Climate & Environment

Resilience

The capacity of a system — ecosystem, community, economy, infrastructure — to absorb disturbance, adapt and continue to function.

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Definition

Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance, reorganise and adapt while retaining essentially the same function, structure and identity. Originating in ecology (C.S. Holling's 1973 work distinguishing stability from persistence), the concept now spans engineering (resistance and recovery), community and disaster risk reduction, organisational resilience, and climate adaptation.

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