How do we move from climate data to climate action? In October 2025, alongside our General Assembly in Praia, ONEPlanET hosted the inaugural Climate Adaptation Sprint—a hands-on workshop dedicated to building resilience in the face of a rapidly changing environment.
Cabo Verde, as an island nation, stands on the front lines of the climate crisis. For the local community, terms like “rising sea levels” and “saltwater intrusion” aren’t just academic concepts—they are daily threats to livelihoods and ecosystems. The Sprint was designed to turn these challenges into a roadmap for adaptation.
Bridging Education and Expertise
The workshop brought together a dynamic group of 30 postgraduate students from the University of Cabo Verde alongside professionals from the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE).
By pairing the fresh perspectives of students with the technical expertise of ECREEE professionals, the Sprint fostered a unique environment for intergenerational knowledge exchange. This collaboration is a core part of ONEPlanET’s mission: ensuring that the “Knowledge Hub” we are building serves both today’s decision-makers and tomorrow’s leaders.
Hands-On Resilience: The Praia Strategy
During the Sprint, participants didn’t just discuss theory; they worked with actual local climate data to co-create an Adaptation Strategy for Praia.
The participants divided into focus groups to address the “Quintuple Helix” of adaptation:
-
Agriculture & Food Security: Developing strategies to protect crops from increasing drought and shifting rainfall patterns.
-
Water Management: Addressing saltwater intrusion to ensure clean drinking water for the island’s population.
-
Infrastructure & Urban Planning: Shielding essential coastal infrastructure from erosion and flood risks.
-
Governance & Knowledge Systems: Creating frameworks that ensure local communities have a seat at the table when climate policies are drafted.
Why Adaptation is Essential for the WEF Nexus
In the context of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus, climate adaptation is the “glue” that holds sustainable systems together. If a community builds a solar farm (Energy) but doesn’t account for rising flood risks (Water), the investment is at risk.
By grounding solutions in local realities—such as the specific geographical challenges of Praia—the Sprint demonstrated how systems thinking can prevent project failure and promote long-term stability.
“The Climate Adaptation Sprint is a perfect example of ONEPlanET in action: we take complex data, bring the right people together, and emerge with a practical plan for a more resilient future.”
Join Our Mission
The strategies developed during this Sprint will help inform the further development of the ONEPlanET Toolkit, making it more robust for island nations and coastal regions across Africa.
-
Want to learn more? Explore our latest Policy Briefs on climate resilience.
-
Interested in future workshops? Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear about upcoming Living Labs and Sprints.