1 December 2014: Participants addressed approaches to adaptation finance, including mainstreaming funds from the global to the national level and the importance of direct access at an event convened on the sidelines of the Lima Climate Change Conference. The event, titled ‘Adaptation Finance: Global to Local Perspectives,’ emphasized the value of accountability for failed projects, credibility of National Implementing Entities (NIEs) and internalizing the cost of climate change for polluters responsible for it.

Underscoring that adaptation to climate change cannot be “projectized,” Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), shared Bangladesh’s experience in financing adaptation. He drew attention to the country’s Climate Change Trust Fund, the Climate Resilience Fund and multilateral climate change funds and called for critical evaluation of these funds to establish a more robust financing system. He stressed capacity building as the most important step towards mainstreaming financing adaptation at all levels of governance.

Anju Sharma, Oxford Climate Policy, called for changing the debate on financing from what projects donors would like to what suits individual developing country situations. She highlighted the importance of direct access to enhance adaptation and mitigation measures at the community level and said community-based activities should be integrated into the national development plans and budgets to ensure maximum success.

Sanjay Vashist, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), said, due to lack of capacity of NIEs, not all climate change funds have been accessed. He drew attention to disparate capacities to deal with climate change within governments and called for: enhanced political will to ensure inter-ministerial cooperation; a readiness programme as part of creating NIEs; and a feedback mechanism to monitor NIEs.

Participants then discussed, inter alia, the need to rethink criteria for measuring project success; community buy-in; barriers to achieving scale; and NIE requirements beyond fiduciary standards.

The Trustees of Tufts College organized the event. [IISD RS ENBOTS Coverage] [IISD RS Coverage of Lima Climate Change Conference] [Fletcher School Tufts University Website] [CANSA Website]