The article explores the potential benefits of adaptive management and community-based resource management in enhancing resilience to climate change. It argues that building resilience into both human and ecological systems is an effective way to cope with environmental changes characterized by future surprises or unknowable risks. The authors review perspectives on collective action for natural resource management and demonstrate the importance of social learning in accepting strategies that build social and ecological resilience. They illustrate these points through a case study of community-based coastal management in Trinidad and Tobago, showing that co-management enhances adaptive capacity by building networks for coping with extreme events and retaining the resilience of underlying resources and ecological systems. The article concludes that reducing social vulnerability through the extension and consolidation of social networks can contribute to increasing ecosystem resilience, which is crucial for dealing with the threats posed by future climate change.The article explores the potential benefits of adaptive management and community-based resource management in enhancing resilience to climate change. It argues that building resilience into both human and ecological systems is an effective way to cope with environmental changes characterized by future surprises or unknowable risks. The authors review perspectives on collective action for natural resource management and demonstrate the importance of social learning in accepting strategies that build social and ecological resilience. They illustrate these points through a case study of community-based coastal management in Trinidad and Tobago, showing that co-management enhances adaptive capacity by building networks for coping with extreme events and retaining the resilience of underlying resources and ecological systems. The article concludes that reducing social vulnerability through the extension and consolidation of social networks can contribute to increasing ecosystem resilience, which is crucial for dealing with the threats posed by future climate change.