How to keep mountain communities engaged in climate change adaptation processes? Learnings from the MountResilience Community of Practice

On 19 March 2026, the third webinar organised by the MountResilience Community of Practice took place. This time, the focus was on stakeholder engagement as a cornerstone for effective climate adaptation. Three EU-funded projects (NEVERMORE, TransformAr and MountResilience) shared their approaches, lessons learned, and tools that have helped facilitate this process. 

The webinar began with a presentation by NEVERMORE, represented by Chiara Leonardi (Bruno Kessler Foundation) and Lia Tamanini (Autonomous Province of Trento). The NEVERMORE approach to stakeholder engagement involves the creation of Local Councils: structured groups of stakeholders (including public authorities, scientists, civil society and private sector representatives) to ensure that a variety of perspectives and types of knowledge are represented. Local authorities play an important role within these councils as mediators, acting as a bridge between researchers and stakeholders and ensuring continuity in the engagement process.  

Against this backdrop, NEVERMORE shared good practices that have helped them to maintain stakeholder engagement throughout the project, such as planning a “give-back” strategy and maintaining regular communication to present intermediate results and check in, rather than waiting until the end of the project. They also highlighted the importance of having at least one person dedicated to managing and facilitating stakeholder engagement throughout the project, since building strong relationships requires time and careful attention. 

Next, Jan Cools, the coordinator of TransformAr (University of Antwerp), introduced the TransformAr playbook: a practical guide designed to structure co-creation processes and support the development of adaptation pathways. 

As well as presenting the tool, he shared some reflections with the audience. He emphasised that stakeholder engagement is not just a requirement often requested at the start of projects; it is also part of the solution to climate change adaptation. Without an engaged community, no progress will be made. Additionally, engagement processes must be structured and goal-oriented to ensure discussions lead to concrete outcomes, while avoiding overburdening stakeholders with unclear and excessive requests. He concluded his presentation with a clear message: long-term engagement depends on stakeholders seeing a clear benefit or purpose in their participation. From the outset, practitioners need to understand their needs and motivations and align expectations. 

The final presentation by Dario Pezzotti (UNIMONT) also underlined the importance of preparing the ground before engaging stakeholders. This can be achieved by analysing existing data and interviewing local stakeholders to gain a better understanding of climate risks and local perceptions, for example. 

This first step was essential before establishing the MountResilience Local Councils, which support the co-design of adaptation strategies and ensure that solutions are developed through continuous dialogue rather than being imposed from above. To support this process, MountResilience also developed a Solutions Database, a repository of scientific literature and tested adaptation solutions. It served as a starting point to guide discussions on their pathways for adapting to climate change. It provided clear examples of solutions that could be tested and implemented in their regions, inspiring greater trust among stakeholders and offering a clearer vision of the project’s objectives and fostering long-term engagement.  

Lessons from experience: 

Across all projects, a common message emerged: effective stakeholder engagement depends on making the process meaningful and manageable for participants. Ensuring stakeholders receive something in return for their time and effort, are kept informed regularly about the project’s progress, and are not overloaded with excessive and unclear demands is key. When stakeholders feel that their contribution is useful and recognised (and not just extractive) they are far more likely to stay engaged over time. 

Found it interesting? Join the Community of Practice and take part in future exchanges, events, and discussions on climate adaptation in mountain regions! 

The recording of this event will be shared in the coming days.