The global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery.
The Race to Resilience is the UN-backed global campaign to catalyse a step-change in global ambition for climate resilience, putting people and nature first in pursuit of a resilient world where we don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them.
Led by the High-Level Climate Champions for Climate Action – Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz – the Race to Resilience aims:
By 2030, to catalyse action by non-state actors that builds the resilience of 4 billion people from vulnerable groups and communities to climate risks.
Through a partnership of initiatives, focus on helping the most vulnerable, frontline communities to build resilience and adapt to the physical impacts of climate change, such as extreme heat, drought, flooding and sea-level rise, in three area types:
Urban: Cities, industrial communities and informal settlements become healthy, safe and thriving spaces that support resilient livelihoods and allow for green recovery post COVID-19.
Rural: Smallholder farmers, rural entrepreneurs, and industries across food and agricultural supply chains are adaptive and are equipped to thrive in the face of climate change whilst protecting nature.
Coastal: Safeguard coastal and riverine cities, communities and businesses through increased investment in adaptation and resilience and protection of natural ecosystems that support those livelihoods and economies.
Projected impacts and related losses and damages are set to intensify with every fraction of a degree, meaning action to address this must dramatically accelerate. The UN Climate Change High-Level Champions aim to play an instrumental part in this process.
As resilience continues to improve, it should be possible to move from crisis management to risk management of droughts in the Horn of Africa, explains David Nash, Professor of Physical Geography, University of Brighton.
Forest clearing and pollution originating from aquaculture and agriculture are the single biggest factor of mangrove loss, according to 200 scientific studies published over the past four decades.
The Earth has lost 4,000 square kilometres (km2) of its tidal wetlands over the past 20 years, a new study finds. This is equal to an area roughly the size of the Spanish island Mallorca or the Indian state of Goa.
Will greening cities be enough to fend off ever increasing intense heatwaves?
Action on adaptation and resilience has been behind action on mitigation. Yet action on both is essential to deliver a 1.5C resilient world and prepare for decades of worsening climate impacts. This is why increased action on adaptation is a priority for the UN Secretary General and why the COP26 Presidency has an explicit goal on adaptation.
While previous COPs have seen an increase in focus on resilience and adaptation it has been spread across different initiatives, spaces and events inside and outside the COP. Adaptation and resilience was “everywhere but nowhere” without a focal point.
The Resilience Hub is designed to meet this challenge. Its central purpose is to advance action on adaptation and resilience at COP26 and beyond, and to help provide a strong collective voice on resilience for all those globally who are working to build a more resilient world.
Led by global non-state actors from business, investors, civil society, academia, cities and regions, the Resilience Hub will provide an unforgettable immersion into the urgency for action while mobilizing ambition to deliver a resilient world for all.
For more information, please click here.
Throughout 2021, the High-Level Champions have engaged coalitions and initiatives who are prepared to meet Race to Resilience’s ‘minimum criteria’. Our approved Partner initiatives act as the secretariats through which individual members can join and thus will facilitate the speed at which members can join the Race to Resilience.
From December 2021, we welcome new Partner initiatives. Any organization wishing to apply should do so by filling in an Expression of Interest (online form to fill) (pdf format) in which they will demonstrate how they will manage their members to meet the Race to Resilience criteria. Their application will be reviewed by an independent, Expert Review Group who will determine whether or not the Partner initiative meets the criteria.
If you have questions about joining as a Partner please contact resilience@climatechampions.team
Individual organizations are invited to join the Race via a relevant Partner initiative. Our Meet the Partners page provides an overview of each partner including the type of resilience work they undertake, which non-state actors they engage, which countries they work in, and the requirements to join. We encourage individual organisations to assess their most material climate risks and select a partner initiative that will both fit their own strategies and will contribute in a meaningful way to protecting vulnerable people around the world.
