Locally led change in the Pacific might be instructive and help to build a broader and deeper repository of knowledge for a post-development conceptualization of social change in which local, pluralist and solidaristic initiatives are central, and where connections to place, local knowledge and the non-human are highly valued.

This is a call to action to incorporate LLA principles when adapting to climate change. Discussing the eight LLA Principles and problems with business-as-usual approaches.

This paper outlines key considerations for monitoring, evaluation and learning for locally led adaptation to ensure that the MEL processes are locally led too. The paper recommends the following: recognition and response to structural inequalities, promoting local agency and decision-making, understanding climatic and contextual complexity and uncertainty, prioritizing learning processes, and generating value for local stakeholders.

Community-led disaster risk management, combining local knowledge with satellite images and mapping technologies, is protecting villages in Pakistan from the impacts of climate change.

Are all initiatives that include the participation of local peoples—of whatever status and to whatever extent—examples of locally led development? Should participation be representative of a broad swathe of communities or will inclusion of limited subsets of the population suffice? Carney interrogates notions of legitimacy and representation to demonstrate how complex the notion of locally led development can be in practice.

This IIED research report argues that systematic change is needed to combat emerging global crises such as climate change. Focusing on the most vulnerable and marginalized populations, the report states that radically increasing access, agency and power of local actors to foster local adaptation solutions is of the utmost importance. It highlights six principles of devolved climate finance, namely, subsidiary place-based decision-making, patient and predictable funding, flexibility, robust decision-making, risk-taking and converging actions.

Robust indicators are needed to assess progress on locally led adaptation (LLA). These indicators should go beyond the traditional upward accountability and value-for-money assessments that are the focus of donor-driven projects, and instead be designed to be useful for local adaptation practitioners to improve the effectiveness of LLA.

The shift from Community Based Adaptation to Locally Led Adaptation signifies a major shift from “based” to “led”, with local people in the driver’s seat.

The establishment of Kenya's County Climate Change Funds was critical to integrating climate risk into county development. Through two case studies in Kenya, this paper demonstrates key insights into mainstreaming climate change adaptation into county-level development plans. It shows that adaptation action has led to development benefits such as improving livelihoods and water access.

GCA Senior Advisor Saleemul Huq documents the history of Locally Led Adaptation.

Donor-driven monitoring and evaluation often does little to integrate or incentivize learning for locally led adaptation. Deterministic and rigid top-down approaches fail to capitalize on the important insights that bottom-up learning can offer for improving local adaptation planning and implementation.

This paper draws on the evaluation of 15 community-based adaptation projects in Vanuatu and finds that these were largely unsuccessful and unsustainable. Findings show communities are challenged to sustain these projects once funding has ceased. The paper suggests that projects need to be locally led and take place across different entry points.

This study uses interviews and focus groups to evaluate a community-based adaptation project conducted in Vanuatu. Using interviews and focus groups it investigates appropriateness, effectiveness, equity, sustainability and livelihood assets from local perspectives. The research had two primary recommendations for future community-based projects: to ensure an in-depth understanding of the local context and mainstream gender considerations.

Effectively addressing climate change requires paying attention to the local level. The Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) mechanism of the United Nations Capital Development Fund provides performance-based climate resilience grants to local authorities in Least Developed Countries to finance adaptation interventions. This paper outlines insights and lessons learned from designing the Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Framework (ACCAF) that are relevant to a global audience. ACCAF was created by the World Resources Institute (WRI) to strenghten LoCAL. Donors, practitioners, and local authorities can use these lessons to inform future programming.

An innovative “Water Window Challenge” provided grants of up to US$1m for innovative solutions to issues affecting flood-prone communities – including these innovative floating homes in Vietnam and Bangladesh.

This paper examines the adaptation practices across spatial scales and how adaptive actions on one scale can constrain another. Drawing on agropastoral communities in Burkina Faso the research investigates how higher scale adaptation action from international organizations and the government are redefined when locally implemented. It highlights that efforts to advance adaptation strategies should include local actors from the outset to broaden adaptation plans past technologically focused approaches.

Research on health has historically prioritized and catered to the needs of the Global North. The one-sided focus on producing knowledge that is intended to be universally valid and applicable leads to a neglect of more locally specific research that policymakers, health professionals and community representatives in the Global South say they need to improve action for health.

A policy shift toward localism in the UK is driving responses to the impacts of climate change. This paper examines local resilience to the shocks of climate change impacts focusing on communication, collaboration, adaptation, preparing for future shocks and learning from past events. The paper draws on extreme weather events in the UK and the local actions. It demonstrates that collaboration and communication between the public sector and civil society is an important factor in effective decision-making.

Through interviews with stakeholders, this research reviews the Community Adaptation Plan (CAP) in Nepal and stakeholder perception of its effectiveness. The results show that while the project recognized the pivotal role of the community in climate adaptation action, it was subject to elite capture in the community. The paper recommends that local institutions are more accountable for vulnerable households in the decision-making process.

This is a case study of climate adaptation planning in the islands of Saipan and Northern Mariana and the establishment of a multi-agency Climate Change Working Group. It describes the themes that arose throughout the process, touching upon leadership, political will, and stakeholder engagement. This resulted in a mixed level of success and the paper highlights challenges and recommendations when planning local climate adaptation plans.

Using ethnographic and geospatial research methods, this paper investigates community perceptions of climate-related changes in the Solomon islands. The researchers asked about changes, causes, timing and adaptive measures. Using geographical information system (GIS) the researchers created base maps of these perceived changes. The results showed that the people were able to identify acute changes such as water clarity and agricultural diseases but were less away of gradual shifts. The research recommends using a mix of scientific studies and local observations to document ongoing ecological changes.

Knowledge represents both an important determinant and indicator of adaptive capacity. In this opinion piece in Nature Climate Change, the authors argue that for climate change information to have value, actors must be able to transform that information into knowledge that allows them to modify their behavior in adaptive ways.

Seven case studies prove the value of iterative problem-solving, stepwise learning, brokering relationships, and discovering common interests. They show that donors can work in politically smart and locally led ways if the political and bureaucratic environment within their own agencies is supportive. An obvious first step is for donors to change the practices and procedures that directly impede iterative problem-solving. Instead, they should create space for innovative, committed individuals sufficient room to work flexibly and opportunistically within the current system.

This paper examines climate adaptation planning in three cities: Quito (Ecuador), Surat (India), and Durban (South Africa). It investigates the trade-off between different forms of stakeholder involvement and their implications for urban resilience. The paper concludes that widespread commitment to climate adaptation plans require sustained political leadership, departmental engagement and continued stakeholder involvement. Adaptation efforts that focus on learning, awareness and capacity building are also more likely to be sustained and support the resilience of the most affected areas and residents.

In Victoria, Australia, primary healthcare partnerships (PCP’s) and community service organizations (CSO’s) are uniquely situated to address climate adaptation, identify vulnerable individuals and groups affected by climate change, and to promote climate justice and local community resilience. However, interviews with PCP’s and CSO’s indicate a lack of resources and guidance, including accessible information on climate adaptation action and climate change impacts.