Toward a measure of social-ecological resilience for human communities

The purpose of this essay is to clarify the theoretical understanding of the concept of resilience in order to explore problems surrounding the empirical measurement and application of the concept, as well as to examine strategic examples of empirical measures and policy applications in the literature of several disciplines, fields, and professions. The examination of resilience occurs in two streams: one conceptual and one methodological. At the conceptual level, the focus will be on definitions, distinctions between resilience and related concepts, and the theoretical frameworks that underlie usage of the concept. At the empirical level, the examination of resilience will be centered on the methodological challenges associated with research on resilience as well as previous attempts to operationalize and measure resilience. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Stanford University’s John Otterbein Snyder: Student, Collaborator, and Colleague of David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert

John Otterbein Snyder (1867–1943) was an early student of David Starr Jordan at Stanford University and subsequently rose to become an assistant professor there. During his 34 years with the university he taught a wide variety of courses in various branches of zoology and advised numerous students. He eventually mentored 8 M.A. and 4 Ph.D. students to completion at Stanford. He also assisted in the collection of tens of thousands of fish specimens from the western Pacific, central Pacific, and the West Coast of North America, part of the time while stationed as “Naturalist” aboard the U.S. Fish Commission’s Steamer Albatross (1902–06). Although his early publications dealt mainly with fish groups and descriptions (often as a junior author with Jordan), after 1910 he became more autonomous and eventually rose to become one of the Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., experts on the West Coast. Throughout his career, he was especially esteemed by colleagues as “a stimulating teacher,” “an excellent biologist,” and “a fine man.

Small-scale aquaculture for rural livelihoods: Proceedings of the Symposium on Small-scale aquaculture for increasing resilience of Rural Livelihoods in Nepal. 5-6 Feb 2009. Kathmandu, Nepal

Over the years, aquaculture has developed as one of the fastest growing food production sectors in Nepal. However, local fish supplies have been extremely inadequate to meet the ever increasing demand in the country. Nepal imports substantial quantities of fish and fish products from India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and elsewhere. Integration of pond aquaculture in existing crop-livestock-based farming system is believed to be effective in increasing local fish supply and diversifying livelihood options of a large number of small-holder farmers in southern plains (terai) and mid-hill valleys, thereby also increasing resilience of rural livelihoods. There is growing appreciation of the role of small-scale aquaculture in household food and nutrition security, income generation, and empowerment of women and marginalized communities. This book includes a total of 25 papers presented at the ‘Symposium on Small-scale Aquaculture for Increasing Resilience of Rural Livelihoods in Nepal’, held in Kathmandu on 5-6 February 2009. The papers cover technological, social, economic and environmental aspects of small-scale aquaculture development emerged from research and development initiatives of governmental, non-governmental and international research organizations in recent decad

Building social and ecological resilience to climate change in Roviana, Solomon Islands: PASAP country activity for Solomon Islands: Brief review: climate change trends and projections for Solomon Islands

As part of the Australian Government’s International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative (ICCAI), the Pacific Adaptation Strategy Assistance Program (PASAP) aims to enhance the capacity of partner countries to assess key vulnerabilities and risks, formulate adaptation strategies and plans, mainstream adaptation into decision-making, and inform robust longterm national planning and decision-making in partner countries. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency contracted University of Queensland (UQ) and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) to lead the project: “Building social and ecological resilience to climate change in Roviana, Solomon Islands” (2010-2012). Under this project The WorldFish Center was subcontracted to undertake outputs 5 and 6 of Objective three: (5) Review of climate change evidence and projections for the study area and (6) Vulnerability and adaptation assessment for the study area. This report addresses the first of these and comprises a desktop review of climate change evidence and projections for the study area.

Collaborating for Resilience: a practitioner’s guide

In many countries, resource conflict is a leading risk to livelihoods. For some communities, it is a matter of survival. Yet, many development interventions aiming to address these challenges fail or fall far short of their potential. Common reasons include conflicting agendas, power and politics; poor local commitment and leadership; lack of coordination; plus high costs and low sustainability, as programs often unravel when development finance ends. Overcoming these obstacles requires a shift from typical approaches to planning, implementing and evaluating rural development and natural resource management initiatives. This manual introduces one approach to achieving such breakthroughs in collective action, called Collaborating for Resilience. The manual presents a set of principles and field-tested guidance on exploring the potential for collaboration, facilitating dialogue and action, evaluating outcomes, and sustaining collaboration over time.