The Resilience Frontiers (RF) Initiative, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, is leveraging collective intelligence to address long-term global resilience challenges beyond 2030. This is achieved by harnessing the transformative potential of paradigm-shifting frontier technologies and emerging social innovations. The work within RF is organised across eight cross-cutting and interlinked thematic pathways, led by an international and multidisciplinary group of experts. These experts focus on envisioning desirable development scenarios to catalyse actions that create a synergistic effect between climate change mitigation and adaptation. RF engaged 4CF The Futures Literacy Company, to conceptualise and execute one of its projects, drawing on the principles of collective intelligence and foresight.

4CF The Futures Literacy Company conceptualised and facilitated a five-day foresight process for a transdisciplinary group of RF experts and stakeholders in Gaborone during Botswana Climate Adaptation Week in August 2022. This process involved envisioning and shaping post-2030 futures through the lens of the eight cross-cutting RF pathways:

• transforming humanity’s interface with nature, building on indigenous values,
• applying lifelong learning for environmental stewardship,
• ensuring universal, equitable and open access to, and stewardship of, (big) data and frontier technologies,
• managing water and other natural resources in a participatory and equitable way,
• managing transboundary considerations equitably,
• optimising future health and wellbeing using a holistic and eco-centred approach,
• mainstreaming regenerative food production,
• rebuilding the international and financial systems for natural and human prosperity.

The RF foresight workshop held during Botswana Climate Adaptation Week 2022 in Gaborone successfully brought together thought leaders from various sectors, backgrounds, and continents in a collaborative effort to envision and strategise for a climate-resilient future. The foresight methodologies employed during the brainstorming sessions, facilitated by 4CF The Futures Literacy Company enabled the identification of innovative solutions and pioneering actions that could accelerate progress towards this goal. The initiative’s emphasis on inclusivity and the integration of diverse knowledge systems fostered a strong sense of ownership and collective responsibility among participants. The outcomes of these sessions have inspired a deeper integration of foresight-based thinking within RF and across the broader UNFCCC framework.