Scaling Citizen Engagement for Just and Effective Climate Adaptation
By Paola Tanguy
Citizen engagement is key to the successful implementation of climate adaptation strategies and projects. Yet, despite growing awareness of good practices, structural barriers continue to hinder meaningful participation. How can we scale up stakeholder and citizen engagement across Europe in a way that is just, inclusive, and effective?
This question was at the heart of a dynamic parallel session at #ECCA2025, held on the second day of the conference. Entitled “Accelerating Transformational Change in Europe: A Roadmap for Citizen Engagement in Adaptation”, the session showcased the work of the EU-funded Adaptation AGORA project, coordinated by CMCC (Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change).
The project aims inter alia to develop a roadmap for upscaling citizen and stakeholder participation in climate adaptation across Europe, ensuring it is just, inclusive and effective.
Identifying Barriers to Citizen Engagement
The session began with an overview of the persistent challenges facing meaningful citizen engagement. These include:
Difficulty in engaging vulnerable and underrepresented groups
Poorly designed or inaccessible engagement formats
Unequal costs of participation, particularly for marginalised communities
Lack of transparency and feedback mechanisms in decision-making processes
Such barriers can hinder even the best-intentioned adaptation strategies, thereby reinforcing existing inequalities.
Roadmap for Scaled and Systemic Change
To address these issues, Adaptation AGORA is developing a structured roadmap built around four strategic pillars:
Pillar 1 – Institutionalising engagement in public and private actions across scales and sectors
Pillar 2 – Strengthening local authorities’ capacity and resources to implement engagement
Pillar 3 – Empowering citizens to take an active and meaningful roles in adaptation actions
Pillar 4 – Sharing and applying knowledge and best practices to facilitate engagement practices
Participants were divided into roundtables to contribute directly to the development of the roadmap, sharing their own experiences, insights and innovations.
Spotlight on Pillar 4: Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building
The roundtable on Pillar 4 generated rich discussion on the conditions needed for effective knowledge exchange. One key takeaway: knowledge-sharing must be embedded in capacity building.
Participants emphasised the need to equip stakeholders with the skills and understanding required before engagement begins, ensuring more equitable and impactful participation. They also stressed the importance of tailoring engagement strategies to reflect diversity across age, gender and socio-economic status and to communicate the often intangible but critical benefits of climate adaptation efforts.
As participant Dr Laura Canevari Luzardo (Founder, ITACA Solutions, Panama) pointed out during the session’s conclusion: “Don’t assume citizen engagement can be done for free.”
Her remark aimed to underscore the growing risk of the eco-precariat, a concept that refers to workers, local unhabitants or project participants expected to contribute to climate action without adequate support, recognition or compensation.
Towards a Policy-Relevant Roadmap
Insights from the session will feed into Adaptation AGORA’s forthcoming policy white paper, aimed at supporting EU, national and regional authorities in embedding engagement strategies within public policy frameworks, that will be published towards the end of 2025.
This session, held on June 17, provided a space for researchers, policymakers and practitioners to collaboratively shape a practical path forward for citizen engagement in adaptation, one rooted in justice, transparency and inclusion.
Chair
Paola Mercogliano (CMCC Foundation)
Speakers
Enora Bruley (University of Geneva)
Dmitry Erokhin (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis)
Sukaina Bharwani (Stockholm Environment Institute)
Keywords
Climate adaptation, stakeholder engagement, citizen engagement, governance mechanisms, policy framework
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