Less than 5% of total public adaptation finance provided between 2016-2021 reached Least Developed Countries (LDCs). To rectify this, LDCs have signed a compact with development partners to spark a transformation in how LDCs finance, develop, deliver and learn from long term adaptation and resilience efforts.

Expanding LLA strategies by communities in Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana can play a major role in addressing the unique challenges posed by climate change on local communities. Experience across Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal demonstrate that communities have been adapting to the impacts of climate change, to varying degrees. But LLA strategies in west Africa face a number of stumbling blocks.

A one- size-fits-all approach to establishing heat safety thresholds won’t work. Instead, heat safety limits need to be evaluated for different socially vulnerable groups, such as neonates, infants, children, and pregnant and postpartum women.

Community initiatives are the starting point for transformative adaptation to ready our world for a changed climate, according to this study.

MSMEs, smallholder farmers and informal individual entrepreneurs are the most important private sector actors for truly locally led adaptation because they are already heavily invested in adapting to climate change impacts.

An Indian philanthropy is redefining the relationship between fund providers and recipients.

Climate knowledge is often built top-down, overlooking diverse experiences and expertise of women and marginalized communities. This needs to change.

Global warming is shifting rainfall patterns across South Asia, and each area will be affected differently — local approaches are needed to track and respond to these changes.

Experiences from the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) in Niger, Lesotho and Cambodia indicate that while the Facility is a powerful vehicle for engaging local governments in LLA efforts, local governments often mirror the power dynamics of higher levels of governments and have exclusionary politics, which the LoCAL mechanism alone cannot shift. Intensifying efforts to involve non-governmental entities could enhance community participation in planning and budgeting processes.

Local communities bear the brunt of climate change-related disasters, made evident in three municipalities of Nepal (Aathbis, Panchadewal Binayak, and Barbardiya), where residents face challenges recovering from and responding to flooding, landslides and drought. As a result, residents often resort to loans for infrastructure reconstruction, while others relocate entirely.

Limited knowledge exists on the real-world experiences and outcomes from applying the Principles for Locally Led Adaptation in practice, especially in relation to water which is critical in climate change adaptation. Progress and lessons learned from water adaptation initiatives in East Africa’s drylands are examined to assess the alignment of water adaptation projects with these principles.

A study of six locally-led adaptation (LLA) water-related projects in Kenya and Tanzania indicate how donors, government and civil society actors can support the implementation of LLA approaches.

As cities aim to transition their buildings to include more green and sustainable sources of electricity, retrofitting – or installing – fossil fuel-based buildings with high-efficiency and clean electricity is crucial. However, one size does not fit all. Including historically disadvantaged communities in the design of retrofit programs helps to identify and incorporate the individual needs and priorities of each community.

Pond sand filters and water harvesting have brought multiple benefits to coastal communities in south-west Bangladesh, including reduced expenditure on drinking water, reduced risk of gender-based violence, reduced health risks, and improved access to education.

Successful implementation of locally led adaptation (LLA) interventions requires shifting away from top-down approaches to inclusive development structures that align with community needs. This requires us to re-evaluate how power dynamics are defined, how knowledge is dissemination and valued, and how financing is distributed to LLA efforts. 

While the effects of climate change are experienced globally, climate risks and impacts felt at the local level can vary from place to place, based on geographic and biophysical characteristics of the area. Local governments, with their firsthand experience of climate impacts, are well-placed to address climate change effects by tailoring solutions to local needs. Nonetheless, their adaptation needs often exceed local planning, technical and fiscal capacities. Cooperation is therefore necessary across levels of government to foster climate change adaptation at the local level.

The poor are most affected by climate change, as their livelihoods depend on fewer assets. Nonetheless, their vulnerability is not just about financial resources. Their vulnerability is also tied to a reliance on community and market-level resources, like suppliers, trading centers, and healthcare providers, and state and national resources, such as government agencies.

Many development and climate resilience interventions promote small water infrastructures (SWIs) to combat drought in Africa. While SWIs can help overcome water shortages in the short term, they can also erode traditional adaptation practices and limit long-term resilience of pastoral communities.

This publication calls for civil society organizations in Bangladesh to work together to overcome challenges related to the lack of research and data on urban climate resilience; tools and indicators to measure urban resilience; funding for municipalities to invest in climate resilience; public services in slums; coordination between government organizations and agencies; and institutional arrangements for community participation in resilience building efforts.

Climate funds can help governments to integrate and mainstream climate risks into national social protection policies and programs. Such support, argue the authors, is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic approach for building resilience, reducing poverty, and ensuring that the most vulnerable communities are not left behind in the face of climate change.

This ADB publication discusses how decentralized governance provides opportunities to improve delivery of public goods and services needed for resilience building and give poor and vulnerable people a voice in identifying and implementing adaptation measures. 

This book explores the dynamics of equitable research partnerships, providing practical recommendations to overcome obstacles and forge effective collaborations between academia and diverse communities.

Every year, US$30 billion is spent on climate adaptation by the global community. However, this only represents a mere 10% of the approximate $387 billion required annually, with only a small portion of the funding actually reaching locally led initiatives.

Tanzania piloted the Decentralized Climate Finance mechanism in Monduli, Longido and Ngorongoro districts between 2016 and 2018. The pilot has generated several useful lessons for those wishing to establish similar mechanisms and for local-level climate adaptation investments in general.

Where roads and water intersect, trouble follows. Roads cut off streams and bleed sediment; meanwhile, floods often erode roadbeds into muddy gullies. In Kenya and in nearly 20 countries around the world, "green roads" are repositioning roads as environmental assets instead of liabilities: they use embankments, channels, and dikes to control floods, harvest excess water for use in irrigation, and slash maintenance costs. In the Ethiopian state of Tigray, for instance, green road techniques raised the water table and improved the productivity of adjacent farms by 35 percent.