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View the Poster Programme overview and dedicated theme poster directory.
PROGRAMME
The programme for AF2025 features more than 180 sessions covering the conference’s core themes of:
• Indigenous innovation and leadership
• Ocean, islands, and futures
• Cities, settlements and infrastructure
• The food, water, and biodiversity nexus
• Health, wellbeing, and future generations
• The art of adaptation, communication and education
• Beyond adaptation.
Indigenous and Pacific innovation and leadership are at the heart of the event, with people from 120 countries attending in person and online.
Conference panels will discuss Indigenous leadership, insurance, finance, loss, and damage in relation to climate adaptation. Masterclasses will also be offered, featuring state-of-the-art responses to climate risk.
Co-designed and curated by local and international experts, the programme includes an exciting calendar of workshops, field visits, arts outreach events, and pre and post conference discussions. It is a rare opportunity for some of the world’s leading minds to gather and look at how to scale up local and global climate change adaptation responses.
| Sunday 12 October | Monday 13 October | Tuesday 14 October | Wednesday 15 October | Thursday 16 October | Friday 17 October |
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Early Career Networking to Accelerate Adaptation
| Mihi Whakatau and Dignitaries welcome Conference Keynote Plenary Concurrent breakouts
| Concurrent breakouts Legacy previews Conference Dinner | Concurrent breakouts Climate Adaptation Arts Outreach Film Screening
| Full and Half day Living Lab events Accelerate Adaptation Hackathon Legacy outcomes, handover ceremony, & Poroporoaki Climate Adaptation Arts Outreach Performance | Post conference workshops
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| Climate Adaptation Arts and Public Outreach events continue all week | |||||
Pre-Conference
Before the conference starts, there will be whole day events on 12 October including an Indigenous wānanga/Talanoa and a capacity building and networking event for early career researchers.
- Early Career Networking to Accelerate Adaptation
We welcome all early career researchers and professionals to Adaptation Futures 2025. The Early Career event opens with a time of networking to building relationships that support your efforts, from 10am - 5pm.
This event is currently fully booked, however a waiting list is in place
- Indigenous Peoples and First Nations Wānanga Pre-AF2025
AF2025 begins with a time of Wānanga and Talanoa, of building relationships and networks and connections and a warm welcome for our international Indigenous whānau, and First Nations from 10am - 5pm.
This event is currently fully booked, however a waiting list is in place
- Climate Adaptation Arts Outreach opening
Contemporary dance performance by Atamira Dance Company from 7.30pm - 9pm.
Innovation Day Events
The Adaptation Fund is supporting five premiere Innovation Day events during AF2025 to showcase highly innovative and creative submissions that accelerate adaptation. These have been selected from the full lineup of presentations at the conference.
Living Labs
On day four of AF2025, attendees will go into the field for talks, events, and a series of full and half day living labs. These will provide an exciting opportunity to engage with individuals and groups tackling climate change challenges in their local communities and businesses, while exploring the beautiful city of Ōtautahi/Christchurch.
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Innovation Lounges
During the conference, four Innovation Lounges will be available for conference attendees to connect and network with each other, including an Oceania Innovation Lounge hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) with New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment; a Cities Centre hosted by the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (IHS); an Africa Innovation Lounge hosted by CGIAR; and a Latin American Innovation Lounge and Youth Hub.
Climate Arts Public Outreach Programme
How do we talk about climate? The Art of Climate Conversations is the feature of a series of public arts outreach events, starting with the Te Waipounamu (South Island) premiere of Atamira Dance Company’s breathtaking Ka Tiri o te Moana, choreographed by Louise Pōtiki Bryant and performed by Atamira Dance Company. The performance addresses the urgent issue of sea level rise due to Antarctic ice melt, and the profound impact of climate change on communities.
A documentary screening and an artists and scientists in conversation panel will also be held, along with exhibition tours at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.
Post-Conference Workshops/ Wānanga
Once the conference has wrapped up, participants can join one of the many interesting workshops hosted by the universities below.
 | Effective Communication in an era of Climate Denial? Hosted by the University of Canterbury Christchurch 10am - 14.30pm $45 |
 | Navigating Pacific Climate Adaptation Hosted by the University of Auckland Christchurch 10am - 14.30pm $45 |
 | Managed Retreat and Coastal Cities and Settlements Hosted by Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington Christchurch 10am - 14.30pm $45 |
 | Accelerating Climate Resilient Development Practice Hosted by the University of Norway Life Sciences Christchurch 10am - 14.30pm $45 |