ABSTRACT
Resilience thinking uses a systems approach to organizing social-ecological phenomena to understand how and why they change over time. This approach provides the foundation for the key theoretical concepts of panarchy and the Adaptive Cycle. The historical evolution of the goals, capabilities, and functions of community collaborations on Gili Trawangan from a resilience systems perspective shows how effective collaboration during the (re)organization stage of the adaptive cycle is essential for managing changing in a developing tropical island context, where effective central government are often lacking. Gili Trawangan is the largest in land area and population of three small coral islands that comprise the village of Gili Indah. Several external drivers of change have impacted Gili Trawangan's coral reef ecosystem, including overfishing and illegal fishing practices, increasing numbers of tourists, warming ocean temperatures, and strong tropical storms.
