ABSTRACT
This chapter examines notions of coastal communities, the role of institutional diversity and sense of place in resilience and adaptation to change through a case study of the coastal wetland Delta du Rhone Biosphere Reserve in France, where a large number of different stakeholders live in close interaction with each other. It explores how these interactions, and a range of social, institutional and economic processes, unfold in the context of a social-ecological system of which all biosphere reserves are examples. The chapter describes the context and motivation for the ensuing study, beginning with some background on biosphere reserves. It presents our quantitative work, with special attention to the use of a community participation index, representing social resilience in the context of biosphere reserves. The chapter draws on this analysis to present the case study of the Delta du Rhone Biosphere Reserve.
