Term of the month: Climate Resilient Development

Climate Resilient Development - a solutions framework recently developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to reframe how we consider working towards climate adaptation and mitigation. “The prospects for effective action improve when governments at all levels work with citizens, civil society, educational bodies and scientific institutions, the media, investors and businesses and form partnerships with traditionally marginalized groups, including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and ethnic minorities. In such a societal setting, scientific, Indigenous and local knowledge and practical knowhow can come together to provide more relevant effective actions. In addition, different interests, values and worldviews can be reconciled if everyone works together.”

A recent article in Civil Beat, written by Dr. Chip Fletcher, discusses how this framework can be utilized in Hawaiʻi: 

• Healing Hawaiʻi’s people by tackling social instabilities (i.e houselessness, access to basic necessities, and rising costs of living)

• Decreasing dependence on foreign energy sources

• Building a resilient economy through local food production and investing in manufacturing and small businesses

• Increasing resilience by building hazards, such as increased heat and drought, into community designs

Read more from Dr. Fletcher in our July edition of the Mālama Monthly, as he speaks with Sierra Club Organizer Sharde Freitas about what the climate crisis looks like specifically in Hawaiʻi, and actions we can take.