Prabakaran Nehru, Poti Meenakshi, Hugé Jean, Koedam Nico, Shanker Kartik, Dahdouh-Guebas Farid
Wildlife Institute of India, 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001, India.
Systems Ecology and Resource Management Research Unit (SERM), Department of Organism Biology, Université Libre de Bruxelles - ULB, Av. F.D. Roosevelt 50, CPi 264/1, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Ambio. 2025 Mar;54(3):536-551. doi: 10.1007/s13280-024-02088-3. Epub 2024 Nov 6.
The 2004 tsunami and coastal subsidence resulted in 97% mangrove loss in the Nicobar Islands (India), leading to major social-ecological change. We assessed how the Nicobar mangrove social-ecological system (SES) responded to the 2004 event using the adaptive cycle (AC) framework. We describe the changes across AC phases (collapse-Ω, reorganisation-α, growth-r, and conservation-K) concerning various capital types (natural, built, human, social), connectedness and resilience. The subsidence and tsunami triggered a rapid collapse (Ω) in the mangrove SES, particularly depleting natural and built capitals. Despite declines in social and human capital, some knowledge and skills were retained within Nicobari communities. We suggest that locally managed interventions involving mangrove restoration are critical to escape the poverty trap caused by resource insufficiency hindering growth. The AC model helps visualise and describe temporal changes, preparing for recovery challenges. This approach is relevant to SESs beyond Nicobar, offering insights for sites confronting similar social-ecological dynamics and challenges.
2004年的海啸和海岸下沉导致印度尼科巴群岛97%的红树林消失，引发了重大的社会生态变化。我们运用适应性循环（AC）框架评估了尼科巴红树林社会生态系统（SES）对2004年事件的响应。我们描述了在AC各阶段（崩溃-Ω、重组-α、增长-r和守恒-K）中，涉及各种资本类型（自然资本、人造资本、人力资本、社会资本）、连通性和恢复力的变化情况。下沉和海啸引发了红树林SES的迅速崩溃（Ω），尤其使自然资本和人造资本大量损耗。尽管社会资本和人力资本有所下降，但尼科巴社区仍保留了一些知识和技能。我们认为，涉及红树林恢复的地方管理干预措施对于摆脱因资源不足阻碍增长而导致的贫困陷阱至关重要。AC模型有助于直观呈现和描述时间变化，为应对恢复挑战做好准备。这种方法适用于尼科巴以外的社会生态系统，为面临类似社会生态动态和挑战的地区提供了见解。
