Scoping Adaptation Options

This Learning Exchange explores how we identify and prioritise adaptation actions to deliver place-based climate adaptation with justice at its core. Drawing on existing research, tools and guidelines as well as insights from practitioners, the session examines inclusive decision-making, equitable power-sharing, and navigating decision-making in complex governance in under-resourced contexts.

Across different places and institutions, adaptation priorities will inevitably vary. What matters is the process used to set them: who is involved, how decisions are made, and how equity and justice are embedded in those decisions. Together, we’ll explore the practical realities of prioritising adaptation actions in contexts where resources are limited, responsibilities are distributed across complex governance landscapes, and meaningful power-sharing is often difficult to achieve.

Speakers will reflect on lessons from state and local government, and community contexts, exploring questions such as: How do we engage diverse perspectives without being extractive? How do we navigate the question of responsibility across institutions, policies and budgets? And how can adaptation planning processes build the enabling conditions and adaptive capacity needed for long-term change?

This interactive session invites practitioners, policy makers and researchers into an open conversation about the tensions and opportunities involved in identifying and prioritising adaptation actions and planning.

You’ll walk away with practical insights into scoping climate change adaptation priorities with justice at its core, strategies for meaningful engagement in under-resourced contexts, alongside learning questions to take back into your own practice.