Conference Themes

Theme Summaries 

1. Indigenous Innovation and Leadership	Indigenous Peoples have been stewards of the lands, waters, and oceans for countless generations, adapting to and managing climate variability with deep-rooted knowledge systems and governance structures. This theme focuses on the dynamic and evolving nature of Indigenous Knowledge, highlighting how these systems continue to innovate and lead in the face of contemporary climate challenges. By showcasing case studies and experiences from Indigenous communities, the theme examines the opportunities and limits of adaptation, the impacts of colonization, and the legal and financial barriers to successful adaptation efforts.
2. Ocean, Islands, Futures	Advancing integrated adaptation and mitigation action is crucial for the ‘sea of islands’ that is the Blue Pacific. From strengthening ocean aspects of national adaptation plans; to protecting, restoring and managing coastal impacts, this theme explores adaptation innovations and limits including the resilience of Island communities and marine and coastal ecosystems and coastlines, the blue economy and finance solutions. Discussion highlights how islands are responding to climate risks and interconnected pressures of sea level rise on coastal settlements, mobility and immobility, sovereignty, biodiversity, well-being, livelihoods and identity.
3. Cities, Settlements, and Infrastructure	Adapting cities is an essential element of meeting the resilience needs of the majority of the world’s population, and to protect critical infrastructure and economies. Anticipating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, this theme examines adaptation of residents and communities, and businesses including planning, financing and delivery of effective adaptation infrastructure systems (grey, green, blue, and social), and empowered leadership. It will consider inclusive decision-making, and the justice implications of differing approaches to adaptation. The theme examines systemic transformations, energy transitions, urban risks and resilience, urban economies of sufficiency and wellbeing, and priorities of informal settlements. Insights from city-to-city conversations about adaptation success and failures will show how communities can learn from ongoing climate change and action.
4. Food, Water and Biodiversity nexus	Understanding advances in the food-water-biodiversity nexus is critical. This theme explores the transformations required in agricultural and water systems and broader nature-based solutions including Indigenous strategies for advancing food security and biodiversity. It examines ways to connect people, Indigenous Knowledges and Local Knowledge, with scientific research and policy making, to foster effective relationships and accelerate adaptation. Discussion considers multiple, diverse challenges for food producers and growers and methods to incentivise biodiversity and land-based adaptation action, highlighting co-benefits, enabling conditions and limits of nature-based solutions and the role of protected areas in a changing climate.
5. Health, Wellbeing, and Future Generations	Good health and wellbeing are critical for community resilience. This theme interrogates and amplifies efforts to enhance adaptation and community resilience to escalating climate risks and highlights co-benefits of mitigation measures for physical and mental health. Cascading and compounding climate risks including heat, drought, and severe storms present complex challenges for diverse populations. These include people with disabilities, older populations, Indigenous peoples, seasonal and outdoor workers, caregivers, and children. Future generations will also experience significantly increased exposure and costs of extreme events so this session will include climate justice issues arising from the UN Declaration for Future Generations.
6. The Art of Climate Adaptation and Education	Accelerating adaptation requires new ways to raise awareness and to inspire collective action, re-imagine futures and address misinformation and growing polarisation. This theme (and related public outreach events) examines the power of the arts, and storytelling, alongside informal and formal education and strategic communication, to accelerate adaptation. The theme critically reflects on the impact of Indigenous and Local knowledge-holders, artists, musicians, educators, and the media, alongside technological innovation including AI on climate action.
7. Beyond Adaptation	Adaptation Futures 2025 challenges participants to confront the hard choices of what do we do when adaptation and mitigation efforts are insufficient to avoid highly destabilised, dangerous futures. Faced with tipping points, extinctions, cascading and compounding climate impacts and the realities of soft and hard limits of adaptation, this theme explores how we can remain humane. It interrogates far-reaching, incommensurable losses and damages, and the increasing role of litigation, and ways to advance the rights of nature and future generations. This theme questions if dominant regimes, norms and assumptions for climate decision-making are fit for purpose to resist vested interests and reflects on ways that Indigenous and local communities can inform visions for new futures.

 

Theme Descriptions

1. Learning from Indigenous Innovation and Leadership

Indigenous Peoples have been stewards of the lands, waters, and oceans for thousands of years, adapting to and managing climate variability with deep-rooted knowledge systems and governance structures. This theme focuses on the dynamic and evolving nature of Indigenous Knowledge, highlighting how these systems continue to innovate and lead in the face of contemporary climate challenges. By showcasing case studies and experiences from Indigenous communities, the theme examines the opportunities and limits of adaptation, the impacts of colonization, and the legal and financial barriers to successful adaptation efforts.

Emerging topics include 

• Evolving Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Indigenous knowledge, as an adaptive and evolving system, offers new insights and relational practices to inform global and local climate adaptation frameworks. This theme explores how Indigenous practices challenge dominant Western modes of adaptation, with innovative approaches including communicative and sustainable biodiversity management foundations for effective climate adaptation.
• Indigenous Governance and Legal Systems: Indigenous governance structures' crucial role in creating equitable and just adaptation strategies, including legal traditions and rights-based approaches. This topic examines how these systems can work alongside mainstream adaptation practices to build resilience and valuable insight.
• Intersectional and Community-Led Adaptation: How do intersecting identities (such as gender, age, and socioeconomic status) within Indigenous communities, influence adaptation strategies? This topic identifies effective approaches for empowering communities to lead adaptation projects that reflect cultural values and aspirations.
• Resilience through Cultural Continuity: Adaptation efforts should be designed not only to address the immediate impacts of climate change but also to preserve cultural heritage, strengthen community cohesion, and build resilience against climate-induced displacement and other existential threats in ways that are culturally sensitive and that contribute to the preservation of Indigenous cultures, fostering respect and/or appreciation.
• Capacity Building and Partnerships: What strategies can build long-term capacity within Indigenous communities, ensuring they have the resources, skills, and partnerships to lead and sustain climate adaptation efforts at local, national, and international levels?
• Decolonizing Finance and Adaptation: How can financial mechanisms for loss, damage, and adaptation be designed to acknowledge historical injustices and colonial impacts while fostering Indigenous-led solutions and equitable resource distribution? What can be learned from Indigenous case studies of adaptation; what are the key factors contributing to success and how can these inform broader adaptation frameworks?

2. Ocean, Islands, Futures

Advancing integrated adaptation and mitigation action is crucial for the ‘sea of islands’ that is the Blue Pacific. From strengthening ocean aspects of national adaptation plans; to protecting, restoring and managing coastal impacts, this theme explores adaptation innovations and limits including the resilience of Island communities and marine and coastal ecosystems and coastlines, the blue economy and finance solutions. Discussion highlights how islands are responding to climate risks and interconnected pressures of sea level rise on coastal settlements, mobility and immobility, sovereignty, biodiversity, well-being, livelihoods and identity.

Emerging topics include:

• Blue Pacific Continent: Large oceanic states and territories are the custodians of nearly 20 percent of the earth’s surface. This topic examines how regional partnerships incorporating Traditional knowledge, technical and scientific innovation can advance disaster responses, health, wellbeing, and cultural and spiritual and bio-diversity values of our ocean and land. 
• Pacific Peoples Prosperity:  Governance, leadership and financial arrangements that assure Pacific People’s attachment to land and ocean can also advance gender equality, and access to education, health, and livelihoods. This topic explores the justice, and equity, arrangements in community and financial decision making that ensures inclusivity of outcomes and a sustainable and resilient model of economic development for ocean states wellbeing, employment, entrepreneurship, trade, and investment. 
• Blue Food Resilience and Food Sovereignty: Supporting robust food systems and cultures are central issues in managing the escalating, complex challenges facing ocean communities and ecosystems. This topic examines how Pacific communities have organised a variety of sustainable food resilience and sovereignty approaches to secure and protect maritime food.
• Ocean biodiversity protection, progress and limits. Precautionary policies and marine stewardship can help advance biodiversity and protect ocean environments. This topic examines the advances and limits of action to protect, monitor and secure ocean environments from exploitation, degradation, nuclear contamination, waste, pollution, and climate related compounding threats. Ocean frameworks and regional protection and policy implementation are assessed.
• Security in a changing climate: the climate crisis poses new challenges for national sovereignty, where people can realise their full potential as individuals, communities and nations. This topic examines Pacific-coordinated and national responses to the challenges of migration and immobility, global peace and security and future losses and damages and also asks can intergenerational justice be advanced in the context of entwined ecological and political crises, including:  anti-nuclearism and demilitarisation, and deep-sea mining?

3. Cities, Settlements and Infrastructure

Adapting cities is an essential element of meeting the resilience needs of the majority of the world’s population, and to protect critical infrastructure and economies. Anticipating the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, this theme examines adaptation of residents and communities, and businesses including planning, financing and delivery of effective adaptation infrastructure systems (grey, green, blue, and social), and empowered leadership. It will consider inclusive decision-making, and the justice implications of differing approaches to adaptation. The theme examines systemic transformations, energy transitions, urban risks and resilience, urban economies of sufficiency and wellbeing, and priorities of informal settlements. Insights from city-to-city conversations about adaptation success and failures will show how communities can learn from ongoing climate change and action.

Emerging topics include:

• Advancing Adaptive Capacity: What conditions enable urban leaders, businesses and communities to build adaptive capacity and advance effective adaptation and systemic long -term transformation? Can smart city technologies, climate metrics and data accelerate climate adaptation and recovery from cascading shocks and stresses? How can urban supply chains, food water and housing be more resilient to climate risks? How can progress in urban climate change adaptation be tracked in a comprehensive manner?
• Governing for Just Transitions in the Anthropocene: How can diverse perspectives and voices be included more effectively in decision-making, including gendered, disabled, and marginalised groups, and how can this process be advanced to further accelerate meaningful and just adaptation, human rights and transformational pathways for climate resilient development? Which roles do – and should – different actors play in urban climate adaptation? How are these roles changing and with what effect on climate justice and equity?
• Resilient infrastructure: Many urban areas are grappling with how climate resilient infrastructure can be planned and developed (including finance and insurance) alongside addressing economic challenges to achieve sustainable development. This topic examines key risks and solutions in diverse urban contexts from mega-regions to informal settlements. What are the key adaptation challenges we need to address cascading urban climate risks?
• Insuring For Adaptation: This topic examines how land use planning and insurance influences present and future climate risks and social vulnerability, including displacement in cities and settlements. At a time when global flows of finance influence local households, businesses and governmental decision-making how can the financial impacts of climate-related disasters be managed and what are new possibilities and challenges for insurance?
• Energy-Transport And Systems change: This topic interrogates the co-benefits of energy, and transport change in the context of wider system transitions towards Climate Resilient Development. It considers best practices to meet the needs and aspirations of diverse residents and complex urban systems now facing cascading and compounding disasters.

 

4. Food, Water, Biodiversity Nexus

Understanding advances in the food-water-biodiversity nexus is critical. This theme explores the transformations required in agricultural and water systems and broader nature-based solutions including Indigenous strategies for advancing food security and biodiversity. It examines ways to connect people, Indigenous Knowledges and Local Knowledge, with scientific research and policy making, to foster effective relationships and accelerate adaptation. Discussion considers multiple, diverse challenges for food producers and growers and methods to incentivise biodiversity and land-based adaptation action, highlighting co-benefits, enabling conditions and limits of nature-based solutions and the role of protected areas in a changing climate.

Emerging issues include 

• Best practices: How can we advance, measure and monitor food, water and biodiversity security in the context of a rapidly changing climate and the Global Goals of Adaptation, the Convention on Biological Diversity and Sustainable Development? 
• Biodiversity and Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples protect approximately 85% of the world's biodiversity. This topic reflects on the wider context of re-indigenising ecological practices that inform bio-diversity/ environmental governance and land management. What practices and strategies protect, conserve and enhance food, water and biodiversity security?
• Biosecurity and Technology Transfer: What are the opportunities and limits of adaptation for food production, and biosecurity? How do we scale-up adaptation to reduce the vulnerability of farmers, fisherfolk, and food producers to the impacts of climate change: including financial and technical support? What breeding techniques; water and soil management, agronomic practices; training, insurance, and culture practices, at local, regional, national, and international levels can accelerate adaptation, secure productivity, and manage economic losses, and agricultural supply chains in changing climates?  
• Rural and Biodiversity Health: What actions support rural mental health and wellbeing and physical heath of humans, animals and ecological biodiversity in rapidly intensifying climate risks including fires, drought and flooding? What are the strengths and limits of nature-based systems in reducing climate risk? What is the role of protected areas from local interventions to large scale natural ecosystems?
• Effective meteorological services and financing; what are barriers and enablers for climate technology transfer from early warning systems, to biodiversity-based, or climate-smart agriculture? How can finance accelerate adaptation in the food, water and biodiversity nexus?
• Regenerative ecological practices: What is the role of regenerative ecological practises including tropical forest conservation in adaptation? How can the co-benefits of nature-based solutions including carbon sequestration, water purification and cultural heritage be advanced? How can we avoid lock-in of maladaptive approaches to food-water -biodiversity challenges?  

5. Health, Wellbeing, and Future Generations

Good health and wellbeing are critical for community resilience. This theme interrogates and amplifies efforts to enhance adaptation and community resilience to escalating climate risks and highlights co-benefits of mitigation measures for physical and mental health. Cascading and compounding climate risks including heat, drought, and severe storms present complex challenges for diverse populations. These include people with disabilities, older populations, Indigenous peoples, seasonal and outdoor workers, caregivers, and children. Future generations will also experience significantly increased exposure and costs of extreme events so this session will include climate justice issues arising from the UN Declaration for Future Generations.

• UN Pact for the Future: What is the potential for the outcomes of the UN Summit for the Future 92024) including the Declaration for Future generations, for advancing progress for Human Rights, intergenerational justice, wellbeing, peace and equity in a changing climate? 
• Implementation Case Studies: What is the potential to scale up climate adaptation solutions to meet the health and wellbeing needs of marginalised and risk- exposed communities? This topic incudes studies of adoption and integration of evidence-based policies, tools, and interventions, to improve population physical and mental health in contexts of rapid change. 
• Just Adaptation: How can we advance justice and equity in the context of health, wellbeing, disability and the rights of future generations? 
• Measuring Progress: This topic explores the possibilities and processes to advance well-being under the Global Metrics for Adaptation and Indigenous and Local measures of effective adaptation.
• Co-benefits and Trade-offs How can we advance climate adaptation and health and wellbeing co-benefits for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?  What are the soft and hard limits of action for climate health? 
• Wellbeing Economy and Holistic approaches: Who can we  reframe our global efforts to respond equitably to climate change and related  environmental challenges and advance wellbeing? What initiatives including for example case studies of the care economy, sufficiency, or Universal Basic Services or Indigenous perspectives of relational and holistic wellbeing can provide insights into methods of advancing climate resilience? 

6. The Art of Adaptation, Communication and Education

Accelerating adaptation requires new ways to raise awareness and to inspire collective action, re-imagine futures and address misinformation and growing polarisation. This theme (and related public outreach events) examines the power of the arts, and storytelling, alongside informal and formal education and strategic communication, to accelerate adaptation. The theme critically reflects on the impact of Indigenous and Local knowledge-holders, artists, musicians, educators, and the media, alongside technological innovation including AI on climate action.

Emerging issues include  

• Best Arts Practices: What are the best practices that enable community-led art projects to support adaptation or mitigation actions/solutions? What impacts can or should art projects have on the adaptive capacity, transformative futures and resilience of communities?
• Artistic Endeavour: What are the key elements of artistic endeavours and collaborations that have led to increased awareness, deeper understanding and more effective action for climate adaptation? 
• Strategic Communication: What aspects of effective communication, can help address political polarisation, misinformation, behavioural barriers, and build capacity for action?
• Connections and Exchanges: In what ways do cultural exchanges influence public perceptions of climate change and inspire collective action in diverse communities?
• Education: How can education (formal and informal) empower marginalized groups to participate in climate adaptation efforts, and what are the long-term benefits of these initiatives? What is best practice climate education in the context of disinformation and counter-lobby funding? What are the opportunities to advance climate literacy and justice learning in activist, community and formal education?
• Media and Technology: What is the potential of digital media, including AI, to enhance the reach and impact of climate-related messages? How can these tools be effectively and ethically integrated into adaptation campaigns as engaging and motivating narratives?

7. Beyond Adaptation

Adaptation Futures 2025 challenges participants to confront the hard choices of what do we do when adaptation and mitigation efforts are insufficient to avoid highly destabilised, dangerous futures. Faced with tipping points, extinctions, cascading and compounding climate impacts and the realities of soft and hard limits of adaptation, this theme explores how we can remain humane. It interrogates far-reaching, incommensurable losses and damages, and the increasing role of litigation, and ways to advance the rights of future generations. This theme questions if dominant regimes, norms and assumptions for climate decision-making are fit for purpose to resist vested interests and reflects on way that Indigenous and local communities can inform visions for new futures.

• Losses and Damages: What roles do legal and ethical frameworks, including litigation, insurance and reparations play in addressing situations where climate adaptation is not feasible, and how can they be strengthened to protect vulnerable communities? Can financial instruments be developed that sustain communities beyond the limits of adaptation?
• Scenarios And Futures Thinking: How can scenarios be utilised to prepare for potential futures where adaptation efforts are insufficient? What are the best practices for incorporating scenarios /envisioning tools into climate policy and decision-making? How can capacity building be enabled by techniques including futures planning or back-casting?
• Continuity and Contestation What strategies can be employed to preserve cultural continuity, dignity and identity in the face of existential climate threats? How can these efforts be integrated into broader climate adaptation and resilience planning? What is the role of activism? How can climate solidarity be fostered in an age of growing polarisation?
• Climate Litigation: What is the future for litigation in confronting limits of adaptation? What are the grounds for criminal action, futures cases of ecocide and Human Rights and funding?
• Pact for Future Generations: How can livelihoods, equity, peace and/or inclusive governance be retained in a highly destabilised future? How are rights of future generations and Indigenous peoples best upheld?