Community-led Initiatives for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Needed

Should community-led initiatives be encouraged and relied upon to take action on climate adaptation and mitigation?

The study investigated the community group, Common Unity Project Aotearoa (CUPA) in Lower Hutt, Wellington, in their initiative to engage community participation in making everyday climate adaptation and mitigation practices, not as a one-off project activity, but on a long-term basis.

CUPA is a charitable trust based in Lower Hutt Wellington. Since it began in 2012, it has initiated several community activities that include:

• growing food for the community,
• making meals,
• repurposing household stuff,
• helping people gain practical skills,
• and other community initiatives that benefit community members, especially those belonging to minority or marginalised groups.

In New Zealand, local councils plan and prepare for climate change impacts under the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Local Govt Act 2002. Climate change adaptation tends to rely on complex engineering solutions such as building sea walls and large flood control projects.

The study authors argue that improved engagement with communities is needed. Instead of a top-down approach to climate adaptation, a bottom-up approach that starts at the community level can lead to a broader range of options, reduce policy implementation failure, increase on-the-ground understanding of climate change impacts, and increase trust between local government and communities.

They also suggest that transformative societal changes are needed for meaningful adaptation and mitigation, which can be accomplished through community-led development actions. Adaptation and mitigation actions have to connect with the community’s livelihood concerns, including poverty alleviation.

PHOTO CREDT: Lower Hutt by Uploader. – Self-photographed, Public Domain, Link