In recent years the term "resilience" has emerged as a powerful concept for the analysis of adaptation to the threats to society and environment. It is now widely adopted in policy circles as a key pillar of sustainable development. This comprehensive handbook examines key features of social and ecological resilience in the context of emerging trends such as population growth, urbanisation, environmental degradation and a globalised market.


The book reviews the conceptual origins of resilience and the key theoretical framing of resilience. In an unpredictable world that consists of vulnerabilities and risks, many people remain poor, marginalized, discriminated against and dependent on powerful elites. Given these circumstances, chapters show how resilience can help us to better understand ways that societies and institutions can continue to develop under stress for the benefit of human as well as biophysical systems. In particular, given that societies' needs and ecological boundaries are often seen to be in conflict, it is explained how resilience be used as a key concept to reconcile these differences. It can thus help to reformulate thinking about ecological governance and management formulations that are narrow and lack innovation and trigger ideas for creative transformation in society and environmental management.


Written by leading international authorities, the volume represents a definitive overview and systematic evaluation of resilience as both a suitable theoretical lens and an operational concept through which to rethink relationships between society and environment.