1. An Ecosystem Approach to Adaptive Decision Making Under Complexity: Stability As Resilience Ashwani Vasishth vasishth@ramapo.edu http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~vasishth Associate Professor in Environmental Studies Ramapo College of New Jersey Presented at the 50 th Annual Conference of the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Planning, Oct. 1`-4, 2009, Crystal City, Virginia

2. Complex adaptive systems act as “wicked problems” Rittel, Horst W. J. & Melvin M. Webber. 1969. "Dilemmas In A General Theory of Planning," Policy Sciences 4, 1969, pp 155-173. Every wicked problem is unique; Wicked problems can always be explained in more than one way; There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem; There is no stopping rule; There is no enumerable set of solutions; There is no singular test of a proposed solution.

3. Change as normal Besides…

4. Uncertainty as normal

5. Variability as normal

6. Stability as resilience Then…

7. An ecosystem approach based on nested scale-hierarchic process-function ecology, offers the most effective basis for an ecological planning under complexity

8. Levels of Organization Allen, Timothy F.H. & Thomas W.l Hoekstra. 1992. Toward A Unified Ecology. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 30

9. Nested Systems Bossel, H. 2001. Assessing Viability and Sustainability: A Systems-Based Approach for Deriving Comprehensive Indicator Sets. Conservation Ecology, 5(2): 12.

10. South Coast Goods Movement: Levels of Organization Supra-system System of Concern Sub-system

11. Descriptions Matter How we choose to make depictions of complex systems affects what we can see of context and consequence, and so affects outcomes Complex systems are best conceptualized as being arranged into nested levels of organization

12. Ecological Complexity To take a phenomenon ecologically, is to take it in consideration of its context and with attention to its consequences Rich depictions capture multiple, co-occurring realities

13. Ecological Complexity To take a phenomenon complexly is to recognize that there is always more than one or two things going on at the same time, and that we can never see every relevant aspect of any one particular reality in any one singular description--so we must describe things in multiple ways, strategically varying functional and purposive stakeholder perspectives in the generation of rich descriptions

14. Properties of An Ecosystem Approach Nested Assembly Scale-hierarchic Levels of Organization Rate-dependant Boundaries Purposive Descriptions Scale-dependant Structuring Functional Associations

15. Elements of An Ecosystem Approach Processes Boundaries Scales Purpose Perspective

16. Principles of An Ecosystem Approach... Structure, in ecological phenomena, derives from the specific processes and functions that drive the ecological complex--rather than looking to the morphological events, objects and entities most apparent to our senses, we must trace out the perhaps unseen associations that mark an occurant nature Processes

17. Using processes, functions and matter- energy-information flows as a basis for describing any ecologically complex planning space drives us to recognize that most events, entities and objects can only be effectively described by the use of multiple boundaries, perhaps cutting across levels of organization Boundaries …Principles of An Ecosystem Approach...

18. Most ecologically complex phenomena have relevant associations that cut across levels of organization, and so can only be described using multiple spatial, temporal and organizational scales Scales …Principles of An Ecosystem Approach...

19. A key realization from a complex systems approach is that why we are asking a question will itself shape what we become able to see Purpose …Principles of An Ecosystem Approach...

20. Where we situate ourselves, in terms of spectator point, is quite likely to influence what we are able to see--then to see ecologically is to select relevantly different perspectives in generating our descriptions Perspective …Principles of An Ecosystem Approach

21. Decision Making As Adaptive Management Participatory Stakeholder-based Iterative Mindful

22. Resilience Management Walker, Brian et al. 2002. Resilience Management in Social-Ecological Systems: A Working Hypothesis for A Participatory Approach, Conservation Ecology, 6(1):14+

23. Ashwani Vasishth Associate Professor in Environmental Studies Ramapo College of New Jersey vasishth@ramapo.edu (201) 684-6616 http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~vasishth