Conference buzzes with stories of communities adapting to climate change

Last week more than 300 climate change specialists from 60 countries gathered in Hanoi, Vietnam for the 6th Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change.

News, 26 April 2012

The meeting, organised by IIED and partners, included three days of visits to communities across Vietnam that are already adapting to climatic changes. The main conference that followed included sessions on agriculture, water, economics, disasters, and adaptation in urban communities.

The conference theme was communication, and the meeting included ‘out-of-the-box’ sessions on subjects such as blogging, working with the media, and using games to communicate risk. In keeping with the theme, the conference broadcast live interviews online each day and uploaded 50 more interviews to YouTube. Delegates also wrote nearly 30 blog posts and produced nearly two thousand tweets, using the Twitter hashtag #CBA6. For details of these outputs, see the links below.

The international delegates evaluated the different adaptation projects they visited and awarded a special “Solidarity Prize” of US$5000 to the best one. This was a Save the Children project in the North of Vietnam in which children play a key role in disaster preparedness.

The 7th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change will take place in April 2013, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Videos from the conference

Watch a playlist of interviews by ACCRA.

IIED blog posts from the conference

A tale of typhoons, trees and tiny creatures that stood between a community and climate resilience

Mangroves break waves and help the people of Dai Hop Commune break even

Vietnam: Building one village’s resilience to climate change all starts with a cave

Top tips for pitching climate change adaptation stories to the media

Where honey means money and climate means change

Knowledge is power in this game of chance (called life)

CBA6: tweet by tweet and blog by blog

Selected media coverage of the conference

Funding for disaster-risk reduction insufficient, says UN’s Wahlstrom    

Undeveloped nations urged to adapt to climate change               

Climate risks to fisheries may hike African hunger

Indigenous people can show us how to adapt to climate change - experts           

Helping Pacific island women speak up on climate change            

Water source for poorest Bangladeshis under threat     

VIDEO -- Cutting climate disaster risk key in cities             

Vietnamese businesses ill-prepared for climate-linked disasters - study

Palau islanders band together to protect threatened water supply          

Climate policy needs local voice

Why Motorbikes Can Be Worse for the Planet Than Cars              

Vietnam Dispatch: Adapting to Climate Change, One Melon at a Time    

Vietnam Dispatch: The Salt Problem       

Rio+20 must tackle leaders' economic concerns - climate expert               

Alaskan villagers become climate refugees as homeland melts

Communication, co-operation key to climate change response