ECOVILLAGE RESILIENCE REPORT
Collaborative Pathways for Navigating the Polycrisis
From November 2021 to May 2024, the Global Ecovillage Network and its members engaged in a collaborative inquiry into the resilience of ecovillages to a +2.5 degree climate change scenario. With expert researchers and facilitators in the field of social-ecological, personal and interpersonal resilience, ecovillage design and social transformation, 20 ecovillages from 18 countries gathered to explore what ecovillages can nurture today to be more resilient tomorrow.
Together, we set out to do a resilience assessment of ecovillages and key ecovillage practices to a +2.5 degree scenario; do a deep-dive into the capacities needed to build personal and interpersonal resilience in that reality; and create visions and pathways for ecovillages in 2040, grounded in both. This report is a summary of our findings.
Below is an overview of report sections, and an online version of the full report to leaf through
INTRODUCTION
The background and rationale for this work as we frame the Global Polycrisis and 2.5+ degree scenario. How this is relevant for ecovillages, how ecovillages can contribute to the conversation, and how these findings can serve the ecovillage network. The guiding questions and project objectives of this participatory action research.
PARTICIPATING ECOVILLAGES
The 20-member Community of Practice: what makes them each unique and what common threads are weaved among them. Highlighting the snapshot view of the locations, sizes, ages, and some key concepts when mapping out the Community of Practice
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY
Presenting the project flow and major building blocks in the 2 year journey.
THE RESILIENCE ASSESSMENT
The community workshops that contributed to the assessment, the Resilience Tracker, and the synthesis and summary of key findings.
DEEPENING PERSONAL & INTERPERSONAL RESILIENCE
The community workshops that explored this theme as well as the key findings.
GOING FORWARD
What could an ecovillage that is both Regenerative and Resilience look like? We revisit the ecovillage model from a resilience perspective and propose some recommendations for ecovillages, both established and emerging.
IMPACT OF THE RESILIENCE ASSESSMENT PROJECT
The lessons learned along the way. Voices from the Community of Practice. And Stories of Resilience from on the ground.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Can ecovillages be seeds of good Anthropocenes when even our most positive future scenarios show a level of volatility, suffering and unravelling that can be hard to imagine? What will it take for local communities to go from seed to sapling to tree when the rains disappear and the soil is dying?
NEXT STEPS – KEYSTONE COMMUNITIES
Continuing the exploration of how local communites can sustain life – human and non-human alike – through the polycrisis.
