ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a variety of perspectives around the argument that sustainable development (SD) can reduce vulnerability and enhance community resilience to hazard events. We first review the relationship between development, especially focusing on various aspects of poverty reduction, vulnerability, and resilience, followed by a discussion of the core principles of sustainable development and its promises. The concepts of sustainable development are often abstract so we introduce the sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA) which creates an explicit model and process of development, allowing planners and practitioners to identify and develop specific approaches for addressing vulnerabilities and enhancing resilience. This is followed by a discussion of sustainability and vulnerability and of sustainability and resiliency. We develop two case examples drawn from the authors’ research in rural tropical regions of northwestern Guatemala and northern Ecuador.
