Communities across the northwest (NW) are increasingly experiencing the impacts of climate variability, extreme events and climate change, yet the capacity to respond or adapt to these impacts is…

Communities across the northwest (NW) are increasingly experiencing the impacts of climate variability, extreme events and climate change, yet the capacity to respond or adapt to these impacts is concentrated in wealthier and more urbanized geographies. Despite decades of effort to increase understanding and awareness of climate risks, develop decision-relevant science and build capacity for adaptation action, important resilience gaps remain for NW tribes and indigenous peoples, those most dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and the economically disadvantaged. Efforts by federal, state and local actors to address the disproportionate impact of climate change on these frontline communities have not yet been met with a complementary effort by the NW climate adaptation science and assessment community, leading to research that reinforces power dynamics and structural inequities and fails to address critical knowledge gaps around community-scale climate impacts. We propose a participatory research program designed to assist communities on the frontlines of climate change in pursuing their own resilience objectives while ensuring that local and place-based innovations and needs are scaled out and up to advance resilience more broadly. Our central research question how can science-based evidence assist frontline communities in improving their resilience to climate change, while addressing the legacy of systemic inequity that continues to influence their lives and livelihoods? Will be addressed through a program of research, engagement and evaluation designed to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. Frontline communities are centered in this effort: they participate on the leadership team, help shape and implement the research agenda and connect our work with community-based resilience efforts across the nation. We propose three portfolios of work. The tribal coastal resilience portfolio and the rural resilience portfolio focus on key types of communities facing disproportionate impacts of climate change in the northwest. The work will involve integrated natural and social research to understand community needs, priorities, values and opportunities for accelerating adaptation, and deep community engagement to enhance local adaptive capacity through application of this knowledge. The scaling resilience portfolio includes activities designed to accelerate climate adaptation in the northwest, across the risa network and in state and federal climate resilience programs and policies. Ongoing evaluation of relationships, processes and outcomes will enable adaptive management of projects and advance the science of evaluation and participatory research on resilience. The proposed work directly addresses three NOAA next-generation strategic goals: increase the resilience of coastal tribal communities and economies, contribute to weather-ready economies in rural communities and advance adaptive capacity in frontline communities. IT contributes to NOAA's engagement enterprise initiative by innovating integrated services to ensure that they meet the evolving demands of a wider range of stakeholders. The work supports the directive in executive order 14008 to address disproportionate climate impacts on disadvantaged communities by providing a model for reorienting public investments in climate resilience research and practice toward the challenges facing these communities in the NW and beyond.