Origin of SES II:
Resilience, adaptive governance & social-ecological systems theory
Date: 2019.11.12
Mediators: Max, Terrence & YEN-SHUO
Week 10 was devoted to spatial resilience in socio-ecological systems using a scientific book published by Cumming in 2011. Through this book, we just selected three chapters, Chapter 2; 3 and 10 respectively. Chapter 2 presented the conceptual context on socio-ecological systems and resilience, which included, among others, a general description of spatial resilience, its components and definitions of some relevant concepts related to socio-ecological systems.
Terrence Lee, a PhD student in climate change and sustainable development, was responsible for the presentation and analysis of the chapter. Several relevant questions were raised to enrich classroom discussions. For example, the importance of the concept of resilience in the operationalization of the socio-ecological system and the reason why the author has given special consideration to spatial resilience as the main theme of the book.
After the discussions, it was chapter three's turn discussing the theoretical framework for spatial resiliency analysis; of course, with another PhD student Manasse Elusma. Through this chapter, the author began by defining scientific theories, frame and at the same time criticized the oriented goal of the theoretical framework to phenomenological questions. An overview of six socio-ecological systems analysis frameworks is presented, including analysis of spatial resilience, its operationalization and some approaches such as "winnin down, identity and threshold ....”, integrating spatial resilience. Discussions with different student groups revolve around the nature of the stakeholders and the interrelated relationships between local, regional and global resilience.
For example, a regional approach to improving livelihood resilience is essential since ecosystem services, such as water, biodiversity and fertile soils, do not recognize administrative boundaries. Large ecosystems around river basins such as Niger and Nile need collaboration between several countries to ensure sustainable management of the sedimentation area, including for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response to shocks.
It should also be noted in the context of the food system that the marketing of agricultural products crosses borders increasingly, especially in our context of globalization. It is clear that some shocks in one country can seriously reduce food availability and degrade food security in another country, as has been the case during the recent major food crises in the Sahel and Horn of Africa. Strengthening livelihood resilience in these contexts requires governments, communities and partners to work together to better prevent, prepare and respond to threats and disasters affecting agriculture, food security and livelihoods nutrition.
At the same time, the increasing mobility of people and their assets means that natural disasters and conflicts have effects that spread widely and cross borders, leading to instability and food insecurity in an entire region. This is the case in Syria, where violence and displacement have spilled over, causing a massive refugee crisis throughout the region. All this implies and explains a certain connection between the local, regional and global context in the context of the spatial resilience of the socio-ecological systems.
Finally, the last chapter presented by a master student (黃彥碩), dealt with a case study using practical cases to implementing spatial resilience theoretical framework in the context of socio-ecological systems.