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The relationship between resilience and sustainability of ecological-economic systems

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Listed author(s):
  • Derissen, Sandra
  • Quaas, Martin F.
  • Baumgärtner, Stefan

Abstract

Resilience as a descriptive concept gives insight into the dynamic properties of an ecological-economic system. Sustainability as a normative concept captures basic ideas of intergenerational justice when human well-being depends on natural capital and services. Thus, resilience and sustainability are independent concepts. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between resilience and sustainability of ecological-economic systems. We use a simple dynamic model where two natural capital stocks provide ecosystem services that are complements for human well-being, to illustrate different possible cases of the relationship between resilience and sustainability, and to identify the conditions under which each of those will hold: a) resilience of the system is necessary, but not sufficient, for sustainability; b) resilience of the system is sufficient, but not necessary, for sustainability; c) resilience of the system is neither necessary nor sufficient for sustainability; and d) resilience is both necessary and sufficient for sustainability. We conclude that more criteria than just resilience have to be taken into account when designing policies for the sustainable development of ecological-economic systems, and, vice versa, the property of resilience should not be confused with the positive normative connotations of sustainability.

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File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(11)00010-3
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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Ecological Economics.

Volume (Year): 70 (2011)
Issue (Month): 6 (April)
Pages: 1121-1128

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Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:6:p:1121-1128
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon

Keywords: Ecosystem resilience Dynamics Management of ecological-economic systems Sustainability;

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  1. Levin, Simon A. & Barrett, Scott & Aniyar, Sara & Baumol, William & Bliss, Christopher & Bolin, Bert & Dasgupta, Partha & Ehrlich, Paul & Folke, Carl & Gren, Ing-Marie & Holling, C.S. & Jansson, Annma, 1998. "Resilience in natural and socioeconomic systems," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(02), pages 221-262, May.
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  5. Baumgärtner, Stefan & Quaas, Martin F., 2009. "Ecological-economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2008-2020, May.
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  11. Arrow, Kenneth & Bolin, Bert & Costanza, Robert & Dasgupta, Partha & Folke, Carl & Holling, C.S. & Jansson, Bengt-Owe & Levin, Simon & Mäler, Karl-Göran & Perrings, Charles & Pimentel, David, 1996. "Economic growth, carrying capacity, and the environment," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(01), pages 104-110, February.
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  13. Charles Perrings & David Stern, 2000. "Modelling Loss of Resilience in Agroecosystems: Rangelands in Botswana," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 16(2), pages 185-210, June.
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Cited by:

  1. Sébastien Foudi, 2012. "Exploitation of soil biota ecosystem services in agriculture: a bioeconomic approach," Working Papers 2012-02, BC3.
  2. Fahimnia, Behnam & Jabbarzadeh, Armin, 2016. "Marrying supply chain sustainability and resilience: A match made in heaven," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 306-324.
  3. Tobon Orozco, David & Molina Guerra, Carlos & Vargas Cano, John Harvey, 2016. "Extent of Expected Pigouvian Taxes and Permits for Environmental Services in a General Equilibrium Model with a natural capital constraint," BORRADORES DEPARTAMENTO DE ECONOMÍA 015258, UNIVERSIDAD DE ANTIOQUIA - CIE.
  4. repec:eee:ecolec:v:137:y:2017:i:c:p:148-162 is not listed on IDEAS
  5. Finger, Robert & Buchmann, Nina, 2014. "An ecological economic assessment of risk reducing effects of species diversity in grassland production," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182681, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
  6. Mamouni Limnios, Elena Alexandra & Mazzarol, Tim & Ghadouani, Anas & Schilizzi, Steven G.M., 2014. "The Resilience Architecture Framework: Four organizational archetypes," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 104-116.
  7. Quaas, Martin F. & van Soest, Daan & Baumgärtner, Stefan, 2013. "Complementarity, impatience, and the resilience of natural-resource-dependent economies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 15-32.
  8. Finger, Robert & Buchmann, Nina, 2015. "An ecological economic assessment of risk-reducing effects of species diversity in managed grasslands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 89-97.
  9. Strunz, Sebastian, 2012. "Is conceptual vagueness an asset? Arguments from philosophy of science applied to the concept of resilience," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 112-118.
  10. Korhonen, Jouni & Snäkin, Juha-Pekka, 2015. "Quantifying the relationship of resilience and eco-efficiency in complex adaptive energy systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 83-92.
  11. Lázaro-Touza, Lara & Atkinson, Giles, 2013. "Nature, roads or hospitals? An empirical evaluation of ‘sustainable development preferences’," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 63-72.
  12. Mari, Sonia Irshad & Lee, Young Hae & Memon, Muhammad Saad & Cho, Su Yeon, 2014. "A Three-level Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain Network Design under Disruption," MPRA Paper 58228, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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