CBA19: Local solutions inspiring global action
CBA19 brought together practitioners, grassroots representatives, local and national government planners, policymakers, researchers and donors working at all levels and scales to discuss how we can drive ambition for a climate-resilient future.
The streets of Recife, Brazil, which will host this year's community-based adaptation conference. It's the first time CBA has been staged in Latin America (Photo: Denys, via Unsplash)
The 19th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA19) took place from 12-16 May 2025 in Recife, Brazil.
The CBA conference series aims to bring together a community of practitioners that are collectively seeking to enable community-driven climate action.
The CBA conference is a space for the adaptation community to share lessons on community-based and locally led adaptation approaches, and to explore how to put the principles for locally led adaptation (LLA) into practice, recognising the complexities, innovations and challenges that must be overcome.
CBA conferences are a space for learning and sharing experiences. With a focus on acquiring new skills and connecting with peers, the conference offers participants 4.5 days of discussion, debate, peer-to-peer ‘skill-shares’ and knowledge exchange, through an innovative, dynamic and interactive space. This enables participants to make connections and develop strategies to promote climate action in their context.
IIED, in partnership with the state government of Pernambuco and other partners, hosted CBA19 in Brazil. This was the first time the CBA conference had been held in Latin America. The conference was a key moment for the adaptation community on the road to the 2025 climate change conference (COP30), also in Brazil in November.
The CBA19 agenda
For the 2025 CBA conference, we offered three themes nested under one overarching question. The themes and questions were selected based on the interests and priorities of the LLA community of practice in the lead up to COP30 in Brazil.
The overarching conference question was: how can we achieve just and equitable adaptation?
To help address this question, conference sessions were grouped under three themes:
- LLA in action (how to move from principles to practice, at scale, highlighting best practice and emerging innovations and challenges)
- Urban adaptation (achieving just and equitable adaptation that meets the needs of all urban dwellers, including issues around informality, infrastructure and health), and
- Nature/adaptation (highlighting the interconnections between nature and climate and the importance of local and Indigenous knowledge and practices in achieving just and equitable adaptation).
Gender justice, anti-racist and decolonial approaches cut across all conference themes.
Three of the days of the conference featured parallel sessions under each theme. There was also a CBA ‘alternativo’ day (including external events and visits to nearby projects and communities). The final half day took the form of a forum, which brought key messages from each theme together to identify key actions and messages towards COP30 and beyond.
The conference ran in multiple languages – English, Portuguese and Spanish – with sessions featuring either simultaneous translation or other methods to reduce language barriers and encourage cross-fertilisation.
- See the full programme of sessions
This conference was uniquely different, because the people on the panel were not... the politically correct people who would like to be very diplomatic with their talks. They were speaking as farmers on the ground as people working around agriculture, people in the mines, who were just saying the truth… even from their clothing, you could tell these were people who were really from the community, who had been brought there to share their experiences, and that to me, was really inspirational
Okoth Opondo, Campde Voices
Thematic workshops – question assumptions
Delving deeper into the conference themes, thematic workshops are designed to encourage dialogue, debate and interaction around an urgent question, and avoid unidirectional presentations and panels (in particular, all-white, all-male panels aka 'manels').
All thematic workshops are co-hosted by at least two organisations. Expect creative and innovative formats and tools that help participants understand the perspectives of others, seek practical solutions and consider different scenarios.
Skill-shares match delegates with specific skills with those seeking to acquire or strengthen their competence and knowledge. These skill-shares take place in an informal setting and we encourage participants to consider and recognise that their on-the-ground experience is valuable and of interest to others – regardless of whether they are ‘trainers’ themselves.
Like the rest of the agenda, skill-shares are crowd-sourced and can cover any topic relating to the conference themes. Past years have included training on topics as varied as ‘how to write better blogs’, accessing climate finance, delivering participatory monitoring, evaluation and learning, and writing funding proposals.
The focus is on sharing: these sessions see practitioners sharing the practical tools and approaches they have been using to generate effective action. Our skill-shares let participants contribute their experiences and discuss what they have learned with their peers – people in similar contexts working on similar issues across the world.
At the CBA Marketplace participants become stall holders, sharing tools or approaches they have developed as well as lessons and insights from their experience (failures and successes), and set out good-practice narratives that showcase creativity and lived experience.
A key component of the conference agenda is the Shark Tank, which offers participants the chance to receive mentoring on a business plan and pitch their climate adaptation innovation to a panel of experts with investment experience.
Participants do not need to have prior pitching or business experience – they will have an opportunity to work individually or in a group throughout the week to develop bids for investment.
For the first time, CBA19 included a day of fringe activities. CBA's 'Dia Alternativo' was an exciting addition to this year’s programme, offering a unique, community-driven space alongside the main agenda.
This dedicated day provided a platform for local and national organisations to lead sessions, share insights and showcase grassroots climate solutions.
The CBA Alternativo programme featured community-led workshops; consultations on local, national and international issues; marketplace sessions; field visits to local projects; museum tours; and cultural activities.
Key messages – frustration and hope
The global context of shifting priorities and narrowing focus – and the local context of extreme weather impacts and community resilience – helped sharpen participants’ focus on the key messages the conference should communicate.
Participants debated the key messages at the final plenary. These messages have been collated in the Recife Statement from the 19th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation (en español | em português).
Contact and updates
If you have any questions about the conference or about registration, please email [email protected].
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About the organisers
CBA19 was co-hosted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the state government of Pernambuco.
It was funded by the Climate Justice Resilience Fund, Gates Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Quadrature Climate Foundation, and with UK International Development from the UK government. With support from ABONG, Adaptation Fund, Adaptation Research Alliance, Caranguejo Uçá, Centro Sabiá, Comissão Ambiental Jaboatão dos Guararapes, CONAQ, Fase, Forest Trends, Fundación Avina, Global Resilience Partnership, Gris Espaço Solidário, Habitat for Humanity, Habitat para a Humanidade Brasil, Ibura Mais Cultura, Observatorio Popular de Injustiças Climáticas, Pawanka Fund, Plataforma Semiáridos, Rede Gera, Somos Todos Muribeca, and more.
If you’d like to become a CBA partner, please get in touch with Katherine Shepherd at IIED via [email protected].
Host partners
Funding partners
Contributing partners
