Approach
Resilience Design for Ecologically-Integrated Production Systems
A Practical Approach to Strengthening Household, Farmer and Community Resilience
The ChallengeThe Challenge
Farmers around the world are facing unprecedented environmental and weather-related shocks and stresses, compromising their food, nutrition, and economic security. Certain populations – such as refugees and smallholder, subsistence farmers – are especially vulnerable to changing rainfall patterns and severe and unpredictable droughts and flooding, especially amplified on already degraded landscapes. Coupled with these challenges are the often outdated, “one-size-fits-all” agricultural interventions promoted by international development actors. Non-localized solutions can further exacerbate farmer and ecosystem vulnerabilities.
The Solution: Resilience Design
The Solution: Resilience Design
Resilience Design (RD) is an ecologically-based approach to regenerative agriculture, specifically tailored for humanitarian and development programs. RD integrates principles of permaculture design, passive water harvesting, nature-based solutions, agroecology, and agroforestry, and promotes tailored, community-led interventions informed by robust assessments and advanced data techniques.
Phasellus fermentum malesuada phasellus netus dictum aenean placerat egestas amet. Ornare taciti semper dolor tristique morbi. Credit: LOREM
The RD approach can be applied at various scales, from households (called permagardens) to farms, communities, and watersheds. The core principles remain the same at all levels: engage the community in a design process to stabilize the hydrology of the land, focus on building a healthy soil microbiome, and increase biodiversity.
Four-step RD methodologyFour-step RD methodology
The RD Approach leads to highly productive agroecosystems that strengthen the resilience of communities and their ecological systems to natural disasters; increase food and nutrition security; regenerate biodiverse ecosystems; and stabilize hydrology.
The RD methodology is a four-step, circular process used to design and build context-specific sites. The process starts with engaging farmers and the local community, placing them at the center of the learning process.
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AssessmentPhasellus fermentum malesuada phasellus netus dictum aenean placerat egestas amet. Ornare taciti semper dolor tristique morbi. Sem leo tincidunt aliquet semper eu lectus scelerisque quis. Sagittis vivamus mollis nisi mollis enim fermentum laoreet.
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AnalysisPhasellus fermentum malesuada phasellus netus dictum aenean placerat egestas amet. Ornare taciti semper dolor tristique morbi. Sem leo tincidunt aliquet semper eu lectus scelerisque quis. Sagittis vivamus mollis nisi mollis enim fermentum laoreet.
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DesignPhasellus fermentum malesuada phasellus netus dictum aenean placerat egestas amet. Ornare taciti semper dolor tristique morbi. Sem leo tincidunt aliquet semper eu lectus scelerisque quis. Sagittis vivamus mollis nisi mollis enim fermentum laoreet.
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Monitoring & FeedbackPhasellus fermentum malesuada phasellus netus dictum aenean placerat egestas amet. Ornare taciti semper dolor tristique morbi. Sem leo tincidunt aliquet semper eu lectus scelerisque quis. Sagittis vivamus mollis nisi mollis enim fermentum laoreet.
The RD Approach encourages farmers and those who support them to think differently about agricultural development and identify ways to work with natural systems rather than against them, resulting in a more resilient and productive farming system.
