Community-led adaptation, weather extremes, and health and wellbeing

Community-led action on adapting to extreme weather events is a key part of wider responses, with indications that such collective efforts are important to well-being and to survival in such events, especially for those whose health is most at risk. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent and more intense due to climate change, understanding community led action is of increasing interest for policy, local government, and third sector organisations worldwide. In this paper, we review the international peer reviewed evidence on the prevalence, character, and challenges of community-led adaptation action where communities are preparing for or recovering from flood-related risks, Chronic and severe cold events, and extreme heat. The review suggests that the different scale and cumulative nature of flood, heat, and cold weather risks leads to distinct patterns and characteristics of community-led action across reactive, responsive, and anticipatory forms. We find key themes relating to the benefits of enhanced synergies between state-led and community-led action including: the use of localised knowledge for both planning and recovery from events; the importance of communities as first responders; and their value for monitoring and rescuing the most vulnerable community members. We also find additional themes concerning the effectiveness of anticipatory planning and the links between social capital and generalised resilience. We conclude that greater value could be placed on the unique knowledge, decision making, innovation, flexibility and opportunities that communities offer when facing climate related extreme weather events.