Resilience. RE-SI-LI-ENZ. This word seems even more unwieldy than the word sustainability. But if you take a closer look at the term, it becomes clear that it will become an integral part of our vocabulary in the future. And not just because it appears more and more frequently in connection with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
As is so often the case, resilience comes from the Latin "resilire" and can be translated as "bounce back, bounce off, not stick to someone". The foreign word first found its way into psychology, where it was used to describe people who had the psychological resilience and ability to survive difficult life situations without lasting impairment. It is still very present in biology today, where the term was coined by Crawford S. Holling, a now almost 90-year-old ecologist from Canada. In this field, resilience used to describe systems that were able to return to their original state after disturbances. "In recent years, this has been replaced by a dynamic interpretation that emphasizes the ability to learn. Resilience is the ability of a system (e.g. humans, ecosystems) to learn from crises and changes and to restore a functional state after disruptions," explains Professor of Resource Management Claudia Pahl-Wostl.
Resilience illustrated
95% of bananas sold worldwide belong to a variety called Cavendish. In fact, it's even more absurd, not only are they the same variety, but they are all genetically identical! This is because banana plants are grown from cuttings and not through sexual reproduction.
Unfortunately, this one banana plant, which is grown all over the world, is affected by a fungus. If one plantation is affected, all nearby plantations are equally threatened, because the same banana grows there too. This is a completely disrupted ecosystem where resilience has fallen by the wayside.
What would a resilient system be?
In the example just given, the solution is clear to everyone. Monotony is the end, diversity is the key.
Diversity is essential for a resilient system in order to buffer negative influences. If humans were to grow many different bananas, another banana species or variety could step in and prevent a total crop failure.
Sustainability is only possible through a system's ability to adapt and change and its resilience to crises and shocks. This also makes it clear that only resilient systems can be sustainable.
In view of the rapid changes and the rapid transformation of our world, resilience must be discussed in conjunction with sustainability. With resilience, we can counter the complexity, dynamism and unpredictability of the world.
In the food sector, this means an end to industrial agriculture, as it is extremely dependent on external means of production and services and therefore highly susceptible to crises. In order to improve the resilience of the system, it must move in exactly the opposite direction, namely towards diverse, small-scale, organic agriculture.
How do you achieve better resilience?
The aim must be to improve resilience in all disciplines of life. Ethicist Angela Kalhoff sees the greatest power in crowding-in, as she explained at the Langenlois II Sustainability Forum: "Many people who are working towards a common goal join forces, alliances are forged and synergies develop. The funny thing is, everyone can do something different. Then it can be a technical revolution, the grassroots group, the scientist, that's what makes this model so attractive."
German sociologist Harald Welzer studies the positive in the past to discover mechanisms that worked in the past. He refers to boycotts and other forms of resistance and proposes an international environmental court.
Claudia Pahl-Wostl sees a need for more education on options for action in various areas of life and a dialog with society as a whole. We should also realize that reducing our consumption of resources by cutting back on consumption is by no means a restriction but a liberation from constraints, as she aptly describes in an interview with us.
Why we need resilience
Resilience is an unwieldy foreign word, but the content is of unspeakable value for our future viability. The physician Henning Elsner put it beautifully: "Resilience is the life forces, the thriving forces that enable life to unfold or life to go on, despite adverse circumstances."
