Developing an Operational Framework for Resilience Assessment of Socio-Ecological Systems to Improve the Strategic Environmental Assessment Process

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D Candidate of Environmental Planning and Design, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor of Environmental Planning and Design, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor of Environmental Planning and Design, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Over the past fifty years, human activities have changed the landscape of ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than at any other time. The changes that have occurred highlight the need to better understand the processes of policy-making, planning and land management and their impacts on natural capital, and how to adapt to change. In traditional ecosystem management methods, the environment is considered as a static model, which causes gradual changes to not be seen, thus making the ecosystem more vulnerable. Therefore, sustainable environmental planning and management is needed, based on the attitude of changing the static view to dynamics and considering processes and trends in examining changes in ecosystem structure and function. To achieve this goal, the present study has utilized the resilience assessment property of social-ecological systems in the context of strategic environmental assessment as a paradigm shift from centralized ecosystem management including command and control to a focus on the management of continuous change; in order to overcome the existing challenges related to the assumption of system stability and sustainability, including the issue of uncertainty, failure to consider social and ecological impacts at multiple scales, and ignoring continuous changes in the early stages of the decision-making and planning process. The results of the research indicate that adopting a new approach to environmental planning is capable of preventing ecosystem vulnerability and change in its function in the future by improving the quality and confidence factor of development decisions and planning, and to provide sustainable land management. In addition, in order to enrich the developed framework, it is suggested that this framework be tested and measured for various development decisions.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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  • Receive Date: 06 May 2025
  • Revise Date: 23 June 2025
  • Accept Date: 12 July 2025

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