Social ecological system: assessing the current state of social ecological resilience reflected in South African integrated reports.

Abstract

Our understanding of sustainability has evolved dramatically over the past four decades and recently there has been considerable emphasis on the understanding that sustainability is systemic in nature, and any tools or models that seek to enhance sustainability should follow suit. That is to say that understanding the strengths and weaknesses of sustainability may be comparable to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the social ecological system in which development is to occur. This is an approach to understanding the systemic nature of sustainability while also considering the increasing degree of uncertainty in social and ecological systems today. Understanding the components of one’s social ecological system and the components that contribute to the resilience of that system may be essential to ensure continued functionality in light of future uncertainties. My study set out to analyse the current state of social ecological resilience in a sample of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The integrated reports of 25 JSE-listed companies were assessed using four principles of social ecological resilience adapted from The Resilience Roadmap, developed by the CSIR and PwC in 2016. In addition, I outlined and discussed any possible correlation between a selected company’s economic group, impact category and social ecological resilience principle scores Specifically, correlations that may act as significant predictors of an improved state of social ecological resilience in companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock exchange. Following generalised linear modelling and correlation tests, the natural resource utilisation group (NRU) was found to perform significantly better than other groups in terms of resource dependencies, while overall, the innovation and foresight principle was the least adequately addressed principle in my study. Findings may be attributed to the unfavourable pressures associated with the current reporting paradigm as well as currently established methods of best practise and the siloed, reactive nature of business today may be a limiting factor to improving social ecological resilience.