Community Resilience to Climate Change: an evidence review

Date of the report

November 2015

Author of the report

Clare Twigger-Ross, Katya Brooks, Liza Papadopoulou, Paula Orr, Rolands Sadauskis, Alexia Coke, Neil Simcock, Andrew Stirling and Gordon Walker for Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Purpose of the report

The concept of community resilience to climate change in the UK has a diverse range of meanings and associated activities. This review of evidence and practice explores this varied and contested field to build the evidence base and help support the development of community resilience to climate change.

The report shows:

the variety of actions being carried out across the UK that can be classed as improving resilience of communities to climate change;
the barriers and facilitators to improving resilience to climate change for communities;
the value of a framework to understand resilience of communities to climate change that emphasises existing capacities of communities, engagement and empowerment of citizens, and multi-level governance; and
examples of innovative actions to improve resilience of communities to climate change with a focus on four case studies, which are further explored in a separate report.

What SWM likes

Any resource to help organisations empower communities and make them more resilient is welcomed by SWM. We know how important it is that communities are able gain the tools to be able to deal with issues themselves, without having to rely on external people and organisations. With the climate set to become more extreme, so this principle becomes more important concurrently. The JRF is leading the way in this area of work and should be applauded for continuing to showcase the benefits of the development of community resilience schemes, as well as providing good practice case studies.