Ecological Approach to Community Development

Liz Wedderburn

For New Zealand to develop sustainably, it will require a modern cohesive society with viable and vibrant communities at its core from which will emerge innovative solutions to key challenges and opportunities they face in the future.

The interconnectedness of NZ society and agriculture has historically been strong and is an outstanding example of the dynamic interactions and interdependencies between natural capital, the services it provides and human well being. This is clearly demonstrated in the leading contribution that pastoral agriculture makes to economic performance (45% NZ export income, 17% GDP) and the resultant influence on standard of living.

As we look towards sustainable futures we need to take a systems approach that links human and natural systems (socio-ecological systems) that are complex and adaptive. This paper uses the metaphor of the adaptive cycle to explore the behaviours that are common to both social and natural systems. Three properties shape the future responses of human and natural systems: the potential available for change; the connectedness between internal processes that control response to external variables; and the resilience of the system as a measure of its ability to absorb unexpected shocks and still retain function.

Potential in the ecological system is related to biomass or nutrients accumulated and in the social system to the character of human relationships e.g. trust, friendship. Connectedness in ecology includes feedback loops and biogeochemical cycles and in social the behaviours, relationships and institutions that control human activity. There is a clear link with social and ecological resilience particularly in rural communities dependant on agriculture for their livelihood.

The external variables that impact on rural communities include: market prices for commodities, exchange rate, oil price, national and regional policy. The pressures on the related production ecosystems include: intensified inputs, and extreme weather events.

The original concept for the adaptive cycle emerged from exploration of ecosystem based studies and as it evolved incorporated thinking from social and economic studies. The adaptive cycle consists of four ecosystem functions: r, exploitation of resources; K, conservation of resources; Ω, release of resources; , reorganisation and the flow of events among them. Resources is used in its broadest sense including biophysical, people skills, infrastructure. In the r phase an environment is created that fosters activities such as, growth of vegetation, start up business and rapid expansion. The internal connections are low and because of the diversity the resilience is high. As the winners expand there is a movement to the K phase where consolidation occurs. This is characterised by relationships with greater connection that confer greater control of external variability including: tight nutrient cycles, formation of institutions and governance arrangements, and volunteer activity. This phase marks a future that is certain, predictable and controlled. However it is also vulnerable to unexpected events, as resilience is low, for example an outbreak of insects can decimate a crop and removal of subsidies for farming in the 1980's resulted in a collapse of farming economic systems. This phase, Ω, creates an environment where the potential falls and destabilisation occurs throughout the systems. This sets the stage for reorganisation that is highly unpredictable but creates the opportunities for new relationships and an entry point for new innovations and behaviours. Examples of this are seen in the amalgamation of farms, changes in land use, implementation of new technologies.

To meet an uncertain future, communities should conserve the ability to adapt to change, maintain options, buffer disturbance, create novelty and engage in social learning.