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Conference Paper Resilience and the Co-Evolution of Ecosystems and Institutions(1995) Folke, Carl; Berkes, Fikret"Resilience is the ability of a system to cope with change without collapsing. It is the capacity to absorb external perturbations, by actively adapting to an ever changing environment. Reduction in resilience means that vulnerability increases, with the risk that the whole system flips from one equilibrium state to another. Such flips are often a consequence of the misuse of the environment and the inertia of institutions to change. Smaller unpredictable perturbations that previously could be handled turn into major crises when extreme events intersect with internally generated vulnerability due to loss of resilience. To avoid such situations there is a need for institutions with the ability to respond to and manage environmental feedbacks, institutions that can cope with unpredictable perturbations before they accumulate and challenge the existence of the whole social-ecological system. This implies that it is not enough to only understand the institution in question. The dynamics of the ecosystems that form the biophysical precondition for the existence of the institution need to be taken into account as well. This study focuses on the linked social-ecological system, and its dynamic interrelationships. We regard it as one system with its social and ecological components co-evolving over time. It is in this context that we study traditional and newly-emergent social-ecological systems. We are analyzing 1) how the local social system has adapted to and developed a knowledge system for dealing with the dynamics of the ecosystem(s) including the resources and services that it generates, 2) specifically, how the local system maintains ecosystem resilience in the face of perturbations, and 3) those combinations of property rights arrangements, institutions, and knowledge systems which accomplish the above successfully. Examples will be presented from the Cree Indians of the Canadian eastern subartic and their resource management, and pastoral herders and rangeland management in semi-arid Africa."Conference Paper Community-Based Management and Sustainable Development(1989) Berkes, Fikret; Kislalioglu, Mina"Should a fishery be managed by limiting the number of licenses? Should it be managed by harvest quotas? How should the resource be allocated? How can conflicts among groups of fishermen be settled? What is the role of territorial use rights (TURFS)? How and on what basis can decisions be made about such management measures as mesh sizes and closed seasons? Research in the area of management interventions does not fall clearly into the realm of any one discipline: biology, oceanography, economics, political science, geography, planning, sociology, anthropology."Conference Paper Cultural and Natural Capital: A Systems Approach Revisited(1998) Berkes, Fikret"This paper does not claim to provide an 'ecological perspective' on social capital. Ecology has little to say directly on social capital. But the paper does emphasise social system-ecosystem interactions, along the lines of our recent book. First, let's place social capital in perspective. There is a spectrum of concepts on the social dimensions of sustainability. These include social indicators, as used for example in Robert Allen's new book still in press, and a diversity of concepts of social and cultural wellbeing: -- equity: fairness, social justice, distributional issues; -- empowerment: ability of people to exert a degree of control over decisions affecting their lives; -- sustainable livelihoods: capacity to generate and maintain one's means of living; -- cultural sustainability: ability to retain cultural identity, and to allow change to be guided in ways consistent with the cultural values of a people; -- social cohesion: shared values and commitment to a community - as the foundation stone of social order, as used by Jane Jenson and others; and as social capital: -- social organisational features, such as trust, norms and networks."Conference Paper Livelihood Systems, Adaptive Strategies and Sustainability Indicators in the Western Indian Himalayas(1996) Berkes, Fikret; Duffield, Colin E.; Ham, Laurie"The paper is based on an interdisciplinary team project in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, in the Western Indian Himalaya, and concentrates on three themes: land use and property-rights systems through which the local people interact with their environment; adaptive strategies used for sustainable livelihood security in the face of ecological, social and economic change, with focus on women's roles; and changes in the forest ecosystem and 'signs and signals' of sustainability as perceived by the people of the area. Local villagers are recognized as actors who define what is important and relevant, rather than merely the objects of study. Their perspectives provide two important findings: (1) adaptive strategies used by households and villages are diverse and contribute to the resilience of the social system and the natural system, and (2)villagers recognize a complex array of signs and signals, that are biophysical, social and economic in nature, and that may be seen as indices of sustainability. Village institutions are 'fuzzy' and resilient, and are the basis of both the system of adaptive strategies and the system of signs and signals. These institutions seem well adapted to fit into a decentralized, integrated, participatory resource management framework."Conference Paper The Common Property Resource Problem: Sustainable Development and the Fisheries of Barbados and Jamaica(1986) Berkes, Fikret"The primary aim of this paper is to examine alternative approaches to solving the commons problem as relevant to sustainable development. First, an attempt has to be made to address the confusion created by differences in the definition of 'common property resources'. Second, the different formulations of the commons problem need to be analysed. This will be followed by a case study of Caribbean fisheries to explore the dimensions of an inshore commons problem (Jamaica), and an international commons problem (Barbados), and their possible solutions. Finally, some emerging principles of common property resource management will be offered towards a practical framework for sustainable development."Conference Paper Application of Ecological Economics to Development: The Institutional Dimension(1993) Berkes, Fikret"Ecological Economics (EE) is more than the sum of conventional economics and conventional ecology. Among the defining characteristics of Ecological Economics are: (a) the holistic view of the environment-economy system; (b) the view of the economic system as a subset of the natural system of the earth (the human household as part of nature's household}); (c) a primary concern with natural capital, resources and environmental services, which are the basis of any economic activity (in the EE view resources are not considered free. They are considereed to have a status similar to human-made capital, thus the term, natural capital); and (d) greater concern with a wider range of human values than those normally considered by economists, including, for example, a moral obligation for future generations."