Abstract
Climate and human-induced changes have created major challenges for attaining sustainable agriculture throughout the world. Water scarcity is one of the most serious challenges facing agricultural communities in the process of continued productivity. In striving to mitigate the vicissitudes presented by disasters, new paradigms that include resilience theory have been incorporated into studies of sustainability. Resilience of social-ecological systems is viewed as an important way of foreseeing and adapting to possible changes. This article explores the relationship between resilience and sustainability. Also, the types of social strategies that exist for building resilience among farmers and their households to support sustainable agriculture in the conditions of water scarcity are examined.
Notes
The authors thank Fikret Berkes, Canada Research Chair in Community-Based Resource Management at the University of Manitoba for support and providing advice and valuable insights into our research. Furthermore, they also thank Ray Temmerman for his comments. This research was supported by a grant (no. BN025) from the National Elites Foundation.