This special issue of Participatory Learning and Action focuses on recent approaches to climate change adaptation that are community based and participatory, building on the priorities, knowledge and capacities of local people. While community-based adaptation is a relatively new field, some lessons and challenges are beginning to emerge, including how to integrate disaster risk reduction, livelihoods and climate change adaptation work, climate change knowledge gaps, issues around the type and quality of participation, and the need for policies and institutions that support community-based adaptation.

This publication includes papers on: community-based climate change adaptation in small island developing states; children’s participation in community-based disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change; helping Andean farmers adapt to climate change; ethics and methods in research for community-based adaptation: reflections from rural Vanuatu; participatory rice variety selection in Sri Lanka; lessons from a trans-boundary water governance project in West Africa; participatory three-dimensional mapping for disaster risk reduction; amplifying children’s voices on climate change; the role of participatory video; climate change adaptation in Malawi; the use of rain calendars for understanding changing rainfall patterns and effects on livelihoods; child friendly participatory research tools; and participatory scenario development for translating impacts of climate change.