Premium
Barriers and bridges to the integration of social–ecological resilience and law
Author(s) -
Green Olivia Odom,
Garmestani Ahjond S,
Allen Craig R,
Gunderson Lance H,
Ruhl JB,
Arnold Craig A,
Graham Nicholas AJ,
Cosens Barbara,
Angeler David G,
Chaffin Brian C,
Holling CS
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/140294
Subject(s) - corporate governance , certainty , bridging (networking) , adaptive management , resilience (materials science) , psychological resilience , ecology , legal certainty , ecological resilience , sociology , environmental resource management , political science , law , computer science , economics , epistemology , ecosystem , psychology , management , biology , computer security , philosophy , physics , thermodynamics , psychotherapist
There is a fundamental difference between the ways in which ecologists and lawyers view uncertainty: in the study of ecology, uncertainty provides a catalyst for exploration, whereas uncertainty is antithetical to the rule of law. This issue is particularly troubling in environmental management, where the tensions between law and ecology become apparent. Rather than acknowledge uncertainties in management actions, legal frameworks often force a false sense of certainty in linking cause and effect. While adaptive management has been developed to deal with uncertainty, laws and legal wrangling can be obstacles to implementation. In this article, we recommend resilience‐based governance – “adaptive governance” – as a means to begin bridging the gap between law and ecology.