Resilience is the capacity of natural and human systems to anticipate, absorb, recover from, and adapt to various threats, while maintaining or improving their core functions. It encompasses the ability to withstand and respond to disturbances across multiple dimensions. CORE’s Resilience Index measures the change in perceived resilience of people and communities across four dimensions: 1. Climate Hazard Resilience: The potential occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event or trend or physical impact that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts as well damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provisions, ecosystems and environmental resources (e.g. flooding, drought, sea-level rise, impact of storm surges and waves, land slippage etc.). 2. Habitat Quality Resilience: Ecological condition or habitat quality describes the state of ecological systems, which includes their physical, chemical and biological characteristics as defined by the processes and interactions that connect them. The ability of ecosystems to maintain or regain their functionality and biodiversity despite environmental stressors, such as pollution, habitat fragmentation, and invasive species. This involves conserving or restoring ecosystem services that provide natural defenses against disturbances, such as wetlands for flood protection or forests for carbon sequestration. 3. Social Resilience: The capability of communities to withstand social challenges, including disruptions to health, safety, education, and social cohesion, that can arise from environmental or economic stresses. This dimension of resilience is bolstered by social networks, local leadership, and access to resources that support well-being. Economic Resilience: The ability of economies to cope with, recover from, and adapt to shocks such as market fluctuations, resource scarcity, or economic downturns. This includes diversifying income sources, fostering innovation, and building financial safety nets to reduce dependency on vulnerable industries. 4. Durability: The skills, knowledge, and resources (including financial resources) available to individuals and communities to modify their behaviour or infrastructure in response to evolving risks. Adaptive capacity emphasizes learning from past experiences, integrating traditional and scientific knowledge, and engaging in proactive planning to improve long-term sustainability. Teams can rate their project’s performance in each dimension using scores from a range of -1 to +1. A negative score denotes a very vulnerable condition in each dimension, a 0 denotes no change in the condition of a dimension, and a positive score denotes less vulnerability in the condition of a dimension.
