Do I perceive that we as a community can persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform? The relationship between collective transilience and community-based adaptation

Abstract

Climate change is happening and has negative impacts on communities. To adapt to climate change risks, people need to take action to protect, not only themselves, but also their community. We study whether collective transilience predicts community-based adaptation, such as joining a community initiative to protect the community from climate change risks. Collective transilience reflects the extent to which people perceive they can persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform as a community in the face of climate change. Two studies (in the United States and the Netherlands) showed that, as expected, higher collective transilience is associated with increased engagement in different examples of community-based adaptation, even when controlling for individual transilience (i.e., the perceived capacity to persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform in the face of climate change as an individual). Notably, collective transilience was the only significant predictor of individual adaptation behaviours, corroborating the relevance of examining transilience at the collective level to promote widespread adaptation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.