Why is climate change adaptation so hard?

The importance of deepening community engagement

Recent weeks have seen some dramatic examples of the impact of climate change and severe weather events as high winds, floods and wildfires wreak havoc in many towns and cities around the world. These are but the latest in a series of weather and climate-related catastrophes which have caused widespread damage and economic and social disruption. Despite these warnings towns and cities still seem to find it hard to implement strategies for climate change adaptation and enhance their resilience in the face of these growing threats.

At the same time, there does not seem to be any shortage of ideas for possible solutions to these threats. These include infrastructure upgrades, efficient water management, heat mitigation, and green nature-based solutions for buildings and public spaces. Cities have recognized the need to enhance their emergency response arrangements and to integrate climate mitigation and risk management into their urban policy and planning. But both strategy development and the delivery of solutions is slow and often insufficient.

The dynamics of risk

Numerous reasons have been suggested about why this is the case. I will explore some of them here.

Strategies for climate adaptation need to address a dynamic process of change. Climate change presents uncertain and complex risks, making it difficult to predict and plan for future impacts. This uncertainty can hinder investment, development and implementation of effective adaptation strategies.

Research on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability has sought to improve our understanding of adaptation options by examining how physical changes in the environment translate to impacts on the lives and livelihoods of people in different situations in different parts of the world. Such studies are grounded in space and time, often relating to a specific event, place or economic sector., and as such they are limited in their ability to capture the dynamics of vulnerability and adaptation processes through time. An engineering response to a specific circumstance may meet its immediate purpose but cannot take into account a more general understanding of longer-term climate trends and human processes that are likely to contribute to future risk and adaptation. Human adaptation to changing conditions too is a dynamic process, adding to the complexity of identifying and characterizing climate risks and adaptation strategies that are relevant and important for communities in the longer term.

Understandings at local level

Strategy building and mitigation projects are often the result of city-level (or even national) decision-making. They are often developed with only basic community consultation. Clearly, the value and appreciation of some kinds of responses to climate change are obvious. Investing in flood barriers, seawalls and improved drainage systems for protecting towns and cities from the consequences of extreme weather events like excessive rain and storms are obvious examples. Other more nature-based solutions such as planting street trees, creating green spaces and green buildings and restoring wetlands are also understood as ways of managing stormwater, mitigating the effects of rising temperatures and heatwaves in local ‘heat islands’ or improving air quality. Some cities have developed cooling centres for vulnerable groups in the population.

These are specific visible responses to what is widely understood as real risks. The erection of flood barriers and sea defenses is often the focus of local campaigns. The need for upgraded emergency response arrangements is also widely recognized. But as we move further towards measures to mitigate other impacts of climate change such as clean air, carbon capture and achieving net-zero, perceptions of the relevance and the visible impact of adaptation measures becomes more problematic. Schemes for traffic management and pressure for the adoption of alternative modes of travel, the need for re-cycling and the promotion of circular economies become a harder sell as a result. These same factors may in turn be reflected in local political processes.

The lack of clarity of the issues to be addressed can undermine the willingness of communities to engage and their confidence in proposals put forward. People may be unaware of the importance to be attached to climate adaptation or may not see immediate benefits from their involvement.

It is important to remember that impacts of climate change are experienced differently by different sections of the community. Some groups for example are particularly vulnerable to excessive heat. Those living in poorer housing or close to water courses may be impacted more by poor drainage and water management. The willingness to of the community to adopt climate adaptation measures will be a function of the difference in lived experience of diverse social groups within any city population.

It should also be remembered that the sources of information used by different members of the community vary too. Whilst some will use established news media and published material to understand climate change issues, others who rely more on social media are vulnerable to mis-information and conspiracy theories about the reality of climate change and about the impact proposed mitigation policies will have on their daily lives. Reaching some social groups with reliable information from sources they trust can be a major challenge to communications seeking to secure community buy-in to climate adaptation programmes.

These issues are likely to be compounded by the governance arrangements for securing climate change adaptation which usually requires the involvement of multiple agencies at all levels from central and local government to local groups and organisations. Confusions in governance arrangements do not make community engagement easy. Effective strategies are likely to have several components which may be led by different agencies, bringing with it the need for co-ordination and holistic strategic approaches. Local knowledge and understandings of the complexity of decision-making and resource allocation may require community education and learning if effective community input is and behavioral change is to be achieved..

Where to start

A new project at Glasgow University is exploring the benefits of ‘retrofitting’ as a crucial first step. This is because retrofitting, which seeks to improve what already exists rather than start again, has the potential to kick-start wider interventions that improve sustainability, increase resilience, and demonstrate the benefits of climate adaptation. The sort of interventions which retrofitting might promote might include

- enhancing local transport, integrating bike lanes and schemes to reduce car use a reduce emissions.

- Supporting urban greening projects such as tree planting, turning small unused plots of land into ‘mini-arks’,

- Supporting energy systems upgrades such as district heating and the adoption of heat pumps, and

- Promoting mixed-use local planning and the concept of ‘walkability’ when locating housing and workplaces.

Advancing these kinds of agendas has the potential to support the delivery of both environmental and social goals as well as providing the basis for community engagement and participation. That said, there may still remain significant tensions at local level as these changes are implemented, as illustrated by the opposition from some over low traffic zones and 15-minute city planning.

There are other areas such as the promotion of opportunities for local food production which can stimulate interest in climate adaptation whilst at the same time contributing to extending green spaces, reducing emission from transportation and promoting better health. Many cities have enthusiastic local groups encouraging the growth and sale of local food at farmers markets and the like. Some cities have imaginative schemes for supporting community groups to restore derelict and vacant land for wider community benefit.

Deeper community engagement

The contention here is that climate change adaptation initiatives will be most successful and deliver meaningful change in behaviors and attitudes when built on the basis of sustained engagement with and support for local communities. The diagram below is taken from a publication from Placemaking Education, and it neatly illustrates different degrees of engagement with communities. Typically, engagement is confined to the left-hand side of the diagram. The task is to move more to the right-hand side, from ‘telling’ communities to giving local communities the lead to take projects forward.

This requires a well-thought-out approach. Based on established community development practice, this will likely involve close working with communities to understand needs and priorities, awareness raising and community education about climate change impacts, and partnership arrangements with local organisations, businesses and local government agencies to leverage resources and expertise and support for community projects.

Every effort should be made to encourage participation and volunteering to undertake project activities such as tree planting, and ‘greening’ infrastructure. Local leaders should be encouraged to champion climate adaptation in the community and among other stakeholders. Communications should be inclusive and accessible, and make sure to emphasize success as projects progress.

Steps such as these can encourage communities to effectively engage in climate adaptation initiatives, and foster a sense of ownership and collective responsibility which will stand communities in good stead in the face of further climate-based challenges. If strategies are grounded in a comprehensive community perspective, then cities need to respond in a similar fashion. One model that can claim some impressive achievements in this field is the Learning City. Learning Cities play a crucial role in developing climate adaptation strategies by fostering a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and community engagement.

By integrating these elements, Learning Cities create an environment that supports adaptive and resilient urban development, helping cities better cope with the impacts of climate change. A recent paper from UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network includes a collection of case studies from very diverse places which demonstrate the contribution the learning city model can make to climate change adaption.

From fighting climate change to using climate change for good

Ultimately what is needed is a change of mindset in communities and planners. Writing in relation to water and flooding, Elisa Palazzo argues that we have to plan towns and cities for a new normal which regards rainwater not so much as a threat but a resource to be utilized. She writes

‘a conceptual leap forward is needed to shift the common perception of rain as waste to be disposed of. It can instead be seen as a non-renewable resource to be protected and reused. Innovative strategies understand floods as a natural process to work with, rather than resist. Non-structural, soft and nature-based solutions to flood adaptation are replacing centralized and engineered technologies’.

Such projects use climate change positively to provide multiple added benefits including spaces for recreation, ecological functions, environmental recovery, increased urban biodiversity and economic regeneration.

Recognizing rainwater as something to be harvested for use for other purposes challenges conventional thinking, whilst the benefits may not be immediately obvious. Research on urban climate adaptation suggests that planning for flood management, as with other fields of climate adaptation, is often a top-down process but shared decisions on water management are needed to develop resilient communities and help them adapt to rapidly changing climate. The implementation of flood adaptation measures is still too sporadic, often limited to centralized wetlands in large parks and gardens. There is a far wider scope for nature corridors running dense urban areas.

There is little hard evidence yet that the cumulative benefits from these systems will be effective to avoid massive flash flooding. This can make it harder to convince whole communities that such steps are important to justify the investment in them. There is a need for accessible monitoring and evaluation which is shared with communities to bolster support for such programmes

New challenges can become opportunities

If addressing environmental goals can be seen to be addressing other economic and social goals such as equity and inclusion then so much the better. World-wide experience and good practice suggests a number of building blocks that can be applied across sectors to increase resilience and climate adaptation in urban communities. These include properly inclusive planning in close consultation with local communities, improving governance arrangements to improve community engagement, strengthen communication, transparency and accountability and suitable finance arrangements to mobilize resources and sustain physical and social infrastructure adaptation programmes.

These are the basic factors to sustain adaptation programmes. But the most crucial steps are to first build on the natural capital which already exists, including open space, forests, wetlands and biodiversity inside and outside city boundaries and second, to work with the networks of relationships within communities to strengthen social capital, allowing to diverse community groups to work together to formulate relevant projects and collaborate in their delivery. Vulnerable communities frequently bear the brunt of climate impacts, but listening to such groups and ensuring equitable access to support and resources is more likely to identify relevant adaptation needs and achieve sustainable behavioral change.

There are notable examples of successful community-led climate adaptation projects. We need to listen and learn to make the best use of the opportunities that present themselves.

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