p.22 Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is likely to experience harm due to exposure
to a specified hazard or stress.
p.22 Vulnerability to a given stress can be reduced by (1) reducing exposure to the stress
(mitigation); (2) reducing sensitivity of the system to stress by sustaining natural capital and the components of
well-being, especially for the disadvantaged; and/or (3) increasing adaptive capacity and resilience as integral
components of the vulnerability framework (Turner et al. 2003, Ford and Smit 2004)
p.22 Exposure to stress can be reduced by minimizing its intensity, frequency, duration,
or extent... Mitigation (reduced exposure) is especially challenging when the stress is the cumulative effect of
processes occurring at scales that are larger than the system being managed... Sensitivity to a stress can
be reduced in at least three ways: (1) sustaining the slow ecological variables that determine natural capital;
(2) maintaining key components of well-being; and (3) paying particular attention to the needs of
the disadvantaged segments of society, who are generally most vulnerable.
p.23 Adaptive capacity (or adaptability) is the capacity of actors, both
individuals and groups, to respond to, create, and shape variability and change in the state of the system
p.24 Resilience is the capacity of a social-ecological system to absorb a spectrum
of shocks or perturbations and to sustain and develop its fundamental function, structure, identity, and feedbacks through
either recovery or reorganization in a new context
p.25 Transformability is the capacity to reconceptualize and create a fundamentally new system with
different characteristics.
p.26 Sustainable development seeks to improve well-being, while at the
same time protecting the natural resources on which society depends
p.70 Learning to cope with uncertainty and surprise is a critical component of
adaptive capacity.
p.82-83 There is no one optimal institutional arrangement for sustaining resources and
building social-ecological resilience
p.86 Because sustainability, resilience, and vulnerability are normative concepts (i.e.,
they assume a values orientation), they require a process for defining their meaning
p.145 An alternative approach is to manage for resilience... Resilience-based
wildlife management accepts a broader range of variability in wildlife populations as a normal state
of the social-ecological system and places greater attention on community livelihoods as integral
component of the human-wildlife system.
p.233 Resilience is the capacity of a system to cope with unexpected changes in its environment.
In resource-management contexts, this means the capacity of management systems to respond effectively to unplanned,
usually surprising changes in ecological and resource user dynamics (Walker et al. 2004, Gunderson
et al. 2006).
p.235 Management objectives are clear and relatively simple. Focus is on a few
key performance measures and management actions are aimed at improving those measures... Flexibility... is observed
in systems with high resilience.
p.261 The land can be used to farm productively for a few years before stressors become prohibitive, at
which point it must be abandoned in order to permit forest regrowth.
p.329 The first step in addressing potential transformation (either desirable or not) is
to identify plausible alternative states and consider whether they are more or less desirable than the current state...
and defining a collective vision for the future. Once the vision is defined, people are more willing to explore
and agree on potential pathways to improved situations.
p.330 The nature of many of these transformations was highly predictable from the known sensitivity of the
system to critical controls, and the movement toward these state changes could be recognized from observed changes in drivers
and known indicators of the transformation pathway. What is often unknown is the time course, abruptness, and sometimes
the degree of irreversibility of the changes - hence the importance of fostering general resilience and the adaptive capacity
to adjust to change...unintended transformation should be taken as a serious possibility in all social-ecological
systems and that resource managers should identify and respond to likely causes and indicators of movement toward transformation.
p.330 As ecosystems approach important thresholds, they respond more sluggishly to intervention, so the
ecosystem becomes more difficult to control even as control is more desperately necessary. It has lost resilience.
p.330 Preparing a social-ecological system for transformation therefore entails the capacity to
detect early warnings and recognize potential thresholds.
p.331 A successfully navigated transformation is best stabilized by building adaptive capacity and
resilience through the processes described earlier (Tables 15.3 and 15.4).
p.331 Continuous evaluation and open discussion of the associated economic and noneconomic benefits and
costs of change provide a basis for assessing progress in navigating relatively undefined structures and relationships that
arise in novel social-ecological situations.
[Glossary]
p.344 Cumulative processes. Processes that occur locally in different parts of the world, but over time
the effect aggregates to produce regional-to-global consequences.
p.350 Resilience learning. Form of social learning that fosters society's capacity to be prepared for the
long term by enhancing adaptive capacity to deal with change.
p.352 Sustainable development. Development that seeks to improve human well-being,
while at the same time sustaining the natural resource base and opportunities on which future generations depend.
p.353 Vulnerable. Likely to change in state in response to a stress or stressor.
