The concept of resilience focuses on the elements that reduce vulnerability. The higher the resilience (less damage and effective recovery), the lower the vulnerability. Conversely, the higher the vulnerability, the lower the resilience (more exposure to loss and damage).

Resilience refers to the ability and capacity to withstand, recover and adapt from stress. As such, it is a measure of how much disturbance from a changing climate a system or community can handle without losing its functionality. This implies that a council has the ability to anticipate and plan according to projected and current climate events. Therefore, the ability to avoid potential damage will be a critical factor in increasing resilience to a changing climate.