Resilience and vulnerability, as well as the related
concepts of adaptation and transformation, are
central concepts in highly influential but somewhat
different ways of framing our analyses of socialecological
change and the challenges of
sustainability (MA 2005, Janssen and Ostrom 2006,
IPCC 2007, Jäger et al. 2007, Schneider et al. 2007).
Although these four concepts are related, in this
paper, we focus in particular on resilience and
vulnerability. Our underlying hypothesis is that a
number of fundamental linkages and complementarities
exist between the two approaches, but that they have
been kept artificially separate by conceptual
constructs, scientific traditions, and lack of
interaction between the two academic communities
involved. Considering the urgency of the challenges
posed by environmental change, we no longer have
the luxury of pursuing purely curiosity-driven
conceptual advances in the study of common
problems along parallel tracks. While still
acknowledging the value of multiple perspectives,
to address pressing real world problems we need to
be better at identifying convergence, seeking
collaboration to advance integrated socialecological
knowledge, and building on the strengths
from different fields.
To further such convergence, it is imperative that
scholars critically reflect on the core concepts
involved, as well as on the ways to use them and the
toolkits they derive from them, to ascertain their
appropriateness in explaining and addressing the
issues at hand. This paper seeks to advance that goal.
The authors argue that, taken singly, each approach
and each research community has so far fallen short
of meeting the needs of sustainable development,
and although interest is rising in policy they remain
largely disconnected from practice. This is
evidenced by the continued lack of integration of
resilience and vulnerability assessment methods
and insights into major national and international
policy and planning initiatives, beyond isolated