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The Kathmandu Declaration on Financing Local Adaptation

The Kathmandu Declaration on Financing Local Adaptation calls on developed countries to urgently increase funding for community-based adaptation and ensure that it reaches local communities.
Roxanne O'Connell

Bangladesh, Khulna Division. A farmer on the road to Sathkira.

© E. Rasmussen

Financing local adaptation

The Kathmandu Declaration on Financing Local Adaptation calls on developed countries to urgently increase funding for community-based adaptation and ensure that it reaches local communities. Drafted by a range of public, civil society, private, local, regional, international agencies, and governmental and non-governmental organisations at the 8th Conference on Community-Based Adaptation, the Declaration is clear that there needs to be radical change in funding for adaptation in order to meet local needs.

Key principles in the Kathmandu Declaration are that:

  • Funding must reach local communities and target the most vulnerable. Financing local adaptation can only succeed if it is led by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged countries and communities, tailoring approaches to context-specific needs, and capitalising on communities’ values and strengths
  • The needs and priorities of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities and groups, including the poor, women, children, youth, indigenous people, landless people, persons with disabilities, whose capacity should be strengthened to access resources for adaptation should be programmatically prioritised
  • Stakeholders must be able to access information about availability, deployment and utilisation of adaptation funding to ensure mutual accountability and transparency, including tracking financial flows at all stages
  • There is a need to guard against maladaptation. Strong environmental and social safeguards and robust multi-stakeholder consultation processes are required to ensure that adaptation interventions do not increase the vulnerability both within and across national borders, and limit the wellbeing and choices of future generations.

The Declaration calls for at least 50 per cent of all financing for adaptation to be allocated to local level actions and local communities, and that national governments should be the main channel for adaptation finance.

You can download the full declaration here, and for highlights from the whole conference, including video clips and highlights from the sessions, please have a look at the CBA 8 website.

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