Adaptation International is currently supporting several research projects at different scales across the US focused on climate adaptation and resilience planning, resilience strategy implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of actions and outcomes. We are committed to incorporating the most up-to-date and best available science in our work. While research is fundamental to all of our work, some of our projects are more research-focused and allow us to partner with some of the brightest minds in the field, including those in academia, the private sector, and larger research institutions. These projects help us to better understand how we can better communicate climate resilience information to our clients as well as how we - as an organization and as the larger group of adaptation professionals - can improve the ways in which we approach climate resilience and adaptation in different areas of the country and beyond. Select projects are featured below.
select projects
Adaptation International is supporting research designed to understand local and regional environmental, development, and climate priorities across the Cook Inlet.
The Floodwise Communities Project is a multi-year planning and research project from the Gulf Research Program funded by the National Academy of Sciences.
South San Heat Resilience Project - a community driven collaboration to build heat resilience in San Antonio, TX.
Cook Inletkeeper
Cook Inletkeeper is a community-based nonprofit organization that combines advocacy, education and science toward its mission to protect Alaska’s Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains. In 2020, Cook Inletkeeper celebrated its 25th Anniversary and saw it as an opportunity to connect with stakeholders and a new generation of Alaskans. The project goal is to understand current community-specific concerns about threats to water resources in order to best serve the people of Cook Inlet watershed and as future projects are prioritized. Adaptation International was brought in as a strategic partner to help Cook Inletkeeper staff design a community survey and materials to support and help facilitate multiple community workshops and meetings. This project began with the development and distribution of a community survey; the survey summary was completed in early 2021. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the community workshop component of this project has been put on hold.
FloodWise Communities
FloodWise Communities, a Gulf Research Project funded by the National Academy of Sciences, aims to contribute to one of the most challenging aspects of climate change adaptation - assessing and building the current capacity of cities and counties to plan and respond to climate impacts. The project team is supporting ~60 cities across Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to assess their vulnerability to extreme events, especially in relation to stormwater management. In a randomized social experiment, each participating city will assemble a team of city staff to complete an online, customized vulnerability assessment tool, which includes a special module on stormwater management, among other focal areas. With support and training from the project team, each city will complete the assessment through one of three different methods of technology-assisted engagement: face-to-face, webinar-assisted, or written/self-guided. The goal of the study is to understand the opportunities for and barriers to using technology to enable practitioners and researchers co-produce vulnerability assessments at lower time, energy, and financial costs. Further, the study will explore how these methods can be disseminated and used by cities throughout the United States to assess their climate vulnerability and adaptive capacity. For more information, see the project website here.
South San Heat Resilience Project
Adaptation International is supporting Fuerza Unida, in partnership with the City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability, to address extreme heat in historically excluded neighborhoods through the Low-Income Community Resilience Pilot Program. This initiative works directly with residents, particularly in the South San Neighborhood, to identify climate vulnerabilities and develop sustainable cooling strategies that enhance resilience. By integrating climate science with local knowledge, the project advances environmental justice and empowers communities to shape solutions through storytelling, research, and collaborative planning.
One aspect of the research included utilizing data from the University of Texas San Antonio and public health sources, the project overlaid heat and health data, industrial site proximity, and other nationally available datasets to better understand existing vulnerabilities and risks for the neighborhood. This data-driven approach will inform outreach and storytelling, aiming to humanize the impacts on marginalized communities, including those with asthma or experiencing health issues like high blood pressure.