Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort

Municipalities and communities across Canada are strong on climate planning but lagging on making progress on these plans. This cohort aims to move beyond planning as an end goal and instead focus on getting to implementation and impact. This is why it is necessary that cohort teams identify a local project to focus their efforts on so that learning can be readily applied to immediate work and practice-based challenges can guide conversation.

The cohort journey and goals are heavily informed by the “Adaptation Cycle,” which can be found in Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy (see p.13). Like the cycle, the cohort recognizes that climate adaptation is a long-term process that needs to be continuously adjusted and evaluated. As such, despite the cohort’s intentional focus on supporting participants in the implement and adjust stages of the cycle, we recognize there will be important assessment, prioritization, and planning work that will likely emerge as progress is made.

Although focused on climate adaptation and resilience, the cohort takes an integrated and systemic approach to this work as inspired by Low Carbon Resilience. The cohort will support all climate adaptation and resilience projects and actions in considering how mitigation goals (e.g., GHG emissions reductions) and co-benefits should be considered and inform implementation efforts at every step.

Climate adaptation and resilience are whole-of-community endeavours that rely on the ingenuity and support of all sectors and communities, especially those most vulnerable and impacted. The cohort is committed to supporting participants to ensure projects and actions meaningfully build local infrastructure for collaboration (e.g., Collective Impact) to overcome barriers to action and unleash the sustainable and durable impacts of action taken collectively.

Climate impacts are being felt today, especially by those made most vulnerable by our current systems like Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, senior, youth, unhoused, northern, remote, and under-resourced communities. The cohort is designed to help participants place equity at the centre of every step of their implementation actions from partnership to evaluation, ensuring that efforts are guided by lived, cultural, and Indigenous knowledges as appropriate and possible.

As we experience the convergence of multiple globalized crises, our adaptation and resilience efforts must be responsive to these increasingly diverse and complex realities. This means finding ways that our adaptation projects help communities weather a changing climate as well as other challenges like inflation, housing shortages, and an aging population. Woven into the cohort curriculum and supports is a commitment to this type of inter-issue solutions work.

The cohort builds upon this approach to community development that asks us to start with what is locally strong and abundant. It involves connecting the individual, collective, natural, and physical strengths, knowledges, and resources already present in a community to galvanize local change. Teams will explore how they can deeply engage with the community as active changemakers in projects that concern their livelihoods and well-being.

Climate adaptation refers to the action of adjusting to the current and/or expected impacts of climate change. It refers to making changes to processes, practices, and structures that will help limit harm posed by a changing climate. Actions can include both those that are short- and long-term and incremental and transformative. This definition was adapted in part from the UNFCCC and Grantham Research Institute.

Climate resilience refers to the actual capacity to prepare for and recover from the current and/or expected impacts of climate change. Resilience is more associated with a worldview that advocates for system-wide changes and long-term capability-building to enhance the ability to absorb changes and recover from their impacts. This definition was adapted in part from the UNFCCC and Grantham Research Institute.

Climate equity refers to the goal of addressing the unequal burdens of climate change, while ensuring that all people share the benefits of climate protection efforts. Achieving equity means that all people – regardless of their ancestry, race, gender, age, sexuality, immigration status, ability, or income – live in safe, healthy, just communities. It also recognizes that because of historic and contemporary injustices, extra care must be taken to ensure those made most vulnerable by current systems are not further marginalized by climate action, and that their lived knowledges and experiences help guide decision-making. This definition was adapted in part from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).   

A group of partners in a community (e.g., municipality, community groups and non-profits, individuals with lived/living experience, businesses, etc.) working together towards a common goal.

A challenge or setback that hinders local adaptation or resilience actions or projects from seeing progress. While barriers can vary across contexts and projects, there are many common barriers such as human resources, financing, and governance. For more details on common implementation barriers, see Table 4 in section 2.6 of Canada in a Changing Climate: Synthesis Report.

This refers to organizations or groups, across the community, public, and private sectors. Each participating cohort team should have representation from at least two distinct partner organizations or groups which may include, but are not limited to, community organizations, co-operatives, grassroots or resident-led groups, municipalities, First Nations, Inuit, or Métis governments and councils, public agencies (e.g., health and education), provincial or territorial governments, and/or corporations.