Fostering Social Cohesion to Build Climate Resilience

Government policies must foster community cohesion and incorporate community input in climate resilience and mitigation plans. Of course, social cohesion and other resilience strategies benefit all communities, not just low-income areas. However, since low-income neighborhoods are the most vulnerable to climate change effects, these strategies are particularly beneficial in those communities. Moreover, social cohesion is a vital tool for low-income communities because they typically experience unique housing, economic, and health disadvantages even before extreme weather strikes.

Incorporating social cohesion into climate resilience planning is a difficult task that requires improving the level of interaction and trust between low-income communities and climate resilience planners. It is crucial that resilience plans not only focus on physical infrastructure, but also consider the human element and the long-term health of vulnerable communities. Despite the complexity of the task, building social cohesion is a worthy goal.

For more on this idea, please see:

• Social Cohesion: The Secret Weapon in the Fight for Equitable Climate Resilience by Danielle Baussan