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Non-technical summaryImproving the flow of information between governments and local communities is paramount to achieving effective climate change mitigation and adaptation. We propose five pathways to deepen participation and improve community-based climate action. The pathways can be summarized as visualization, simulations to practice decision-making, participatory budgeting and planning, environmental civic service, and education and curriculum development. These pathways contribute to improving governance by consolidating in governments the practice of soliciting and incorporating community participation while simultaneously giving communities the tools and knowledge needed to become active contributors to climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Technical summaryCommunity participation is considered a key component in the design of responses to climate change. Substantial engagement of local communities is required to ensure information flow between governments and communities, but also because local communities are the primary sites of adaptation action. However, frontline communities are often excluded from decision-making and implementation processes due to political choices or failures to identify ways to make participatory frameworks more inclusive. Climate action requires the active engagement of communities in making consequential decisions, or what we termdeepened participation. We propose five pathways to deepen participation: visualization, simulations to practice decision-making, participatory budgeting and planning, environmental civic service, and education and curriculum development. The five pathways identify strategies that can be incorporated into existing organizational and institutional frameworks or used to create new ones. Shortcomings related to each strategy are identified. Reflection by communities and governments is encouraged as they choose which participatory technique(s) to adopt. Social media summaryClimate action requires the active engagement of communities. Learn five pathways to get started deepening participation.
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This content will become publicly available on February 1, 2026
Institutional dependencies shape adaptation pathways for local service providers: A study of US water utilities responding to climatic stressors
Local governments around the world face mounting pressures that affect their provision of public services. To prepare for and respond to stressors and shocks, local service providers can choose from among a wide variety of actions. The adaptive actions they choose will influence which risks are addressed, when, and how. Selection of adaptive actions can also have long-term implications, if actions affect future options for adaptation. This research investigates the influence of institutions on selection of adaptive actions by local public service providers as they seek to respond to climatic stressors. Drawing on insights from focus groups with local drinking water utilities across the USA, the research identifies five institutional dependencies that affect the selection of adaptive actions and examines the pathways through which those institutional dependencies influence decision-making. These pathways are then combined to present a conceptual model of factors shaping selection of adaptive actions. Findings indicate that the polycentric institutional environment in which local service providers are embedded limits control over adaptation decisions, can constrain the set of feasible actions, and can add substantial transaction costs. As a result, selection of adaptive actions includes consideration of the effect of institutional dependencies on the feasibility and ease of implementation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2120090
- PAR ID:
- 10621755
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Science & Policy
- Volume:
- 164
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 1462-9011
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 103982
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Adaptation Decision-making Local service providers Institutional environment Polycentricity Water utilities
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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