Vulnerability, capacity and resilience: Perspectives for climate and development policy

Abstract

In the decades since the terms 'vulnerability', 'capacity' and 'resilience' became popular in both the disaster and development literatures, through natural and social science discourses, the terms have been applied to many development- and disaster-related policies and have been the subject of much debate and interpretation amongst various schools of thought. An illustrative review of the use of these terms is given followed by a critique of the main discourses, especially regarding the development and disaster policy advantages and disadvantages. Recommendations are given at different scales for closing some of the gaps identified, especially regarding the policy usefulness of certain theoretical approaches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adaptive governance and managing resilience to natural hazards

“…The concept of resilience has been developed, adopted, and interpreted differently in different fields of study (Djalante and Thomalla 2011). It was originally developed in the field of ecology (Holling 1973) and subsequently in engineering (Wildavsky 1991), socialecological systems (Folke 2006), natural hazards (see, for example, Paton and Johnston 2006;Tierney and Bruneau 2007), development studies (Gaillard 2010), psychology (Crittenden 1985;Norris et al 2008;Van Vliet 2008), and is now used widely in the media. It is increasingly associated with research in vulnerability, and adaptive capacity (Gallopín 2006;Miller et al 2010).…”

Differentiated legitimacy, differentiated resilience: beyond the natural in ‘natural disasters’

“…For example the World Bank doubled its lending for irrigation between the periods 2000-2005-2010(You et.al 2011. Much of this renewed support has been in the form of the rehabilitation of former schemes and, importantly, of greater attention to the institutions that are charged with scheme management.…”

“…Among these, prior social differentiation is important, as is a critical analysis of the processes through which legitimacy is formed and exercised and differentiation is increased through commodification Vulnerability is often seen as the reverse face of resilience, implying a lack of resilience, or something that can be reduced by increasing resilience (e.g. Berkes 2007; Gaillard 2010;Manyena 2006;Norris et al 2008).…”

Unpacking Resilience for Adaptation: Incorporating Practitioners’ Experiences through a Transdisciplinary Approach to the Case of Drought in Chile

“…To build resilience, flexible and adaptable decision-making processes are required and should be materialized within a governance framework in which multiple groups participate and cooperate in a more decentralized manner [22,65,66]. To enhance resilience, partnership initiatives and collaborative approaches are required to ensure multi-level, multi-sector, and cross-scale networks between actors and agencies that bring these together for mutual benefit [67].…”