New report highlights evidence for directly involving people at the frontline of the nature, climate and poverty crises

A new report from IIED, commissioned by Sida, urges governments to recognise the role of locally-led action in supporting the sustainable agenda at Stockholm+50, and shows that more is needed to get finance and decision-making power to the local level.

News, 23 May 2022
A rectangular pond cut into the ground, surrounded by grass and green plants. Crops are growing in the background.

Local decision making permits innovation, such as this climate-smart farming in Kenya (Photo: C.Schubert via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)

Countries from around the world will participate in the Stockholm+50 conference on 2 and 3 June.

Stockholm+50, which commemorates the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, comes at a pivotal moment - with countries and leaders across the world reflecting on the 50-year sustainable development journey and how to bridge the joint crises of climate change, loss of nature and poverty.

IIED saw its beginnings at the 1972 conference – Barbara Ward founded the organisation soon after co-writing ‘Only One Earth’, the conference’s unofficial report – and have a shared journey over the last 50 years with many of the participants at Stockholm+50.

As part of this global discussion and celebration IIED will publish a new report, commissioned by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), that will strengthen the recognition of the role of locally-led action in supporting the sustainable agenda in the Stockholm+50 conclusions report. It will also build acknowledgment that more is needed to get finance and decision-making power to the local level.

The report will be launched at an online panel discussion co-hosted by IIED and Sida on 25 May. The report launch is open to the public and will feature speakers from the global South, research institutes and the finance sector, shining a light on how Stockholm+50 can drive forward the transformation needed at all levels to enhance support for just, equitable and locally-led solutions through the decade ahead. 

Money where it matters for people, nature and climate: driving change through support for local level decision-making over resources and finance’, highlights the compelling research and evidence – including barriers and solutions – for directly involving people at the frontline of the nature, climate and poverty crises in shaping and implementing actions that deliver outcomes for people, nature and climate on the ground. 

The report synthesises existing research on the extent to which international finance for climate and nature reaches the local level and supports local solutions and governance in lower-income countries. 

It examines emerging trends in finance supporting locally-led action and propose recommendations for Stockholm+50 leaders on what’s needed to strengthen this approach and renew solidarity in the sustainable development agenda over the coming Decade of Action.

Ebony Holland, IIED’s senior researcher and nature-climate policy lead, said: “Locally-led action – where finance and decision-making power is shifted to the local level to get behind local solutions and implementation – must be central to the system-wide changes needed to deliver a healthy planet for the prosperity of all.”

IIED and partners will be participating in other events across Stockholm+50, including a side event focusing on locally-led action.

Contact

Ebony Holland (ebony.holland@iied.org), senior researcher (nature-climate policy lead), IIED’s Natural Resources and Climate Change research groups