Women sit on ground discussing issues in Bangladesh

Locally Led Adaptation

Principles for Locally Led Adaptation

Topic

Local communities are on the frontlines of climate change impacts, yet rarely do they and other local actors have a voice in the decisions that most affect them. We need to shift the status quo from current top-down approaches to a new model where local actors have greater power and resources to build resilience to climate change.

The Global Commission on Adaptation developed a set of principles, based on over a year of consultations, to strengthen locally led adaptation. As of November 2022, over 100 organizations have joined us to endorse these principles, committing to make changes and strengthening existing efforts to meet this urgent adaptation agenda.

For more information or to get involved, please contact Stefanie Tye (stefanie.tye@wri.org) and Rebecca Carter (rebecca.carter@wri.org).

Principles for Locally Led Adaptation

The Principles for Locally Led Adaptation are intended to guide the adaptation community as it moves programs, funding and practices towards adaptation that is increasingly owned by local partners. Through a community of practice, together these organizations will share progress and lessons learned to enhance our understanding of what is needed for effective, equitable locally led adaptation.

View the principles below or download the FAQs document.

Devolving decision making to the lowest appropriate level:
Giving local institutions and communities more direct access to finance and decision-making power over how adaptation actions are defined, prioritized, designed, implemented; how progress is monitored and how success is evaluated.
Addressing structural inequalities faced by women, youth, children, people with disabilities, people who are displaced, Indigenous Peoples and marginalized ethnic groups:
Integrating gender-based, economic and political inequalities that are root causes of vulnerability into the core of adaptation action and encouraging vulnerable and marginalized individuals to meaningfully participate in and lead adaptation decisions.
Providing patient and predictable funding that can be accessed more easily:
Supporting long-term development of local governance processes, capacity and institutions through simpler access modalities, as well as longer term and more predictable funding horizons to ensure that communities can effectively implement adaptation actions.
Investing in local capabilities to leave an institutional legacy:
Improving the capabilities of local institutions to ensure they can understand climate risks and uncertainties, generate solutions and facilitate and manage adaptation initiatives over the long term without being dependent on project-based donor funding.
Building a robust understanding of climate risk and uncertainty:
Informing adaptation decisions through a combination of local, traditional, Indigenous, generational and scientific knowledge that can enable resilience under a range of future climate scenarios.
Flexible programming and learning:
Enabling adaptive management to address the inherent uncertainty in adaptation, especially through robust monitoring and learning systems and flexible finance and programming.
Ensuring transparency and accountability:
Making processes of financing, designing and delivering programs more transparent and accountable downward to local stakeholders.
Collaborative action and investment:
Collaboration across sectors, initiatives and levels to ensure that different initiatives and different sources of funding (humanitarian assistance, development, disaster risk reduction, green recovery funds, etc.) support each other, and their activities avoid duplication to enhance efficiencies and good practice.

Endorsing organizations

Any organization is invited to join the more than 100 organizations that have already endorsed these principles. Endorsing organizations are encouraged to share how they will change or strengthen current practices to better incentivize or support locally led adaptation.

To raise global ambition and action on locally led adaptation, become an endorsing organization by filling out this commitment form and sharing it with us at locallyledadaptation@wri.org.

The following organizations have endorsed these principles:

ACTED, ACT Alliance; Act Church of Sweden; Agence Française de Développement (AFD); The Adaptation Fund; Africa Climate Action Initiative (ACAI); African Education Program; ASEAN Youth Organization; BRAC International; Build Change; CARE International; Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI); Catholic Relief Services; Center for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC); Centro para la Autonomía y Desarollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CADPI); Child Care And Youth Empowerment Foundation (CCAYEF); Clara Lionel Foundation; Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA); Climate Change Africa Opportunities (CCAO); Climate & Development Advice; Climate Investment Funds (CIF); Climate Resilience Justice Fund (CJRF); DanChurchAid; Department of Environment of Antigua and Barbuda; E Co.; Enda Energie; Environmental Defense Fund; Environmental Incentives; Farm Africa; Fauna & Flora International; The Freedom Fund; Friendship; Fundación Avina; Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano; Fundecooperación; FoProBiM Haiti; Foundation for Integrated Rural Development; Global Center on Adaptation (GCA); Global Environment Facility (GEF); Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR); Global Resilience Partnership (GRP); Government of Uganda; Government of Vanuatu; Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment; Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO); Groupement Agropastoral pour le Développement de Yongoro (GADY); Heveltas Swiss Intercooperation; Hivos; Ho Guo Shun Foundation; Huairou Commission; I'llaramatak Community Concerns; InterAction; International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD); IAMOVEMENT; Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES); International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD); Inter Agency Group for Developed Organizations; International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent (IFRC); The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW); International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD); International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University; International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Irish Aid; IRO Community Development; ISET International; Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW); Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS); Join For Water (JFW); Kishoka Youth Community Based Organization; Lambassa Institute of Cultural Affairs-Benin (ICA Benin); London School of Economics (LSE); Mahila Housing SEWA Trust; Media Awareness and Justice Initiative (MAJI); Mennonite Central Committee U.S.; Mercy Corps; Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation of Jamaica Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica; Ministry of the Environment of Japan; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands; Ministry of Forests and Environment of Nepal; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway; Ministry of Land and Environment of Mozambique; Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change of Malawi; Ministry of Water and Environment of Uganda; Ministry of Water and Sanitation of Burkina Faso; Movement for Community-led Development (MCLD); Mutual Trust Bank of Bangladesh; Near East Foundation; Niras; Nordic Development Fund; Nyaka; Opportunity International; Oxfam; Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA); Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA); People in Need (PIN); PlanAdapt; Power for All; Practical Action; Presidential Climate Commission, Government of South Africa; Runa Ray; Save the Children; Slum Dwellers International; Simavi; SMART Initiative; SNV; Solidaridad Network; Sophoi; South South North; START Network; Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); Tearfund; Tebtebba; The Nature Conservancy; UK Foreign, Cooperation & Development Office (FCDO); UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF); UN Development Programme (UNDP); UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDN); U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Tropenbos International (TBI); Vita Impact; Wallings Nature Reserve; Wangki Tangni; Water Aid; Women's Climate Centers International (WCCI); World Resources Institute (WRI); World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International; Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Youth Climate Lab; Youth Climate Lab; Youth-Led CBO-Young Africans Community Empowerment Initiative, Sierra Leone (YACEI-SL); World Bank; Zurich Foundation; Zurich Insurance.

Videos

Watch videos below to hear from leaders on why they are endorsing the Principles for Locally Led Adaptation.

Hear from Endorsing Organizations

Watch the Climate Adaptation Summit Locally Led Anchor Event

Watch the Locally Led Adaptation Event at COP26

Learn more about Locally Led Adaptation

Learn more about locally led adaptation through the below resources from WRI and IIED. For more about climate adaptation at World Resources Institute, visit wri.org/equitable-development/climate-resilience.