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a
Original state-undergraded
Tipping point
Soil
condition
Changed state
External stressors/degradative forces
Low
High
b
Original state-undergraded
Tipping point
Soil
condition
Changed state
External stressors/degradative forces
Low
High
FIGURE 5.4
Managing degraded lands for resilience to degradative forces and climate
change.
of risk factors (Seybold et al. 1999). These processes can be enhanced by internal
coping strategies or may be helped along by community adaptive capacity, institu-
tions, and social policies that make resilience more likely to occur (Adger 2000). In
this sense, “resilience” occurs when there are cumulative “protective factors.” These
factors are likely to play a more and more important role the greater the soil system
exposure to cumulative “risk factors.” Resilience is a dynamic process whereby soil
systems exhibit a positive response when they encounter significant adversity, haz-
ard, threats, shock, or even significant sources of stress (Enfors and Gordon 2007). It
is different from strengths or developmental assets, which are a characteristic of an
entire ecosystem, regardless of the level of adversity it faces.
We illustrate our argument against the conventional view of resilience using
pro-
tected systems (CA)
vis-à-vis the
exposed systems
(conventional system). CA aims
at mitigating local stressors by ensuring continuous minimal mechanical soil distur-
bance, permanent organic soil cover, and diversified crop rotations (Selig and Bruno
2010). External stressors can cause proportionally greater degradation of a protected
than an unprotected soil system. This effect is probably due to the difference in soil
genesis between protected and unprotected sites (Cleary et al. 2008). The dominant
impact of climate change can override any advantage provided by protection from
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