Adapting to the impacts of climate change is a social and economic imperative. In Australia, disasters cost the economy around $38 billion a year, along with unquantifiable suffering and ecological destruction. This report explores some models the community sector in Victoria already has in place for this vital capacity- and resilience-building work. Adaptation to climate change will not work unless it addresses the needs of the most imperilled groups. 

The focus of adaptation matters because, while everyone will be impacted by climate change, not everyone will be impacted equally. What is needed is transformative adaptation: dismantling those barriers to adaptation, and shifting the burden of adapting away from individuals and towards systems-level adaptation. Victoria’s community services sector plays a vital role in creating the conditions for exactly this kind of community-led, transformative adaptation.

The case studies are presented with a view to providing guidance, inspiring broader adoption at the community and sector levels, and catalysing funding, systemic planning and upscaling at the government level.