ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some issues that would need to be confronted in seeking to create more resilient regions, outline some indicative examples of how in practice regions can be made more resilient and examine some suggestions as to how such approaches could be developed further. It explores the effects of the most recent wave of neo-liberal policies in eroding resilience and creating more vulnerable regions. Resilience, along with adaptability and transformability, is one of three attributes of socio-ecological systems that shape their future trajectories. Growing vulnerability to the effects of decisions taken beyond the region was one of the defining aspects of the political economy of neo-liberalism. The regionalisation of food supply chains noted above can substantially reduce the ecological footprint of agriculture by reducing food miles and CO2 emissions as supply chains shorten and tonne-miles of food moved fall. Novel foods could enable protein to be produced with substantially lower economic and ecological costs.
