1. Keith G. Tidball
Cornell University
Resilience in
climate change, biodiversity, ecosystems
and urban disaster
LAB www.civicecology.org
Presented at the

2. Climate change will likely result in:
More frequent and devastating natural disasters
Increasing conflict among humans over resources
Opportunities for human adaptation and societal change
New technologies
Enlightened approaches to ecological stewardship
Shifts toward HUMAN SECURITY through building resilience and
adaptive capacity
Climate Change & Disturbance

3. Where is Resilience in this Picture?

4. © Balkan Analysis, Christopher Deliso
Tree planting in Macedonia
Memorial Gardening
Post 9/11 NYC
Fisheries management in
the Iraqi marshes
Photo- http://agwired.com/2007/01/19/2800/
Photo- USDA FS Living Memorials
http://www.livingmemorialsproject.ne
t/about.htm
Interactions between humans and nature in the aftermath
of disasters and war provide clues as to the importance of
biodiversity, ecosystem services, and green infrastructure
to urban social-ecological system resilience.

6. Shifts in approaches to post-disaster &
post-conflict response
Forests need human security as
much as human security needs
forests.
Including the environmental
dimensions of vulnerability in
our understanding of human
security would help to focus
public attention,policy-makers
and funds on the long-term
value of forest conservation and
sustainable forest management.
--International Institute for
Sustainable Development report
Forests,Natural Disasters,and
Human Security.
Two important shifts as Best Management
Practices:
1. asset-based participation among affected
populations, focused on strengths,
opportunities and assets rather than
exclusively deficits, is required to identify
acceptable or desirable assistance.
2. acknowledgement of the necessity to account
for (usually perception-driven) self-
reinforcing growth trends, or positive
feedback loops.
3. See Weinstein & Tidball 2007. Environment Shaping: an Alternative Approach to Development and
Aid. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Vol. 1, Issue

7. Resilience?
• Challenge of finding suitable social mechanisms that help
confer resilience on SES (Berkes and Folke 1998).
• To maintain function in the face of perturbance, SES need to be
able to recognize feedback, and therefore require“mechanisms
by which information from the environment can be received,
processed,and interpreted” (Berkes and Folke 1998, p 21-22).
• Greening activities may be one social mechanism that can
shorten feedbacks which inform stakeholders about the
effectiveness of their management actions in cities.
•Greening can help transform undesirable feedback loops

8. Are there examples?
“…answer(s) questions about the role of “greening”
people, practice, and places in building and
demonstrating resilience in the face of catastrophic
surprise and change.”
“..explores how the act of people coming together
around the restoration and stewardship of nature
might enhance individual and community resilience,
and perhaps even contribute to social-ecological
system resilience, in chaotic post-disaster or post-
conflict contexts.”
“Because of the rapid growth of cities globally and
their ever looming importance as sites of
vulnerability much of the focus of the discussion is
on urban settings ((Tidball, 2011-Forthcoming).
35 Chapters -case studies and examples of greening after a crisis.

9. Ok… SoWhat?

10. Implications for Policy
1. Recognize the value of community based greening for social-ecological
resilience and recovery and invest
• build scenarios to help agencies understand and anticipate the needs of
affected residents
• A “Greening in the Red Zone(GRZ) Response Plan” can be folded in to
existing emergency response plans
• Engage existing urban environmental and other conservation groups
• Have reasonable expectations--don’t sell greening as a “silver bullet” – rather
as a piece of the puzzle
2. Start Now! Participate with the scientific community in identifying gaps in
research and technology regarding human-nature interaction in resilience and
recovery.
3.Allocate financial and human capital transparently

11. In conclusion…
Understanding and appreciating how humans and their interactions with nature are
related to a system's ability to bounce back after being disturbed represents a missing
piece of the puzzle in our thinking about how to deal with climate change.
Research suggests that “greening in the red zone” is catalytic in restoring lost or
damaged elements of a social-ecological system.
Greening in the red zone is a way of linking biodiversity and climate change at the
local level.
Policy makers at the local level can use this information to leverage virtuous cycles
and positive feedbacks now, and in the future, to prepare for and adapt to climate
change.
Thank you!

12. Acknowledgements

14. Background & Context –CEL &
Resilience
Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab founded in 2008
Civic Ecology study of interactions, including feedbacks,
among four components of a social-ecological system:
community-based environmental stewardship (civic ecology practice);
education and learning situated in these practices (civic ecology
education);
the people and institutions involved; and
the ecosystem services produced by the people, their stewardship, and
educational practices.
trans-disciplinary perspectives in social-ecological systems
resilience, environmental education, social learning, and
urban ecology.

15. Nature and Human Security Theme
Within the Civic Ecology Lab, the Nature and Human Security
theme explores interactions between humans and nature in the
aftermath of natural disasters and war.
…how these interactions relate to social-ecological system
resilience, or in other words, how humans and their
interactions with nature are related to a system's ability to bounce
back after being disturbed.
Thus far, most promising aspect of resilience in this exploration is
feedbacks that confer or catalyze resilience in SES through human-
nature interaction.
Self-organizing greening in red zones (forthcoming book)
Parks & People initiatives
Environmental peacemaking