Seven principles for building resilience

As both the societies and the world in which we live face increasingly rapid and turbulent changes, the concept of resilience has become an active and important research area. Reflecting the very latest research, “Principles for Building Resilience: Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Social-Ecological Systems” provides a critical review of the ways in which resilience of social-ecological systems, and the ecosystem services they provide, can be enhanced.

With contributions from scholars around the world and across disciplines, the chapters are structured around seven key principles for building resilience: maintain diversity and redundancy; manage connectivity; manage slow variables and feedbacks; foster complex adaptive systems thinking; encourage learning; broaden participation; and promote polycentric governance.

“Although a definitive set of principles for enhancing the resilience of social-ecological systems does not yet exist, our review suggests that there is sufficient knowledge to come up with a preliminary list of principles to provide practical guidance,” says Oonsie Biggs, Branco Weiss fellow and lead editor of the book.

The authors assess the evidence in support of these principles, discussing their practical application and outlining further research needs.

Cambridge University Press