Resilience Thinking by Brian Walker & David Salt

Author:Brian Walker & David Salt [Walker, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781597266222
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2012-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Cycles of Nature and People

The easiest way to appreciate adaptive cycles is to observe them. Think of a forest, going through a succession from pioneer to climax species. This is the front loop that sees the forest resources slowly being accumulated and locked up in the trees and the various organisms they support. It’s a long reasonably predictable phase of increasing growth. The longer it persists the more efficient it becomes in using the resources, and in so doing it eventually locks those resources up. As this occurs, the forest becomes less resilient, and more vulnerable to shocks and disturbances. At some point, inevitably, the forest will experience a disturbance such as a fire, storm, or pest outbreak big enough to precipitate a collapse, releasing accumulated nutrients and biomass. The longer the forest has been in the late conservation phase, the smaller is the size of the disturbance needed to send it into release. By comparison to the fore loop, the back loop is brief. The forest reorganizes, and sets up the start of a new cycle.

But think also of human systems. Consider a new business that builds houses. Being new, the business is trying out new and innovative ways of doing things, and is keen to build up its market. It proves successful and starts growing. Over time it starts adapting to its own success by being more efficient at doing the things that it does well. Resources are locked up in doing things in the most efficient manner such as in buying equipment for building houses in one set manner or tailoring the product to specifically meet the needs of just one subset of the market.

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