16. Understanding resilience in the context of environmental shocks and surprises in coastal social-ecological systems Chair: Atiq Ahmed, US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) program, and Climate Risk Management, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) Bangkok, Thailand. and Kai Kim Chiang, Risk, Livelihoods and Vulnerability programme, SEI-ASIA, Bangkok, Thailand Panel members: Per Olsson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden Katrina Brown, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK Malcolm Beveridge, World Fish Centre, Aquaculture and Genetic Improvement, Cairo, Egypt Description: There is an increasing recognition that human vulnerability to environmental changes and risks is closely linked to biodiversity and ecosystem resilience (Adger, 1999; Adger et al., 2005; Holling 2001; Folke et al, 2002; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). The role of resilient ecosystems in underpinning resilient social systems and hence decreasing vulnerability to shocks such as natural hazards is related to the capacity of ecosystems to buffer the impacts of extreme events. Healthy ecosystems are also able to provide more options for communities to assist with livelihoods recovery following a major shock. The need to establish linkages between poverty reduction, strategic environmental thinking, coastal and natural resource management, and disaster risk reduction to reduce vulnerability and build social-ecological resilience is increasingly being recognised by scientists and practitioners alike. However, whilst the concept of social-ecological resilience has been discussed extensively in the academic literature, it has only recently gained momentum in communities of practice. Amongst many practitioners, resilience is still an abstract concept that due to its many different meanings and definitions is used in a rather superficial way. However, growing awareness of climate change impacts and recent extreme events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the USA, highlight the importance of linking environmental sustainability with more integrated approaches to coastal zone management and disaster risk management. Several initiatives (e.g., Ahmed, 2006; Marshall and Schuttenberg, 2006) have recently been launched that aim to build ecological and social resilience to environmental risks. These initiatives use the concept of resilience as a basis for developing operational guidance for practitioners to define, measure, and enhance resilience in coastal socio-ecological systems. Acknowledging this recent development, this session will explore what resilience means in the context of natural resources management, coastal zone management, disaster and climate risk management and community development. The session will be organised around several case studies: 1.Building community resilience to coastal hazards in Southeast Asia Atiq Ahmed, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) and US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Programme, Bangkok, Thailand. Abstract: to be submitted. 2.Resilience to climate change in coastal communities in east Africa Katrina Brown, School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Abstract: This paper will examine how different perceptions and experience of vulnerability to a range of stressors can inform our understanding of resilience and adaptive capacity. It reports on research in eastern Africa which uses a range of techniques to build up a multi-dimensional and socially differentiated view of resilience to a range of climate change impacts and how these interact with other pressures – both endogenous and exogenous – on coastal social ecological systems. 3.Perception of resilience: climate change in the Pacific Robert Kay & Carmen Elrick, Coastal Zone Management (Australia) Pty Ltd, Perth, Australia. Abstract: The concept of resilience in climate change adaptation in the Pacific region appears to have evolved a specific use (and perhaps meaning) to describe short-term management actions that have immediate short-term management benefits while also reducing long-term vulnerability. This perception of resilience may be traced back to Pacific climate change impact assessments in the early 1990s that used the term deliberately as a counter-balancing concept to vulnerability (Kay and Hay 1993; Kay et al 1993). At that time, the terminology was immature to describe climate change impacts and adaptation-focussed management actions. While the concept of resilience, along with related terminology, has evolved more specific meaning in the climate-change context globally (e.g. Adger et al 2005; Nicholls et al 2007), in the Pacific the application of resilience appears to be along the lines of: ‘dealing with things that are problems right now, like beach mining and overfishing, on the assumption that more resilient coasts and coastal communities are a good thing for today and will help deal with climate change in the long-term’. We sought to test the assumption that within the context of climate change adaptation in the Pacific, ‘resilience’ has become synonymous with short-term (now to 5 years) ‘no regrets’ management actions, whereas ‘vulnerability reduction’ has become synonymous with long-term (decadal scale) adaptation. Further, we assumed that this temporal/conceptual division may remain in place for the foreseeable future. Our approach was to test our assumptions through key-stakeholder interviews in the Republic of Kiribati as an adjunct to the second phase of the Kiribati Adaptation Project (KAP II) (World Bank 2006). The interviews were conducted in January/February 2008. The research aims to raise the following questions: a. Does the current use of the term limit the future application of resilience theory in practise? b. Do we need to work at redefining resilience or is actually more useful in its present context? 4.Role of small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in increasing the resilience of coastal communities to external forces such as climate change Malcolm Beveridge, Robert Arthur, Eddie Allison & Neil Andrew, WorldFish Center, Penang, Max Troell, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract: Coastal space is valuable, diverse and contested. People living in the coastal tropics face multiple risks and opportunities, and the extent to which they are vulnerable to risks and able to take up opportunities is mediated by their access to assets and by the ability of institutions at many levels to address or adapt to erosion of environmental services, vagaries in markets and trade and, increasingly, to climate change. Through the use of various case studies, the presentation will illustrate how aquaculture and small-scale fisheries can help secure coastal natural assets, build sustainable livelihoods and increase the resilience of coastal communities. 5. Navigating the transition to ecosystem-based management of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia Per Olsson, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden. Abstract: We analyze the strategies and actions that enable transitions towards ecosystem-based management, using the recent governance changes of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as a case study. The interplay between individual actors, organizations, and institutions at multiple levels is central in such transitions. A flexible organization, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, was crucial in initiating the transition to ecosystem-based management. This agency was also instrumental in the subsequent transformation of the governance regime and provided leadership throughout the process. Strategies involved internal reorganization and management innovation, leading to an ability to coordinate the scientific community, to increase public awareness of environmental issues and problems, to involve a broader set of stakeholders, and to manoeuvre the political system for support at critical times. The transformation process was induced by increased pressure on the Great Barrier Reef (from terrestrial run-off, over-harvesting, and global warming) that triggered a new sense of urgency to address these challenges. The focus of governance shifted from protection of selected individual reefs to stewardship of the larger-scale seascape. The study emphasizes the significance of stewardship that can change patterns of interactions among key actor and allow for new forms of management and governance to emerge in response to environmental change. This example illustrates that enabling legislation or other social bounds are essential, but not sufficient for shifting governance towards adaptive co-management of complex marine ecosystems. Discussion: Based on these short case study presentations (10 min each), the discussion will explore the following questions: • How is resilience interpreted by practitioners? • How is resilience assessed and measured? • What are indicators of resilience? • How is progress in building resilience measured? References: Adger, W.N. (1999). "Social vulnerability to climate change and extremes in coastal Vietnam." World Development 27(2): 249-269. Adger, N.W., Terry P. Hughes, Carl Folke, Stephen R. Carpenter, Johan Rockström. (2005). Social-Ecological Resilience to Coastal Disasters. Science 12 August 2005: 309 (5737), 1036-1039. Ahmed, A. (2006). Concepts and Practices of “Resilience”: A Compilation From Various Secondary Sources. US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Program (IOTWS), Working Paper prepared for Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) Program, Bangkok, Thailand, May 2006. Folke, C., Carpenter, S., Elmqvist, T., Gunderson, L., Holling, C.S., Walker, B., Bengtsson, J., Berkes, F., Colding, J., Danell, K., Falkenmark, M., Gordon, L., Kasperson, R., Kautsky, N., Kinzig, A., Levin, S., M.aler, K.-G., Moberg, F., Ohlsson, L., Olsson, P., Ostrom, E., Reid, W., Rockstroem, J., Savenije, H., Svedin, U. (2002). Resilience and Sustainable Development: Building Adaptive Capacity in a World of Transformations. Environmental Advisory Council to the Swedish Government, Stockholm, Sweden. Holling, C. S. (2001). Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological and social systems. Ecosystems 4:390-405. Marshall, P. and H. Schuttenberg. (2006). A Reef Managers Guide to Coral Bleaching. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville, Australia. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington, DC.