Socio-ecological Resilience Research Articles

Resilience process in Bidikmisi students: understanding risk, protective and promotive factor, and resilient outcome

University students have to face academic and non-academic challenges. These challenges are especially crucial for Bidikmisi students that possibly face financial, social, and psychological risks, affecting their ability to flourish in the university. Therefore, they need to overcome different adversities than other students. This study aimed to examine the pathways to resilient educational outcomes by investigating protective factors buffering the Bidikmisi students’ risks. A collective case study approach was used which consisted of two phases. Online survey data were collected from 178 students that started university for Phase 1 in 2018. After that, we used in-depth interviews with 16 students who met the inclusion criteria for Phase 2 in 2020. Furthermore, the thematic analysis with Ungar’s socio-ecological resilience framework was used with a deductive and inductive approach. The results showed seven themes in the risk exposure component, such as culture shock. There were fourteen themes in the Protective and Promotive Factors Process (PPFP), including positive mindset and spirituality. The desired outcomes had four themes, including academic achievement. The socio-ecological resilience framework effectively characterizes the resilience process of students during education. Moreover, the findings assist in further research to design a resilience intervention program for students at risk.

Be resilient today to be sustainable tomorrow: Different perspectives in global supply chains

Supply chains (SC) are continually evolving, adjusting their structure, and becoming more global over time. However, an increasing number of disruptive and unanticipated critical events threaten the continuity of global SCs. This has led institutions and business organizations to enact resilience-oriented policies and strategies to make them able to survive and grow. Dealing with resilience, scholars have recognized two main approaches, the engineering, and the socio-ecological ones. Against this backdrop, the main aim of this work is to investigate the individual and the conjoint effects that these two approaches can have on SC long-term sustainability. Drawing on SC resilience and sustainability research, a taxonomy of some drivers of engineering and socio-ecological resilience has been proposed, which have lately been tested assuming the triple helix model perspective. Then, an exploratory content analysis has been conducted on some reports that three different actors (institutions, universities, and companies) published over the last three years to understand the influence and the possible implications of resilience for SC sustainability. The findings indicate that institutional communication regarding resilience and sustainability remains fragmented, even though the triple helix actors appear synergistic in developing a broad framework for enhancing SC resilience. This work represents one of the first attempts to empirically test and describe the way different socio-economic actors approach the possible relationship between resilience and sustainability. It also offers some interesting insights for both theory and practice, related to the main drivers of resilience and their implications for sustainability, and to the strategic approaches that can support companies to quickly react to unexpected and disruptive events.

Euro-Med Abandoned Small(er) Towns. A landscape/ecological urbanism perspective for sustainable regeneration in Basilicata inlands

Inside a Mediterranean scenario of population asymmetries, this paper talks about and ongoing research that aims to highlight issues, identify a working method and tools able to support sustainable regenerative design strategies for abandoned historical small(er) towns and their landscapes, especially in inlands contexts. With these objectives, the research chooses Basilicata region, in the South of Italy, as emblematic for its structural marginality- morphological, infrastructural, social and economic -, bio-cultural diverse and diffused heritage and its seemingly unreversible depopulation process. Aging, low birth rates and high level of emigration has produced the abandonment of small(er) towns, of rural areas and, by the contrary, an increasing wilderness, changing the millennial settlement structure and impacting on socio-ecological resilience. Inside the theoretical framework of landscape/ecological urbanism and related design- oriented experimentations, the constellation of abandoned small(er) towns are interpreted as urban densities of a performative bio-cultural green infrastructure that could support, through design, the contemporary challenge of sustainable development, with a relational and glocal approach. Small(er) towns regeneration is view inside a more complex, interdisciplinary and holistic frame in which inter-scalarity, flux, dynamic and time variability are crucial. Performative bio-cultural green infrastructure, through the multiplication of public space, could support sustainable processes, in an ecological, economic and social sense. From an applicational point of view, the research intends to build a dynamic atlas for the regeneration of abandoned small(er) towns; the atlas is conceived both as a reading and a design tool able to support polyphonic and open process of sustainable regeneration.

Traditional ecological knowledge to traditional foods: The path to maintaining food sovereignty in Hutsulshchyna

The various ecosystems of the Carpathian Mountains spanning Europe, are a rich refuge for culturally important, endemic plant species as well as large carnivores. These biologically diverse landscapes are a principal source of subsistence to 16 million people, including various ethnographic groups. This paper focuses on a case study involving Hutsul communities, an ethnographic group of traditional pastoral highlanders, in the Southeastern Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. Given ecosystem, climatic, and cultural challenges, especially the rise of illegal logging, commercial harvesting, increased frequencies of flooding, and now a war, Hutsul communities face extensive threats to maintaining socio-ecological resilience in the region. A contributing factor to the region's centuries-long resilience is traditional ecological knowledge upholding food sovereignty as seen through traditional foods derived from Carpathian Mountain ecosystems. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is as a dynamic, generationally-held knowledge base, where language, gathering practices, landscape and culture inform livelihoods. In this article, we seek to answer the following series of questions within Hutsul communities: (1) What does TEK look like in the region? (2) What are the regional environmental challenges? (3) Given these challenges, what are coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies grounded in TEK, ensuring a resilient food sovereign system? Mixed methodologies guided by community-based participatory action research methods (CBPAR) between 2017 and 2019 provide a rich, context-driven perspective on regional TEK. Radiating out from the historical, cultural Hutsul capital, Verkhovyna, 40 experts (including knowledge holders, elders, foresters, and community members) were interviewed in 8 neighboring villages. We, along with Hutsul experts, explore the presence of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in Hutsulshchyna by identifying 108 culturally important species including wild plants (74 species), cultivated plants (23 species), fungi (9 species) and lichens (2 species); these species are gathered in 10 habitats with varying degrees of human interaction. We analyze species' presence in traditional foods in the past and present day, as well as contextualize regional environmental challenges impacting TEK practices, and responses to these challenges (coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies). Despite various regional challenges, we conclude that TEK provides a resilient foundation for supporting food sovereignty as seen through the presence of traditional foods.

ATBC 2022 Student and Early Career Awards

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) recognizes the exceptional research of students and early career scientists through awards presented at Annual Meetings of the ATBC. The ATBC is pleased to announce the 2022 winners of these awards, which were presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the ATBC in Cartagena, Colombia, “Conserving Tropical Biodiversity and Achieving Socio-Ecological Resilience in the Anthropocene: Opportunities and Challenges.” The Luis F. Bacardi Award for Advances in Tropical Conservation is awarded to the best conservation talk presented during the ATBC Annual Conference by an early-career scientist (i.e., a researcher who received their Ph.D. no more than 5 years before the meeting date). This award was established in 2005 with an endowment from the Lubee Bat Conservancy, an international non-profit organization based in Gainesville, Florida, USA. The Lubee Bat Conservancy was founded in 1989 by the late Luis F. Bacardi and is dedicated to protecting biological diversity through the conservation of fruit- and nectar-feeding bats. At the 2022 ATBC Annual Meeting, Katharine Thompson, a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Pennsylvania State University (USA) was awarded the Luis F. Bacardi Award for her presentation entitled “From lemurs to lobsters: Land to sea links in a coastal socio-ecological system in western Madagascar.” The Alwyn Gentry Presentation Awards were established to recognize outstanding oral and poster presentations given by students at the ATBC Annual Conference. Alwyn Gentry (1945–1993) was a prominent botanist who made exceptional contributions to the study of the diversity and conservation of tropical plants and to the training of students from the Americas. These awards are in remembrance and recognition of the contributions of this singular scientist, colleague, supportive mentor, and friend. At the 2022 ATBC Annual Meeting, Rodrigo Muñoz, Ph.D. candidate from Wageningen University and Research (The Netherlands), was awarded the Alwyn Gentry Award for the Best Oral Presentation for his presentation entitled “Climatic drivers of productivity in tropical secondary forests.” Lim Qi Luan, a Ph.D. candidate from the Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University (Japan) was awarded the Alwyn Gentry Award for the Best Poster for her presentation entitled “Historical effective population size of the endangered Malayan tapir: implications for conservation.” The New Phytologist Trust graciously funds an annual award to recognize achievement in Plant Biology by a student author presenting a poster at the ATBC Annual Meeting. At the 2022 Annual Meeting, the New Phytologist Poster Prize in Plant Biology was awarded to Siddarth Machado, a Ph.D. candidate from the School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences at University of Florida (USA), for his poster entitled “Resilience to drought in a humid tropical Dipterocarp forest, India.” The ATBC is honored by all who chose to present their work at the 2022 ATBC Annual Meeting and congratulates these recipients for their outstanding contributions to tropical biology and conservation. The ATBC is also honored to be able to award the Navjot Sodhi Conservation Research Award each year to a student or recent graduate from a developing country conducting research in tropical conservation biology. This award is in remembrance and recognition of the contributions of our dear colleague and friend Navjot Sodhi, who inspired many students and colleagues with his passion for research and the conservation of tropical biodiversity. Armando Das, Director of Proyecto Tapir Nicaragua and a Ph.D. candidate from Michigan State University (USA), was awarded the 2022 Navjot Sodhi Conservation Research Award for their project entitled “Establishing the baseline to protect and manage critically endangered mammals in one of the last strongholds for tropical biodiversity in southeast Nicaragua.” The ATBC promotes the professional development of students working in the areas of tropical biology and conservation by awarding seed grants to support graduate student research. The ATBC is pleased to announce the 2022 winners of the Seed Grants, who are the following: We thank the Grants and Awards Committee of the ATBC for volunteering their time to review Seed Grant and Navjot Sodhi Conservation Research Award applications. We also thank all who volunteered to evaluate oral and poster presentations during the ATBC 2022 Annual Meeting. The New Phytologist award was judged by the representatives from the journal.

Quantifying resilience of socio-ecological systems through dynamic Bayesian networks

Quantifying resilience of socio-ecological systems (SES) can be invaluable to delineate management strategies of natural resources and aid the resolution of socio-environmental conflicts. However, resilience is difficult to quantify and the factors contributing to it are often unknown. We provide a theoretical and conceptual framework to quantify resilience in a long-term context. Our approach uses elements from interdisciplinarity and network perspectives to establish links and causalities between social and ecological variables and resilience attributes. The evaluation and modeling of SES structure and function are established from the analysis of dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN). DBN models allow quantifying resilience through probabilities and offer a platform of interdisciplinary dialogue and an adaptive framework to address questions on ecosystem monitoring and management. The proposed DBN is tested in Monquentiva, a SES located in the high Andes of Colombia. We determined historical socio-ecological resilience from paleoecological evidence (palynological diversity, forest cover, fires, and precipitation) and social-economic factors (governance, social organization, and connectivity) between 1920 and 2019. We find that transformation processes in Monquentiva are mainly related to social change (e.g., social organization) and increased ecological diversity that in turn have fostered SES resilience between 1980 and 2019. The ability to predict the SES response over time and under cumulative, non-linear interactions across a complex ecosystem highlights the utility of DBNs for decision support and environmental management. We conclude with a series of management and policy-relevant applications of the DBN approach for SES resilience assessment.

Resilience in hospitality and tourism: issues, synthesis and agenda

PurposeThis paper aims to identify research approaches and issues in relation to the main paradigms of resilience: engineering resilience, ecological resilience and socio-ecological resilience. This paper provides a synthesis of the core elements of each resilience approach and their implications.Design/methodology/approachA critical thematic review was undertaken of the hospitality and tourism resilience literature.FindingsResilience is a contested boundary object with different understandings according to conceptual and disciplinary position. The dominant approach in hospitality and tourism studies is primarily informed by engineering resilience with the focus at the organizational level. The ontological and epistemological understanding of resilience and change concepts appears limited leading to a lack of appreciation of the multi-scaled nature of resilience and the importance of slow change.Research/limitations/implicationsThe research has important implications for understanding the key elements of different approaches to resilience.Practical implicationsThe research synthesis may help improve resilience strategy and policymaking, including indicator selection.Social implicationsThe research notes the relationship of resilience to sustainability, the potential for learning and decision-making practices.Originality/valueIn addition to thematic analysis, a model of the multi-scaled nature of resilience is provided and the key elements of the three main approaches with implications for theory and practice.

Enhancing Biocultural Diversity of Wild Urban Woodland through Research-Based Architectural Design: Case Study—War Island in Belgrade, Serbia

In the vortex of the environmental and ecological crises, it is clear that the cosmopolitan way of living is facing uncertainty with no easing in sight. Looking beyond the horizon at what the aftermath will yield, it is quite clear that the meaning of urbanity has to be transformed; the urban life has to support social and ecological well-being, and the city has to intertwine more closely with nature. Therefore, wild urban woodlands (WUWs), often morphologically exclusive, culturally contradictory, and biologically heterogeneous, are recognized together with the other informal wilderness of the city as catalyzers of a newly constructed identity and the first line of defense when the question of the socio-ecological resilience of the city is raised. The present study focuses on how the biocultural diversity of WUWs can be stimulated by architecture and on which principles and restorative components an architectural design should stand on. Taking War Island on the river Danube, in the very heart of Belgrade, Serbia, as the particular case study, a specific assignment was given to students of the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade to affirm, recuperate, and stipulate the relationship between the nature and the culture of the site. On the threshold of interdisciplinarity, a net of coordinated values is set up based on a theoretical, analytic, and typo-morphological approach, gathering the eco-cultural aspects, components, and characteristics of the place. On the bases of the students’ research-based design propositions, the results show different design paths promoting accessibility and security, restoring social responsibility and awareness, and regaining the socio-ecological well-being of the place. The conclusions drawn from the study open the perspective of the alliance between nature and culture through an architectural infrastructure that heals the landscape and induces its therapeutic properties, enhancing the biocultural diversity of the place and proclaiming a kind of hedonistic sustainability for the future life of cities.

Climate change–drylands–food security nexus in Africa: From the perspective of technical advances, challenges, and opportunities

Climate change impacts on drylands pose more vexing risks to socio-ecological systems, resulting in food security issues, biodiversity loss, and livelihood shifts in Africa. This study critically reviewed relevant literature to evaluate the complexities and feedback loops between the climate–drylands–food security (CDF) nexus, which helps assess tactics to attain sustainable dryland ecosystem management under the changing environment. Comprehensive CDF frameworks are explored for dryland dynamics, ecosystem services, and food security (FS), and current high-precision ecosystem observation networks are used to detect regional-level climate variability and identify hotspots. In addition, this review also examines challenges and uncertainties for CDF systems and effective agrarian innovations as a way forward. To bridge the gap from science to policy making in the CDF nexus, it is vital to enhance the impacts and feedbacks of ecohydrological processes on agrarian production, ecosystem service tradeoffs and their effects on livelihoods, and regional development and preservation by optimization of the ecological water security pattern. This state-of-the-art assessment uses acquired information and knowledge to conceptually evaluate the past, current, and future impacts and risks and facilitates decision making through the delivery of long-term sustainability and socio-ecological resilience.

Stability and Resilience—A Systematic Approach

Stability and resilience are two crucial concepts to the proper functioning and understanding of the behavior of both natural and man-made systems exposed to perturbations and change. However, although the two have covered a similar territory within dynamic systems, the terminology and applications differ significantly. This paper presents a critical analysis of the two concepts by first collating the wealth of modern stability concept literature within dynamics systems and then linking it to resilience thinking, defined as adaptation where the system has the ability to respond perturbations and change through passive and active feedback structures. A lumped mass and simple pendulum, two simple linear and nonlinear dynamic systems following a state-space approach from modern control systems theory, are used to support the analysis and application. The research findings reveal that the two overarching categories of engineering resilience and socio-ecological resilience (extended ecological resilience) are in fact a reinvention of a closed-loop system dynamic stability with different types of active feedback mechanisms. Additionally, structural stability describes some vital aspects of social–ecological resilience such as critical thresholds where, under change, a system loses the ability to return to the starting form or move to another suitable form through active feedback mechanisms or direct management actions.

Correlates of suicidal ideation in rural Chinese junior high school left-behind children: A socioecological resilience framework.

IntroductionSuicide is one of the top five causes of adolescent mortality around the world. The socioecological resilience framework in explaining the risk factors and protective factors for suicidal ideation in left-behind children (LBC) has not been well explored. The current study aims to compare the prevalence of suicidal ideation in LBC and non-LBC, and explore its correlations with resilience factors among LBC.MethodologyThis study was part of an epidemiological survey conducted by UNICEF exploring mental health outcomes in left-behind children. We implemented a cross-sectional study collecting data from 11 provinces and 1 municipal, with 5,026 participants (3,359 LBC, 1,667 controls) in year one junior high school living in impoverished areas of rural China. Data on suicidal ideation, self-harm, resilience factors including health-risk behaviors, psychological wellbeing as it was measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, peer relationship within the school environment, and family support were collected.ResultsOverall prevalence of suicidal ideation among LBC was 7.2% which is significantly different from 5.5% reported by NLBC (χ2 = 4.854, p = 0.028). LBC reported a higher prevalence of self-harm (16.4%) than NLBC (13.0%; χ2 = 10.232, p = 0.001), but there was no difference in the prevalence of suicide plan, suicide attempt or help-seeking. LBC had significantly poorer psychological feeling, and greater emotional and behavioral difficulties peer relationship in the school environment than controls. In the multiple logistic regression, history of self-harm was the greatest predictor for suicidal ideation among LBC (OR = 2.078, 95% CI: 1.394–3.100, p < 0.001). Health risk behavior including previous smoking attempt, poor psychological feeling, and emotional and behavior difficulties, and poor peer relationship within school environment, were also significant risk factors for suicidal ideation among LBC.ConclusionThe prevalence of suicidal ideation and self-harm was greater among left-behind than non-left-behind children. Our results show resilience factors including previous self-harm, emotional and behavioral problems, smoking, and poor peer relationship are significantly associated with suicidal ideation in left-behind adolescents.

Analysis of Agro Alternatives to Boost Cameroon’s Socio-Environmental Resilience, Sustainable Development, and Conservation of Native Forests

Located in Central Africa, Cameroon is a country with strong social inequalities and fragile governance and institutions. This has a direct impact on the sustainable development of its territory, communities, and native forest, which are subject to constant socio-environmental and economic pressures due to overexploitation. This research has three purposes: (1) to conduct a comparative theoretical/empirical diagnosis on the quality of Cameroon’s institutional framework, governance, and public policies related to territorial sustainability; (2) to assess the impact of the three clusters identified among the 44 stakeholders interviewed (forestry companies/certifiers; NGOs/communities; and banks/public institutions) on each other; and (3) to analyze the contribution of the use of cassava (Manihot esculenta) as an agro alternative to Cameroon’s socio-ecological resilience, sustainable development, and conservation of native forests. The research found: (1) the need for mixed governance with joint accountability to find equitable and lasting sustainable solutions for the parties involved, making communities/ethnic groups visible in the decision-making process; and (2) the agro use of cassava has a positive impact on socio-ecological resilience by contributing to employment, the protection of devastated soils, and the provision of quality food, and by reducing pollution from the cement industry through using cassava waste as an input.

Corrigendum to “Mapping socio-ecological resilience along the seven economic corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative” [J. Clean. Prod. 309 (2021) 127341

Corrigendum to “Mapping socio-ecological resilience along the seven economic corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative” [J. Clean. Prod. 309 (2021) 127341

Ecological Memory and Socio-Ecological Resilience Approach Within the Scope of Muğla Wildfires

The climate change crisis stemming from anthropogenic reasons has triggered severe weather events and disasters all over the world in recent years. In this context, the main purpose of the paper is to reveal the importance of ecological memory in the face of the wildfires threatening our living spaces and taking place between 29 July-12 August 2021 throughout Muğla Province, and to divulge basic strategies for the future of the region by questioning the resilience of ecosystem. The damage caused by wildfires are determined by using satellite images and remote sensing methods in GIS. Accordingly, the borders of burned areas were determined by using mainly remote sensing data according to the degree of burn severity on the basis of NBR. In turn, these borders were overlapped with CLC data and administrative borders at different scales for determination of the land cover types of the burned areas and the urban areas affected. Subsequently, the actual surface areas of the burned regions were calculated by using SRTM GL1 satellite images. The results show that not only forest assets, but also agricultural areas, production areas, mining areas, urban transportation network and residential areas were damaged by the wildfires. Although burned areas can be calculated by using remote sensing methods as done in this study, exact delimitation of fire zones and precise distribution of the burned areas according to land cover types also require in-situ work. Hence, the scope of the paper doesn’t cover these issues that can only be addressed by future studies. Overall, the paper proposes a framework for questioning the socio-ecological resilience of the ecosystem in the upcoming period of the disasters that threaten our living spaces, and formulates a set of strategies for spatial planning by employing a socio-ecological approach for increasing the resilience of habitats by revealing ecological memory.

Climate variability in agroecosystems: A quantitative assessment of stakeholder-defined policies for enhanced socio-ecological resilience

CONTEXTThe development of methods for improving the assessment of resilience of socio-ecological systems has become increasingly important as the severity and variability of global climate patterns continue to compound and intensify. OBJECTIVEThe present study was conducted with the aim of using a dynamically-coupled bio-physical and socioeconomic model to test the efficacy of stakeholder-defined policy measures in conferring resilience to two agroecological variables, farm income and water-table depth, experiencing both socio-ecological shocks and climatic stress in the Rechna Doab basin of northeastern Pakistan. METHODSThe objective was accomplished by using a dynamically-coupled physical and group-built system dynamics modelling framework for scenario testing and output generation, including three NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled Climate Projections (NEX-DGGP), two relevant socio-ecological shock scenarios (market inflation and canal water supply variability), and three stakeholder-defined policy measures. Resilience was assessed using the following system functionality metrics: 1) The degree of return for each variable after a perturbation, i.e., the extent to which the observed variable returns to baseline functioning; 2) The return time of the variable to baseline functioning; 3) The rate of variable return to baseline; 4) Overall perturbation of the system post-disturbance; and 5) The corrective impact of the shock on system functionality. Differences in the resilience metrics were subsequently compared based on the behavioral change(s) of the study variables in response to the application of the three selected policy scenarios. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe results presented here indicate that rainwater harvesting is the most effective stakeholder-defined policy measure for improving or maintaining resilience of the tested study variables in the Rechna Doab agricultural basin; this holds true for every climate and shock scenario with the exception of water-table depth in the upper and mid-watershed regions under canal supply shock conditions, for which canal lining is the most effective policy measure. The irrigation improvement and canal lining policies were more effective in improving the resilience metrics of water-table depth than those of the farm income variable, as the water-table depth variable is not bound so tightly by economic constraints; although there were regional differences in policy efficacy, these trends hold true, on average, for the entire watershed. The results presented herein align well with previous studies conducted in the region which note similar patterns in spatial resilience of agroecosystem variables (i.e., upper to lower watershed) in the Recha Doab basin as well as regional differences in the efficacy of the stakeholder-defined policy measures. SIGNIFICANCEThis unique approach for assessing socio-environmental policies can help improve decision-making processes with respect to agro-infrastructure and climate change mitigation strategies in vulnerable agroecosystems.

Ecosystem-based adaptation for increased agricultural productivity by smallholder farmers in Nepal.

The impacts of climate change are evident in the agriculture sector globally. These impacts are more severe and pronounced in a mountainous country like Nepal due to the high reliance on agro-economy and subsistence-based livelihoods by smallholder farmers that increase vulnerability and risks. Several ecosystem-based adaptation measures have proved to build the adaptive capacity of both agro-ecosystems and smallholder farmers by offering simple and affordable technologies however, these are yet to be prioritized by policy and programs for scaling. In this paper, we provide science-based evidence to traditionally used practices, such as jholmal (locally prepared bio-fertilizer and pesticides) and straw mulching by comparing their efficacy in terms of yield and reduction in disease pest infestation. The study was conducted in Kavre district of Nepal during 2017 and 2018 using participatory on-farm field trials for jholmal and straw mulching designed separately with Randomized Complete Block Design for selected vegetable crops like bitter gourd and tomato. The application of jholmal showed significant increase in bitter gourd yield both at the foothill and hilltop sites compared to the farmer’s business usual practice (in 2017 and 2018, bitter gourd yield increased by 30.5% and 31.1% in foothill, while 26.6% and 28.7% in hilltops respectively). Further, a significant reduction on fruit infestation was observed in jholmal treated plots. Similarly, there was increase in tomato yield when straw mulch was used compared to the non-mulched trials (in 2017 and 2018, tomato yield increased by 16.5% and 20.3% respectively). These findings suggest that traditionally used practices have scientific basis and offer simple, affordable and climate friendly practices to improve the health of agro-ecosystem while supporting smallholder farmers to adapt to adverse impacts of climate change and build socio-ecological resilience. These practices can be also customized depending on the local context for wider adoption and scaling across Nepal and elsewhere as ecosystem-based adaptation measures for smallholder farmers.

Water, Food, and Energy Nexus in Lampung Province, Indonesia

Lampung Province’s population growth rate has increased in recent decades. Population growth and mobility increase the need for water, energy, and food (WEF). Hence, maintaining food security, water consumption in the agricultural sector, and energy consumption have all been considered sustainable development. The potential of the three critical sectors can be increased using the nexus approach by taking into account several factors such as availability, accessibility, resource quality to generate positive synergies and effectively manage losses. The Nexus approach enhanced complex systems’ decision-making and responded to system shocks. Furthermore, it was used to identify and eliminate contradictory policies required to achieve integrated and coherent policies that address interconnected resource sectors. WEF Nexus approaches must comprehend how the governed’s trade-off and resource use efficiency affects outcomes in terms of social equity, externalities, and socio-ecological resilience. Based on WEF analysis for Lampung Province, water security is a significant factor for food and energy security, while water availability is in high vulnerability in the dry season due to lack of water resources infrastructure and catchment area degradation.

Understanding Tourism Suppliers’ Resilience to Climate Change in a Rural Destination in Maine

ABSTRACT Supplier characteristics influence destination resilience to climate change, but there is limited research applying social resilience theories to this group. Using socio-ecological and psychology resilience theories, we examined how a group of rural, nature-based tourism suppliers enhanced their resilience to climate change. We conducted 17 interviews in the Bay of Machias, Maine, USA to examine how characteristics of tourism suppliers influenced their resilience to climate change. Despite facing socio-economic challenges, suppliers were taking action to adapt to their most pressing climate change threat, flooding, by leveraging their knowledge, skill sets, and social ties. This study suggests that leveraging resources, collaboration, and developing connections to places through livelihoods may enhance the resilience of rural tourism suppliers. We suggest that the framework used in this study has broader applicability to understanding how suppliers can build destination resilience to climate change; however, the destination life cycle phase must be incorporated into resilience considerations.

Greenwashing in Palestine/Israel: Settler colonialism and environmental injustice in the age of climate catastrophe

Israeli innovations in “green” technology are ostensibly aimed at sustainable resource management and climate change mitigation. But sustainable development and environmental (in)justice in Palestine/Israel need to be examined through interdisciplinary perspectives that account for the broader settler colonial and neoliberal contexts in which they occur. Taking into account the historical and geographic context of Israel's scientific development, we argue that Israel's green technologies are fundamentally structured by the Zionist project of appropriating Palestinian lands. Within settler colonial analysis, environmental injustice comprises part of a broader pattern of settler domination of Indigenous ecological relations, requiring attending not to ‘equity’ in relations with the state and environment but a reckoning with settler privilege and the return of land to Indigenous communities. We analyze the use of environmental infrastructures—specifically in the areas of waste management, renewable energy, and agricultural technologies (“agritech”)—as mechanisms for land appropriation and dispossession in Palestine/Israel. Our analysis of ‘greenwashing’ as a rhetorical strategy asserts that regardless of the ecological impact of individual technologies, in Israel's settler colonial context they further indigenous dispossession and elimination and are therefore incommensurable with long-term socio-ecological resilience. Through this analysis of Israeli greenwashing, we discuss Israeli sustainability initiatives and technological innovations not as ahistorical discourses, commodities, or technologies, but as elements of a historically situated settler colonial project.

The Multifunctionality and Territoriality of Peri-Urban Agri-Food Systems: The Metropolitan Region of Madrid, Spain

This paper addresses the Multifunctional and Territorialised Agri-Food Systems (MTLAFS) in areas of direct urban influence, focusing on the metropolitan region of Madrid. MTLAFS are contextualised as alternatives to the hegemonic global model of mass production and consumption. They are created by combining two conceptual and theoretical bodies of knowledge that share many elements: the study of Local Agri-Food Systems (LAFS), a critical approach to agri-food economies and the re-territorialisation of agri-food systems. The paper analyses the factors that negatively affect the resilience of LAFS and it describes re-territorialisation strategies that enable MTLAFS to be built. By using a multi-criteria methodology to identify agri-environmental and food governance indicators, the research identifies and describes the characteristics that allow the case studies selected in the region of Madrid to be classified as MTLAFS. This has been carried out by gathering the main discussion points on the fractures and relocation strategies that accentuate the vulnerability or, on the contrary, enhance the resilience of the cases analysed. The paper concludes with some recommendations for strengthening the socio-ecological resilience of MTLAFS by using the systemic basis provided by the agro-urban project. This agro-urban project brings together different public policies, governance tools, territorial and food planning, as well as agrarian practices anchored to each specific territory. All these agrarian practices contribute to the configuration of an alternative territorial agri-food model that ensures food security and a shift towards the sustainable development of our planet.