Engaging Communities in Climate Vulnerability Assessment

Despite 2 decades of discussions, implementing community-based adaptation at scale remains a challenge. Community-level participatory climate vulnerability assessments provide the foundation for effective locally led adaptation by linking local insights on climate impacts and vulnerabilities with climate projections. They can offer a nuanced understanding of current and future risks to diverse genders, social groups, ecosystems, and livelihoods.

Along with three other international organizations—CARE, the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature—and local partners, we applied participatory climate vulnerability assessment processes in nearly 100 communities in Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe from 2024 to 2025. This report identifies six takeaways:

1. Respectful community engagement should build on existing climate and vulnerability data, but reliable information is not always available or accessible.
2. Integrating community knowledge with scientific climate data requires a deep understanding of climate science and a focus on overcoming cognitive biases.
3. Involving local governments and other key actors at the outset and throughout the participatory climate vulnerability assessment process is essential to institutionalizing community-based adaptation.
4. Conducting a participatory climate vulnerability assessment during ongoing climate, biodiversity, political, and economic crises requires sensitive communication and effective expectation management.
5. Transparently communicating what participatory climate vulnerability assessment processes can and cannot achieve—and why—is essential to keep communities engaged.
6. Blending the approaches and expertise of diverse partners fosters a shared understanding and ownership across large consortia, ultimately bolstering the quality of the participatory climate vulnerability assessment process and results.

While these lessons may seem familiar, practitioners should not take them for granted—much remains to be done for community-based adaptation to realize its potential. This report provides detailed recommendations for each lesson, targeting adaptation and development practitioners interested in advancing community-based adaptation and community-level participatory climate vulnerability assessments.