Extreme events and resilience at different scales

In this talk we highlight the consideration of extreme events for (Earth) system dynamics and sustainable development, as opposed to perspective which mostly perceive gradual changes. We show that climate extremes can contribute to positive carbon-cycle-climate feedbacks and conjeture that extreme events can trigger fast system changes and the instigation of "vicious cycles", illustrating this conceptually with ecosystem-related and societal examples. We further discuss risk cascades, emergent and systemic risks in this context with recent local and more global example. Counter-strategies will also be elaborated. Overall, we propose to consider more strongly risk-aware development and systems thinking in future research and implementation related to extreme events and resilience.