Democratic Practices in Climate Change Adaptation
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Provided by: weADAPT|Published on: August 15, 2026
Scientific ReportsScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This report examines how the Environmental Democracy in Adaptation framework, built on the pillars of participation, transparency, and justice, has been applied to climate adaptation programs in six African countries.
- It presents country-by-country findings on how well adaptation programs involve communities in decision-making, share information, and provide accountability, and identifies persistent gaps such as top-down design and limited community influence over strategy.
- It offers recommendations for deepening participation, enhancing transparency, advancing justice, and scaling locally led adaptation, with roles for parliamentarians, funders, and civil society.
Subjects: Civics, Geography
Authors: Sam Greene
Region: Africa
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Classroom Implementation:
- Use a jigsaw routine to have student groups read about one of the six countries (choose whether to use the executive summary or full report, based on desired depth and duration) and then report their findings.
- Discuss why the three pillars—participation, transparency, and justice—are important for democratic decision-making.
Extensions:
- Have students analyze the three pillars of environmental democracy and apply them as evaluation criteria to a local or school climate adaptation project.
- Alternatively, design a classroom or school protocol for democratic decision-making based on the three pillars and test it out with an environmentally-friendly adaptation.
- Ask students to compare how funder regulations and governance structures shaped outcomes across countries, then debate what makes adaptation programs legitimate and effective.
Related Resources:
- Use this 4-minute video to present a scenario of climate injustice and discuss how the three pillars could have prevented these issues.
- Use this unit plan to dive deeper into climate justice through sociocultural, economic, and ecological lenses and develop a community action project.
This resource investigates democratic participation in climate adaptation projects in six African nations. Throughout, climate justice is a central focus. Full reports for each country and a several additional research papers are linked. This resource deeply explores climate adaptation, a critical strategy in responding to the climate crisis, and is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
