Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Dec 6;13(12):1211.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph13121211.

Community Capitals as Community Resilience to Climate Change: Conceptual Connections

Shaikh Mohammad Kais  1 , Md Saidul Islam  2
Affiliations

Community Capitals as Community Resilience to Climate Change: Conceptual Connections

Shaikh Mohammad Kais et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

In the last few decades, disaster risk reduction programs and climate initiatives across the globe have focused largely on the intimate connections between vulnerability, recovery, adaptation, and coping mechanisms. Recent focus, however, is increasingly paid to community resilience. Community, placed at the intersection between the household and national levels of social organization, is crucial in addressing economic, social, or environmental disturbances disrupting human security. Resilience measures a community's capability of bouncing back-restoring the original pre-disaster state, as well as bouncing forward-the capacity to cope with emerging post-disaster situations and changes. Both the 'bouncing back' and 'moving forward' properties of a community are shaped and reshaped by internal and external shocks such as climate threats, the community's resilience dimensions, and the intensity of economic, social, and other community capitals. This article reviews (1) the concept of resilience in relation to climate change and vulnerability; and (2) emerging perspectives on community-level impacts of climate change, resilience dimensions, and community capitals. It argues that overall resilience of a place-based community is located at the intersection of the community's resilience dimensions, community capitals, and the level of climate disruptions.

Keywords: climate change; community capital; community resilience; environment; vulnerability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Major types of resilience (based on the nature of the system).
Figure 2
Figure 2
A conceptual model for climate change, community resilience and community capitals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abramson D.M., Grattan L.M., Mayer B., Colten C.E., Arosemena F.A., Bedimo-Rung A., Lichtveld M. The Resilience Activation Framework: A Conceptual Model of How Access to Social Resources Promotes Adaptation and Rapid Recovery in Post-disaster Settings. J. Behav. Health Serv. Res. 2015;42:42–57. doi: 10.1007/s11414-014-9410-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Skerratt S. Enhancing the analysis of rural community resilience: Evidence from community land ownership. J. Rural Stud. 2013;31:36–46. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2013.02.003. - DOI
    1. Skerratt S., Steiner A. Working with communities-of-place: Complexities of empowerment. Local Econ. 2013;28:320–338. doi: 10.1177/0269094212474241. - DOI
    1. Steiner A., Markantoni M. Unpacking community resilience through Capacity for Change. Community Dev. J. 2014;49:407–425. doi: 10.1093/cdj/bst042. - DOI
    1. IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) Understanding Community Resilience and Program Factors that Strengthen Them: A Comprehensive Study of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies Tsunami Operation. IFRC; Geneva, Switzerland: 2012.

LinkOut - more resources