Humans in social-ecological systems: A novel indicator-based approach to assess social resilience in mangroves

Gnansounou Setonde Constant, University of Namur
Sabine J. F. Henry, University of Namur

Assessing the resilience of social or ecological system in isolation differs significantly from evaluating the resilience of a social-ecological system. While numerous frameworks exist for resilience assessment, most are tailored to social or ecological system in isolation. Applying them on social-ecological systems often leads poor decision-making. Principles well-suited for analysing the resilience of both social and ecological components in social-ecological systems exist in the literature. However, they present challenges due to limited availability of appropriate indicators and variables. Through an extension of the principles, we provide a more refined set of indicators and variables applicable first on the social segment of mangroves, with the aim to extend the approach to the ecological dimension of the system. Two rounds of literature review were conducted: one focusing on threats to mangroves, and the other on indicators and variables aligned with the seven principles. Ongoing qualitative and quantitative data collection in the Republic of Benin, West Africa aims to operationalize this novel approach. This research represents one of the few efforts to empirically test and apply indicators and variables to operationalize the principles of resilience, offering a novel framework designed to assess the social-ecological resilience of mangroves

Keywords: Mixed methods research, Population Policies, Population, Environment, and Climate Change, Qualitative data/methods/approaches

See paper.