Key points of resilience to climate change: a necessary debate from agroecological systems

ABSTRACT

The objective of this article is to critically analyze the concept of resilience and propose complementary elements for its strengthening, particularly for its study in agroecological systems facing climate change and variability. Five main points are explored to achieve a critical comprehension of resilience: causality; change and uncertainty; multiple scales; diversity and the capacity to transform. Resilience is not an adaptation to biophysical factors, nor to inequal and unjust socio-economic conditions, on the contrary, resilience implies collective action conscious of multiple scales of transformation of agroecosystems and even of the predominant social system. We conclude that resilience to climate change is not a neutral concept, it is strongly related to issues of power and inequality, linked to the economic and political context in which agroecosystems unfold. Since there is no consensus in society on the ways to respond to climate change and variability, it is necessary to consider who defines resilience, for what purpose and according to what interests.

Acknowledgements

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Institute of Environmental Studies (Faculty of Economics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia) for the financial and general support given to this research. The authors also are grateful for the comments and suggestions made by the anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cindy Alexandra Córdoba Vargas Biologist, MSc in Biological Sciences, PhD in Agroecology is posdoctoral researcher of Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Occasional university professor and researcher of the Environmental Studies Institute of the National University of Colombia. Her main areas of interest are adaptation of rural communities to climate change, agrarian policy, analysis and assessment of productive systems, agroecology and agro-biodiversity.

Sonia Hortúa Romero Professional in Languages and Sociocultural Studies, MSc in Environment and Development is a researcher. Her main areas of interest are the environmental analysis from the perspective of the social sciences, particularly discourse analysis, and the adaptation of rural communities to climate change.

Tomás León Sicard Soil Scientist, MSc in Environmental Sciences, Dr Agro-environmental Technology is full professor and researcher of the Environmental Studies Institute of the National University of Colombia. His main areas of interest are agro-ecology, soils, assessment of agro-biodiversity related to climate change and environmental thought. Advisor and consultant in the public and private sectors. Has published more than 100 papers, between articles, books and chapters of books.

Notes

1 ‘Peasant is any person who engages or who seeks to engage alone, or in association with others or as a community, in small-scale agricultural production for subsistence and/or for the market, and who relies significantly, though not necessarily exclusively, on family or household labour and other non-monetized ways of organizing labour, and who has a special dependency on and attachment to the land’ (UN, 2018).