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Reconciling well-being and resilience for sustainable development

Nature Sustainability volume 5, pages 287–293 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Securing well-being and building resilience in response to shocks are often viewed as key goals of sustainable development. Here, we present an overview of the latest published evidence, as well as the consensus of a diverse group of scientists and practitioners drawn from a structured analytical review and deliberative workshop process. We argue that resilience and well-being are related in complex ways, but in their applications in practice they are often assumed to be synergistic. Although theoretically compatible, evidence we present here shows that they may in fact work against each other. This has important implications for policy.

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Fig. 1: Hoping for synergies when aiming for resilience and well-being.

Emma Wood

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Acknowledgements

This Perspective results from the ESPA Insights into Resilience and Wellbeing: Research Frontiers for Sustainable Development project (NE/P008321/1) funded by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme. The ESPA programme is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK

    Tomas Chaigneau

  2. School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Sarah Coulthard

  3. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Tim M. Daw & Belinda Reyers

  4. European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter, Truro, UK

    Lucy Szaboova

  5. University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK

    Laura Camfield

  6. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    F. Stuart Chapin III

  7. International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Des Gasper

  8. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Georgina G. Gurney

  9. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Christina C. Hicks

  10. Colchester Borough Council, Colchester, UK

    Maggie Ibrahim

  11. Met Office, Exeter, UK

    Thomas James

  12. London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Lindsey Jones

  13. Global Resilience Partnership, Stockholm, Sweden

    Nathanial Matthews

  14. Practical Action, Rugby, UK

    Colin McQuistan

  15. Future Africa, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Belinda Reyers

  16. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Katrina Brown

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  1. Tomas Chaigneau
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Contributions

T.C. and K.B. led the writing of the paper, and T.M.D., S.C. and L.S. were part of the core writing team. All authors contributed to conceptualization and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tomas Chaigneau.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Sustainability thanks Thomas Dietz and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Chaigneau, T., Coulthard, S., Daw, T.M. et al. Reconciling well-being and resilience for sustainable development. Nat Sustain 5, 287–293 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00790-8

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