One of the major challenges of our time is dealing with sustainability challenges in a world that is constantly and rapidly changing resulting from exogenous drivers of change (Wals, 2007). These exogenous drivers of change can be both natural catastrophes (e.g., tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) and anthropogenic (e.g., climate change, globalisation, urbanisation, migration) (Wilson, 2012). In accordance to Wals and Rodela (2014, p.1) “sustainable development is not a destiny one can eventually reach, but rather a continuous learning path towards a state that is more desirable than the one currently in prospect” it is indispensable for communities to develop adaptive or transformative capacities to deal with this constant change, i.e. to become resilient. Berkes and Armitage (2010, p.110) define adaptive capacities as “the ability of an individual or group (i.e., community) to cope with, prepare for, and/or adapt to disturbance and uncertain social-ecological conditions” while transformative capacities refer to the capacity to transform systems within a process of change and to develop new systems towards sustainability (Walker, et. al., 2004). Adaptive or transformative capacities to develop resilience are captured in ‘Community Capitals Framework’ (CCF) of Flora and Emery (2006), which is used in several researches to look at community change from a systems perspective (e.g., Buikstra, et al., 2010; Guttierez-Montes, et al., 2009; Magis, 2010) Those community capitals are community resources that are invested in collective endeavours to address shared community goals. The framework considers the mutual influences between human and material capitals in communities. Although these collective capitals are required in dealing with change, these in itself are insufficient (Magis, 2010). Human agents in communities also need to take action in response to change by deploying the capitals. However, within resilience-theories the emphasis lays on capacities and agency, less attention is given to the complexity of human agency. Even more, the role of social structure and power dynamics in the decision-making process and action taking are not included (Berkes & Ross, 2013; Davidson, 2010; Hatt, 2013). Therefore, the actor-system-dynamics theory (ASD) of Tom R. Burns (1985) appears to be significant. Burns (1985) developed the ASD-theory to link the concept of social agents to structural approaches. Burns’ framework offers an explanation for the interactions among agents, which are conditioned by social structures but at the same time elaborate and reform such structures trough their interactions. A comparable viewpoint can be found in Woodhill’s (2002, p. 63) concept of societal learning, which he defines as “processes by which society democratically adapts its core institutions to cope with social and ecological change in ways that will optimise the collective well-being of current and future generations”. Collective well-being is comprehended in accordance to Sen’s (2001) five dimensions of freedom: 1) political freedoms, 2) economic facilities, 3) social opportunities, 4) transparency guarantees, and 5) protective security.  These collective goods contribute to the individual well-being of the members of the community.

Consequently, following questions are put forward: which assets are available in forest dependent communities? How do human agents within forest dependent communities transform their assets into capitals? How do forest dependent communities apply their capitals and take actions in response to change? Is there a process of societal learning in the forest dependent communities? How can the capacities of forest dependent communities be strengthened in a context of sustainability from an actor-system-dynamics and societal learning viewpoint? 

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