What is resilience?

What is resilience?

An introduction to social-ecological research

  • Introduction

    Resilience is the capacity of a system, be it an individual, a forest, a city or an economy, to deal with change and continue to develop. It is about the capacity to use shocks and disturbances like a financial crisis or climate change to spur renewal and innovative thinking. Resilience thinking embraces learning, diversity and above all the belief that humans and nature are strongly coupled to the point that they should be conceived as one social ecological system.
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  • T.H. Snickars/Azote

    T.H. Snickars/Azote

    Reconnecting to the Biosphere

    1. Linking people and ecosystems

    In our globalized society, there are virtually no ecosystems that are not shaped by people and no people without the need for ecosystems and the services they provide. The problem is that too many of us seem to have disconnected ourselves from nature and forgotten that our economies and societies are fundamentally integrated with the planet and the life-supporting ecosystems that provide us with a hospitable climate, clean water, food, fibers and numerous other goods and services. It is high time we reconnect to the biosphere and start accounting for and governing the capacity of natural capital to sustain development.
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“Resilience thinking is about finding ways to deal with unexpected events and crises and identifying sustainable ways for humans to live within the Earth’s boundaries”