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The focus of this special issue is community-based adaptation to climate change. Community-based adaptation brings together those working in the fields of disaster risk reduction, community development, and climate change science. Communities have a wealth of knowledge about the local environment, and have been adapting to and coping with change for years. Although this knowledge and traditional coping mechanisms may become less effective as climate change leads to greater unpredictability in weather patterns and more extreme events it remains an invaluable resource. This is not to say that scientific knowledge does not have a very significant role to play in helping communities to adapt to climate change, and many of the articles in this issue reflect on the respective strengths and weaknesses of local and scientific knowledge, and how the two can best be integrated.