Is the science and practice of resilience changing the way we do development?
Is the science and practice of resilience changing the way we do development?
November 8th - 10:30am to 12:00pm (PT)
In this conversation we will explore whether the last ten years of substantial investments in resilience programs is helping development practice to better engage in complex and turbulent contexts. By using a recent framework involving six key features of complex systems, we review the progress made by resilience projects and programmes around the world to reorient their focus and approach to account for these features. We will present our findings of innovative practices and how they are resolving some of the long standing tensions in development. However, our findings also show challenges remain when the dominant applications diverge substantially from the science and in some cases undermine resilience and increase vulnerability. We will also, in conversation with the audience, explore what this means for natural capital and ecosystem service approaches and our collaborative efforts to reshape development practice and policy towards more sustainable futures. This conversation session is based on a recent publications from the co-authors, "The contributions of resilience to reshaping sustainable development".
Speaker: Jamila Haider, Researcher at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Jamila Haider studies how development interventions can improve human well-being in food systems without eroding biological and cultural diversity. Haider is a researcher and theme leader studying resilience and development. Her research looks specifically at development as a process of coevolution where ecosystems and people are deeply intertwined. Her PhD thesis (2017) explored how efforts to alleviate poverty can better account for coevolving relationships between people and nature.
Moderator: Anne Guerry, Chief Strategy Officer and Lead Scientist at the Natural Capital Project, Stanford University
Anne (she/her) works to magnify NatCap’s impact and ensure that we are achieving our strategic goals. She oversees our communications, capacity-building, and convenings. Anne spearheads our Sustainable Livable Cities efforts and co-leads NatCap’s marine and coastal work. She is fascinated by the relationship between people and nature and believes that cutting-edge science, engagement with leaders of all sorts, software tools, art, poetry, and more can be used to understand and enrich that relationship.
Speaker: Michele-Lee Moore, Director of Transdisciplinary Education at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Michele-Lee Moore is the Director of Transdisciplinary Education and her research focus is on social innovations and transformations, with a focus on water governance. Moore’s research seeks to build and mobilize knowledge about social innovations - ones that allow us to transform and develop towards positive and just futures that support social-ecological-cultural resilience.
Session Lead: Belinda Reyers, Professor of Sustainability Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and a Research Affiliate of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences
Prof Reyers works to bridge social-ecological systems research and sustainable development practice to help build understanding and capacity needed to navigate the complex development challenges facing Southern Africa. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on the dynamics linking ecosystems and human development, where she has built understanding, methods, and approaches, the policy context, and capacity in the region for this work.
Speaker: Maja Schlüter, Professor at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Maja Schlüter’s research focuses on social-ecological interactions and mechanisms that can explain various cases of social-ecological interactions. Examples of cases include the collapse of the Baltic Sea cod, the trapped situation of water management in Uzbekistan, the diversity of self-governance forms in Mexican small-scale fisheries, or cooperation in common pool resource management.
