Fifteen Weddings and a Funeral: Case Studies and Resilience-based Management

Abstract

"Resilience theory" is a systematic methodology for understanding the dynamics of coupled social-ecological systems (SESs). Its ongoing development requires that resilience theory be confronted with case studies to assess its capacity to help understand and develop policy for SESs. This paper synthesizes the findings from several papers in the special feature "Exploring Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems" that do just this. It then highlights key challenges facing resilience as a theory for understanding SESs and provides some avenues for future research.

Keywords

• resilience
• social-ecological systems
• resource management