This review explores how community-based approaches can offer effective, context-specific strategies that both adapt to and mitigate climate change, while simultaneously advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It interrogates how bottom-up activities have helped strengthen vulnerable populations, especially in climate-affected regions, to be more resilient and achieve a meaningful transition. A structured review of peer-reviewed and grey literature published between 2015 to 2025 was undertaken. The search identified 153 records; after duplicates were removed and titles, abstracts and full texts were screened, 21 publications met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final synthesis. The included sources comprised peer-reviewed journal articles together with 4 grey literature sources from the United Nations SDGs, the Paris Agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results reveal that community-based approaches are context-specific, foster social inclusion, and enhance the adaptive capacity. They align with the SDGs 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Such initiatives can be scaled up, with policy enabling and partnership, as evidenced in Indonesia's Climate Village Program (Proklim). This review highlights the benefits of using indigenous knowledge in climate practices and the production of co-created knowledge integration, and multi-stakeholder governance. However, gaps in funding, poor financial monitoring, and restrictive legal systems often make it harder for local communities to adapt. This paper integrates new information related to the ability of community-based approaches to bridge the global-local divide in climate governance and offers a new approach to resilience-building based on climate justice in a participatory framework.
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