Social Media and Adaptation to Climate Change

Local Government, adaptation and social

media: Project with the City of Birmingham

Laura Wilkes, Policy Manager, LGiU

13 September 2011

Big Society and Adaptation

• LGiU completed a project to examine new ways to deliver adaptation with greater community involvement.

• A Big Society approach to adaptation can be taken forward through: decentralisation, transparency, finance and philanthropy.

• Many opportunities for community involvement in design and delivery of adaptation initiatives – for example, through use of social media

• Councils can’t do adaptation alone

Adaptation and Social Media: where did the idea

originate?• ICLEI Resilient Cities

Conference, Bonn, 2011

• Discussions on social media but no ideas on how to use it strategically

• Convened a group to discuss how to take a project forward

• LinkedIn group: Social Media and Adaptation

Project with Birmingham City Council

• Project between Birmingham City Council and LGiU to examine how social media can be used in the city to develop adaptation to climate change

• Mapped the elements of adaptation as a starting point

Elements of Adaptation

Social media and Emergency Response: The UK Riots

Learning: Use of social media and community resilience in the

Birmingham riots • Emergency response: Role of citizen

journalists in spreading information/countering misinformation, hyper-local blogging,

• Local Leadership: councillor responses and calls for calm

• Recovery: fundraising online to support looted shops, Twitter used to coordinate #riotcleanup

• Prevention: reporting on measured taken to protect shops

Anticipated outcomes:• Toolkit – concentrating on each

aspect of the adaptation cycle• Practical tools and technology to

share worldwideAnticipated challenges:• Capacity – within the community and

local authorities• Funding • Language and policy framing

Next Steps

• Join our discussion: LinkedIn

• Join the project

• Sources of funding

Laura.wilkes@lgiu.org.uk