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EBookClubs

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Book Operationalizing the Concepts of Resilience and Resistance for Managing Ecosystems and Species at Risk

Download or read book Operationalizing the Concepts of Resilience and Resistance for Managing Ecosystems and Species at Risk written by Jeanne C. Chambers and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2020-07-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Forest and farm producer organizations building resilience

Download or read book Forest and farm producer organizations building resilience written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-10-04 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forest and farm producers’ livelihoods are threatened by a complex risk context, where environmental change is accelerating (climate change, degradation of natural resources) and chronic and episodic stressors and disturbances (poverty, pests, economic shocks) are occurring outside of the range of past experience. Forest and farm producers’ livelihood systems are characterized by small-scale farms and woodlots, direct dependence on natural resources, and smallholder value chains extending over larger landscapes. Building the resilience of these systems and their functions requires i) improving the short- and long-term viability of livelihoods through sustainability, efficiency, and profitability in production and along the value chain; ii) increasing preparedness and the capacity to act in the face of climate change and other stressors and shocks; and iii) stewarding farm ecosystems and aiming for ecological co-benefits in all actions. In addition, participatory and inclusive service landscapes and management processes are considered preconditions for all the above-mentioned domains of resilience, largely defining the long-term impact and overall success of resilience actions.

Book Viability and Resilience of Complex Systems

Download or read book Viability and Resilience of Complex Systems written by Guillaume Deffuant and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One common characteristics of a complex system is its ability to withstand major disturbances and the capacity to rebuild itself. Understanding how such systems demonstrate resilience by absorbing or recovering from major external perturbations requires both quantitative foundations and a multidisciplinary view on the topic. This book demonstrates how new methods can be used to identify the actions favouring the recovery from perturbations. Examples discussed include bacterial biofilms resisting detachment, grassland savannahs recovering from fire, the dynamics of language competition and Internet social networking sites overcoming vandalism. The reader is taken through an introduction to the idea of resilience and viability and shown the mathematical basis of the techniques used to analyse systems. The idea of individual or agent-based modelling of complex systems is introduced and related to analytically tractable approximations of such models. A set of case studies illustrates the use of the techniques in real applications, and the final section describes how one can use new and elaborate software tools for carrying out the necessary calculations. The book is intended for a general scientific audience of readers from the natural and social sciences, yet requires some mathematics to gain a full understanding of the more theoretical chapters. It is an essential point of reference for those interested in the practical application of the concepts of resilience and viability

Book Foundations of Ecological Resilience

Download or read book Foundations of Ecological Resilience written by Lance H. Gunderson and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-07-16 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecological resilience provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how complex systems adapt to and recover from localized disturbances like hurricanes, fires, pest outbreaks, and floods, as well as large-scale perturbations such as climate change. Ecologists have developed resilience theory over the past three decades in an effort to explain surprising and nonlinear dynamics of complex adaptive systems. Resilience theory is especially important to environmental scientists for its role in underpinning adaptive management approaches to ecosystem and resource management. Foundations of Ecological Resilience is a collection of the most important articles on the subject of ecological resilience—those writings that have defined and developed basic concepts in the field and help explain its importance and meaning for scientists and researchers. The book’s three sections cover articles that have shaped or defined the concepts and theories of resilience, including key papers that broke new conceptual ground and contributed novel ideas to the field; examples that demonstrate ecological resilience in a range of ecosystems; and articles that present practical methods for understanding and managing nonlinear ecosystem dynamics. Foundations of Ecological Resilience is an important contribution to our collective understanding of resilience and an invaluable resource for students and scholars in ecology, wildlife ecology, conservation biology, sustainability, environmental science, public policy, and related fields.

Book Resilience  Development and Global Change

Download or read book Resilience Development and Global Change written by Katrina Brown and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-12-14 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resilience is currently infusing policy debates and public discourses, widely promoted as a normative goal in fields as diverse as the economy, national security, personal development and well-being. Resilience thinking provides a framework for understanding dynamics of complex, inter-connected social, ecological and economic systems. The book critically analyzes the multiple meanings and applications of resilience ideas in contemporary society and to suggests where, how and why resilience might cause us to re-think global change and development, and how this new approach might be operationalized. The book shows how current policy discourses on resilience promote business-as-usual rather than radical responses to change. But it argues that resilience can help understand and respond to the challenges of the contemporary age. These challenges are characterized by high uncertainty; globalized and interconnected systems; increasing disparities and limited choices. Resilience thinking can overturn orthodox approaches to international development dominated by modernization, aid dependency and a focus on economic growth and to global environmental change – characterized by technocratic approaches, market environmentalism and commoditization of ecosystem services. Resilience, Development and Global Change presents a sophisticated, theoretically informed synthesis of resilience thinking across disciplines. It applies resilience ideas specifically to international development and relates resilience to core theories in development and shows how a radical, resilience-based approach to development might transform responses to climate change, to the dilemmas of managing forests and ecosystems, and to rural and urban poverty in the developing world. The book provides fresh perspectives for scholars of international development, environmental studies and geography and add new dimensions for those studying broader fields of ecology and society.

Book A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs

Download or read book A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-04-05 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA). For the hundreds of millions of people who depend on reefs for food or livelihoods, the thousands of communities that depend on reefs for wave protection, the people whose cultural practices are tied to reef resources, and the many economies that depend on reefs for fisheries or tourism, the health and maintenance of this major global ecosystem is crucial. A growing body of research on coral physiology, ecology, molecular biology, and responses to stress has revealed potential tools to increase coral resilience. Some of this knowledge is poised to provide practical interventions in the short-term, whereas other discoveries are poised to facilitate research that may later open the doors to additional interventions. A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs reviews the state of science on genetic, ecological, and environmental interventions meant to enhance the persistence and resilience of coral reefs. The complex nature of corals and their associated microbiome lends itself to a wide range of possible approaches. This first report provides a summary of currently available information on the range of interventions present in the scientific literature and provides a basis for the forthcoming final report.

Book Resilience Thinking

    Book Details:
  • Author : Brian Walker
  • Publisher : Island Press
  • Release : 2012-06-22
  • ISBN : 1597266221
  • Pages : 192 pages

Download or read book Resilience Thinking written by Brian Walker and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. "Resilience thinking" offers a different way of understanding the world and a new approach to managing resources. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change, and seeks to understand the qualities of a system that must be maintained or enhanced in order to achieve sustainability. It explains why greater efficiency by itself cannot solve resource problems and offers a constructive alternative that opens up options rather than closing them down. In Resilience Thinking, scientist Brian Walker and science writer David Salt present an accessible introduction to the emerging paradigm of resilience. The book arose out of appeals from colleagues in science and industry for a plainly written account of what resilience is all about and how a resilience approach differs from current practices. Rather than complicated theory, the book offers a conceptual overview along with five case studies of resilience thinking in the real world. It is an engaging and important work for anyone interested in managing risk in a complex world.

Book Adaptive Governance

    Book Details:
  • Author : Ronald D. Brunner
  • Publisher : Columbia University Press
  • Release : 2005
  • ISBN : 0231136250
  • Pages : 346 pages

Download or read book Adaptive Governance written by Ronald D. Brunner and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing case studies, the authors of this work examine how adaptive governance breaks the gridlock in natural-resource policy. Unlike scientific management, which relies on science as the foundation for policies made through a central authority, adaptive governance integrates other types of knowledge into the decision-making process. The authors emphasize the need for open decision making, recognition of multiple interests in questions of natural-resource policy, and an integrative, interpretive science to replace traditional reductive, experimental science.

Book Resilience and Risk

    Book Details:
  • Author : Igor Linkov
  • Publisher : Springer
  • Release : 2017-08-01
  • ISBN : 9402411232
  • Pages : 580 pages

Download or read book Resilience and Risk written by Igor Linkov and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume addresses the challenges associated with methodology and application of risk and resilience science and practice to address emerging threats in environmental, cyber, infrastructure and other domains. The book utilizes the collective expertise of scholars and experts in industry, government and academia in the new and emerging field of resilience in order to provide a more comprehensive and universal understanding of how resilience methodology can be applied in various disciplines and applications. This book advocates for a systems-driven view of resilience in applications ranging from cyber security to ecology to social action, and addresses resilience-based management in infrastructure, cyber, social domains and methodology and tools. Risk and Resilience has been written to open up a transparent dialog on resilience management for scientists and practitioners in all relevant academic disciplines and can be used as supplement in teaching risk assessment and management courses.

Book Principles for Building Resilience

Download or read book Principles for Building Resilience written by Reinette Biggs and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-02 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflecting the very latest research, this book provides an in-depth review of the role of resilience in the management of social-ecological systems and the ecosystem services they provide. Leaders in the field outline seven principles for building resilience in social-ecological systems, examining how these can be applied to advance sustainability.

Book Adaptive Management of Social Ecological Systems

Download or read book Adaptive Management of Social Ecological Systems written by Craig R. Allen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-04-25 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adaptive management is an approach to managing social-ecological systems that fosters learning about the systems being managed and remains at the forefront of environmental management nearly 40 years after its original conception. Adaptive management persists because it allows action despite uncertainty, and uncertainty is reduced when learning occurs during the management process. Often termed “learning by doing”, the allure of this management approach has entrenched the concept widely in agency direction and statutory mandates across the globe. This exceptional volume is a collection of essays on the past, present and future of adaptive management written by prominent authors with long experience in developing, implementing, and assessing adaptive management. Moving forward, the book provides policymakers, managers and scientists a powerful tool for managing for resilience in the face of uncertainty.

Book Ecosystems and Human Well Being

Download or read book Ecosystems and Human Well Being written by Neville Ash and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2010-04-05 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is the most extensive study ever of the linkages between the world's ecosystems and human well-being. It is one of the most important conservation initiatives ever undertaken, and the ecosystem services paradigm on which it is based provides the standard for practice. This manual supplies the specific tools that practitioners of the paradigm need in order to extend their work into the future. The manual is a stand-alone ?how to” guide to conducting assessments of the impacts on humans of ecosystem changes. It builds on the experiences and lessons learned from the MA global and sub-global assessment initiatives, with chapters written by well-known participants in those initiatives. It also includes insights gained from service-focused assessment activities since the completion of the MA in 2005.

Book Landscape Indicators

    Book Details:
  • Author : Claudia Cassatella
  • Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
  • Release : 2011-01-28
  • ISBN : 940070366X
  • Pages : 228 pages

Download or read book Landscape Indicators written by Claudia Cassatella and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-01-28 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years EU policy towards the ‘landscape’ has become better defined, whereas at the same time the notion of ‘landscape’ itself remains elusive. The need for indicators to evaluate and monitor the effects of landscape policies and plans is urgent. What is more, landscape is one of the components considered in environmental reporting, but unlike air, soil, or water, it is difficult to measure using quantitative methods. With studies on landscape indicators being as rare as they are, this volume is an attempt to fill the gap, dealing as it does with the definition and use of specific indicators for landscape assessment and monitoring. To tackle the diverse dimensions of the landscape (whose complexity is well known), the subject is approached by a multidisciplinary team of experts in landscape ecology, landscape history, landscape perception, regional planning, strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment procedures, and multi-criteria assessment methods. Individual chapters include comparative assessments of studies conducted thus far in the EU, as well as detailed analyses of ecological, historical, perceptive, land-use, and economic ways of looking at landscape. As well as providing a rich source of references for researchers studying the landscape from a variety of perspectives, the book will be required reading for European officials involved at any level in planning or assessing the landscape or environment.

Book Building Urban Resilience

Download or read book Building Urban Resilience written by Abhas K. Jha and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is a resource for enhancing disaster resilience in urban areas. It summarizes the guiding principles, tools, and practices in key economic sectors that can facilitate incorporation of resilience concepts into decisions about infrastructure investments and urban management that are integral to reducing disaster and climate risks.

Book Resilience Practice

    Book Details:
  • Author : Brian Walker
  • Publisher : Island Press
  • Release : 2012-08-06
  • ISBN : 1610912314
  • Pages : 240 pages

Download or read book Resilience Practice written by Brian Walker and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006, Resilience Thinking addressed an essential question: As the natural systems that sustain us are subjected to shock after shock, how much can they take and still deliver the services we need from them? This idea caught the attention of both the scientific community and the general public. In Resilience Practice, authors Brian Walker and David Salt take the notion of resilience one step further, applying resilience thinking to real-world situations and exploring how systems can be managed to promote and sustain resilience. The book begins with an overview and introduction to resilience thinking and then takes the reader through the process of describing systems, assessing their resilience, and intervening as appropriate. Following each chapter is a case study of a different type of social-ecological system and how resilience makes a difference to that system in practice. The final chapters explore resilience in other arenas, including on a global scale. Resilience Practice will help people with an interest in the “coping capacity” of systems—from farms and catchments to regions and nations—to better understand how resilience thinking can be put into practice. It offers an easy-to-read but scientifically robust guide through the real-world application of the concept of resilience and is a must read for anyone concerned with the management of systems at any scale.

Book Linking Social and Ecological Systems

Download or read book Linking Social and Ecological Systems written by Fikret Berkes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-04-13 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is usually the case that scientists examine either ecological systems or social systems, yet the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the problems of environmental management and sustainable development is becoming increasingly obvious. Developed under the auspices of the Beijer Institute in Stockholm, this new book analyses social and ecological linkages in selected ecosystems using an international and interdisciplinary case study approach. The chapters provide detailed information on a variety of management practices for dealing with environmental change. Taken as a whole, the book will contribute to the greater understanding of essential social responses to changes in ecosystems, including the generation, accumulation and transmission of ecological knowledge, structure and dynamics of institutions, and the cultural values underlying these responses. A set of new (or rediscovered) principles for sustainable ecosystem management is also presented. Linking Social and Ecological Systems will be of value to natural and social scientists interested in sustainability.

Book Ecological Silviculture

Download or read book Ecological Silviculture written by Brian J. Palik and published by Waveland Press. This book was released on 2020-05-15 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classical silviculture has often emphasized timber models, fundamentally based in production agriculture. This books presents silvicultural methods based in natural forest models—models that emulate natural disturbances and development processes, sustain biological legacies, and allow time to take its course in shaping stands. These methods, dubbed “ecological forestry,” have been successfully implemented by foresters for decades managing a wide variety of forestlands. Ecological silvicultural strategies protect threatened and rare species, sustain biological diversity, and provide habitat for game and non-game species, all while providing timber in profitable ways.