First - what do the indicators of resilience really measure? Second, what do you mean by sustainability of a socio-economic system? How do you measure it? I have seen many articles on something they refer to as 'sustainability'. But very very few define it rigorously and even fewer propose a method of formally measuring it. If you can't define something, and even have no measure for it, how can you say whether any change has decreased or increased it?

If you are assessing the stability of a system in this way, you have to be absolutely clear what dimensions you are using to measure sustainability, and under what conditions. I think what you are trying to do is interesting - but to give your results real impact, do please try to include more formal definitions of the parameters that you are using, like resilience and sustainability. They are difficult terms, I agree, but they do need specifying as well as you can, so everyone knows exactly what you are trying to do, and what your results mean.

Hi Jhoanna, hopefully these will help elaborate.

-Steve

Resilience is defined as the ability of people, households, communities, countries and systems to mitigate, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth. In terms of socio-ecological, the concept of resilience aims to measure the capacity of a system in absorbing the changes results from the human activities; while in the sense of sustainability, the concept focuses on assessing whether there is a balance among the three major pillars (socio, economic, and environmental). To some extant, I think resilience is a concept that somehow comprehend the concept of sustainability and not replacing it. Therefore, I think the indicators of resilience and sustainability are some how sharing the similarity, and thus, can be used interchangeably.

Please find some articles on resilience indicators as attached. Hope that they are of useful to your study.

Dear Johanna,

You've asked a very important question. I think as the others have so rightly pointed out, the concepts of sustainability and resilience are not always mutualistic. From a normative viewpoint, especially in the sustainable development discourse, the two concepts are seen as complimentary and desired attributes in coupled social-environmental systems. I can recommend you to take a look at the following two publication with a more detailed discussion in this area.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Ali

Article Advancing Quantification Methods of Sustainability: A Critic...

Article Advancing Empirical Approaches to the Concept of Resilience:...

Dear Jhoanna Santiago,

Interesting question. In the context of the growing importance of the issue of implementing the principles of sustainable development, social environmental (ecological) responsibility, pro-ecological reforms of implementing eco-innovations in economic processes, etc., and the pro-ecological transformation of the economy to a sustainable green economy / circular economy, the assessment and measurement of the sustainability of the socio-ecological system can be very helpful in the context of examining the above-mentioned issues. However, the key issue is to clarify the functionality and define a system of resilience indicators to be used to assess and measure the sustainability of the socio-ecological system.

Best regards,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

In my new paper, I discuss resilience on multiple levels. One of these levels is the resilience of our planet. You could certainly argue that resilience on this level is closely related to sustainability. I believe that social-ecological resilience theory is quite powerful to guide change. This could also be about change that will put our planet back on track. See my paper:Article Dancing the Supply Chain: Toward Transformative Supply Chain...