For a generation, governments around the world have been committed to sustainable development as a policy goal. This has been supported by an array of new policies ranging from international agreements, to national strategies, environmental laws at many levels of government, regional programs, and local plans. Despite these efforts, decades of scientific monitoring indicate that the world is no closer to environmental sustainability and in many respects the situation is getting worse. This paper argues that a significant contributing factor to this situation is policy implementation failure. A systematic review of the literature reveals that the failure to achieve the intended outcomes of environmental policies is due to economic, political and communication factors. Conflict between the objectives of environmental policies and those focused on economic development, a lack of incentives to implement environmental policies, and a failure to communicate objectives to key stakeholders are all key factors that contribute to the inability to attain environmental sustainability.

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ABSTRACT. In the context of accelerated global change, the concept of resilience, with its roots in ecological theory and complex adaptive systems, has emerged as the favored framework for understanding and responding to the dynamics of change. Its transfer from ecological to social contexts, however, has led to the concept being interpreted in multiple ways across numerous disciplines causing significant challenges for its practical application. The aim of this paper is to improve conceptual clarity within resilience thinking so that resilience can be interpreted and articulated in ways that enhance its utility and explanatory power, not only theoretically but also operationally. We argue that the current confusion and ambiguity within resilience thinking is problematic for operationalizing the concept within policy making. To achieve our aim, we interrogate resilience interpretations used within a number of academic and practice domains in the forefront of contending with the disruptive and sometimes catastrophic effects of global change (primarily due to climate change) on ecological and human-nature systems. We demonstrate evolution and convergence among disciplines in the interpretations and theoretical underpinnings of resilience and in engagement with cross-scale considerations. From our analysis, we identify core conceptual elements to be considered in policy responses if resilience is to fulfill its potential in improving decision making for change. We offer an original classification of resilience definitions in current use and a typology of resilience interpretations. We conclude that resilience thinking must be open to alternative traditions and interpretations if it is to become a theoretically and operationally powerful paradigm.

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When the tide gets high: A review of adaptive responses to sea level rise and coastal floodingClimate change poses significant challenges to coastal cities. Local governments around the world are using various strategies to address sea level rise and coastal flooding.Most of these responses are reactive, developed in an ad hoc manner following a specific event, but there is an increasing recognition of the need for more comprehensive and proactive approaches. Research into the topic reflects practice, with numerous studies of particular locations or strategies providing information in a piecemeal manner lacking in comprehensive evaluations. This paper addresses this gap through a systematic literature review that identifies coastal flooding and sea level rise adaptation practices and evaluates their comparative advantages and disadvantages. The findings identify a major knowledge gap in comparative costs and benefits of alternative adaptation strategies and indicate that coastal climate adaptation needs to be tailored to local characteristics and use a combination of different structural and nonstructural measures to be effective.