Executive Summary

Highlights

As funders and national governments invest in building resilience to climate impacts, many are recognizing the value of locally led adaptation (LLA) to manage climate risks faced by local communities and Indigenous peoples.
Locally led action can address historical imbalances of power and disproportionate vulnerabilities that climate change will otherwise deepen.
LLA requires governance and financing processes that prioritize the agency of local actors that are on the front lines of climate change impacts and are often best placed to identify adaptation solutions. Changing these processes to redress power imbalances and emphasize local priorities can be complex and difficult, often entailing significant shifts from standard practice.
This paper provides examples of approaches to investing in and implementing LLA to demystify the steps funders and governments can take to operationalize and scale adaptation in line with the Principles for Locally Led Adaptation.
Funders, governments, and other relevant actors can draw on these approaches to turn investments in and commitments to LLA into new policies, practices, and actions that ensure local partners have equitable access to climate finance and are at the center of decision-making processes.

Authors:

Tamara Coger, Ayesha Dinshaw, Stefanie Tye, Bradley Kratzer, May Thazin Aung, Eileen Cunningham, Candice Ramkissoon, Suranjana Gupta, Md. Bodrud-Doza, Ariana Karamallis, Samson Mbewe, Ainka Granderson, Glenn Dolcemascolo, Anwesha Tewary, Afsara Mirza and Anna Carthy

Primary Contacts – Tamara Coger

Published by World Resources Institute (WRI), June 2022