Linking Social and Ecological Systems: Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience

by Fikret Berkes (Editor), Johan Colding (Assistant), Carl Folke (Editor)

While scientists usually examine either ecological systems or social systems, the need exists for an interdisciplinary approach to the problems of environmental management and sustainable development. Developed under the auspices of the Beijer Institute in Stockholm, this volume analyzes social and ecological linkages in selected ecosystems using an international and interdisciplinary case study approach. The chapters provide detailed information on a variety of management practices for dealing with environmental change. Taken as a whole, the book contributes to the greater understanding of essential social responses to changes in ecosystems. A key feature is a set of new, or rediscovered, principles for sustainable ecosystem management.

476 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 1998

About the author

Dr. Berkes is an applied ecologist by background and works at the interface of natural and social sciences. He joined the University of Manitoba in 1991 as the Director of NRI, a position he occupied until 1996. He has served as the President of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (1996-98) and as the leader of a number of research groups. He has devoted most of his professional life to investigating the relations between societies and their resources, and to examining the conditions under which the "tragedy of the commons" may be avoided. He works on theoretical and practical aspects of community-based management, co-management, and traditional knowledge. His publications include the books, Sacred Ecology (Routledge, 2008), Breaking Ice (U Calgary Press, 2005), Navigating Social-Ecological Systems (Cambridge U Press, 2003), and Managing Small-Scale Fisheries (IDRC, 2001). See his list of publications and downloadable PDFs elsewhere on this web site. Dr. Berkes holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair (2002) and the title of Distinguished Professor (2003).


Dr. Berkes' main area of research is the commons, with current emphasis on adaptive co-management, complex systems/resilience, and indigenous knowledge. He works with Masters and PhD students who have an interdisciplinary orientation and an interest in combining social and ecological perspectives. Several of his national and international team projects involve NRI students. Five such projects were in progress in the past year: the SSHRC project, "Community-based resource management in a multi-level world", SSHRC/CURA project, "Protected area creation, culture and development at the Cree community of Wemindji, James Bay, Quebec" (with C. Scott, McGill, PI); the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) project, "Community-based conservation and UNDP Equator Initiative cases", the CIDA project, "Building environmental governance capacity in Bangladesh" (with C.E. Haque, NRI, PI); the Natural Resources Canada project, "Adaptation as resilience building: a policy study of climate change vulnerability and adaptation on the Canadian Prairies" (with H. Venema, IISD, PI).

Reviews

[Tana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some chapters weren't very good, but others were really fascinating and made me think. Of course at this point the book is about 20 years old - wish a new edition were in the works with updated information!

[Tomek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great anthology of case studies that demonstrate how social and ecological systems are linked through resource management. The authors provide a great amount of detail of specific examples of traditional social systems influencing resource management systems in response to change and vice versa. Although some of the case studies were stronger than others, the work as a whole is a perfect demonstration of how localized research can have broad scale implications. This is strengthened by Berkes and Folke's discerning summaries of general patterns of social-ecological practices and mechanisms for sustainability in traditional management systems and their potential for building resilience in non-traditional management systems.