Local organisations from Global South are calling for increased funding for locally-led adaptation to enhance and maximise impacts at the local level.
This demand was voiced by speakers representing various local organisations from the Global South at the COP28 Official Side Event hosted by BRAC, titled, ‘Financing Locally-Led Adaptation – Translating Global Ambition into Local Impact’. The event took place on Tuesday, 5 December, 2023, at Side Event Room 2 of COP28 venue in Dubai. Representatives from the international donor community were also present at the programme.
Watch the recording of the session:
Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for Climate Change Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP, stated, "For us, knowledge to adapt to the climate crisis is not the latest chip from Silicon Valley; it is what communities have known for years. We must leverage that before we reach the bounds of resilience."
Climate Action Network - South Asia’s Director, Sanjay Vashist said, "Investments and carbon bonds are for the market; climate grants are for the people. If we really want money to reach the people, it must be in the form of grants and not loans or investments."
Climate Bridge Fund Secretariate Head, Dr Golam Rabbani said, "Countries like Bangladesh are receiving only 3% of the funding they need to adapt. But what about the other 97%? They are the ones with whom the Climate Bridge Fund is working."
FCDO’s Adaptation and Resilience Head, Peter Bentley said, “If donors are trying to manage risks to the extent that they are not dispersing climate finance, it doesn’t help the donors. We don’t want to see that because we also want climate finance to reach the ground.”
Renae Baptist, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Geneva to the UN Saqib Huq, Managing Director, ICCCAD; Subir Kumar Saha, Coordinator, Gana Unnayan Kendra; and Zoya Shabir Siddiqui, Development and Partnerships Manager, Acumen, participated at the event. The event was moderated by Isabel Whisson, Head, Policy Initiatives, BRAC.
The primary objective of the event is to initiate a constructive dialogue with the global donor community on improving the delivery of funding, thereby, imroving climate resilience at the local level. The event also aims to share practical insights and suggestions from Bangladesh with other climate-risk countries, both from the North and the South, on how to effectively enable locally-led adaptation within their own contexts.
