Integrated policies for environmental resilience and sustainability

Policies for resilience against disasters use forecasts for short and longer term environment hazards, both natural and artificial. Although the methods used are increasing in reliability, significant uncertainties remain in the underpinning science and in the data. The vulnerability of communities to environmental risk is increasing because of economic and social factors, which also need to be better understood. This paper shows why, over the long term, engineering, medical and social policies for improving resilience are most effective when they are firmly linked to those for sustainable development. Policies need to be coordinated globally to meet agreed United Nations objectives and also to ensure that environmental actions in one region can benefit and do not damage sustainable development in other areas. Analyses and simulations of emerging and other possible scenarios, using economics and complex systems modelling, can test and propose strategies for resilience and sustainability, including the merits of different types of integration. This approach provides new insights for public discussion and decision making. There are new ways that universities, research institutes, non-governmental organisations and the private sector can contribute to multi-disciplinary technical advances and to promoting public participation in the complex changes affecting communities everywhere.