Exploring Youth Climate Adaptation – Spanish Pilot Case Study

This case study is part of the Spanish pilot case study within the AGORA project. AGORA promotes societal transformation to empower local communities to address the climate crisis and aims to achieve this through a multidisciplinary, integrated approach and four pilot studies in Europe.

AGORA is a HORIZON Europe project started in January 2023. It supports the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.

Summary

This focus group targeted young individuals in Zaragoza to gather their perspectives on climate change and co-create methods for climate adaptation, specifically with heat waves and extreme temperatures. The younger generation was selected because of their innate vulnerability to climate change and the importance of including their views in climate adaptation strategies.

Introduction

On June 12th, 2024, the AGORA partner ibercivis gathered 6 young individuals at the University of Zaragoza in a focus group on climate adaptation. The aim was to co-create soft adaptation solutions and evaluate youth engagement methodologies around the key issues of extreme heat, lack of clear climate protocols, and the need for climate shelters.

Methodology

The focus group began with a short presentation on ibercivis, the AGORA project, and an overview of climate adaptation and heat waves. Following the presentations, the event was divided into three activities. First, participants took turns introducing themselves and shared their personal experiences with climate change and how it has affected their lives.

After introductions, the next activity involved the co-creation of soft adaptation solutions. This activity used the “1-2-4-All” technique, which started with brainstorming individually, then in pairs, and then finally as a group. During this activity, participants debated on the adaptation gaps that had already been defined and created some potential soft adaptation solutions. The third activity involved co-evaluating engagement methods. This activity used the Pair and Share technique and Role Play. Participants used individual reflection, card prioritization, pair discussions, and a group debate to evaluate engagement methodologies.

Adaptation strategies

From the first activity, participants identified a variety of soft adaptation solutions to combat extreme heat temperatures in their region. These included adapting work environments to mitigate extreme heat effects, developing more heat-resilient cities, encouraging urban-rural reconnection to reduce urban crowding and increase climate change awareness in rural areas, developing more education-based policies that target various demographics, and establishing climate shelters that would provide relief during heat events. Participants also identified improving climate change communication as a positive way to raise awareness and engage with the community. The participants also mentioned that enhancing climate communication would engage older generations who are not as sensitized to the impacts of climate change.

The second activity on co-evaluating engagement methodologies showed an interest in community awareness campaigns, mobile training workshops, and participatory decision-making processes. Participants shared that using interactive and relatable methods like mobile workshops or community campaigns would be effective in engaging with diverse audiences. There was some skepticism over whether these engagement methods would be effective for certain demographics, like older adults, and if there would be enough resources to implement these initiatives.

Conclusion

This focus group focussed on young individuals in the Spanish pilot and their experiences and perceptions of climate change. The co-production of adaptation strategies and co-evaluate of engagement techniques provided interesting insight into future adaptation and engagement development.