Climate change adaptation

Significant new support for locally-led adaptation principles

Danida, Sida, USAID and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs are the latest donor agencies to endorse eight principles for locally-led adaptation, developed to help ensure that local communities are empowered to lead sustainable and effective adaptation to climate change at the local level

Where to find IIED and partners at COP26: event listing

What IIED and partners did at COP26

IIED at COP26

Our key research, commentary, analysis and events from the 2021 UN climate summit

Launch of the CRISP-M tool

A new digital tool that combines scientific climate risk information with the traditional knowledge, practices and skills of communities to help Indian communities undertake climate risk management more effectively was launched at this online event on 13 October

New Champions Group on Adaptation Finance launched amid call to accelerate adaptation finance

A new Champions Group on Adaptation Finance, launched at the UN General Assembly in September 2021, has issued a clear political commitment to work with developing countries to accelerate adaptation finance and invited other climate finance providers to join them.

Five key questions for making the Global Goal on Adaptation work for local people and places

Emilie Beauchamp discusses how parties to the Paris Agreement could agree on a roadmap towards a Global Goal on Adaptation that will work for the whole of society

Envisioning a better future for The Gambia

The Gambian environment minister outlines a better future for his country, where climate action and sustainable development go hand in hand

Frontline Funds Accelerator: catalysing climate investment to the grassroots

The Frontline Funds Accelerator coalition seeks to speed up investment in grassroots-led ‘frontline funds’ for climate action. The coalition is anchored in individual and collective agency, co-production, climate justice and effectiveness

The ‘A’ Factor: accountability for locally led adaptation – episode 2 of podcast mini-series

In the second episode of ‘Locally led adaptation – a time for action’, organisations that have signed up to the principles of locally led adaptation are held to account by two expert judges. Will their plans for tracking progress on putting local people in control of local level adaptation make the grade?

Locally led adaptation – a time for action podcast

In the run-up to the UN climate summit (COP26) negotiations, IIED presents a new mini-series of three podcast conversations examining issues affecting and solutions to locally led adaption to climate change

LIFE-AR: inspiring change within IIED

The least developed countries’ vision for a climate-resilient future calls for a radical shake-up of the ‘business-as-usual’ response to the climate crisis. Within IIED, it’s an opportunity to embed ‘business unusual’ principles in the way we work

CBA15: Can adaptation be a superhero in the 'super year' for climate and nature?

Innovation will be key in bouncing forward from COVID-19 and delivering on the ambitions of the 'super year' – to protect nature, tackle poverty and accelerate climate action. The CBA community will be ready to hold decision-makers accountable on the commitments they make this year

Happy new super year! Why is 2021 such a big deal for climate, nature and people?

As the world woke up on 1 January this year, you could be forgiven for not noticing a new year had dawned. With lockdowns and restrictions still in place across many countries, new year celebrations were muted. But here at IIED, even without the midnight countdown, we’re gearing up for an exceptional year in 2021: a year of great ambition and opportunity to drive better outcomes for climate change, nature and people

Striving for better: following LDC leadership in addressing the climate crisis

Guest blogger Gebru Jember sets out the principles guiding the least developed countries’ initiative on effective adaptation and resilience

Principles for locally-led adaptation

Eight principles for locally-led adaptation have been developed to help ensure that local communities are empowered to lead sustainable and effective adaptation to climate change at the local level. IIED is among almost 70 governments, leading global institutions and local and international NGOs that have already endorsed these principles and are advocating their endorsement by others

Locally led adaption to climate change: the start of a 10-year learning journey

In early 2021, a fast-growing group of experts will meet in Gobeshona to define a 10-year learning agenda to advance principles for critical locally led adaption to climate change. Saleemul Huq and Clare Shakya explain the importance of this group and the journey ahead

Gobeshona Global Conference 1

IIED and partners participated in the Gobeshona Global Conference 1, a week-long digital event from 18-24 January 2021

Reforming climate finance to support locally led adaptation: principles for moving to business unusual

This online event on November 18 discussed how finance flows must enable actors at the local level to lead the development and design of climate adaptation solutions

Are India’s social protection schemes ‘future fit’?

COVID-19 has highlighted the value of India’s social protection schemes for the extreme poor. With some tweaking, these schemes can be true game changers

CBA14 conference agenda

Explore the conference agenda of sessions at the 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA14)

CBA14: Same great conference, entirely new environment

The 2020 international conference on community-based adaptation will be digital – but it will still have community at the centre

Webinar report: Gender inequalities in social protection

How can social protection schemes incorporate climate-resilience objectives and respond to the different needs of women and men? That was the topic under discussion at an online meeting hosted by IIED on 2 April 2020

Webinar: Gender inequalities in social protection – people, households and climate adaptation

IIED hosted an online discussion on the role of social protection schemes and how they can incorporate climate-resilience objectives and respond to the different needs of women and men

2020: the year to get money where it matters

More new initiatives, such as the Global Commission on Adaptation’s Locally Led Adaptation Action Track, are beginning to recognise the critical role of poor and marginalised people in tackling the climate emergency. From the Gobeshona conference, Andrew Norton and Saleemul Huq explain why a reimagined climate finance system that gets money into the hands of those people must be high on the 2020 ‘super year’ agenda

Q&A: Monitoring climate change adaptation

South Africa’s national development monitoring and evaluation

IIED has undertaken a series of 'light touch' case studies to show how some countries are developing adaptation M&E for learning systems. This study looks at South Africa

Subnational adaptation monitoring and evaluation in Morocco

IIED has undertaken a series of 'light touch' case studies to show how some countries are developing adaptation M&E for learning systems. This study looks at Morocco.

Transparent climate reporting in Malawi: what’s needed, what’s next?

The Paris Agreement’s transparency guidelines allow least developed countries extra time and support to meet new climate reporting criteria, but meet it they must. Yamikani Idriss describes Malawi’s progress to date and support still needed

Least Developed Countries launch 2050 Vision for a climate-resilient future

The world’s least developed countries have launched a long-term strategy for climate resilience and net zero emissions by 2050

IIED and partner events at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit

This page summarises the activities of IIED, its researchers and partners around the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York in September

Leading from the front: responding with urgency to the climate emergency

Representatives of the least developed countries, grassroots community organisations and climate action leaders attended an IIED-organised series of high-level debates during London Climate Action Week in July

‘Participatory’ adaptation plans aren’t working for migrants in cities

A paper in the latest issue of the journal Environment and Urbanization highlights how urban plans for adapting to climate change often leave out migrant populations living in informal settlements. Guest bloggers Eric Chu and Kavya Michael call for a rethink.

Author Q&A: Resilience – the science of adaptation to climate change

Saleemul Huq discusses a new book exploring the term ‘resilience’ – one of today’s hottest buzzwords in climate and development. The book includes a chapter he has co-authored with researchers Yousuf Mahid and Nadine Suliman from the International Centre for Climate Change and Development

Delivering climate finance at the local level: the Gungano Urban Poor Fund

The Gungano Fund provides loans to low income urban households that cannot access other financial services. The fund aims to develop a scalable and replicable housing finance model and partner with central and local government to upgrade informal settlements

Supporting the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR)

The LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR) aims to support a shift away from 'business-as-usual' approaches to a more effective and ambitious climate response. LIFE-AR is a least developed countries (LDC) led initiative, which serves as one of the primary vehicles for delivering the LDC 2050 Vision for a climate-resilient future.

Call for evidence: long-term effective adaptation

The Least Developed Countries Group is inviting submissions on effective long-term adaptation to climate change. The submissions will contribute to a major new initiative that seeks to develop a long-term vision for climate resilience up to 2050

As climate changes, Himalayan farmers return to traditional crops

Traditional crops and innovations are offering Himalayan farmers a way to deal with the challenges of climate change, but there is much work to be done for this to become a truly viable alternative

Supporting national monitoring and evaluation systems to enable adaptation assessment and reporting

IIED is working on a programme to improve and share understanding about  monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for climate change adaptation planning and reporting. 

EbA Evidence and Policy: Peru

In Peru IIED, IUCN and ANDES are using practical experiences of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in mountain ecosystems, learning and reflecting on their effectiveness, and contributing to the ongoing country efforts to position and mainstream EbA into national climate change and development policies. 

Consensus grows on nature-based solutions to climate change, but challenges remain

Experts point to growing awareness of the potential of nature-based solutions to climate change – but say work must be done to improve understanding and policy take-up

Assessing adaptation and development progress

Countries need to know whether their efforts to adapt to climate change are working. The first in a new series of webinars discussed approaches that can help governments assess their progress

The International Centre for Climate Change and Development

Building long term capacity for adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh and across the Global South

Tiempo

Tiempo was a printed bulletin published quarterly by IIED and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

Responding to climate change in Kenya by strengthening dryland governance and planning

The Kenya Adaptation Consortium is demonstrating that local climate adaptation planning, supported by county government-managed devolved funds, informed by community priorities and enhanced by climate information services, renders significant benefits for people in poor and marginalised households in the most drought prone areas

Book summary: Enhancing Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries Through Community Based Adaptation

IIED's Saleemul Huq contributes to a chapter in a new book, 'Enhancing Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries Through Community-Based Adaptation', published by the African Centre for Technology Studies and partners. 

Call for feedback: inventory of tools to support ecosystem-based adaptation

IIED, IUCN, UNEP-WCMC and GIZ are seeking feedback on an inventory of ecosystem-based adaptation tools, designed to help practitioners and policymakers incorporate EbA into climate adaptation planning

Monitoring and evaluation in a local context

Assessing how climate change adaptation and development investments can strengthen local people's resilience to climate extremes

Accessing climate finance in Kenya

Devolved powers are allowing communities greater access to climate finance in four counties in Kenya

The Paris Agreement – a framework for local inclusion

The Paris Agreement commits governments to climate action. To deliver this agenda successfully, they must engage with all sectors of society, including indigenous peoples, and recognise traditional knowledge

Local climate finance mechanism helping to fund community-prioritised adaptation

County and local governments in the drylands of Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania have established local-level climate adaptation funds with technical support from IIED and government and non-government organisations. These funds improve their readiness to access and disburse national and global climate finance, supporting community-prioritised investments to build climate resilience

Climate finance from the aid budget must also deliver on poverty

The UK has promised to increase funding for climate finance up to 2020, but if this money comes from the aid budget, how can we be sure that climate spending will also deliver on poverty eradication and the sustainable development agenda?

Insuring farmers – adapting to climate change

Climate change is increasing the risks for farmers, but a new form of insurance may provide support

The political economy of financing climate resilient development

IIED is undertaking a three-year research programme to understand the policy linkages between the two themes of climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. This research focuses on countries that are investing in what has been termed 'low-carbon climate resilient development' (LCRD) – policies and strategies that address the challenges posed by climate change in an integrated response.

Conflict resolution: a key part of adaptation in North Darfur

As CBA9 gets under way in Nairobi, Kenya, Jodi Sugden from Practical Action highlights how work on conflict resolution is a key part of the adaptation process

Award win highlights collaboration for Kenya climate resilience

A consortium working to support climate change adaptation in Kenya has won a prestigious UK award. The Adaptation Consortium is a partnership of six organisations, including IIED

How to measure a global goal for adaptation?

Climate negotiators are discussing how to set a global goal for climate change adaptation. It's important for the negotiators learn from experiences and evidence gained at country level – so they can develop a goal that reflects differing national realities

From knowledge to action – how top down training is driving bottom-up resilience in Tanzania

Supporting government engagement with communities in Tanzania has identified three key ways in which the government can improve climate resilient planning

Recognising the concerns of women and girls can improve the effectiveness of climate change adaptation

Including the perspectives and experiences of women and girls in monitoring and evaluation can lead to better outcomes for climate change adaptation measures, IIED research has found

Development and Climate Days event at COP20 focuses on zero-zero

An IIED-hosted event looks at how to get to zero poverty and zero emissions within a generation

Why the private sector must be included in efforts to curb deforestation

Making the links between green supplies chains, zero deforestation and the private sector at COP20 in Lima

How are Rwanda, Ethiopia and Bangladesh preparing for climate change?

Ethiopia, Rwanda and Bangladesh are developing their national low carbon climate resilient strategies. The public policy team within the Climate Change Group at IIED have just finished 18 months of research into these planning processes. The research helped clarify what is motivating countries to become more climate resilient. It also highlighted some ways these processes could be better supported and brought together.

The IPCC and an urbanising planet

The IPCC's Fifth Assessment gets the importance of understanding and acting on urbanisation

Who should use Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD)?

A key benefit of the TAMD framework is that it can be used by many different types of organisations for both evaluation and planning

The Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD) framework

The TAMD framework uses two key measures to measure adaptation success

Climate-related 'loss and damage' in cities: exploring a new urban frontier

Highlighting and assessing the urban impacts of climate change can help cities find a more consistent, multi-level approach to climate adaptation

A marriage to save the earth: Farmers and researchers innovate to conserve biodiversity

Traditional knowledge combined with the latest science could increase food production while safeguarding biodiversity, new research shows

Climate change and urban health

As well as increasing loss of life and injury from extreme events, climate change will exacerbate health risks from diseases that are among the main causes of premature death in informal settlements

Indigenous farmers from Peru, China and Bhutan agree to share seeds for climate adaptation

In the spirit of the International Year of Family and Peasant Farming, indigenous mountain farmers from China, Bhutan and Peru have agreed to share seeds in an effort to cope with global climate change

Kenya's new climate fund listens to community ideas for building resilience

"Climate consists of so many things to us," says Ibrahim Shone, a pastoralist in Isiolo County in Northern Kenya. "It's not only weather, it's also about how we prepare for droughts and diseases, and find enough grass for our animals. These things change with the seasons."

Six nations to share progress on measuring adaptation to climate change

The governments of six countries will share their experiences of assessing the effectiveness and developmental impacts of climate change adaptation, at an international meeting in Kenya on 24-27 March.

Nepal: Measuring resilience to climate change from the community up

Effective monitoring and evaluation of changes in community resilience that arise from both development and climate change resilience, can help Nepal can make smart moves to protect its people, says Susannah Fisher.

Maps that build bridges

Thanks to digital participatory mapping, pastoralists are proud of their local knowledge and policymakers want to act on it.

Seven ways equity can promote success at the UN climate talks

For a new global climate agreement to be truly equitable —and get global buy-in — it must share the burden of adaptation as well as that of mitigation.

Least developed countries lead on low-carbon resilience

Some of the least developed countries are at the forefront of an approach that combines efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to climate change and achieve economic and social development.

Smallholder innovation for resilience (SIFOR)

IIED worked with partners in China, India, Kenya and Peru to revitalise traditional knowledge-based – or 'biocultural' – innovation systems of smallholder farmers in order to strengthen food security in the face of climate change. Traditional farmers continually improve and adapt their crops and farming practices in response to new challenges, using local knowledge and biodiversity, generating new technologies and practices

8 points on financing climate change adaptation in urban areas

As the urgency for governments and international agencies to address climate change increases, an expert meeting identified eight key points on finance priorities.

Challenging inequality is at the heart of climate change adaptation

People won’t become more resilient to the impacts of climate change unless the underlying causes of their vulnerability are analysed and addressed.

Rwanda: test case on international commitment to financing climate change adaptation?

Rwanda hopes climate change will provide an opportunity to secure additional climate finance. Will its new finance mechanism succeed?

Introduction to our work on climate-resilient development

IIED works with national and local government policymakers and planners, civil society organisations, private sector companies and local communities to design, test and evaluate equitable solutions to the climate emergency in low-income countries

Climate change adaptation needs to be part of national development planning

Policymakers need to better integrate strategies for dealing with climate change into their country’s development plans, rather than leaving them isolated as stand-alone policies and projects.

Analysing the cost of adapting to climate change

How do you estimate the cost of adapting to the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities, and involve stakeholders in identifying the costs and benefits of the approaches identified?

Knowledge is power in this game of chance (called life)

I have no weather forecasts to predict regional rains so I don’t know if I need to invest in crop insurance or not. I gamble and lose.

Building one village’s resilience to climate change starts with a cave

It might talk about the people living in the cave thousands of years ago.

Taking the long view on adaptation

The impacts of climate change do not happen overnight but play out over decades. Funders looking to support people to adapt to those impacts must take the long view and accept that their investments may not provide measurable outcomes for ten years or more.

Consensus grows behind the scenes at the UN climate negotiations

It’s too early to talk about the end-game in the 17th conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks that are underway in Durban. But amid the shifting diplomatic sands of talks and texts, there are signs that some of the ground is starting to solidify.

Three ways Durban climate conference can ensure rich world meets finance promises

A briefing paper published today (21 November) by IIED outlines three steps to ensure developed countries meet their agreed commitments to help poorer nations adapt to climate change.

Donor nations get low scores on climate finance transparency scorecard

Developed countries are being far from transparent about the climate-change finance they promised to developing nations at the Copenhagen summit in 2009, according to a scorecard published today (19 September) by IIED.

Responding to climate change in the Caribbean

How can air travel contribute to the costs of adapting to climate change?

Climate change negotiators are still meeting this week in Bonn to try and find a way forward on, amongst many other subjects, climate change mitigation, adaptation and finance. Sources of ‘innovative’ finance, such as taxes on international transport, have been proposed. Might these provide a way to break the deadlock on finance and prove to be sources of significant and stable financing to address the impacts of climate change?

VIDEO: Saleemul Huq on new research into how communities adapt to climate change

In this short video Dr Saleemul Huq — senior fellow in IIED's Climate Change Group — talks about an international research project that is looking at how communities can adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The opportunities of climate change

It's not always a great idea to acknowledge that bad things can create opportunities – but they can. Bad things cause suffering and tragedy, but they can also destabilise the status quo, open space for new discussions, and give an impetus to groups looking for positive change.

Health: an issue that needs to be prioritised in climate change adaptation

How can we measure adaptation: monitoring and evaluation as an entry point?

Is this a climate change issue or a human rights issue?

We had been driven for seven hours from Dhaka through hair-raising traffic to see some of the practical approaches that Caritas was using in th

Bangladesh: mangrove island reflects people's creativitiy

Climate change: governments should support migration, not fear it

Governments risk adopting policies that increase people’s vulnerability to climate change because of a general prejudice against migration, according to research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

COP16: United Nations climate change negotiations

IIED researchers undertook a range of activities at the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16)

Less erosion, less warming

I recently met with a Member of the Bangladesh Parliament to discuss the potential for mitigation in the agricultural sector under IIED’s work on the economics of climate change in the agricultural sector. Agriculture produces 10–12 per cent of total global emissions but also has considerable mitigation potential — 70 per cent of which is in developing countries — and I expected the Honourable Member, a well known climate change champion, to back the cause. But he did not seem entirely convinced. Why should decision makers listen? What’s in it for them?

4th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA4)

The 4th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA4) to climate change took place in February 2010 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Road to recovery: mapping a sustainable economy

The world has a unique but brief opportunity to tackle several major challenges. Evidence of the linked causes of financial, energy and climate crises, and not just their symptoms, is on the table

Climate refugees of the future

Bangladesh is calling for the rights of environmental refugees to be recognised as the country battles rising sea levels and chronic poverty

Keeping the forests we've got

The conservation of forests in countries like Suriname with high forest cover and low deforestation rates is not a priority for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Yet forest people suffer enormously from the effects of climate change.

Thank you for the days...

Amid the debates swirling round this conference with cyclonic intensity is one very big question: how can the world’s most vulnerable countries adapt to climate change with such a serious shortfall in targeted funding? Oxfam estimates the task as demanding US$50 billion a year — some US$49 billion more than what’s actually available.

Moveable feast: the floating gardens of Bangladesh

The farmers of southern Bangladesh have seen it all: cyclones, catastrophic flooding, silted-up rivers and creeping salination. Their South Asian homeland — a wedge of the tropics regularly exposed to searing heat and heavy monsoons — is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries on Earth.