Resilience attributes of social-ecological systems: Framing metrics for management

Abstract

If resilience theory is to be of practical value for policy makers and resource managers, the theory must be translated into sensible decision-support tools. We present herein a set of resilience attributes, developed to characterize human-managed systems, that helps system stakeholders to make practical use of resilience concepts in tangible applications. In order to build and maintain resilience, these stakeholders must be able to understand what qualities or attributes enhance-or detract from-a system's resilience. We describe standardized resilience terms that can be incorporated into resource management plans and decision-support tools to derive metrics that help managers assess the current resilience status of their systems, make rational resource allocation decisions, and track progress toward meeting goals. Our intention is to provide an approachable set of terms for both specialists and non-specialists alike to apply to programs that would benefit from a resilience perspective. These resilience terms can facilitate the modeling of resilience behavior within systems, as well as support those lacking access to sophisticated models. Our goal is to enable policy makers and resource managers to put resilience theory to work in the real world.