Analytical framework for assessing the social-ecological system trajectory considering the resilience-vulnerability dynamic interaction in the context of disasters

Abstract

Abstract The relationship between resilience and vulnerability has been a focus in social-ecological systems (SESs) and disaster risk reduction (DRR), and different outcomes have been found. Some scholars argue that resilience and vulnerability are isolated concepts due to their epistemological origin, while others note the existence of a strong resilience-vulnerability relationship. In summary, there is academic debate about 1) resilience as an antonym of vulnerability, 2) resilience as a factor of vulnerability, and 3) resilience as related to but different from vulnerability. Here, we present an analytical framework based on the dynamic resilience-vulnerability interaction throughout the adaptive cycle of complex systems and disaster process phases. To this end, the evolution of resilience and vulnerability concepts is briefly reviewed. This review shows that resilience can be measured as an outcome in terms of recovery or as attributes composed of absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities. Resilience attributes influence vulnerability before, during, and after the disaster, whereas vulnerability influences resilience only after the disturbance when it is measured as an outcome. Our proposal exposes households as SESs whose capital assets are elements that contribute resilience attributes to the system, such as diversity, connectivity, and thresholds, that together constitute the absorptive capacity. We conclude that more than a linear or straightforward relationship, resilience and vulnerability have a dynamic interaction that changes along with the adaptive cycle of SESs and the phases of disasters.