socioeconomic and ecological processes are susceptible to external shocks and turbulence which has prompted an approach to sustainability that is less interested in a system s final state than in its resilience defined as its capacity to survive adapt and develop in the face of exogenous changes it is the opposite of vulnerability in this resilience perspective policies for sustainable development aim at enhancing adaptive capacities and inducing behaviours that anticipate future events or trends sustainable development is to be guided by the rio principles of sustainable development unced which include poverty eradication as a priority no