Adaptive Capacity, Adaptive Governance and Resilience - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 45

which are transformations of a SES that is not deliberately introduced by the actors
(Folke et al. 2010 ). Single-loop learning is the category of multi-loop learning that
is partially associated with this outcome classification (Herrfahrdt-Pähle 2010b ;
Pahl-Wostl 2009 ). However, it should be noted that single loop learning implies that
some learning has taken place, and therefore can also be partially associated with
persistent adaptation.
Institutional change theorists postulate that change is incremental due to institu-
tional inertia and path dependency that limits the possibility for change within a
linear framework (Lempert et al. 2004 ; North 1990 ; Pflieger et al. 2009 ; Pierson
2000 ). In contrast, resilience theory draws on dynamic process across multiple
scales and integrated systems (i.e. SES). It recognises the legacy impact and path
dependence of past events on the subsequent dynamics of future changes (Chapin
et al. 2009 , p 14, drawing on North 1990 ), acknowledging that events at one scale
are likely to influences events at other scales in a linked system. However, it equally
provides for non-linear processes of crisis and reorganisation (in the complex adap-
tive cycle) that allows for dynamic developments to be analysed (i.e. transformative
outcomes; persistent adaptation; passive). The importance of both institutional
change and complex adaptive cycles to this issue of adaptive outcomes within a
river basin, reinforces the importance of cross-scale linkages in studying social-
ecological systems and the value in studying them at multiple spatial and temporal
scales (Berkes et al. 2003 ; Chapin et al. 2009 , p 14).
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