Climate adaptation and resiliency planning will not succeed without also including an equity lens, as underserved and vulnerable communities are also at the front lines of climate impacts.
WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK
Research into resilience planning often overlooks an equity lens, so in order to help researchers, city planners, local government, environment and social justice advocates, the NAACP has put together a comprehensive list of factors that should be taken into consideration when planning for climate adaptation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Community resilience cannot be achieved until the most vulnerable and marginalized people’s needs are being met.
- Pre-existing risk factors and vulnerabilities need to be taken into account first.
- Risk factors should be cross-referenced due to intersectional relationships in systems, and communities.
- Small geographic areas will be more successful to better address specific risks (eg. exposure to a toxic facility)
- Vulnerabilities can be due to demographic factors and can be impacted differently by climate change.
- Resilience outcomes can demonstrate successful adaptation and include equitable preservation of:
- Life and health
- Safety and wellbeing
- Community and culture
- Land, home and property
- Livelihoods and economic security
- Core systems, services and basic needs
- Environmental quality
- Democratic systems of governance
image via Flickr (cc) Ingo Loewenthal
