As this year’s National Heat Safety Week comes to a close, communities across the U.S. are already experiencing record heat. Reports suggest a potential Super El Niño could bring even more extreme conditions later this year. Energy costs are rising, and we haven’t even reached June. There is no denying the impacts of climate change on the people around us and the places we live, work and play.

Against this backdrop, this year’s National Adaptation Forum (NAF) felt more significant than ever. One of the nation’s largest gatherings focused on climate adaptation and resilience, the Forum’s theme this year – Action today for a better tomorrow – brought together more than 900 government leaders, Tribal representatives, nonprofit organizations, researchers, planners, public health professionals, funders and community-based organizations to share emerging approaches and strengthen connections across the field.

As a long-time supporter of NAF, this year Kresge focused on advancing a conversation that is becoming increasingly central to equitable adaptation and building a more resilient tomorrow: climate mobility.

No single pathway for climate mobility

Climate mobility reflects the many ways people respond to changing environmental conditions, whether by staying, moving within a region or relocating entirely. For a long time, “managed retreat” has been a part of how we adapt to climate change, but mobility offers a wider view. It recognizes that decisions about where and how communities invest in adaptation shape who can remain, who is forced to move and under what conditions. If we ignore these patterns, we risk something called maladaptation. This is when time, money and effort go toward places or plans that may not match what a community needs in the long run. Equitable climate responses require centering mobility as a justice issue, not just an environmental one.

To deepen this conversation, Kresge partnered with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, ICLEI-USA, Climigration Network, Narrative Initiative, and New America to convene a pre-forum gathering of 50 leaders across climate adaptation and mobility representing frontlines, Indigenous, municipal, philanthropic and nonprofit communities. The goal was straightforward: build shared understanding and stronger relationships across these connected fields.

What emerged were snapshots of how climate mobility is already unfolding in different places. Practitioners described “receiving cities” preparing for population growth while working to support long-time residents to avoid displacement. Tribal and Indigenous leaders spoke to the profound cultural and logistical challenges of responding to coastal change in the absence of adequate policy and financial support. Gulf Coast participants shared their community’s decision to proactively relocate rather than wait for the next disaster, while organizations in Puerto Rico described the ongoing work of strengthening community resilience while navigating land ownership complexities. In the West, local governments and philanthropic partners highlighted how worsening wildfire risks are pushing them to rethink recovery, including expanding what “success” looks like beyond rebuilding in place.

Across these conversations, one insight stood out: there is no single pathway for climate mobility. The choices communities face are deeply shaped by local context, history and resources. Centering equity in this work requires creating the conditions for people to make meaningful decisions about staying or moving, rather than defaulting to a single model.

Rethinking traditional approaches

Kresge and partners carried this conversation into the Forum’s opening plenary organized with Unbound Philanthropy, ICLEI-USA and EcoAdapt. Featuring Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica and author of On the Move, Adelle Thomas of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and Alison Blanco of The Nature Conservancy in New York, the session brought into focus the scale and complexity of climate mobility.

Speakers pointed to emerging evidence that global habitable land may shrink significantly in the coming decades, increasing pressure on already strained regions. At the same time, they emphasized that many people will not, or cannot, move, reinforcing the need to invest in adaptation strategies that make it possible to stay in place safely.

The discussion also surfaced the opportunity for regions that have historically experienced population decline to become welcoming destinations, provided they invest in housing, infrastructure and community cohesion.

Finally, there was a call to rethink traditional approaches to resilience, including prioritizing strategies that give ecosystems room to adapt and enable communities to move out of harm’s way when necessary, rather than defaulting to rebuilding in place.

These were just some of the many important elements shared over our four days together. Taken together, these conversations reflected a field that is evolving in real time. Climate mobility is no longer peripheral; it is becoming central to how practitioners understand adaptation itself.

At this year’s National Adaptation Forum, there was both a sense of reckoning and a sense of resolve. Practitioners are navigating a shifting landscape marked by uncertainty, loss and difficult tradeoffs. And yet, there was also a strong sense of connection and shared purpose. Even amid changing conditions, the field continues to show up, learn from one another and push toward a more just and resilient tomorrow.