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Perspectives on Resilience to Disasters across Sectors and Cultures

Brian Walker, CSIRO Ecosystem Science, Australia
Frances Westley, Institute for Complexity and Innovation

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Abstract

We present some insights on the use and interpretation of resilience ideas that arose in a conference on “Society’s Resilience in Withstanding Disaster.” Three points in particular have relevance for those interested in resilience in social-ecological systems: (1) Time as a threshold vs. avoiding quick fixes; (2) Trading risks: specified vs. general resilience; (3) Response origination: building local general resilience, and general resilience in central agencies. In the latter the need is to allow improvisation, and failure, during times of crisis.

Key words

disasters; resilience; risk

Ecology and Society. ISSN: 1708-3087