Sustainable Development Resilience Research Articles

Understanding resilience in sustainable development: Rallying call or siren song?

AbstractThis article asks how the concept of resilience has been used in development studies. Set amidst the rise of resilience in sustainable development, it offers insights for scholars and policymakers, alike. Sampling 419 journal articles from 2017 to 2022, it uses Kuhnian paradigms to analyse development knowledge production on resilience. This produces three key findings. First is the absence of a coherent resilience paradigm (with shared definitions, problems and methods) in development studies. Second is its use, instead, by incumbent development paradigms in piecemeal fashion to extend and/or repackage pre‐existing arguments. Third are ensuing possibilities for resilience as both a rallying call and siren song in sustainable development. Ultimately, resilience‐based research and policy discourses open vital space for collective action across interdisciplinary and international divides. However, a lack of critical awareness of its non‐uniform use can produce more harm than help. If the language of resilience is to advance collective prospects for development cooperation and climate action, then it will help to know precisely what we each are talking about.

Spatial connection network characteristics and development trend forecast of natural gas industry's sustainable development resilience in China.

Objectively recognizing and improving the sustainable development resilience of China's natural gas industry will help achieve the low-carbon transformation goal of China's energy system. Taking 31 Chinese provinces as the research area, this paper measures the sustainable development resilience (SDR) of China's natural gas industry based on the Drive-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model and entropy method, and integrates the gravity correction model and social network analysis methods to identify the spatial linkages and network patterns among core regions, and further explores the development trend of the SDR of China's natural gas industry using grey model (GM(1,1)) moderated by a variable-weight buffer operator. The results show that: (1) There are significant regional differences in the SDR of the natural gas industry across Chinese provinces. The SDR is a high priority in Shanghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Guangdong and Shandong, while it is low major in Tibet, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Ningxia. (2) The spatial connection network density is low in China's natural gas industry, and the network correlation between provinces is poor. In detail, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong are the core of the entire network and the connection lines between provinces are mainly basic in the whole region with poor connection strength, but there is a trend for the better. (3) The changing trend is significantly different in the SDR of Chinese provinces, and the prediction results show a trend of "polarization" in the SDR index of the provinces in the resource endowment area.

Framework for Mainstreaming Climate Change into African Blue Economy Strategies to Enhance Adaptation, Mitigation, and Resilience in Sustainable Development

Framework for Mainstreaming Climate Change into African Blue Economy Strategies to Enhance Adaptation, Mitigation, and Resilience in Sustainable Development

From risk management to quantitative disaster resilience – a paradigm shift

There are practical links between disaster risk management and sustainable development leading to the reduction of disaster risk and re-enforcing resilience as a new development paradigm. There has been a noticeable change in disaster management approaches, moving from disaster vulnerability to disaster resilience; the latter viewed as a more proactive and positive approach. As hazard is increasing, at the same time, it erodes resilience. In the past, standard disaster management considered arrangements for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and recovery, as well as response. However, over the last 10 years substantial progress has been made in establishing the role of resilience in sustainable development. Multiple case studies around the world reveal links between attributes of resilience and the capacity of complex systems to absorb disturbance while still being able to maintain a certain level of functioning. There is a need to focus more on action-based resilience planning. Disasters do not impact everyone in the same way. It is clear that the problems associated with sustainable human wellbeing call for a paradigm shift. Use of resilience as an appropriate matrix for investigation arises from the integral consideration of overlap between: (a) physical environment (built and natural); (b) social dynamics; (c) metabolic flows; and (d) governance networks. This paper provides an original systems framework for quantification of resilience. The framework is based on the definition of resilience as the ability of systems to absorb disturbance while still being able to continue functioning. The disturbance depends on spatial and temporal perspectives and direct interaction between impacts of disturbance and system adaptive capacity to absorb disturbance.

Quantification of resilience to water scarcity, a dynamic measure in time and space

Abstract. There are practical links between water resources management, climate change adaptation and sustainable development leading to reduction of water scarcity risk and re-enforcing resilience as a new development paradigm. Water scarcity, due to the global change (population growth, land use change and climate change), is of serious concern since it can cause loss of human lives and serious damage to the economy of a region. Unfortunately, in many regions of the world, water scarcity is, and will be unavoidable in the near future. As the scarcity is increasing, at the same time it erodes resilience, therefore global change has a magnifying effect on water scarcity risk. In the past, standard water resources management planning considered arrangements for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and recovery, as well as response. However, over the last ten years substantial progress has been made in establishing the role of resilience in sustainable development. Dynamic resilience is considered as a novel measure that provides for better understanding of temporal and spatial dynamics of water scarcity. In this context, a water scarcity is seen as a disturbance in a complex physical-socio-economic system. Resilience is commonly used as a measure to assess the ability of a system to respond and recover from a failure. However, the time independent static resilience without consideration of variability in space does not provide sufficient insight into system's ability to respond and recover from the failure state and was mostly used as a damage avoidance measure. This paper provides an original systems framework for quantification of resilience. The framework is based on the definition of resilience as the ability of physical and socio-economic systems to absorb disturbance while still being able to continue functioning. The disturbance depends on spatial and temporal perspectives and direct interaction between impacts of disturbance (social, health, economic, and other) and adaptive capacity of the system to absorb disturbance. Utility of the dynamic resilience is demonstrated through a single-purpose reservoir operation subject to different failure (water scarcity) scenarios. The reservoir operation is simulated using the system dynamics (SD) feedback-based object-oriented simulation approach.