systems need to be managed for resilience
Systems need to be managed not only for productivity or stability, they also need to be managed for resilience —the ability to recover from perturbation, the ability to restore or repair themselves. Awareness of resilience enables one to see many ways to preserve or enhance a system’s own restorative powers. That awareness is behind the encouragement of natural ecosystems on farms, so that predators can take on more of the job of controlling pests. It is behind “holistic” health care that tries not only to cure disease but also to build up a body’s internal resistance. It is behind aid programs that do more than give food or money—that try to change the circumstances that obstruct peoples’ ability to provide their own food or money.
Link:: Thinking in systems