About Merav Cohen

Merav Cohen is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Her research, conducted in Assoc. Prof. Daniel Orenstein’s Social Ecology Research Group, explores socio-ecological resilience with a focus on the Covid-19 pandemic as a case study. Previously, Merav was a corporate attorney in Tel Aviv in the field of energy and infrastructure, worked on an EU-China collaborative project in Beijing to improve environmental governance in China, and managed a non-profit program in New York promoting sustainability among communities across the US. Merev earned her master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA) from Columbia University in New York, and a bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Linkedin).

Abstract

Covid-19 as a major global disruption to examine socio-ecological resilience theory

What characteristics prepared some communities for the Covid-19 pandemic more than others? This research explores resilience through the lens of social ecology (SE), a discipline that studies the interconnections between society and its natural environment. The complex global impacts of Covid-19, resulting from direct and indirect interactions between the social and biophysical world, provide a rare opportunity to explore how such interactions affect societal resilience, or society’s capacity to endure external shocks/stress like pandemics or climate change. We compare several regions in Europe to examine whether the generalized principles of SE resilience contributed to their capacity to endure and manage the Covid-19 crisis. To this end we utilize the European Long-Term Ecosystem, Critical Zone, and Socio-Ecological Research Infrastructure (eLTER RI), collaborating with scientists who manage regional platforms for conducting holistic, comparative SE research. Combining quantitative data with qualitative public participation processes, we will use fuzzy cognitive mapping to identify possible correlations between the characteristics of the different SE systems, and the impact they endured from Covid-19. This study will expand resilience theory, providing a nuanced understanding of societal resilience factors to inform future research and governance, as well as inform standard observations for long term socio-ecological data collection in the newly established eLTER RI.