By Boluwatife Adedokun
As climate change accelerates, it’s no longer just a government or scientist’s battle, it has become a community issue. From the slums of Lagos to the Caribbean islands and the suburbs of Philadelphia, local people are stepping up with grassroots, community-led climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Their stories reveal a pattern: locally-rooted, context-specific innovations are essential to climate resilience.
The Global Need for Local Action
According to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, nearly 3.6 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change. But despite the risks, the most effective climate resilience strategies often emerge not from international forums or billion-dollar policies, but from small, determined communities taking charge.
One of the emerging solutions is Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), an approach that empowers people at the grassroots to adapt based on their lived experiences. It’s rooted in traditional knowledge, environmental justice, and local resourcefulness.
Makoko, Nigeria: Floating Resilience Through Culture
In Makoko, a water-based community in Lagos often referred to as the “Venice of Africa,” rising sea levels and worsening flooding remain existential threats. Instead of waiting for state intervention, the residents are telling their stories through art.
In 2024, the community hosted “The Herds”, a theatre initiative featuring giant animal puppets that toured flood-prone communities to raise awareness about climate change. The goal: inspire environmental consciousness while advocating for sustainable policy responses.
Bangladesh: A Decades-Long Model of Disaster Preparedness
Bangladesh, vulnerable to cyclones and floods, has become a global case study in community-led disaster preparedness. The Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP), developed in partnership with the Bangladesh Red Crescent, has helped reduce cyclone-related deaths dramatically.
Between 1970 and 2007, cyclone fatalities dropped from 300,000 to about 4,000 due to the programme’s 76,000+ trained volunteers, especially women, who lead localized warning systems and shelter organization.
Carriacou, Grenada: Hurricane Recovery Rooted in Justice
In July 2024, Hurricane Beryl left over 90% of buildings on Grenada’s island of Carriacou destroyed. For locals, this wasn’t just a climate crisis—it was a historical reckoning. Activists like Marian Thomas have called for reparations from countries most responsible for emissions, citing the colonial and post-colonial underdevelopment that left islands like Carriacou so vulnerable.
Urban Greening: Global Communities Taking Root
Across the world, urban communities are embracing tree planting not just as a beautification effort, but as a core climate strategy. In Haringey, North London, local residents raised over £6,000 via crowdfunding to plant 20 trees along a major road. This community-led project was supported by Trees for Streets, a UK nonprofit helping cities grow greener.
Similarly, in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Tree Tenders programme has trained more than 6,500 residents to plant and maintain native trees. Together, they plant more than 3,000 trees each year. These trees help reduce urban heat by up to 5°C in shaded areas—essential as heatwaves become more frequent and deadly.
Singapore’s Garden City Fund runs a similar scheme, allowing citizens to donate to a “Plant-a-Tree” programme and plant their tree in one of the city’s green spaces. These local actions complement national goals of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.
In the U.S., Native American tribes are combining traditional ecological knowledge with federal support to build resilience. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians host climate camps to foster peer learning among tribal members, including practices like cedar weaving and seasonal agriculture. These gatherings also help secure federal adaptation grants and drive culturally-appropriate environmental governance.
Scaling Local Innovation
Local innovations are now gaining global attention. In 2023, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reported that more than 70% of countries have included locally-led adaptation in their National Adaptation Plans. Still, implementation remains slow due to limited funding.
The Global Commission on Adaptation estimates that investing $1.8 trillion globally in climate adaptation from 2020 to 2030 could generate $7.1 trillion in net benefits. But to unlock this, grassroots initiatives need not just recognition but robust support.
The Path Forward
Whether it’s young people raising money for saplings in Tottenham or Indigenous elders preserving traditional farming calendars in the Andes, community adaptation is not just about survival—it’s about agency. It shows that while climate change may be a global problem, some of the most powerful solutions start at home.
In a world often defined by top-down policy, these stories remind us that resilience is most powerful when it’s rooted in the everyday lives of people who refuse to wait for help, and instead, plant their own seeds of change.
