Locally Led Climate Adaptation: What Is Needed to Accelerate Action and Support?

This working paper by the World Resources Institute examines literature on locally led climate adaptation to identify program designs and characteristics that catalyze accelerated action and support. It highlights a significant gap between the recognized need for participatory adaptation and the actual distribution of decision-making power and finance to local actors.

• A review of 374 projects revealed that while 138 contained some locally led elements, only 22 featured a locally led approach as a core or central component. Local actors are frequently involved as recipients of interventions but are rarely included in leadership roles or decision-making processes regarding the design, implementation, and allocation of funding.
• Several barriers hinder the financing of locally led adaptation, including insufficient funding reaching the local level, a lack of investment in the capacity of local actors to manage funds and processes, and low levels of accountability from funders and implementing entities toward local actors.
• Successful locally led adaptation is enabled by flexibility in program design and disbursement, investments in community leadership and local institutional capacities, and the use of existing governance and finance networks to achieve scale and reduce transaction costs.
• To accelerate locally led action, the paper suggests focusing on iterative approaches to design, including local actors in decision-making from start to finish, increasing technical capacity building, and building a stronger evidence base for locally led adaptation.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Locally Led Climate Adaptation: What Is Needed to Accelerate Action and Support? https://www.wri.org/research/locally-led-climate-adaptation-what-needed-accelerate-action-and-support

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Locally Led Climate Adaptation: What Is Needed to Accelerate Action and Support? n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/locally-led-climate-adaptation-what-needed-accelerate-action-and-support.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Locally Led Climate Adaptation: What Is Needed to Accelerate Action and Support? |url=https://www.wri.org/research/locally-led-climate-adaptation-what-needed-accelerate-action-and-support |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendlocally, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Locally Led Climate Adaptation: What Is Needed to Accelerate Action and Support?}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/locally-led-climate-adaptation-what-needed-accelerate-action-and-support}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }