Managing for Social Resilience
Social resilience ref provides a useful concept for helping reef managers to understand the ability of a community or sector to cope with and adapt to changes in coral reef ecosystem health, or changes in the rules that govern the way they interact with the reef. In some instances, managers are working closely with reef users to build their resilience as a foundation for management outcomes that achieve biodiversity conservation goals while minimizing social impacts (or maximizing social benefits).
Managers may find the following steps helpful when working with communities to understand and support social resilience: ref
- Identify communities and sectors that depend on goods and services from coral reefs and also those who are causing impacts to the coral reef ecosystem
- Characterize the nature and strength of dependencies on the coral reef system
- Assess the implications of predicted ecosystem and institutional (regulations, policies, etc) changes for dependent communities and sectors
- Explore adaptation options
- Identify strategies that can simultaneously build social and ecological resilience
- Support efforts to build adaptive capacity
Coral reef managers can benefit from partnerships with social scientists in designing and implementing social resilience programs. A familiarity with social resilience and associated tools can help managers integrate social considerations into management programs.
A range of resources is available to guide efforts to build social resilience. These include tools for assessing and monitoring social conditions, such as SocMon, ref SLED,ref resources for understanding social resilience and assessing vulnerability, ref and guides for exploring adaptation options. ref
Resources
University of Basel – Social Resilience
Assessing and Managing Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems
How Resilient Is Your Coastal Community?
A Framework for Social Adaptation to Climate Change
Coral Gardens as a Response to the Sustainability Challenge of Coral Lime Production Case Study