The winners of the 2023 Local Adaptation Champions (LAC) Awards presented their work and experience on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28).
The Awards were launched by GCA in 2022 as part of the activities of the Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation, to reward and spotlight innovative, exemplary, inspiring, and scalable locally-led efforts that address the impacts of climate change, and build effective climate resilience among the most vulnerable communities, sections of society, and individuals who are at the frontlines of the greatest existential threat faced by humankind.
The 2023 Awards recognized the efforts of local adaptation practitioners in four categories: Women in Leadership; Capacity Building; Business Adaptation Solutions; and Innovation in Devolving Finance.
The 2023 winners include:
The Pastoral Women’s Council, winners in the Women in Leadership category, for empowering Indigenous pastoralist women in northern Tanzania.
Espacio de Encuentro de las Culturas Originarias, A.C., winners in the Capacity Building category, for engaging communities in the development and implementation of ecotechnologies such as dry toilets, energy-saving stoves, fog catchers, and vegetable patch irrigation systems in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Aumsat Technologies LLP, winners in the Business Adaptation Solutions category, for a technology that uses satellite-based radar analytics to pinpoint underground water sources and optimal locations for groundwater recharge sites in India.
The Local Government Initiative on Climate Change, winners in the Innovation in Devolving Finance category, for innovation in supporting local communities to help get finance for local adaptation actions.
The Champions event began with a brief video and welcome from Anju Sharma, GCA LLA Lead, and was followed by presentations from all four LAC Awards winners on their respective initiatives. The event concluded with remarks by Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Additional Secretary, MOEFCC, Bangladesh.
See more about the 2023 LAC Awards here.