Indicators for assessing social-ecological resilience: A case study of organic rice production in northern Thailand

Abstract

© 2017 Kasetsart University Resilience seems to permeate sustainable development discourse since its concept has been defined as a system's ability to adapt with change of all kinds. However, assessing a specific system's resilience requires a specific index as well, because the nature of resilience greatly relies on temporal and spatial scales. In this paper, the researchers present a set of indicators built using 53 organic farmers in four districts of Chiang Mai province. The farmers were selected using snowball sampling and were interviewed and observed iteratively regarding guidelines of social-ecological resilience in agro-ecosystems and technography, respectively, identifying components and features required to deal with the dynamic changes in organic rice production. The acquired data was then analyzed using qualitative data analysis, verifying the conceptual density, and converting the data into initial sets of codes showing the attributes relevant to the resilient properties. Consequently, 47 social-ecological resilience indicators were identified that are credible for serving as both quantifiable assessment and farmer guidance. These qualifications integrate the farmers' historic, technological, social, and ecological contexts, which are all vital factors for the farm's adaptation and transformation during a period of change.