Climate disasters, exacerbated by climate change and increasing vulnerability, pose significant threats to human health, livelihoods, and development gains, particularly for low-income communities. Building community resilience requires a holistic approach that considers not only physical infrastructure and economic resources but also social factors such as learning and collective action. The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (ZCRA) has dedicated the past 12 years to fostering collaborative efforts with communities and across sectors to assess and enhance resilience. A key outcome of this work is the Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) framework, developed in 2013 as a pioneering tool to quantify community-level flood resilience. Recognizing the critical need for a robust framework in the absence of established, empirically validated alternatives, the FRMC has been successfully applied in over 300 flood-prone communities worldwide, proving its value as a self-assessment tool for engage and empower community members to identifying areas for improvement and guiding effective intervention implementation.

For this study we use the FRMC grading of 44 sources of resilience, measured at the start and end of the Phase 2 project period (2018-2023) across 296 communities as well as the qualitative evaluations of the grade changes reported by practitioners. Conducting an in-depth thematic analysis of the qualitative evaluations on (un)realized resilience, we identify mechanisms impacting individual resilience capitals (natural, social, human, financial, physical) and create a system map to note the interactions to social capital. We find that social capital is the most interconnected capital to other capitals and that community participation, gender inclusivity, local leadership and inter-community coordination are the main mechanisms affecting social capital. We assess and compare the global mechanisms and map of social capital to contextualize the resilience dynamics and pathway of communities in Malawi, noting the distinctions in the role of social capital as an enabler, outcome and impact. Our study aims to contribute to the growing focus on social capital impacting community resilience. This research goes further by identifying how these mechanisms interact, developing a system map of community resilience. 

How to cite: Hyun, J. H., Clercq-Roques, R., Passard, J., Velev, S., and Mechler, R.: Mapping the role of social capital in measured community resilience over time, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18000, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18000, 2025.

Cities are increasingly faced with intensifying climate impacts and natural hazards such as floods, droughts, and wildfires. Despite ongoing adaptation efforts to improve social resilience, knowledge about adaptation progress is scattered. Municipal climate plans contain a wealth of information about local adaptation planning and policies, but are seldom studied at a large scale due to their unstructured nature. Here, we use a series of natural language processing (NLP) techniques to extract information on planned adaptation measures for 548 cities with over 1 million inhabitants worldwide. Results reveal a bias toward flood hazards, with cities in the Global South underrepresented, covering only 50% of the target cities. Using the BERTopic seeded topic model, we found that measures related to water management and nature-based solutions were predominant, with some variation across regions. This global mapping provides a starting point for understanding adaptation progress and its gaps, offering a scalable methodology for analyzing municipal adaptation efforts across diverse, multilingual contexts.

How to cite: Modekurty, S., Maria Nunes Carvalho, T., Li, N., Kuhlicke, C., and Madruga de Brito, M.: Global mapping of urban climate adaptation derived from text-mining of local plans, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-1046, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-1046, 2025.

Climate change poses significant threats to coastal communities worldwide, necessitating comprehensive adaptation strategies. This study examines the extent to which National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) incorporate managed retreat as a practical implementation measure to enhance social resilience. As climate impacts intensify, adaptation efforts must go beyond traditional infrastructure-based approaches to include transformative and forward-thinking measures which account for the uncertainty of future climate change impacts. The planned relocation of individuals and communities from high-risk coastal areas can potentially minimize non-economic loss and damage (NELD), which encompasses such intangible impacts as loss of culture, psychological distress, identity, and place attachment. However, the implementation of managed retreat raises complex issues of equity and justice that must be carefully considered in adaptation planning. This research analyzes submitted NAPs from coastal nations to assess:

• The inclusion and framing of managed retreat as an adaptation strategy
• Consideration of NELD in retreat planning processes
• Incorporation of climate justice principles, including participatory approaches and attention to vulnerable groups
• Temporal aspects, including long-term planning horizons and proactive vs. reactive approaches
• Stakeholder engagement across government, private sector, and civil society

The study employs a qualitative approach, conducting a qualitative content analysis of NAPs with an examination of policy framing and discourse. Special attention is given to differences between Global North and South contexts, as well as variations in academic vs. practitioner perspectives on managed retreat and NELD. Preliminary findings suggest significant variation in how managed retreat is conceptualized and operationalized across NAPs. While some plans explicitly address NELD concerns in retreat strategies, many, if addressed at all, focus primarily on economic costs and benefits. Climate justice considerations are often limited, with insufficient attention to participatory planning processes and the specific needs of vulnerable populations. This research contributes to a growing body of literature on transformational adaptation and highlights the importance of integrating climate justice principles into national-level planning. By examining how NAPs can better address NELD through equitable retreat strategies, this study aims to inform more holistic and socially just approaches to enhancing social resilience in the face of climate change.

How to cite: Liss, B. M., Weinert, E. M., and Garschagen, M.: Enhancing Social Resilience through Managed Retreat: How is climate justice addressed in National Adaptation Plans?, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15956, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15956, 2025.

Climate change has posed significant health risks to human health and stimulated global attention to climate health adaptation. Wherein, assessing climate health adaptive capacity (AC) is fundamental for designing adaptation strategies and monitoring adaptation progress. However, existing assessment frameworks mainly took into account material determinants like economic resources and infrastructure but lacked consideration of non-material ones such as adaptation institutions, climate health knowledge, and social equity. Meanwhile, the majority of assessments only focus on health risks of one specific climate hazard like heatwaves or floods, with few considering multiple hazards simultaneously. Given the different climate health risks and disparities in socioeconomic development levels among provinces, it is meaningful to carry out the assessment at the provincial level in China, where no previous study on climate health AC has been done before. We aim to design a comprehensive assessment framework on AC with considerations on multi-hazard climate health risks and non-material determinants, and apply this framework in China. We build an index-based assessment framework for AC to multi-hazard climate health risks based on six determinants: institutions, economic resources, infrastructure, science & technology, knowledge, and equity. Using the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation method, we calculate AC for 31 provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) in 2012–2022 and analyze spatial-temporal patterns of AC and its determinants. We find that high-AC provinces were Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang–relatively affluent–while low-AC ones were Yunnan, Tibet, and Qinghai–relatively impoverished. In 2012–2022, overall AC has gradually increased, it was driven by improvements of institutions and economic resources, whereas contributions from science & technology and knowledge were limited. Spatially, AC exhibited “strong in the east, weak in the west” and “strong in the coastal, weak in the inland”. The spatial disparities have increased overall between the east and west, while decreased slightly in 2020–2022. It was caused by disparities in institutions, economic resources, and equity across provinces. Based on findings above, on the one hand, due to significant provincial disparities in climate health risks, enhancing AC highly relies on knowledge and scientific analysis of risk characteristics and local socioeconomic conditions. Thus, it is essential to leverage potential of climate health science & technology, as well as scientific and local knowledge to further enhance AC in the future. On the other hand, the provincial inequality of AC may lead to insufficient response to climate health risks in western inland provinces, and also drag the overall health adaptation process of China. Efforts should be addressed on these institutions, economic resources, and equity to promote regional coordinated enhancement of AC including environmental health risk assessments, investment in climate health adaptation, and accessibility of public health services.

How to cite: Hong, C., Zhang, S., Miao, Y., Shang, J., Zhao, M., Zhang, S., Zhang, C., Wang, Y., and Cai, W.: An Assessment Framework of Adaptive Capacity to Multi-hazard Climate Health Risks and Its Application in China, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-10279, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-10279, 2025.

Urban areas face increasing risks from climate change, including rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and the intensifying urban heat island effect. The derived impacts threaten critical infrastructure, socio-economic activities, and the well-being of urban communities, making climate resilience a key dimension of urban planning and governance. Addressing urban climate resilience requires a complex approach integrating local vulnerabilities, socio-economic dynamics, and adaptation frameworks.

This study examines the status and progress of climate adaptation efforts in Romanian cities, focusing on the frameworks, strategies, and implementation measures adopted to enhance local climate resilience. The results capture a wide range of urban contexts by analysing the 40 county-capital cities serving as national and regional development poles. These cities play a defining role in shaping urban development and dynamics in Romania.

The European Green Deal, culminating in the New EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, provides the foundation for harmonised adaptation efforts. Through a multi-level approach, cities are required to align with European frameworks by integrating science-based methodologies, engaging stakeholders, and implementing robust monitoring systems to strengthen urban climate resilience. Local governments play a crucial role in translating national and international climate goals into actions that address local needs. Effective adaptive strategies should foster inclusive governance and promote cross-sectoral collaboration to build resilient urban societies. Furthermore, the integration of adaptation and mitigation actions —referred to as "adaptigation"—is essential for optimising resource use, minimising trade-offs, and maximising co-benefits for enhanced urban resilience. However, tailoring actionable local strategies remains a critical challenge, particularly given resource constraints and lower institutional capacities.

While progress has been observed, significant gaps persist in the development and implementation of local adaptation actions. Inconsistencies in reporting practices, a lack of specific measures, and the absence of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are challenges that warrant closer examination. These issues highlight the need for tailored approaches that address the local vulnerabilities and capacities of each city while fostering regional and national collaboration and knowledge exchange.

By conducting a comprehensive analysis of climate adaptation efforts in the Romanian cities based on relevant documents in force, this study provides valuable insights into the status and dynamics of urban climate adaptation. It offers a foundation for future research and practical interventions. By addressing existing gaps and leveraging current strengths, cities can enhance their resilience to climate impacts and contribute to broader sustainability goals. The findings aim to support policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers in developing effective strategies for urban climate resilience, ensuring that cities remain viable and sustainable in the face of emerging climate risks.

This research received funds from the project “Climate-Resilient Development Pathways in Metropolitan Regions of Europe (CARMINE)” funded by the European Union Horizon Europe Programme, under Grant agreement n° 101081377, and through the doctoral grant supported by the Babes-Bolyai University for the thesis “Adaptation Framework for Enhanced Urban Resilience in Climate Change Hotspots”.

How to cite: Falcescu, V., Cheval, S., Croitoru, A. E., Ferranti, E., Hossu, C. A., Greenham, S., Iojă, C., and Brettle, D.: Towards Resilient Cities: Analyzing Climate Adaptation Strategies in Romania, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-17237, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-17237, 2025.

The growing intensity of climate change has made developing countries to face mounting challenges in adapting to its multifaceted impacts. Pakistan and Bangladesh, as two of the most climate-vulnerable nations in South Asia, face increasing risks from floods, cyclones, droughts, and rising sea levels. While national policies and frameworks for climate and disaster management exist, the effectiveness of their implementation largely depends on the agility and responsiveness of bureaucratic structures. The coping capacity of bureaucracies in both countries has improved over the years, but the system’s capacity to adapt to uncertain climate challenges remains a vulnerability. The paper explores the resilience and institutional capacity of bureaucracies in Pakistan and Bangladesh to adapt to climate-induced threats. The paper analyses structural strengths, weaknesses, and reform trajectories within the bureaucracies of Pakistan and Bangladesh to assess their capacity to respond, recover and most importantly adapt to climate-induced threats. By drawing on case studies, Cyclone Amphan (Bangladesh) and Floods 2022 (Pakistan), policy analysis, and stakeholder involvement the research identifies governance bottlenecks, resource limitations, and political factors that influence institutional adaptation. The findings offer comparative insights and highlight pathways for strengthening bureaucratic resilience, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and integrating local communities into national resilience strategies. The paper concludes with policy recommendations aimed at enhancing institutional flexibility and long-term governance reforms essential for building sustainable climate resilience in both nations.

Key Words: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cyclone, Floods, Adaptation, Resilience, Capacity, Bureaucracy

How to cite: Noor, S. and Ali, A.: Resilient Bureaucracies? Examining the Institutional Capacity for Climate Adaptation in Pakistan and Bangladesh, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-2892, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-2892, 2025.

The FRAMe (Flood Resilience Agent-Based Model) serves as a robust modeling framework designed to simulate flood resilience dynamics at the community level, focusing on a rural settlement in the Mekong River Basin. Integrating empirical data from extensive surveys, Bayesian networks, and hydrological simulations, the framework quantifies resilience as a trade-off between robustness (resistance to damage) and adaptability (capacity for dynamic response). Core agents include households, governments, and other actors, linked by social and governance networks that facilitate knowledge transfer, resource distribution, and risk communication. FRAMe incorporates mechanisms for flood forecasting, policy interventions (education, aid, insurance), and individual and collective decision-making, grounded in Protection Motivation Theory and MoHuB frameworks. The framework's spatially explicit design leverages GIS data, while its modular implementation supports scenario testing of governance structures and stakeholder interactions. By examining policy scenarios and agent behavior, FRAMe aims to inform adaptive flood management strategies and enhance community resilience.

How to cite: Feng, W. and Yang, E. L.: FRAMe: An Empirically Informed Agent-based Modeling Framework for Simulating Flood Resilience Dynamics, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-19704, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19704, 2025.

The approach to urban water management across European countries is being influenced by growing knowledge about the impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures, more frequent flooding, and prolonged drought periods place significant pressure on urban water systems and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. The Interreg MAURICE project aims to introduce water management solutions for Central European cities in response to these climate-induced challenges. In this context, a literature review was conducted to analyse the best practices for climate change adaptation in urban water management across Europe. The main interest was to find integrated inter-administrative solutions involving key urban actors. Particular attention was given to comprehensive adaptation frameworks, leading to further analysis of the applicability of the local adaptation support tools promoted by the European Environment Agency. The review was drawn on a selection of case studies from recent literature and national experiences from the MAURICE partner countries, focused on groundwater management, stormwater management, and sustainable urban water management. The Key Type Measures (KTMs) classification was used to group the adaptation actions based on their characteristics.

Clear evidence was found of the direction that climate adaptation in urban water management is taking across Europe. Adaptation solutions are often based on governance and institutional measures, as well as nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches combined with physical (grey) measures. In contrast, technological tools, economic and financial instruments, and initiatives for knowledge and behavioural change are less frequently applied. Good practices that reportedly enable successful adaptation are often related to flexible, locally tailored measures designed with a systemic and long-term approach that ensures effective governance structures and community engagement. Frequent gaps in adaptation planning reveal shortcomings in testing the adequacy of adaptation options, addressing economic and legal aspects of adaptation, setting up monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and dealing with uncertainties. This report provides actionable insights to drive effective adaptation of urban water systems, build climate-resilient communities, and systematically integrate scientific knowledge into policy action.

How to cite: Medina Montecinos, C., Colombo, P., and Alberti, L.: Adapting urban water systems to climate change: best practices and insights from Europe, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13810, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13810, 2025.

Coastal deltaic cities are facing increasing flood risks due to sea level rise, climate change, and socio-economic development, particularly those in Southeast Asia. In such context, public support for adaptation policies is crucial to ensure timely adaptation and to enhance societal capacity, contributing to climate resilience. However, various adaptation policies being implemented have encountered a lack of public support, leading to inefficient adaptation processes (ex., the Garuda project in Jakarta, a relocation project in the Philippines, the raising of roads in Ho Chi Minh City, or the super levee project in Tokyo). There is a lack of understanding of what leads to public support for adaptation strategies and the relationships between these factors. Cao et al. (2024) set the foundation to examine how to analyze public support for adaptation policies, proposing the Foundation of Adaptation Policy Support (FAPS) model, and using Tokyo as a case study.

The present study applies the FAPS model (Cao et al., 2024) to a number of Southeast Asian cities, including Manila, Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta, gauging the three categories, including risk perception (perceived severity and vulnerability, climate change belief, knowledge about floods, flood experience, and issue importance), policy perception (policy awareness, perceived effectiveness, additional benefits, policy support, and preparedness and response), and psychological factors (negative feelings, social norms, trust, environmental attitudes, and place attachment). In the presentation, the authors will discuss the preliminary results of the latest fieldwork in the case study cities, discuss regional similarities and differences between countries, and highlight the key factors that determine policy support for flood adaptation strategies in Southeast Asia cities.

Reference:

Cao, A., Esteban, M., & Onuki, M. (2024). Public support for flood adaptation policy in Tokyo lowland areas. Climate Policy, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2371405

How to cite: Cao, A., Valdez, J., Esteban, M., Nguyen, D. T., Setiadi, R., Takagi, H., Huynh, L., and Yoshimura, K.: Public support for flood adaptation strategies: Key findings from the Southeast Asia region, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-8400, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-8400, 2025.

Flooding affects more people than any other hazard and is becoming increasingly severe. The concept of flood resilience, which focuses on the ability of people to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from flood events, is gaining increasing attention. However, due to data limitations, it is often challenging to quantify flood resilience, particularly during the post-flood recovery phase. This research investigates the potential of utilizing Night-Time Light (NTL) data to enhance flood resilience analysis on a global scale. By examining 24 significant flood events from 2013 to 2018, this study aims to establish a comprehensive system for assessing flood resilience through NTL data from both the event scale and the grid-scale.

The methodology integrates flood extent mapping using MODIS satellite products for flood detection and the generation of 36 months of cloud-free, seasonally adjusted NTL time series. The research summarizes the different behaviors of NTL before, during, and after floods, and analyzes the causes of these variations. Additionally, it introduces three NTL-based quantitative metrics for measuring flood impact, recovery duration, and after-flood transformation. These metrics were applied to the 24 studied events to evaluate their effectiveness, demonstrating the utility of NTL data in capturing the immediate effects of floods and monitoring long-term recovery. Furthermore, a case study of the August 2016 Louisiana floods in the USA involved a micro-scale grid analysis to examine the relationship between NTL changes and factors such as population, coastal proximity, and economy, with the results validated using multiple vulnerability indices.

The results showed significant variation in recovery periods among the studied flood areas, ranging from 5 to 12 months, and even floods occurring within the same country could have recovery durations differing by as much as 5 months. The grid-scale case study further indicated that NTL decreases at the micro-scale are related to population and economic conditions, with communities having better economic conditions showing a lower probability of NTL decrease, while those with higher populations showing a higher probability of NTL decrease.

This study concludes that NTL data, combined with adequate remote sensing and statistical methods, presents a valuable tool for global flood resilience analysis, addressing data gaps and improving disaster management strategies.

How to cite: Zhou, J.: Enhancing Flood Resilience Analysis Through Night Time Light: A Global Perspective, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-16569, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16569, 2025.