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The Future of Sustainable Tourism in Rhode Island
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Appendix
Resiliency
Resiliency: As an addendum to Kip’s brief luncheon address it seems appropriate
to add a few more fundamental ideas on the topic of resiliency. This concept has
particular relevancy to putting sustainable tourism into action. Here are some
pertinent principles that address changing conditions, competency development,
and projects:
• Diversity: If sustainability is about innovation, then there is no single kind of
solution to resolve sustainability dilemmas. Innovation comes in many disguises
and different kinds of critical thinking needs to be applied to resolve
a range of pressing issues.
• Redundancy: There should be backup plans and alternative ways to accomplish
a task or undertake a project. It’s wise never to rely on a single path of
escape or rescue.
• Decentralization: Centralizing the pursuit of sustainability may give the appearance
of being strong, wise, and in control, but when centralized systems
fail, they fail catastrophically. Decentralization of authority and having everyone
assume oversight and take responsibility, is a wise thing to do.
• Collaboration: Kip Bergstrom kept emphasizing the point that we’re all in
this together. It is important to take advantage of collaborative technologies,
especially those offering shared communication and information.
• Transparency: Systems should be open and transparent. This makes it easier
to figure out where a problem may lie. Sharing plans and preparations,
and listening when people point out flaws is essential.
• Fail gracefully: Disappointments and failure happen, so it is essential to ensure
that a failure state does not make things worse than they are already.
• Flexibility: Reaching the goals for sustainable tourism requires a degree of
readiness to change plans if they are not working as anticipated; sustainability
is a moving target and should never be conceived as a stable state.
• Foresight: We can’t predict the future, but as has been made abundantly
clear throughout this Summit:
Resilience teaches that we must increase our ability to withstand crises. Sustainability
is a brittle state: Unforeseen changes (natural or otherwise) can easily
cause its collapse. Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected.
Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.
Summit Report
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