Adapt World Cafes unite communities to tackle climate challenges across the West Midlands
Across the West Midlands, residents are gathering over coffee and conversation to tackle one of the biggest challenges of our time: adapting to climate change.
Image Credit: Hali Healy
WM-Adapt is a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded research project led by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC). It focuses on driving climate change adaptation in the West Midlands through community engagement, climate risk assessment, and the establishment of a Regional Adaptation Network.
The project also belongs to the Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) programme. Funded by UKRI and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), MACC aims to enhance the nation's preparedness for the impacts of climate change by building capacity, knowledge, and skills for practical and scalable climate adaptation solutions.
So far, five out of 16 planned Climate Adaptation World Café events have been held across the West Midlands, covering:
- Tipton Green, Sandwell
- Kingshurst, Fordbridge and Chelmsley Wood, Solihull
- Lyndon and Elmdon, Solihull
- St. Thomas, Dudley
- Smethwick, Sandwell
- Pleck and Willenhall South, Walsall
World Cafes - facilitated conversations used to stimulate group discussion in café-like setting - are being staged as part of the WM Adapt project. Funded by the UKRI (£2m), WM Adapt aims to maximise adaptation to climate change in the West Midlands and beyond. It is a transdisciplinary action research project with collaboration between researchers in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and School of Engineering, in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC).
Find more information about the WM Adapt project.
Image Credit: Hali Healy
World Cafes bring a diverse range of residents together, to share their experiences of extreme weather, to identify places of shared value that need protecting, and to strategise around how these places might be protected, for now and into the future, in ways that benefit both people and environment. World Cafes are scheduled for:
- Thursday 21 August: Ward End, Birmingham
- Monday 13 October: Coventry, St Michael's
- Friday 17 October: Coverntry, Foleshill and Longford
- Monday 27 October: Coventry, Radford
If you are a resident of any of these areas and wish to take part in a World Cafe, please contact wmadapt@bvsc.org or register here.
What's next?
Upon completion of the World Cafes, four wards will be selected to co-create and pilot community-scale, place-based adaptation pathways, with the ultimate goal of driving a step-change in local adaptation delivery.
As part of the project, we are also interested in working with community organisations to create a toolkit which may be of use in terms of helping community groups run similar world cafe events. To this end we are planning to hold a virtual session where we will be presenting information about this project, how you can get involved, and have an open discussion about what kind of toolkit may be of use to you. For more information please contact wmadapt@bvsc.org.