Orientations to navigate the complexity of freshwater resilience in social-ecological systems
Abstract
Resilience is a widely applied and diversely interpreted concept in freshwater science with applications that span disciplines, analytical frameworks, scales of analysis, and system delineations. This diversity leads to an equally rich variety of resilience insights which are difficult to compare, aggregate, synthesize, and apply in decision-relevant contexts. Here, we seek to support greater critical and reflexive awareness of how freshwater resilience insights are generated by proposing three social-ecological orientations: 1) freshwater resilience as a shared physical and social reality; 2) the necessity of multiple knowledge production systems; 3) the emergence of freshwater resilience through open systems with cross-scale dynamics. We demonstrate the benefit of holding these orientations through four case studies spanning the almond debate of California's Central Valley, the Sahelian paradox, the seasonal flood pulse in the Mekong River Basin, and hydropower in the Amazon Basin. We envision that these orientations can serve as a shared foundation for holistic freshwater resilience research and better understanding of processes that generate resilience insights. To advance beyond perspectives of freshwater resilience that capture only one or few dimensions, we argue that freshwater resilience science should embrace a sustained commitment to inclusion of multiple perspectives, provision of context-rich descriptions of resilience processes, and transparency in documenting how resilience is conceptualised in the research that produces claims about it.
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BibTeX
@misc{huggins2026orientations,
title = {{Orientations to navigate the complexity of freshwater resilience in social-ecological systems}},
author = {Xander Huggins and Vili Virkki and Elisabeth H. Krueger and Chelsea Kaandorp and Simon Fahrländer and Bhattaraphop Viriyaroj and Heindriken Dahlmann and Romi Amilia Lotcheris and Elina Paavonen and Petr Vesnovskii and David Lindao and Ronit Bohra and Lauren Seaby Andersen and Ingo Fetzer and Dieter Gerten and Fernando Jaramillo and Matti Kummu and Vajira Lasantha and Miina Porkka and Juan Carlos Rocha and Lan Wang-Erlandsson},
howpublished = {EarthArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31223/x5280s},
url = {https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15333/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Orientations to navigate the complexity of freshwater resilience in social-ecological systems
AU - Xander Huggins
AU - Vili Virkki
AU - Elisabeth H. Krueger
AU - Chelsea Kaandorp
AU - Simon Fahrländer
AU - Bhattaraphop Viriyaroj
AU - Heindriken Dahlmann
AU - Romi Amilia Lotcheris
AU - Elina Paavonen
AU - Petr Vesnovskii
AU - David Lindao
AU - Ronit Bohra
AU - Lauren Seaby Andersen
AU - Ingo Fetzer
AU - Dieter Gerten
AU - Fernando Jaramillo
AU - Matti Kummu
AU - Vajira Lasantha
AU - Miina Porkka
AU - Juan Carlos Rocha
AU - Lan Wang-Erlandsson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
PB - EarthArXiv
DO - 10.31223/x5280s
UR - https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15333/
AB - Resilience is a widely applied and diversely interpreted concept in freshwater science with applications that span disciplines, analytical frameworks, scales of analysis, and system delineations. This diversity leads to an equally rich variety of resilience insights which are difficult to compare, aggregate, synthesize, and apply in decision-relevant contexts. Here, we seek to support greater critical and reflexive awareness of how freshwater resilience insights are generated by proposing three social-ecological orientations: 1) freshwater resilience as a shared physical and social reality; 2) the necessity of multiple knowledge production systems; 3) the emergence of freshwater resilience through open systems with cross-scale dynamics. We demonstrate the benefit of holding these orientations through four case studies spanning the almond debate of California's Central Valley, the Sahelian paradox, the seasonal flood pulse in the Mekong River Basin, and hydropower in the Amazon Basin. We envision that these orientations can serve as a shared foundation for holistic freshwater resilience research and better understanding of processes that generate resilience insights. To advance beyond perspectives of freshwater resilience that capture only one or few dimensions, we argue that freshwater resilience science should embrace a sustained commitment to inclusion of multiple perspectives, provision of context-rich descriptions of resilience processes, and transparency in documenting how resilience is conceptualised in the research that produces claims about it.
ER -