Introduction - Ecological Governance - page 7

whether it is resilient enough to maintain its structure in the face of future
disturbances.
Both of these considerations are signi

cant for the design of a system
of governance that aims to maintain resilience. The conclusion I draw is
that, if we cannot advance this objective by identifying points at which
the system is under threat, our aim should be to bolster resilience by
progressively reducing the erosive effects of our actions on it. 25 This
approach would at least ensure that ecosystems are as well placed as they
can be to maintain their functionality. We should also reduce reliance
on activities that are most likely to overwhelm resilience, and particu-
larly those that would unbalance the natural systems (e.g., the climate)
with which ecosystems interact. 26
In amongst this realm of unknowns and unknowables, there are a
number of certainties (or, at least, strong likelihoods) that are also highly
relevant to the design of ecological governance. The rst is that our

activities clearly do combine to undermine ecosystem resilience and to
trigger changes in their structures. This is readily apparent both from the
assessments that I refer to in Section 1.2 , and from studies of ecosystems
that have undergone regime shifts. 27 In view of this, we must nd some

way of acting to reduce the pressures that our activities place on natural
systems notwithstanding uncertainty over their effects. Secondly, the
resilience of all ecosystems is likely to be confronted by changes in climate
resulting from historic and current anthropogenic carbon emissions. 28
Whilst we do not know the extent to which the climate will change or with
what consequences for ecosystem health, the risk is present and heightens
the urgency with which we should act to reduce the stresses that human
societies generate.
In view of these tangible concerns, the

rst main issue I address is how
a system of governance could be developed with the objective of reducing
the cumulative erosive effects of our actions on resilience. The principal
complicating factor (amongst several resulting from the uncertain world
in which ecological governance operates) is, as I discuss in the following
section , how effective controls can be devised to reduce threats to

25 Chapter 2, Section 2.4 . 26 Chapter 2, Section 2.6.
27 Chapter 1, Section 1.2 . See also Chapter 2, Section 2.2.2 .
28

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report -

Contribution of Working Groups I, II, and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Core writing team, A. K. Pachauri and
A. Reisinger (eds) (Geneva: IPCC, 2008).