Resilience And The Environment

According to (Alwang et al., 2001 cited McAslan 2010) defines resilience as ‘the ability to resist downward pressures and to recover from shock’.
‘The capacity of the damaged ecosystem or community to absorb negative impacts and recover from these’ (Cardona, 2003 cited McAslan 2010). ‘Resilience refers to the capacity of a social-ecological system both to withstand perturbations from for instance climate or economic shocks and to rebuild and renew itself afterwards’ (Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2009 cited McAslan 2010). From a theoretical framework with regards the ecological context of resilience, the concept is applicable in the following aspects; environment, individuals, communities. The applicability of the concept in relation to the above enumerated aspects are briefly discussed below.
Resilience and the environment
Environmentally, resilience has been viewed with the notion of an ecosystem with the capacity to absorb alterations but still able to exist and it is emphasised that resilience and stability are crucial properties of the ecosystem (Holling 1973 cited McAslan 2010).
However, there are two distinct aspects when considering performance of a system and the effectiveness of each

However, the notion of resilience communities is about mitigating weakness of communities through the provision of the appropriate information, knowledge, formation of networks, disseminate community values and empower them with the ability and willingness to adapt (Adger, 2003; Paton & Johnston, 2006; Pendal et al., 2007; Norris et.al, 2007; Mayunga, 2009 cited McAslan 2010). Furthermore, the integration of the concept of resilience into community came about due to the susceptibility of communities during interactions between human systems, the natural environment and the built environment McAslan