude of shock that a system can absorb and remain within a given state (i.e. threshold of vulnerability)
- the degree to which the system is capable of self-organization
- the degree to which the system can build capacity for learning and adaption
Resilient social-ecological systems incorporate diverse mechanisms for coping with change and crisis.2,3 As discussed in the previous sections of the Toolkit, in ecosystems, biodiversity functional representation and replication, and spatial patterns can all influence resilience. Similarly, in social systems, governance and management frameworks can spread risk by diversifying patterns of resource use and by encouraging alternate activities and lifestyles. The link between ecological resilience and social resilience is interdependent, and building resilience into human systems is an effective way to manage environmental changes characterized by uncertainty and risks. It involves enhancing the adaptive capacity and self-organizing ability of social systems. In practice, managing resilience entails:5,6
- understanding the key components of resilience, how they are linked, and how they are affected by external drivers
- nurturing the positive elements of resilience and eroding the negative ones
- adaptively or experimentally managing resources as social, economic, or ecological conditions change
- where necessary, creating or improving linkages across spatial and temporal scales
- embracing disturbances as opportunities for change and transformation to more desired states
The following sections provide four Principles4 of social resilience that managers should consider to build resilience in social-ecological systems.
Resources
Resilience Alliance: Assessing resilience in social-ecological system (download pdf, 1,959k)
How Resilient Is Your Coastal Community?
1 Folke et al. 2002
2 Gunderson and Holling 2002
3 Berkes et al. 2003
4 Folke et al. 2003
5 Walker et al. 2002
6 Hughes et al. 2005