Climate & Environment
Resilience
Definition
Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance, reorganise and adapt while retaining essentially the same function, structure and identity. Originating in ecology (C.S. Holling's 1973 work distinguishing stability from persistence), the concept now spans engineering (resistance and recovery), community and disaster risk reduction, organisational resilience, and climate adaptation.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
How it is used
The term structures adaptation frameworks (Sendai, national adaptation plans), urban resilience programmes, supply chain risk management and development programming on resilient livelihoods.
Why it matters
In a world of intensifying shocks, resilience is the difference between disruption and collapse — and increasingly the organising concept for climate adaptation.