Loss of water system resilience

ScienceDaily has a story on possible "ecosystem flipping" in water systems. Traditionally water management focused on "blue water", which includes water bodies that are easy to perceive, such as rivers and lakes. It is argued that water managers have long ignored "green water", whose cycles are not readily observable yet are essential for the function of ecosystems. It is pointed out that

Modern agriculture and land-use practices may lead to major disruptions of the world's water flows, with potentially sudden and dire consequences for regions least able to cope with them[...]

Soil nutrient as a slow variable is being changed due to agriculture practices, and that may cause a sudden ecosystem flip when it reaches a threshold. Yet it is difficult to tell where the threshold is. The original article claims that the most vulnerable area may be poor dryland areas. Using the "ball in the bowl" analogy, one can say that the domain of attraction for the current system is small and shallow. Modern agriculture may have contributed to the situation. But would it be better if the old way of planting crops remains? Would it jeopardise other aspects of the system? The adoption of modern agriculture can be seen as a necessary step to take when the system transits from r to K phase in the adaptive cycle. The task now is to prevent the system from collapsing in the next phase.

To build the resilience, or to build the capacity of adaptation is probably the key. Both call for more flexible mechanisms. This would be difficult for a system in K phase. Some local measures are feasible, but the change of the whole system may depend on external aid. There are other systems yet at the dawn of r phase. Is it possible to focus the accumulation of capital on resilience in order to facilitate the transition and reconstruction in the Ω phase?

By the way, it seems there are too few influential people in the resilience study circle. Buzz Holling, Garry Peterson mentioned in the article, and Brian Walker, they are about all and share almost the same opinion. Perhaps we can say the resilience researchers as a community is not resilient due to lack of diversity.