"From Consulting to Communities: Understanding and Addressing the Barriers to Rural Climate Adaptation in North Carolina"

For transformative climate adaptation to be possible, planning processes will require structural changes. As climate change has been identified as an area of planning need, however, localities lack guidance on how to implement a justice-oriented approach. This master’s thesis addresses this gap using NC RISE, a climate adaptation planning process in rural, eastern North Carolina, as a case study. Through a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews, I argue that capacity building through six actionable strategies, visualized in a logic model can provide an alternative approach to transformative climate adaptation in rural communities and beyond.