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Practical Panarchy; Assessing Adaptive Capacity of Regional Water Systems in the United States to Changing Climate

Date:
Location:
Classroom Building 334
Speaker(s) / Presenter(s):
Lance Gunderson, Emory University

Practical Panarchy; Assessing Adaptive Capacity of Regional Water Systems in the United States to Changing Climate

During the 20th century, large public investments led to the development of complex regional scale water management systems across the United States.  Currently, these social-ecological systems are characterized by legal conflict, social gridlock and continued erosion of many ecosystem services. Changing climate may continue this trajectory, but it may also provide a catalyst for renewal of ecosystems and a window of opportunity for institutional change.  This presentation will review preliminary results and synthesis from an interdisciplinary team of legal scholars, geographers and ecologists who assessed the resilience of six regional water systems; the Columbia, Klamath, Rio Grande, Platte and Rio Grande river systems, along with the Everglades wetlands to changing climate.  Preliminary results indicate the value of an historical resilience assessment to understand patterns of abrupt and surprising patterns of development, to identify legal, social and ecological opportunities and obstacles to climate adaptation. Law and policies (such as Endangered Species Act or Clean Water Act) can establish boundaries or define ecological thresholds, and as a result, constrain actions designed to explore adaptation options.  In other cases, a reassessment of rights have led to the end of gridlock, and opened a window to new and collaborative approaches to water governance.  

 

Lance Gunderson is a systems ecologist who is interested in how people understand, assess, and manage large ecosystems.  He has worked as a research ecologist for National Audubon, as a botanist for the US National Park Service in south Florida, and as a research scientist at the University of Florida. He was the founding chair of the Department of Environmental Studies at Emory University and is currently a Professor in that department.  He is Co-Editor in Chief of Ecology and Society. He chaired the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council committee on Ecological Effects of Road Density. He has also served as the executive director of the Resilience Network and is currently Chairman of the Board of the Resilience Alliance. He is a Beijer Fellow with the Beijer International Institute for Ecological Economics, Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and a Senior Fellow with the Agropolis Fondation for Sustainability in France.  He has been involved in the in environmental assessment and management of large-scale ecosystems, including the Everglades, Florida Bay, Upper Mississippi River Basin, and the Grand Canyon.