Panarchy is a conceptual framework to account for the dual, and seemingly contradictory, characteristics of all complex systems – stability and change. It is the study of how economic growth and human development depend on ecosystems and institutions, and how they interact. It is an integrative
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Empirical evidence of natural, disturbed and managed ecosystems identifies four key characteristics:
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Change is neither continuous and gradual, nor continuously chaotic. It is epicodic, regulated by interactions between fast and slow variables
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Different scale levels concentrate resources and potential in different ways, and non-linear processes reorganize resources across levels
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Ecosystems do not have a single equilibrium; multiple equilibria are common. Ecosystems have processes that maintain stability in terms of productivity and biogeochemical cycles; as well as processes that are destabilizing, which provide diversity, resilience and opportunity
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Management systems must take into account these dynamic features of ecosystems and be flexible, adaptive and experiment at scale levels compatible with the levels of critical ecosystem functions.
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