Geoscience Reference
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example, in a multifunctional landscape, management at the catchment level could include
not only restoration of water quality, but vegetation rehabilitation that promotes water
storage capacity, carbon storage, and a range of forest products and cultural resources.
Restoring woodlands in the uplands of the UK not only benefits biodiversity and enhances
aesthetic and recreational opportunities, it also increases resilience to climate change and
buffers against flooding in the lowlands by increasing water-storage capacity and evening
out river discharge (see Chapters 6 and 7) (Davies 2008, Brown 2010, Monbiot 2014). Res-
toration of heterogeneous and structurally diverse landscapes with forest and agrarian
elements can enhance carbon storage, biodiversity and the provision of timber and other
forest products, while providing opportunities for food production, as well as maintaining
and enhancing cultural ecosystem services (see following section and Chapters 6 and 7)
(Wu 2006, 2012, Foster et al. 2008, Fischer et al. 2012, Tscharntke et al. 2012, von Wehrden
et al. 2014).
Sustainability and adaptive capacity in socioecological systems;
merging 'traditional' and adaptive management approaches
As awareness over planetary boundaries and the finite resilience of ecosystems increases,
there is a critical need to understand tipping points, build resilience and facilitate adapta-
tion (Rockström et al. 2009, Griggs et al. 2013, Hughes et al. 2013). Feedbacks between envir-
onmental change and socioeconomic flux can destabilize socioecological systems leading
to degradation of ecosystem services, and the possibility of collapse and reorganization.
Studies of resilience, collapse, and reorganization in socioecological systems in the palaeo-
ecological and archaeological record have highlighted the importance of efficient water
harvesting, storage and use, as well as resilient agricultural systems that utilize a diverse
range of crops that are more likely to withstand the vagaries of erratic rainfall and increas-
ingly frequent temperature extremes (see Chapters 6 and 7) (Redman and Kinzig 2003, Cos-
tanza et al. 2007). Ancient systems of water harvesting, storage and distribution, alongside
adaptive agroforestry and agro-sylvo-pastoral systems, have allowed civilizations to persist
for centuries in marginal and variable environments, and the palaeoecological, historical,
and archaeological record, alongside anthropological studies, show many innovations that
could be adapted for use today (Redman and Kinzig 2003, Costanza et al. 2007, Turner and
Sabloff 2012).
The ecosystem management approach aims to maintain and restore adaptive capacity and
resilience in complex socioecological systems. It employs an adaptive management approach,
with monitoring, flexibility, learning, and feedback at the core (Grumbine 1994, 1997). These
principles are already embodied in many traditional management systems and there is there-
fore synergy between such knowledge systems and ecosystem management (Berkes et  al.
2000, Fischer et  al. 2012, von Wehrden et  al. 2014). Effective water management and food
production are two aspects of integrated landscape management where long-term data can
help in restoring and maintaining resilience, while conserving biodiversity (Redman and
 
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