6. Relationships among people and with nature build resilience

Relationships are the roots of resilience

The relationships people have with the world around them take many forms. People connect with each other through care, exchange, and learning. They develop strong ties to the natural world through leisure and commerce. Organisations work together across sectors and regions. Ecosystems are comprised of species movements and energy flows. Farmers, fishers, and gardeners can develop strong ties to local ecosystems as they tend to their environment in an uncertain world. When disaster strikes, individuals and communities rely on personal relationships and external networks for support and recovery. The resilience of any system—whether a community, a forest, or a city—depends not only on what or who is connected but also on the quality of those connections. Strong, reciprocal relationships underpin vital elements of resilience: information flows, support, trust, and materials. These relationships also help to protect against shocks, foster learning, and coordinate action.

Stronger together: resilience through social ties

Social connections between people, households, communities, and organisations are a source of resilience. In times of stability, they help people access resources and opportunities. In times of crisis, these relationships become lifelines. Disaster research shows that both existing and new relationships play a crucial role in response and recovery efforts by offering emotional support, sharing knowledge, and coordinating action. Investing in social capital before a disaster occurs—promoting the trust, norms, values, and networks that are necessary for close and distant groups to connect— strengthens the collective capacity people and systems need to respond to uncertainty and shocks. Recognising and protecting positive social ties is an essential part of resilience. Policies and interventions should avoid disrupting positive relationships and instead find ways to strengthen them, especially those that make connections across different scales and levels of decision-making. Trusted leaders can help build and mobilise these connections. Unfortunately, the benefits of social networks are not always shared equally. Discrimination, exclusion, and power imbalances often undermine cooperation and thwart efforts at relationship-building, risking the further marginalisation of already vulnerable groups (see Must-Know #9).

Connecting people and nature

The human relationship with nature matters deeply. For people like farmers, pastoralists, or fishers, resilience comes from years of living with, observing, interacting with, and adapting to the natural world. These relationships are shaped by local knowledge, cultural practices, and the informal rules that govern how people manage ecosystems and respond to change. Research shows that communities with a strong relationship to nature respond better to environmental change. In the fishing communities on the Papua New Guinea islands, some fishers observed how different fish species adapted to environmental change. When they shared this knowledge with others, they created a new collective wisdom that helped the whole community to adapt and start fishing in new ways. These individuals, with their deep connections to nature, made transformative action possible. These strong social-ecological connections are a powerful tool for resilience and should be protected and encouraged. Even in cities, where daily life is more separate from the rhythms of the natural world, human relationships with nature are important. They support mental and physical health, strengthen ecological values, and drive environmental action. Urban residents can strengthen social-ecological connections through nature-based education, cultural practices, or outdoor experiences in local parks and gardens. In our rapidly urbanising world, investing in ways to nurture these connections should be a particular priority.

Keep nature connected

Ecosystems also benefit from relationships and being connected. Ecological connectivity is essential because it sustains the natural systems that underpin human well-being. Connectivity ensures species can move and adapt so that they can access the resources they need to survive, even when natural conditions change. Connectivity maintains genetic diversity and supports key services like pollination and clean water. Protecting a single species or an isolated patch of nature does not allow these connections to flourish. Efforts should be made to protect entire ecosystems. This includes restoring damaged environments, fostering biodiversity (see Must-Know #5), and ensuring the connectivity of landscapes and seascapes. Such efforts strengthen both nature and people, providing food security, enhancing resilience to climate change, and creating a healthier biosphere.

The paradox of connectivity

While connectivity is often beneficial, too much of it—especially across long distances— can threaten resilience and create new risks. Hyperconnectivity, driven by global trade infrastructures and land-use changes, has tightly linked the fates of highly dispersed regions. Disruptions within these co-dependent systems can have a ripple effect across borders. Just as isolated systems can collapse when faced with a challenge, systems that are too tightly linked, lacking redundancy or sufficient buffers, can suffer a cascading cycle of failure when things go wrong. Deforestation in one region can reduce rainfall in downwind regions. Global food systems can spread pests and diseases across borders. The 2008 global financial crisis demonstrates how disruption to a small number of tightly interconnected banks using a similar risk-management model allowed shocks to spread across the global financial system. Connectivity can also cause harm when connections are imposed. For instance, colonial powers forced global connections that destroyed local languages, cultures, and relationships with nature, undermining deeply rooted resilience. Building resilience, therefore, means striking a balance between connection and autonomy. Communities need the space to self-organise, make their own decisions, and adapt in ways that reflect their unique environments. Strong local agency—paired with well-thought-out regional and global connections—is key to navigating an increasingly interconnected and uncertain world.