CBA20: Local solutions inspiring global action

The 20th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA20) took place from 11-14 May 2026 in Manila, Philippines.

The CBA conference series aims to bring together a community of practitioners that is 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 four days of discussion, debate, peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange, through an innovative, dynamic and interactive space. This enables participants to make connections and develop strategies to promote locally-led climate action in their context.

IIED, in partnership with Manila Observatory and Philippine Action for Community-Led Shelter Initiatives, Inc. (PACSII), hosted CBA20 in the Philippines.

Read the key messages from CBA20

The CBA20 agenda

CBA20 had three core themes, which guided the plenaries and parallel sessions, as well as other initiatives running in parallel to the main conference (including accountability roundtables, project/community visits, visual storytelling exhibit and poster competition).

See the full agenda

The core themes were:

Achieving just and equitable adaptation in urban areas, with a particular focus on building the climate resilience of informal settlement communities
Scaling local level health investments as a critical adaptation response in the context of rising temperatures and escalating threats, and
Knowledge nexus – combining local, traditional and Indigenous Peoples knowledge systems with climate science to drive adaptation decision-making.

Finance, gender, decolonisation and equity will cut across all conference sessions.

Two of the days of the conference featured parallel sessions under each theme. This was followed by a day of community and project visits in the Metro Manila area, enabling participants to learn about locally led adaptation initiatives and share their knowledge. The final day brought everything together in cross-cutting sessions and reflection on CBA over the past 20 years.

Click on the headings below for more information on the different conference sessions and activities.

Parallel sessions at CBA20 ran for 90 minutes and consisted of three types:

Lessons: sessions designed to share lessons (from successes and failures) in the operationalisation of locally-led climate action related to the conference themes (up to five speakers per session)
Innovations: sessions designed to engage with new or innovative applications of locally-led approaches to climate action across different contexts related to the conference themes (up to five speakers per session), and
Discussions: curated sessions bringing together people with different perspectives on critical issues related to the conference themes to discuss and debate with high levels of interaction between panellists and with participants (up to five panellists per session).

All sessions were highly interactive. While ‘lessons’ and ‘innovations’ sessions included presentations from each speaker, hosts ensured that presentations were short, and the emphasis wass on interaction and engagement with participants.

New for CBA20, accountability roundtables provided a space for participants to engage with critical issues around ethical partnership and monitoring processes.

Roundtables were organised to share feedback around specific investments and projects from the perspective of stakeholders right along the climate finance delivery chain.

Posters were an opportunity for participants to showcase work relevant to the themes of CBA20 in a fun, visual and creative way.

This year’s posters were displayed during the welcome reception and were judged by a team of experts, with a winner under each of the conference themes and a popular vote winner.

We showcased highly nuanced, interconnected and contextual stories and impacts as part of an exhibit at CBA.

Community field visits in the Metro Manila area were available for interested participants.

Registration

To help cover the costs of delivering CBA20 and to provide sponsorships for local practitioners from around the world, CBA20 was a ticketed event with a tiered pricing system.

CBA conferences are grounded in principles of equity and inclusion, recognising the importance of amplifying the agency and voices of the most climate-vulnerable communities as they share their lived experiences and local adaptation priorities. Our tiered structure was designed to reflect these values, enabling organisations with greater resources to help subsidise participation for grassroots practitioners.

What makes the CBA conference different?

This conference was uniquely different, because the people on the panel were not people with very well-polished English and 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, as things are supposed to be… 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

It's the only global conference focused on practitioners

CBA prioritises lived experience, such as evidence and perspectives of those working directly to deliver community-based climate adaptation: communities, researchers and local and national government representatives. Practitioners make the programme, working together to articulate their knowledge, learning and experiences.

The conference fosters a safe environment, creating open space for sharing experiences, perspectives and uncomfortable discussions across disciplines, knowledge bases and local contexts.

It prioritises listening to and learning with participants living and working at the frontline of climate change impacts and adaptation action over ‘experts’ and ‘senior officials’. Everyone is encouraged to play an active role in the design and delivery of sessions, not just to attend.

A local NGO leader told us: “[the] CBA platform helps us validate our issues and to share our thoughts [and] the way we are working, to get the confidence and inspiration. We didn’t know before [the conference] that [the way we work] is unique and meaningful.”

CBA creates spaces where local knowledge and lived experience is sought after and valued, through which participants gain confidence and strengthen their capacity.

It creates evidence that informs action

Participants from donors and large adaptation programmes to local NGOs come to CBA to find out directly from the practitioners what works and what doesn’t.

Vincent Gainey, climate resilience advisor in the energy, climate and environment directorate of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) began attending CBA “to learn about the groundswell from CBA [and to] learn from CBOs”.

He noted that attending CBA14, 15 and 16 helped him to formulate the arguments to convince the FCDO minister to endorse the LLA principles, the first government to do so. The UK has been funding the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) since 2020 and made LLA a key component of the UK COP26 presidency in 2021.

At CBA13, Euster Kibona from Tanzania Forum CC, learned from a participant in Zimbabwe how to work with men in communities to open space for women to participate in adaptation activities. Forum CC then worked with municipal staff in a project to produce energy pellets from market waste. Working with the municipality mitigated the cultural issues and staff were able to work with both men and women.

It was great to take part in such an exciting and inspiring convergence of key actors of LLA in my country, strengthening the recognition of local culture and knowledge to be a key source of solutions to overcome the huge challenges we are facing as a global community.

– Marcio Halla, Forest Trends

It puts community at the centre

CBA is the only adaptation conference that puts the lived experiences and knowledge of local people at the centre. It creates a space that enables the communities most vulnerable to climate impacts to discuss their priorities for adaptation at local level, as well as to share their approaches and shape decisions about the future of adaptation.

The conference is a space to explore the importance and urgency of locally led adaptation and other burning issues. CBA ensures that the perspectives of people on the frontline of climate impacts are heard at the highest levels through knowledge sharing, capturing key messages from the conference sessions and influencing global processes.

Participation, networking and interaction like no other

CBA provides an opportunity to build South-South networks, strengthen relationships and connect with like-minded practitioners and experts. Interactive sessions, skill-shares, dedicated meeting and networking spaces and a collegiate atmosphere brings participants together on an equal footing, regardless of background or formal level of education.

Participants find a sense of togetherness, with a wealth of knowledge and networks to support their efforts.

This was the first in-person CBA I was attending. I came to support the skillshares and thought I was coming to "give". I received so much learning, made some important connections and even developed a business proposal in just one afternoon! What an amazing conference it has been.

– Jenninah Kabiswa

Your voice expands and grows beyond the conference

CBA conferences are attended by delegates from a wide range of institutions from outside our community of practice, such as the UNFCCC, Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, climate finance funders and LDC government ministries, which take our messages with them.

Representatives from global initiatives that are shaping adaptation policy and practice on an international level join CBA conferences to understand practitioner perspectives more deeply; the conference has been a catalyst for initiatives such as the LDC Group’s 2050 vision and the LLA principles, endorsed by over 130 governments and institutions.

CBA’s outreach spans continents and scales with messages taken to high-level platforms and global summits including the UN Secretary-General's Summit, the biodiversity and climate Conferences of the Parties and many others – driving real grassroots-led change.

Success stories captured in the recent CBA evaluation report range from grassroots-led agricultural centres in Kenya to Catalytic Grant Awards that connected participants across the globe, illustrating the tangible outcomes and collaborative spirit fostered by the CBA conferences.