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Community Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Global South

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 5328

Special Issue Editors

School of Social Sciences and Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Interests: Community resilience; climate adaptation; agrarian change and natural resource management
Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, The University of the South Pacific, Marine Campus, Suva, Fiji
Interests: Community climate risk management; food security resilience; mainstreaming climate change and disaster risk reduction in community development planning processes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The critical analysis of the resilience/development nexus has persisted as an ecologically derived concept that has been applied to social domains to explain socio-ecological interactions (Davidson et al., 2016). Community resilience involves a community’s resource and their ability to mobilise them to thrive and adapt to change (Magis, 2010). Sustainable livelihood development refers to livelihoods that can cope with and recover from shocks without undermining the natural resource base (Chambers and Conway, 1992); livelihood outcomes are shaped by vulnerability contexts, assets (capitals), and the structures and processes that transform them (Scoones, 1998). Both resilience and sustainable livelihood development are central topics in development praxis, particularly with global environmental concerns such as climate change.

Past criticisms of resilience from development scholars have included the lack of attention on issues of agency, power, and engagement (e.g., Brown 2016, Brown and Westaway 2011). These are, among other concepts, central to community development practice (Cavaye and Ross, 2019). More recent debates centre on whether resilience should be used as a normative concept (i.e., an outcome), or as a descriptive one, enabling contextualisation and resilience building (see Bene et al., 2014; Thoren and Olsson, 2018; and Wilson and Wilson, 2019). Further theoretical discussions have questioned the links between resilience and vulnerability, which is often associated with poverty, and therefore livelihood development. Resilience may sometimes be strengthened by supressing some “wants, hopes, and aspirations” as an acceptable trade-off for survival. This addresses concerns about the non-linear nature of wellbeing development, poverty, and survival that are ever present in the context of the Global South (Barrett and Constas 2014). Cavaye and Ross (2019) make a case for research on resilience building in settings with different values, notions of inclusion, and of equity. In this context, voices from the Global South are not strong in academic discourse.   

Against this backdrop, Sustainability is announcing a Special Issue dedicated to the topics of community resilience and sustainable livelihood development. This Special Issue will provide an outlet for cutting-edge praxis research by scholars who contribute insight into theoretical development in these domains.

We invite disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary analyses that address the boundaries of community resilience and sustainable livelihood development in the Global South. We are particularly interested in scholarly analyses, especially rigorous case study analyses, that generate novel and innovative insights around the following questions:

  • Could resilience be a meta-narrative for integrative development praxis?
  • What are the strengths and limitations of normative and descriptive depictions of resilience in promoting livelihood development?
  • How does context (geo-political, socio-economic, and cultural) influence the interpretation of community resilience and sustainable livelihood development?
  • What wants, hopes, and aspirations (e.g., justice, equity, rights, empowerment, self-determination, and inclusion) are being sacrificed to sustain livelihoods and build resilience in the Global South?
  • Can the persistence, adaptation, and transformation of livelihoods be simultaneously supported for resilient development?
  • What is the role of community- and ecosystem-based adaptation in community resilience and sustainable livelihood development?
Dr. Chris Jacobson
Mr. Viliamu Iese
Guest Editors

References

Barrett, C.B. and Constas, M.A. (2014). Towards a theory of resilience for international development applications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(40), 14625-14630.

Benne, C., Newsham, A., Davies, M., Ulrich, M., Godfrey-Wood, R. (2014). Resilience, poverty and development. Journal of International Development, 26(5), 598-623.

Brown, K. (2016). Resilience, development and global change. Routledge: New York

Brown, K., & Westaway, E. (2011). Agency, capacity and resilience to environmental change: lessons from human development, well-being and disasters. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 36, 321-342.

Cavaye, J., & Ross, H. (2019). Community resilience and community development: What mutual opportunities arise from interactions between the two concepts?. Community Development, 50(2), 181-200,

Chambers, R. & Conway, R. (1992). Sustainable rural livelihoods: Practical concepts for the 21st century. IDS discussion paper, No. 296. pp.127-130.

Davidson, J. L., Jacobson,C., Lyth, A., Dedekorkut-Howes, A., Baldwin, C.L., Ellison, J.C.,  Holbrook, N.J., Howes, M.J., Serrao-Neumann, S., Singh-Peterson, L. & Smith, T.F. (2016). Interrogating resilience: toward a typology to improve its operationalization. Ecology and Society 21(2):27.

Magis, K. (2010). Community resilience: an indicator of social sustainability. Society and Natural Resources 23(5):401-416

Scoones, I. (1998). Sustainable Rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis. IDS working papers 72. ISBN 1859642248.

Thorén, H. & Olsson, L. (2018). Is resilience a normative concept? Resilience 6(2): 112-128.

Wilson, G.A.& Wilson, O.J. (2019). Assessing the resilience of human systems: a critical evaluation of universal and contextual resilience variables. Resilience 7(2):126-148.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 3700 KiB  
Article
Exploring Vulnerability–Resilience–Livelihood Nexus in the Face of Climate Change: A Multi-Criteria Analysis for Mongla, Bangladesh
by Nur Mohammad Ha-Mim, Md. Zakir Hossain, Khan Rubayet Rahaman and Bishawjit Mallick
Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 7054; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12177054 - 29 Aug 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4049
Abstract
This article illustrates the critical findings of an empirical investigation of resilience, vulnerability, and livelihood nexus in one of the worst cyclone-affected sub-districts “Mongla” in Bangladesh. Results obtained from the survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 explore the co-existence of climate change vulnerability [...] Read more.
This article illustrates the critical findings of an empirical investigation of resilience, vulnerability, and livelihood nexus in one of the worst cyclone-affected sub-districts “Mongla” in Bangladesh. Results obtained from the survey conducted in 2018 and 2019 explore the co-existence of climate change vulnerability and resilience at the rural household level. Additionally, the study identifies the role of assets (e.g., land, cash, and livestock) in order to enhance the resilience of poor inhabitants. Quantitative data have been collected using structured and semi-structured interviews. The outcome of the study demonstrates that the relationships between vulnerability and resilience are very complex and exist in the study area. An exciting outcome has revealed that in some places, more vulnerable people exhibit higher resilience capacity and vice versa. Furthermore, this research emphasizes that local livelihood systems may be improved if appropriate policies are considered by local government organizations in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. Consequently, the local citizens have to play their critical role to assist government policies in order to enhance resilience at the community level. Moreover, local residents can have a better understanding of their livelihood issues in the face of climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Community Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Global South)
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