From 2019-2022, Dr. Robin Cox and the Resilience by Design Lab team at Royal Roads University developed and operated Adaptation Learning Network, a climate adaptation capacity-building program for working professionals in British Columbia, Canada.

Funded by Natural Resources Canada’s Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise (BRACE) program, and the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Climate Action Secretariat, the Adaptation Learning Network (ALN) initiative set out to do 3 things:

• Develop a Competency Framework for Climate Adaptation;
• Create and deliver a suite of 11 climate adaptation courses through a network of BC universities;
• Build a professional learning network.

Over the three-year term of the initiative, the ALN team added additional sub-projects to the initial scope of the project. Courses were transformed into Open Educational Resources; engagement with Indigenous knowledge-holders resulted in the creation of an additional course focused on Indigenous knowledges and perspectives on climate change; a Climate Adaptation Micro-credential Strategy was developed; and the Climate Adaptation Competency Framework was tested for usability with (1) a climate risk firm offering training, and (2) an environmental consulting firm offering services.

The chapters in this web-book describe this work, highlighting outcomes and offering lessons-learned to inform future climate adaptation capacity-building efforts. A quick way to visually get a sense of what was accomplished is through the

Infographic of Project Outcomes 

This web-book include digital media clips from program activities, plus interviews with the project team, climate adaptation experts, and professionals who participated in the program from across the globe. After our final review and analysis of the achievements captured in this web-book, we’re pleased to offer our observations and lessons-learned from this project:

1. Climate adaptation investments need to be extended and fast-tracked, to keep up with the accelerating climate crisis  
2. Climate adaptation capacity-building is complex and difficult to measure
3. Climate adaptation requires building and sustaining networks of social change