Climate Adaptation Networks Drive Resilience and Transformation

Melissa Ocana

Originally published January 21, 2022 in Philanthropy News Digest

The challenges local governments and nonprofits face today are almost absurdly daunting. Setting aside the perennial struggle to reconcile ever-growing needs and ever-shrinking budgets, the pandemic has devastated community health and local economies. Then there’s the massive, long-term challenge that exacerbates everything: the unprecedented storms, floods, fires, droughts, and heat waves of a changing climate.

Yet some local government and nonprofit staff charged with preparing for the effects of climate change have found hope—and help—in an unlikely source: their peers in other cities, near and far, in their region, and across the country. And philanthropy is playing an important role in nurturing these connections.

Networks offer a solution

Today, climate change adaptation networks and collaboratives are sprouting across the country, bringing people together for coordinated action and learning to protect human and natural communities.

Climate change is a complex and all-encompassing challenge, which requires innovative, multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and cross-government solutions. Climate adaptation networks foster connections among people who might not otherwise cross paths, and serve as structures for building capacity and expertise that enable more effective responses to climate change, from planning to implementing projects on the ground. By investing in these nascent efforts, funders can target their support to the frontline professionals best positioned to build resilience and transformation in response to climate impacts.

In a time when in-person conferences and formal structures are increasingly difficult to maintain, networks are an essential way to connect the ecosystem of practitioners, researchers, and decision makers working in a particular region or on a specific topic. Network members share knowledge and resources and develop coordinated responses to problems—such as flooding—that typically transcend political boundaries and siloed sectors. These networks take many forms, but more often than not, they exist as a flexible, virtual web of communications channels to share real-time information, coupled with structured meetings designed to support relationship building and collective learning.

At the heart of these efforts is an emphasis on building lasting community and developing relationships; this emphasis is what makes this collaborative model unique and impactful in the face of an overwhelming challenge. Having these trusted relationships and pathways to partnerships in place through collaboratives means that network members can be more nimble in figuring out the best adaptation actions to take and responding iteratively as they learn.

Importantly, the qualities that make collaboratives and networks ideal channels for tackling climate change also make them responsive to other emerging crises, including COVID-19. Climate collaboratives are poised to be flexible, since they are founded on principles of adaptive management, allowing these networks to course-correct in real time. While the pandemic has challenged the capacity of adaptation networks, for many it has also fostered a greater sense of community within and across these networks and opened up new opportunities for partnership and collaboration.

Case Study: Resilient Mystic Collaborative

A prime example is the Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC), a partnership of twenty communities in a Boston-area watershed working to address climate vulnerabilities like flooding that do not fit neatly within the political demarcations defining cities and towns. The RMC was formed in 2018 by senior municipal staff and Mystic River Watershed Association staff committed to working across political boundaries to address climate change challenges beyond their control. To combat flooding downstream, the RMC analyzed more than 400 parcels of land to determine where creation of stormwater wetlands would most effectively store water upstream. Along with mitigating flooding, these wetlands provide co-benefits to people and nature, such as access to green space and wildlife habitat. Building on this work, the RMC is analyzing places where flooding most severely harms vulnerable communities to identify locally appropriate solutions, such as removing pavement to allow water to filter into the ground.

Going into the pandemic, the RMC already had impressive accomplishments under its belt and a clear focus on social resilience at the core of its practice, as evidenced by its social resiliency work group. This regional collaborative had already strengthened relationships across municipalities so they were well positioned to work together when faced with COVID-19. These partnerships facilitated an initiative for rapid and informed deployment of emergency funding from the Barr Foundation to manage extreme heat in COVID-stricken communities in summer 2020. Critical to the implementation of this pilot program for COVIDsafe cooling strategies (such as tree plantings and A/C distribution) was the trust already established among municipal staff, community-based organizations, regional planners, and the RMC convener, the Mystic River Watershed Association.

Philanthropy’s role in network building

Philanthropic partners have played a critical role in enabling transformative change at regional and network scales. Several successful climate collaboratives have gotten off the ground thanks to insightful initial investments by foundation partners who prioritized the value of regional collaboration. Despite their nimble, cooperative nature, these collaboratives require careful stewardship and attention to thrive, which, in turn, requires designating and supporting the staff who facilitate and foster connections and conversations. The RMC was founded with seed funding from the Barr Foundation to support full-time staff facilitation and technical expertise. This relatively small investment has already had an amplified impact, as it has enabled RMC staff to bring in millions in funding for projects, advocate for additional public resources for adaptation, and propose updates to policies to allow for innovative adaptation actions on the ground. When faced with disasters like extreme weather events or the pandemic, philanthropic organizations can leverage these networks—with their durable connections that are ready to respond when crises emerge—to quickly mobilize relief efforts.

Scaling support for networks

While there is much to be done to grow and sustain each adaptation collaborative, supporting individual networks alone is not enough. Network leaders operating in isolation may find themselves struggling—reinventing the wheel and lacking the support needed to succeed in their work. Encouraging peer-to-peer learning and coordination across networks can help address these challenges and build lasting relationships. Initiatives such as the Regional Collaboratives Forum and the Network of Networks Group bring together climate adaptation network leaders to scale lessons learned and promote peer knowledge exchange among networks across the country. These efforts also provide a supportive community of peers, fostering social resilience and camaraderie in the face of overwhelming challenges. This community building can ultimately help make network facilitators more effective and inspired to drive resilience and transformation in their own regions.

Moving forward together

It is clear that the collaboration and partnership building of networks are transforming how our country adapts to a changing climate. These regional adaptation networks foster lasting relationships and build capacity for action, which has become all the more important in a world reshaped by COVID. We are inspired by those in the philanthropic community who have already recognized the potential of adaptation networks and hope to see more partnerships and support for coordination and collaboration. If we are to have any hope of responding and transforming quickly enough to the wicked challenges of climate change, we must come together to share lessons learned and build on each other’s work.