The Climate Equity Lab: A living lab on equity in climate change adaptation in Quebec

Measures to adapt to climate change are crucial, and will continue to be in the future. Several groups and researchers are concerned about the exacerbation of inequalities induced by the recommended solutions—an issue that is not studied or taken into consideration often enough. The scientific literature and experience in the field show that adaptation measures can generate or exacerbate inequalities in various ways: unequal distribution of their effects (distributive justice), disparate opportunities, capacities and effects from participating (procedural justice), and incomplete and unequal recognition of the diversity of knowledge and experiences and of the intersection of different forms of oppression and discrimination. Many believe that participatory approaches and the sharing of stories and testimonials arising from the knowledge and experience of marginalized people offer great potential when it comes to making equity issues central to adaptation initiatives.

General objective

• To co-produce a toolkit for equity in climate change adaptation to build capacity for equitable adaptation, while adhering to the objectives set out in the call for expressions of interest, i.e. to raise awareness and mobilize action on these issues

Specific objectives

• To support the production and dissemination of testimonials and accounts of the experiences of people affected by the growing inequalities associated with climate change adaptation

• To improve understanding of the issues by co-producing (documenting and disseminating) information summaries, easy-to-understand definitions and case studies in various audio, written and visual formats

• To foster the discovery insights into the links between adaptation and inequality through case studies and workshops in different regions 

• To pool these experiences by means of awareness-raising and empowerment materials, some of them developed and tested in a living lab forum and then brought together into a toolkit for equity in adaptation

Creation of an advisory committee whose members are representatives of the groups affected by adaptation measures and of the organizations implementing them.

Living lab activities for the co-production of the toolkit:

• Support for the production of testimonials and stories

• Assessment of knowledge needs and mobilization of knowledge (literature review targeting missing aspects)

• Research and production of summaries and infographics

• Workshops held in selected regions

• Prototyping to test the materials with the target audience

• Cross-analysis and initial selection of toolkit materials

• A forum for sharing experiences and learnings from different regions, and for testing the ways in which they will be organized and disseminated in the toolkit

• Presentation and distribution of the toolkit

• Toolkit with dedicated website

• Analysis grid on adaptation equity 

• A series of visual, audio and video stories and testimonials

• Information summaries in different formats, including infographics, on case studies, local learnings and easy-to-understand definitions on the intersection of inequality and climate change adaptation

• Literature reviews on the links between inequalities and adaptation solutions in sectors that are still lacking in this regard

• Participatory living lab methodologies, in particular the use of testimonials and stories to foster conversation, understanding and empathy between the most affected individuals and groups and the producers and decision-makers of adaptation solutions

• Nathan McClintock, professor – project co-manager, INRS;

• Olivier Riffon, professor – project co-manager, UQAC;

• Stéphane Guimont Marceau, professor, INRS;

• Marie-Eve Drouin-Gagné, assistant professor, INRS;

• Xavier Leloup, professor, INRS

• Marie Fall, professor, UQAC;

• Geneviève Cloutier, professor, U Laval;

• Jean-François Bissonnette, professor, U Laval;

• Ioana Radu, professor, UQAT.

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