Resilience has become a prominent term utilised in climate and development policy and programming to describe the intersection between disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation and development (Bahadur et al. 2013). Resilience is quickly becoming a catch-all term that promises solutions to the complex and interlacing challenges presented by the climate crisis and failing global sustainable development objectives. However, the term lacks a universal definition, meaning it is often understood and applied differently across disciplines and contexts.

As Pacific Island Countries and Territories continue to face the escalating consequences of the climate crisis, many development partners such as Aotearoa New Zealand are centring the concept of resilience within their objectives towards the Pacific. Aotearoa New Zealand’s 2021 foreign policy direction titled the Resilience Approach, frames resilience as the key to empowering Pacific Island Countries and Territories to navigate the escalating challenges arising from the climate crisis, economic instability and increasing geopolitical pressures. This research analyses the dynamics of climate crisis resilience building within the context of the Aotearoa New Zealand-Pacific partnership. It critically analyses the varying complexities and subjectivities within climate resilience policy and programming discourse, to gain a deeper understanding of its practical impacts within resilience implementation. This research highlights diverging conceptualisations of resilience between Aotearoa-New Zealand and Pacific actors, hidden power dynamics inherent within development partnerships, and challenges involved in translating policy rhetoric into meaningful action.

The central finding of this research is the ‘resilience paradox’ which describes several contradictions present within the Aotearoa New Zealand-Pacific partnership in terms of climate resilience building, and in the broader context of development partnerships. What this paradox illustrates is there is importance in a process of collaborative reflection on what climate crisis resilience means in different contexts and how this understanding can be effectively applied in practice.

The implications of this research suggest that resilience approaches benefit most from being contextually grounded and culturally responsive. There is rich opportunity when partners engage in a collaborative process of shared learning that honours diverse knowledge systems. For genuine resilience outcomes, this research finds that all partners must engage in a process of meaningful transformative change.