Managing climate extremes in a place-sensitive way: holistic and landscape approaches for rural and local resilience
Climate extremes are experienced differently across territories, requiring responses that are grounded in local landscapes, ecosystems and cultural contexts. This thematic stream explores how rural and local communities can strengthen resilience to droughts, floods, wildfires and water scarcity through integrated, place-sensitive strategies. Sessions will examine approaches to enhancing water security in small and insular communities; advancing integrated wildfire protection; embedding NBS to support water resilience and healthy soils; and how holistic resilience frameworks can connect land, water, livelihoods and heritage to build adaptive capacity while safeguarding cultural resilient landscapes for future generations.
Guiding questions:
How can rural and local communities design place-based resilience strategies that reflect their unique landscapes, ecosystems and cultural heritage while addressing droughts, floods, wildfires and water scarcity?
What integrated approaches can strengthen water security and wildfire protection in small, rural and insular territories, while restoring soils, ecosystems and livelihoods?
How can holistic resilience frameworks better connect land, water, biodiversity, local economies and cultural heritage to build long-term adaptive capacity and safeguard resilient landscapes for future generations?
Explore the sessions in this stream
Enhancing water security in small, insular and climate-vulnerable communities
This session will focus on enhancing water security for small, insular, and climate-vulnerable communities by examining context-specific challenges and innovative approaches. Participants will discuss how to build resilient water systems that address climate impacts, limited resources, and geographic constraints.
Planning for Resilient Landscapes: Linking Water Management and Soil Health through NbS
This interactive workshop brings together regional and local authorities to explore how Nature-based Solutions can enhance water resilience and healthy soils at landscape scale. Through real cases, participants will exchange on implementation, planning tools, and governance approaches, identifying key enablers and pathways to integrate soil and water objectives into local and regional planning.
Integrated approaches for Wildfire protection
Wildfires and extreme heat are increasingly shaping the risk landscape for cities across Southern and Central Europe, as illustrated by the severe 2025 season in Portugal and Spain. Drawing on the experience of Guimarães and other cities, this session examines how local and regional authorities are addressing wildfire risk in urban and peri-urban areas through integrated approaches combining nature-based reforestation, AI-supported tools, and coordination with civil protection and communities, while exploring governance challenges for long-term resilience.
Integrated & Holistic Resilience: Governing Place-Based Climate Action
How do cities move from integrated resilience frameworks to integrated resilience in practice? Drawing on experiences from European cities and projects working at the forefront of systemic climate action, this session explores what it takes to connect climate adaptation, nature-based solutions, cultural heritage, and community engagement across planning scales, and what governance conditions make that integration stick.