How to Turn National Adaptation Plans into Local Action in Brazil, India and Indonesia

A WRI study identifies fragmented governance, uneven technical capacity, and limited localized data and finance as primary obstacles to effective climate adaptation in Brazil, India, and Indonesia. The report argues that adaptation must be a 'two-way process' where national resources support local implementation and local priorities inform national decisions. Key recommendations include establishing binding coordination mechanisms, providing differentiated technical support to under-resourced municipalities, and integrating adaptation criteria into fiscal transfers and budgeting systems to unlock finance.

• Fragmented governance and weak coordination between national and subnational governments hinder adaptation in all three countries, often characterized by overlapping mandates and unclear institutional responsibilities.
• In Brazil, coordination is inconsistent despite a legal framework, and while some cities use advanced bottom-up tools like risk mapping, smaller municipalities lack the capacity to implement nature-based solutions or resilient infrastructure.
• India lacks a common framework linking national priorities to local implementation, and significant gaps in block-level climate data and technical expertise prevent local governments from conducting vulnerability assessments.
• Indonesia's adaptation architecture is complicated by a proliferation of overlapping policies and reporting systems, leading some subnational governments to prioritize procedural compliance over actual risk integration.
• Access to adaptation finance is limited by a lack of localized data and inconsistent monitoring systems, which makes projects appear less commercially attractive and harder to evaluate compared to mitigation projects.

APA

World Resources Institute (2026). How to Turn National Adaptation Plans into Local Action in Brazil, India and Indonesia. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/national-local-climate-adaptation-brazil-india-indonesia

Chicago

World Resources Institute. How to Turn National Adaptation Plans into Local Action in Brazil, India and Indonesia. 2026. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/national-local-climate-adaptation-brazil-india-indonesia.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=How to Turn National Adaptation Plans into Local Action in Brazil, India and Indonesia |date=29 June 2026 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/national-local-climate-adaptation-brazil-india-indonesia |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2026how, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{How to Turn National Adaptation Plans into Local Action in Brazil, India and Indonesia}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/national-local-climate-adaptation-brazil-india-indonesia}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }