A coupled human-natural systems framework of community resilience

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Sociology
• Disaster Management

Background:

• Existing resilience frameworks have limitations in analyzing community-level disaster impacts.
• The human ecosystem model provides a foundation for understanding resource dynamics in social and environmental systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and detail a coupled human-natural systems (CHNS) framework for enhanced community resilience analysis.
• To expand upon the human ecosystem model by incorporating anthropological concepts.
• To identify key variables and research steps for implementing the CHNS framework.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of existing resilience frameworks.
• Integration of the human ecosystem model with anthropological concepts (culture, agency, power, discourse).
• Development of eleven categories of variables influencing community resilience.

Main Results:

• The CHNS framework offers a comprehensive approach to understanding community resilience to disasters.
• Identified commonalities and gaps in current resilience frameworks.
• Proposed a structured approach for applying the CHNS framework in research and practice.

Conclusions:

• The CHNS framework provides a robust tool for predicting system changes post-disaster.
• It enables communities to define and achieve their specific resilience goals.
• Facilitates the identification of targeted resilience measures for diverse community contexts.