Forging a climate-resilient Europe: learning from community-based adaptation practitioners outside Europe

Europe is struggling with the impacts of climate change. The summer of 2022 was the hottest on record, with multiple instances of extreme heat, vast lands burnt, drought and severe impacts on energy generation and food production.

Under pressure and in need of transformative approaches, European actors can learn from countries and communities around the world with decades of experience on climate change impacts and adaptation measures.

Heatwaves, floods and storms have caused economic losses in the European Union (EU) of more than 145 billion euros over the past decade. Some evidence suggests that Europe is not well adapted to the impacts of climate change and increasingly ill-prepared in the face of worsening impacts. In this context, bringing experiences and insights from climate adaptation practitioners from around the world to European actors can inform and drive ambition for a climate-resilient Europe.

'Forging a climate-resilient Europe: learning from community-based adaptation practitioners outside Europe' was organised by IIED Europe and IIED as part of the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference (ECCA 2023).

This event aimed to build bridges between the 17th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA17) and ECCA 2023, by showcasing the findings and key messages from CBA17 with European scientists, policymakers and practitioners.

The CBA conference series aims to bring together a community of practitioners who are collectively seeking to re-imagine institutional, technical and financial solutions that enable transformative outcomes, through the agency of communities driving climate action.

This side event created a space for dialogue between different regions and communities, where they could learn from each other and share challenges and barriers to climate adaptation. It also was an opportunity for regions and communities in Europe to share what is or is not working, and to learn from those regions who, at the forefront of climate impacts, have developed robust and innovative climate adaptation solutions.

By bringing adaptation solutions and insights from the countries and communities most experienced with dealing with the impacts of climate change to European stakeholders, this event aimed to inform the implementation of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change and the respective mission and contribute to a climate-resilient Europe.