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
Held during the Climate Adaptation Summit, three 60-minute regional panel discussions will bring together leaders of cities at the frontlines of climate change and showcase how they’re using nature-based solutions for adaptation.
Article, 11 January 2021
IIED and partners took part in the 2021 Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 on 25 and 26 January.
Fishermen in Bangladesh collect the day s catch (Photo: copyright Espen Rasmussen/PANOS)
The online international Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 on 25 and 26 January, hosted by the Netherlands, convened global leaders and local stakeholders. It saw the launch of a comprehensive adaptation action agenda that sets out clear commitments to deliver concrete new endeavours and partnerships to make our world more resilient to the effects of climate change.
Over the course of 24 hours, a range of events streamed from time zones across the globe inspired change and support tangible solutions to the problems of a warming world, showing how we can achieve a climate-resilient future.
Red flags all over
The cost of writing off stranded assets could reach $900 billion – or one third of the current value of big oil and gas companies – if governments aggressively tried to meet the limit of 2°C. Consider the financial burden of this figure amid lower oil prices, the economic strain of the pandemic, plus the cost of the energy transition.
Wood Mackenzie expects a minimum of $30 trillion to $40 trillion of investment is needed to put the world on a 2°C or lower pathway.
Variances too
Of course, the potential financial strain will differ region-to-region. For example, oil and gas will remain a central part of the Middle East’s energy basket up to 2050. This is not a failure, but key to sustaining energy security as the world finds its greener footing.
This episode of WRI’s “Big Ideas Into Action” podcast looks at locally-led adaptation. Locally led adaptation responds to local needs and conditions and are built for the longer term through investment in local institutions, ensuring that local people and their communities have agency over their adaptation priorities and how adaptation takes place.
Subscribe to the series on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.
Local communities that are on the frontlines of climate change impacts often lack a voice when it comes to making key decisions and implementing projects aimed at helping them. If they are given this voice, locally led adaptation can be better suited to both the communities and their specific environments, helping them become more resilient in the face of climate change impacts.