Ecosistemas

Principles of Ecosystem Stewardship

F. Stuart Chapin, III Gary P. Kofinas Carl Folke
Editors

Principles of Ecosystem Stewardship
Resilience-Based Natural Resource Management in a Changing World
Illustrated by Melissa C. Chapin

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Editors F. Stuart Chapin, III Institute of Arctic Biology University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA terry.chapin@uaf.edu

Gary P.Kofinas School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and Institute of Arctic Biology University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA gary.kofinas@uaf.edu

Carl Folke Stockholm Resilience Centre Stockholm University SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden and Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences PO Box 50005, SE 104 05 Stockholm Sweden carl.folke@beijer.kva.seISBN 978-0-387-73032-5 e-ISBN 978-0-387-73033-2 DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-73033-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008942724 c Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except forbrief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not tobe taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com

Preface

The world is undergoing unprecedented changes in many of the factors that determine its fundamental properties and their influence on society. These changes include climate; the chemical composition of the atmosphere; the demands of a growinghuman population for food and fiber; and the mobility of organisms, industrial products, cultural perspectives, and information flows. The magnitude and widespread nature of these changes pose serious challenges in managing the ecosystem services on which society depends. Moreover, many of these changes are strongly influenced by human activities, so future patterns of change will continue to beinfluenced by society’s choices and governance. The purpose of this book is to provide a new framework for natural resource management—a framework based on stewardship of ecosystems for human well-being in a world dominated by uncertainty and change. The goal of ecosystem stewardship is to respond to and shape change in social-ecological systems in order to sustain the supply and opportunities for use ofecosystem services by society. The book links recent advances in the theory of resilience, sustainability, and vulnerability with practical issues of ecosystem management and governance. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students of natural resource management as well as professional managers, community leaders, and policy makers with backgrounds in a wide array ofdisciplines, including ecology, policy studies, economics, sociology, and anthropology. The first part of the book presents a conceptual framework for understanding the fundamental interactions and processes in social-ecological systems—systems in which people interact with their physical and biological environment. We explain how these systems respond to variability and change and discuss many ofthe ecological, economic, cultural, and institutional processes that contribute to these dynamics, enabling society to respond to and shape change. In the second section we apply this theory to specific types of social-ecological systems, showing how people adaptively

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manage resources and ecosystem services throughout the world. Finally we synthesize the lessons...