ABSTRACT
This chapter presents instructive lessons that characterize the experiences of local communities in developing adaptive capacities to environmental changes and disasters. It describes resilience building as being conditional upon the interconnectedness of stakeholders and the establishment of robust frameworks that enable rapid self-organization in the face of crises, and lesson-building in their aftermath. The question as to how tourism communities can respond to environmental change remains local, given that, whatever the repercussions are, it is they who encounter them firsthand. Maintaining robust human social networks is paramount, as is the ability of stakeholders to mobilize and self-organize from the bottom-up in crisis situations. The extent to which adaptive responses are effective also rests on the ability of stakeholders to mobilize and self-organize from the bottom-up in crisis situations. This is especially relevant where a diminished supply of essential ecosystems services has a widespread impact beyond smaller segments of the community.
