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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Different people's perceptions and experiences can lead to mistrust and disconnects that result in misalignments in policy and practice, and disrupt learning and the flow of knowledge and resources. A "multi-level integrated planning and implementation" (MIPI) process implemented in Ghana sought to create safe spaces for 60 diverse actors from community, district, regional and national levels for immersion in each other's worlds, to first "become fully human to one another" and overcome misunderstanding and blame. This was the first of six stages aimed at developing multi-level policies, plans and actions, and implementation protocols.

Informal settlements in cities in low- and middle-income countries concentrate populations at greater risk of climate change impacts. Community- and city-government-led measures to upgrade settlements are not designed as responses to climate change, but they can enhance resilience to climate-change risks.

Data on environmental and human health vulnerabilities in slums, which are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, is very limited. Citizen science can help fill data gaps and contribute to more locally relevant climate justice interventions.

A study assessing the prevalence of mental health issues in Bangladesh found that individuals experiencing a 1°C higher temperature had a 21% higher probability of reporting an anxiety disorder and a 24% higher likelihood of experiencing both depression and an anxiety disorder at the same time. As climate change accelerates, so will its deteriorative effects on mental health, with wide-ranging implications for individuals and nations.

One of the most effective ways to keep people cool is often neglected in urban planning. Cities must work to provide cover and reverse the ‘shade deserts’ common in low-income communities.

Resilient local food systems are critical for Kenya to adapt effectively to climate change. Worryingly, a very small percentage of adaptation funding reaches the local level, and decision-making power on adaptation finance is held by national and international players. This study proposes ten entry points to improve finance flows to enable adaptation by local food systems.

How local is "local"? Is local adaptation synonymous with locally-led adaptation? As LLA becomes more prevalent in adaptation practice, there is a risk that its meaning will be diluted to apply to all forms of local engagement in adaptation projects, and existing adaptation projects will be reframed or rebranded as LLA. The authors call for moving beyond rhetoric, incremental shifts and organizational tweaks, to delegating more authority to diverse local actors, and to covering their core costs - not just passing on the responsibility for achieving results.

Initial intentions for community-driven actions were supplanted by ‘community’ being viewed as a place for action, rather than a socio-political entry point. The concept of locally-led adaptation has emerged to try and recapture some of the initial intentions of community-based adaptation (CBA), with a focus on agency, and a re-conceptualization of ‘local’. Care needs to be taken to ensure that it learns from the critiques of participatory development and CBA, and does not lose sight of its intentions over time.

Old but gold: in this 2010 publication, the authors discuss the role of Local and Community Driven Development in ensuring sustainability of investments, and in restoring trust and building social capital. The lessons for effective development interventions drawn out in this analysis are equally relevant to Locally Led Adaptation.

In water-stressed Cape Town, the SenseMaker project once again found that capacity building for knowledge co-creation at the community level empowers local actors and organizations to assert their perspectives with greater confidence and legitimacy, and is central for transformative adaptation.

A Community-based Climate Vulnerability Assessment conducted in Rangamati Hill District in Bangladesh identified three priorities for building climate resilience: preserving the forests through cooperative efforts, reforestation, and public education; promoting sustainable and climate-resistant agriculture, as well as alternative livelihoods and market access; and improving access to clean water and preserving water sources through community-led management. 

How is the Green Climate Fund supporting LLA in Africa? This study finds that there is limited consideration of local needs in adaptation and a misalignment between the scale, impact and speed of projects. The most impactful projects are those that address local needs effectively through interventions that are small scale and closer to the ground – but they take more time to develop and implement. The study highlights the importance of direct access modalities and grant funding to reach vulnerable groups. It finds that Direct Access Entities performed better on average across most LLA Principles.

An analysis of 37 heat action plans in India identifies several opportunities to strengthen them, including to tailor them better to local context; target vulnerable groups; make them more transparent; link them with existing policies; and build capacity to deal with heat incidents more effectively.

Locally led adaptation in Ghana is hindered by limited financial resources, limited institutional support to communities, and limited coordination and governance of climate actions at the local level.

By 2050, up to 5% of Africa’s population of some 2 billion people could be on the move due to climate impacts, up from 1.5% today. For people facing climate stressors, climate mobility is likely to be a response of last resort – most Africans are attached to their land and homes, and don’t aspire to leave their communities.