The ongoing natural disasters around the world remind us how vulnerable we are to the dire impacts of climate change. According to a recent report published by the Relief Web, a total of 432 catastrophic events took place in 2021 all over the globe, which is significantly higher than the average of 357 annual catastrophic events from 2001 to 2020. These natural disasters are not discrete incidents. Rather, they are proving IPCC predictions to be true. However, the impacts of climate-induced disasters are not felt equally by different strata of society.
Communities that live in the closest proximity to nature, and are directly dependent on natural resources are at the frontlines of climate-induced disasters. These communities mostly include poor, vulnerable groups of society and indigenous and ethnic communities.
In most cases, the indigenous communities have minimal access to basic needs, become the victims of socio-economic exclusion, and lack the capacity to deal with the impacts of natural disasters. However, the communities have been coping with the changes for millennia.
Over the period, they have developed various adaptation measures that are proven to be effective, eco-friendly, sustainable, and cost-effective. Nevertheless, many of their interventions and adaptation solutions that can be scaled up and replicable are yet to be recognized, promoted, and mainstreamed.
Most importantly, their active participation and social inclusion in the decision-making process need to be ensured for the holistic development of the society, building resilience to climate change, and fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals.
In this regard, Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) can be an effective approach to help the local communities and the most vulnerable groups in ensuring their active participation in the overall planning and decision-making process. Additionally, LLA also promotes equity, justice, transparency, accountability, and collaboration, and creates an institutional legacy by introducing patient and predictable funding, and building the capacity of the local communities; securing their legal rights and wellbeing.
The traditional system and top-down approach restrict locally led practices to be scaled up, and LLA could be the key to promoting such activities Dhaka TribuneBangladesh, a South-Asian nation is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change and was ranked seventh on the Global Climate Risk Index by German-Watch, in 2021. Simultaneously, the country is also recognized globally to be a pioneer and role model in terms of climate change adaptation. The country has made a transformative shift over the last few decades in terms of adapting to the impacts of climate change with a prime focus on resilience and capacity building (mainly institutional).
However, the active participation and consideration of the local communities' views in the decision making and planning process were reported to be insignificant. Therefore, some of the adaptation interventions that were undertaken for the welfare of the local communities turned out to be detrimental in the longer run, resulting in maladaptation practices.
To overcome this gap and to build a bridge between the local communities and the different stakeholders (local government, central government, and other entities), utilising the LLA approach could be instrumental. However, there remain several challenges to incorporating LLA with the development measures that lead to resilience building of the local communities who are at the frontlines of climate change.
Drawing from grounded research and personal experience with local communities (marginalised, and indigenous communities) some of the major challenges in implementing LLA are as follows: Firstly, it is observed that mass-scale adaptation measures that are undertaken to improve the wellbeing of the local communities, fail to understand and consider the local and geographical context of the project's implemented area. This occurs when an initiative is designed excluding the viewpoints of the local inhabitants, who deal with the challenges every day, at ground level.
Therefore, in order to make the adaptation measures more effective, conducting local-level consultation and understating the local context is necessary.
Secondly, while promoting adaptation measures, especially with the indigenous and ethnic communities, linguistic and dialect barriers become a grave concern. As different indigenous groups speak in different languages and dialects, sometimes it becomes difficult to make them understand the planned initiative and bring them under the same umbrella. As a result, the actual challenges remain unfolded and prevail in the community. Using a common language that is accepted and well-spoken by both parties (service receivers and implementers) can be a potential solution to overcome the challenge.
In LLA, the equal participation of all the stakeholders within the community is essential.
However, in many parts of the country, the participation of women is highly insignificant when it comes to decision-making. Social stigma, misconceptions, illiteracy, and patriarchal social structure are some of the prime reasons for women to be passive in the overall decision-making process.
Therefore, to ensure the active participation of women, special focus should be given to educating women and girls. Simultaneously, the importance of women in the decision-making process should also be preached within the local community. Religious leaders and community activists can play a vital role here.
Oftentimes it is also observed that the poor and marginalised communities become the victims of participatory exclusion. Political biases, nepotism, marginalisation, and corruption lead to participatory exclusion. This can be eradicated by ensuring accountability and transparency within the social system.
At the same time, along with the government, the donors and implementers should also be more cordial in ensuring the participation of the most vulnerable communities in the planning and decision-making process.
Finance is a key issue to support any sort of development measure including climate change adaptation. However, it is found that the top-down finance flow is often difficult to access and be disbursed at the local level. It is also observed that local government authority does not possess financial autonomy.
Hence, there is an urgent need to decentralise adaptation financing and create scopes to collect funds from locally generated revenues, central government grants, donor funds, and NGO and private sector donations which would be channelled through a transparent mechanism.
Evidence from around the world suggests that local communities are well aware of their duties and responsibilities in terms of tackling disasters through various adaptation measures. However, in the context of Bangladesh, the above-mentioned challenges have been prevailing in society for a long time, hampering the overall adaptation and development efforts.
The traditional system and top-down approach restrict locally led practices to be scaled up, and LLA could be the key to promoting such activities. But LLA can only be effective and functional when the prevailing social challenges are addressed.
Collaboratively the local governments, the private sector, and civil society organisations are capable of minimising and eradicating the challenges at a local level. The combined strategies and joint ventures can not only create the platform for a successful LLA implementation but also address climate risks, and ensure holistic development.
Savio Rousseau Rozario is leading the Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) program at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) as the Program Coordinator. He can be reached at [email protected]
