> Embody resilience through systemic diversity and decentralisation
Close to the principle of building from the bottom up is the principle of decentralisation. Many centres increases the resilience of the whole system, because it reduces dependences and single points of failure. Natural systems maintain function following disturbance by incorporating a variety of duplicate forms, processes, or systems that are not located exclusively together.
The Biomimicry Resource Handbook explains: “Resilience is the capacity of a system to maintain function following a disturbance. In short, it is the ability to recover after adversity. The capacity for resiliency, from bodily organs to ecosystems, often depends on the interconnectedness and functional diversity of multiple systems.
When one system fails or does poorly, others can step in to compensate, either briefly or long term. As the nature of the disturbance is unpredictable, variation in strategies allows for some to endure while others may be lost. Redundancy permits the remaining to continue despite losing some, and decentralisation ensures that independent of where the disturbance falls, not all components will be subject to its impacts.”
The credit commons can be understood as a permaculture landscape of diverse local models interacting with each other, analogous to a natural ecosystem. A variety of locally attuned credit modules interacting in dynamic non-equilibrium is a more resilient structure than the metaphorical monoculture of today’s prevailing monetary system, according to former central banker, Bernard Lietaer.