TY - JOUR
T1 - Resilience, adaptability, and transformability in the Goulburn-Broken Catchment, Australia
AU - Walker, Brian H.
AU - Abel, Nick
AU - Anderies, John
AU - Ryan, Paul
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - We present a resilience-based approach for assessing sustainability in a sub-catchment of the Murray-Darling Basin in southeast Australia. We define the regional system and identify the main issues, drivers, and potential shocks, then assess both specified and general resilience. The current state of the system is a consequence of changes in resource use. We identify ten known or possible biophysical, economic, and social thresholds operating at different scales, with possible knock-on effects between them. Crossing those thresholds may result in irreversible changes in goods and services generated by the region. Changes in resilience, in general, reflect a pattern of past losses with some signs of recent improvements. Interventions in the system for managing resilience are constrained by current governance, and attention needs to be paid to the roles and capacities of the various institutions. An overview of the current state of the system and likely future trends suggests that transformational change in the region be seriously considered.
AB - We present a resilience-based approach for assessing sustainability in a sub-catchment of the Murray-Darling Basin in southeast Australia. We define the regional system and identify the main issues, drivers, and potential shocks, then assess both specified and general resilience. The current state of the system is a consequence of changes in resource use. We identify ten known or possible biophysical, economic, and social thresholds operating at different scales, with possible knock-on effects between them. Crossing those thresholds may result in irreversible changes in goods and services generated by the region. Changes in resilience, in general, reflect a pattern of past losses with some signs of recent improvements. Interventions in the system for managing resilience are constrained by current governance, and attention needs to be paid to the roles and capacities of the various institutions. An overview of the current state of the system and likely future trends suggests that transformational change in the region be seriously considered.
KW - Integrated assessment of regional resilience
KW - Interventions to support specific and general resilience
KW - Threshold interactions and cascades
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U2 - 10.5751/ES-02824-140112
DO - 10.5751/ES-02824-140112
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:69149096150
SN - 1708-3087
VL - 14
JO - Ecology and Society
JF - Ecology and Society
IS - 1
ER -