Culturally Grounded Indicators of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

Eleanor Sterling , Tamara Ticktin , Tē Kipa Kepa Morgan , Georgina Cullman , Diana Alvira , Pelika Andrade , Nadia Bergamini , Erin Betley , Kate Burrows , Sophie Caillon (1) , Joachim Claudet (2) , Rachel Dacks , Pablo Eyzaguirre , Chris Filardi , Nadav Gazit , Chris Giardina , Stacy Jupiter , Kealohanuiopuna Kinney , Joe Mccarter , Manuel Mejia , Kanoe Morishige , Jennifer Newell , Lihla Noori , John Parks , Pua‘ala Pascua , Ashwin Ravikumar , Jamie Tanguay , Amanda Sigouin , Tina Stege , Mark Stege , Alaka Wali

1 MIA-Paris - Mathématiques et Informatique Appliquées
2 CRIOBE - Centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l'environnement

n AbstrAct: Measuring progress toward sustainability goals is a multifaceted task. International , regional, and national organizations and agencies seek to promote resilience and capacity for adaptation at local levels. However, their measurement systems may be poorly aligned with local contexts, cultures, and needs. Understanding how to build effective, culturally grounded measurement systems is a fundamental step toward supporting adaptive management and resilience in the face of environmental, social, and economic change. To identify patterns and inform future efforts, we review seven case studies and one framework regarding the development of culturally grounded indicator sets. Additionally, we explore ways to bridge locally relevant indicators and those of use at national and international levels. The process of identifying and setting criteria for appropriate indicators of resilience in social-ecological systems needs further documentation , discussion, and refinement, particularly regarding capturing feedbacks between biological and social-cultural elements of systems. n Indigenous and other place-based, local communities increasingly face an assortment of externally codified development and sustainability goals, regional commitments, and national policies and actions that are designed, in part, to foster adaptation and resilience at the local level. Resilience refers to the capacity of a system to absorb shocks and disturbances and to catalyze renewal, adaptation, transformation, and innovation (Béneét al. 2013). Identifying and setting criteria for the underlying factors that confer resilience to a community are the first steps toward effectively aligning external sustainability-seeking processes, often associated with resourcing mechanisms, with locally relevant and locally embraced approaches to sustaining environmental health and community well-being in the face of environmental, social, and economic change (Fazey et al. 2011; Folke et al. 2003).

Mots clés: indicator sets; biocultural indicators; local communities; resilience; well-being; sustainability; Indigenous Peoples

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement; Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Géographie; Environnement et Société

Eleanor Sterling, Tamara Ticktin, Tē Kipa Kepa Morgan, Georgina Cullman, Diana Alvira, et al.. Culturally Grounded Indicators of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. Journal for the History of Environment and Society, 2017, 8 (1), pp.63 - 95. ⟨10.3167/ares.2017.080104⟩. ⟨hal-02107230⟩