A hub for stories, research and resources on community-led adaptation to heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
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As extreme weather events like heatwaves become more intense and frequent, communities are stepping up with practical, locally-driven and empowering solutions.
This hub brings together inspiring stories, visuals, tools, and the latest data from heatwave monitors to help changemakers, funders, and local organisers design effective strategies
📍 Sand Ridge, Hungary
Local farmers, water management experts, nature conservationists, and everyday people came together with a shared goal on the northeastern edge of the Homokhátság: to retain water in the landscape. Their interventions represent a last chance for these lands and their wildlife to survive and to mitigate the negative impacts of drought periods.
📍 Messenia, Greece
The Nileas Agricultural Cooperative is uniting local farmers to adapt olive groves to extreme heat. Through soil health practices, smart irrigation, and collective resilience, they are proving that communities can take action, safeguard their livelihoods, and protect the land against heatwaves, droughts, and emerging challenges.
📍 Budapest, Hungary
In June 2025, the Voluntary Water Donor program launched in Budapest, inviting individuals, groups, and companies to water young trees via the Beeco app. Sunday evening watering parties turned this simple task into lively community gatherings, where residents cared for saplings, connected with neighbours, and made a direct impact on their urban environment.
📍 Athens, Greece
The Melissa Migrant Centre in Athens provides a cool, safe space for women during the city’s extreme heatwaves. Alongside ice cream, games, and social activities, the initiative offers migrant women relief from high temperatures while fostering connection, resilience, and a sense of community.
Sárrét, Hungary
The Sárrét Water Guardian Association is a civil initiative from the Kis Sárrét region (near Szeghalom) in Békés County, which aims to take responsible and sustainable action against water shortages caused by the climate crisis and prolonged drought. The years of drought have left a devastating mark on the landscape: rainfall has decreased dramatically, groundwater is disappearing, and wells are drying up one after another. However, the Sárrét Water Guardians have not only recognized the problem, but they are also determined to do something about it. The water authority has backed the initiative, and since May, concrete works have begun to allow water to flow back from the Kutas main canal into natural depressions.
Below you will find the results of our Heatwave Monitor’s carried out in different countries and cities.
The Monitor tracks the emotional, social and perceived economic impacts of heatwaves. The research also explores how heat impacts different demographics such as gender, generation or rural and urban.
Interested in Mindworks running a heatwave monitor for you?
Our 12 key recommendations to help you focus your heatwave communication, built around the insights from the Heatwave Monitor.
A guide on how to create and communicate locally-led adaptation campaigns during heatwaves.
Our free-to-use collection of heat photography to help reframe how heat is visualised, from locally-led adaptation to broader impacts.
Discover our insights, learnings and bes-practice for photographers on how to visualise heatwaves.
Discover the psychology and strategy behind the project and why adaptation and mitigation must work together.
Interested in learning more about our work on adaptation and extreme weather?
