Environmental disaster analysis: case study using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method

ABSTRACT

The characterization of environmental systems as linear and predictable has being questioned, once it is not sufficient to explain events and dramatic changes. In these sense, the complexity approach is an alternative to traditional analytical models. In this work, an environmental disaster occurred in 2006, involving death of fishes in Rio dos Sinos, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, is addressed. The case was re-analyzed using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM), which currently has being used for investigation of accidents in complex socio-technical systems. This is the first application of FRAM in a socio-ecological system. FRAM allowed the observation that system’s outputs encountered in the disaster moment are the same founded in a normal situation, the difference was the magnitude of these outputs in each function. Actions are proposed aiming to prevent similar disasters, based on the FRAM, and a discussion regarding the utility of this method in socio-ecological systems is approached.

Keywords:
socio-ecological systems; environmental management; variability; Functional Resonance Analysis Method