Resilience—Now More than Ever

In the northern hemisphere, the cyclone season has just ended, whereas the southern season is beginning. The 2005 Atlantic season was especially severe, as indicated by the increase in total power developed and expended by hurricanes (Emmanuel 2005). Along with an increase in the ferocity of storms, this past year has seen an unprecedented magnitude of impacts from natural disasters, including hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, storms, droughts, and floods. In our most recent editorial, we wrote about the reorganization following the devastating tsunami that occurred just about a year ago in southeast Asia; this time we can point to recovery efforts in the south central United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Worldwide, redevelopment from natural disturbances seems to be more and more frequent (Webster et al. 2005). At the heart of society's ability to adapt and reorganize is the property of resilience (Holling 1973, Gunderson 2000, Carpenter et al. 2001, Adger et al. 2005b).