Commissioner's Message: Building Resilience
Resilience is a concept that has its origins in the science of ecology. It was first explained and championed in the dominant western culture by C.S. Holling in the 1970s, but the Haudenosaunee (in their Great Law of Peace) or perhaps some other Aboriginal culture probably have the prior claim.
The theme of this report is an attempt to introduce the term “resilience” into the lexicon of those of us concerned about the sustainability of our ecological systems, and the human socio-economic systems that operate within it. It’s not a new word in the sense of its general usage, where we use the word “resilient” to describe materials (like rubber) that spring back to their original form, or a friend who rapidly recovers from an illness. The usage we adopt within this report, when we talk about our ecological and socio- economic systems, implies much more than just these basic meanings.
In this ecological sense, systems that are resilient are those that can tolerate disturbance or disruption without totally collapsing and becoming something else, something governed by different rules or conditions. It doesn’t mean that these systems never change, never break down: they do. Mature old growth pine forests in Northern Ontario burn to ashes in massive fires every few centuries. What makes those ecosystems resilient is that the same forests grow back. The inherent capacity for systems to repair or rebuild themselves is an essential attribute of resilient systems. So why, at this time, do I thrust upon you poor readers an arcane concept that has lurked in the dank halls of ecological academia for almost four decades? Because I think, as the Walrus said, “The time has come …” And that is because many of the systems that we have relied upon to define our way of life (our forests, the Great Lakes, our soils, our climate) are suffering perturbations of which the ultimate consequences are unknown.
Most notably of these is our economic system. At time of writing (Fall 2009), it is still too early to know the full seriousness of the financial calamity that has struck the global economy, and too soon to get a sense of the resilience of the economic system. But one thing is clear. The economy and all these systems are far too complex to predict with any certainty – and the one thing you can expect from complex systems is the unexpected (as our once Wall Street Gurus have learned). You can’t know what will happen: all you can do is work to make the system as resilient as possible, so that it will rebuild itself and restore desirable functioning.
So perhaps we should not attempt to manipulate or manage or fix the complex systems that shape our society; that really can’t be done. Rather our task is to build resilience where we can and when we can to the extent we understand it. And we do understand a few things.
We know that resilient systems rely on redundancy of components to assure functioning. In living systems, the diversity of species plays this role. To the extent that we allow species to be lost, we lessen the resilience of that ecosystem. It is interesting that we have learned that in complex human machines like spacecraft, there must be redundancy in the system, yet in our economic pursuits, to be “redundant” has a negative connotation implying inefficiency or uselessness.
We know that resilient systems accumulate reserves, and utilize them to weather disturbances or even major perturbations. Plants and animals store energy and nutrients for hard times. Seed banks accumulate in ecosystem soils, remaining dormant for years until conditions dictate their germination. In our economic systems, reserves are an unacceptable inventory cost. We work with borrowed money and get our essential supplies “just in time.”
Resilient complex systems self-organize and grow to a size and magnitude appropriate to the resources and energy flow available. They then oscillate in some dynamic equilibrium (like a tropical rainforest) or reset the cycle (like the fires that renew the boreal forest). In contrast, our economic models say that the economy can grow forever at a compounding rate, unlimited by energy or resource constraints. (At least, that’s what they thought).
We have talked for many years about the need for “sustainable development” or, more recently, just “sustainability” – since we seem to have the “development” stuff figured out. But the path to sustainability often seems to have eluded us. Perhaps this is because our paradigm has been wrong. We have been so consumed by the idea that “growth” is essential that our efforts at sustainability have been toward building new sustainable stuff so we can grow. Maybe this is not the right way to look at it. We already have an elaborate infrastructure operating within a number of complex social-ecological systems. It’s not about making it all new; it’s about building resilience into what we have and what we do. And in this report I hope you the reader sees some opportunities in that regard.
| This is an article from the 2008/09 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. |
Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2009. "Commissioner's Message: Building Resilience." Building Resilience, ECO Annual Report, 2008-09. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 4-5.
