Social and ecological resilience: are they related?
By: W. Neil Adger
Firstly, Adger uses ecological systems as examples of a community being able to maintain itself (resilience) in the face of disturbances. Adger states, “this definition high lights social resilience in relation to the concept of ecological resilience which is a characteristic of ecosystems to maintain themselves in the face of disturbance” (Adger 2000). Adger furthers his definition to include communities by stating, “Social resilience is defined as the ability of communities to withstand external shocks to their social infrastructure” (Adger 2000). It is especially important to communities that are resource dependent to be resilient, if not; the communities will not be sustainable. What I liked about Adger’s article is that he emphasizes the need for a resource dependent community to diversify because if the resource that a community is dependent on disappears, then the “the impact on the household livelihood security can be significant” (Adger 2000). Adger also mentions that “traditional management systems for common pool resources are often undermined by privatization and government policies, driven by the idea that private resources give increasing returns compared to open access” (Adger 2000). Adger emphasizes that institutions which help govern the communities must be resilient in order to absorb the external shocks that occur.
Adger provides me some insight into what my topic of interest will be focused on. My research topic will be the livelihood diversification strategy for the rural landless poor (defined as poorest of the poor by the NGO) by the Institute of Integrated Rural Development (IIRD) in Bangladesh. The landless poor, however, do not have an established management system because they have no access to resources. In addition to having to access to resources, they have been largely excluded from mainstream development schemes because of their vulnerability and lack of assets. As Adger mentions in his article, these households will not be able to be resilient to external shocks. My question is how can these vulnerable communities be enhanced to in order to become resilient?
I plan to use Rie Makita’s doctoral thesis on IIRD’s diversification strategy for the landless poor to better understand Adger’s theory that communities could be resilient if a communities diversify their assets. Makita recommends that a small scale NGO, such as IIRD, should serve as a sponsor for the landless poor to support ‘non-farm’ activities in order to create opportunities for livelihood diversification. The non-farm activities are fishery cooperatives, poultry rearing, and silk-rearing. These three activities are not agricultural activities, but are integrated with the overall market system in rural Bangladesh.
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2 comments:
If we define "structure" and "process" as two essential characteristics of sustainable community, how do we know if and when they've become diverse?
How does diversity translate into expanded sets of knowledge/skills; values/beliefs/attitudes/behaviors?
I suspect small-scale, non-farm activity is actually more opportunity for hands-on, actively engaged experiences for more people. That is, more people have a direct hand in solving the day-to-day problems of meetings basic needs.
I had to think about Dr. Rhodes's comment for a while.
After reviewing Makita's thesis, I have come to some temporary conclusions:
"How do we know if and when they've become diverse?"
We can determine if a community is diverse if they have begun to invest in other income generating activities with the income from IIRD's activities. Additionally, with this new income, we can ask if they have been investing in education for their children, health care, savings, etc.
"I suspect small-scale, non-farm activity is actually more opportunity for hands-on, actively engaged experiences for more people. That is, more people have a direct hand in solving the day-to-day problems of meetings basic needs."
I have thought about this for a while, if by having the fishing cooperative has allowed for the residents to have hands on solving of day to day problems, then they have been also engaging in creating social capital. I say this because the cooperative requires for members to make decisions about the every day functions of the cooperative. Additionally, if the cooperative is progressing, so is the resettlement community where it is located. In the community there is a community center, two small primary schools, a clinic, a homeopathic clinic, a Hindu temple, and a Mosque. As the community grows, they must gradually learn how to manage and maintain this community.
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