Local Governments have started building their resilience to climate change for their citizens, and economies. But how to measure whether this is effective or not? At the Paris COP 21, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) began the crucial process of measuring local adaptation for the countries that are part of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL).
 
This is important for ensuring that adaptation efforts deliver results for vulnerable people. It also matters in the context of global climate finance because direct access to funds such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) requires effective monitoring and evaluation to ensure that funds allocated to countries contribute to resilience. For LoCAL is doubly important because it is local governments that implement the investments whilst central governments are accountable to the GCF for the funds.
 
January 2016 will see work begin in Cambodia, which is seeking direct access to the GCF to implement phase 3 of LoCAL. The local resilience measuring system will then be rolled out to the other LoCAL countries as they reach phase 2 of the programme. These are Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Ghana, Lao PDR, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger and Tuvalu. At COP 21 negotiations began with the Government of Angola to become a member of LoCAL.
 
Heather McGray, Director of WRI’s Climate Resilience Practice said “WRI is delighted to be contributing to this innovative adaptation financing model. We look forward to helping build systems that channel climate funding on budget to local communities while specifically tracking how this builds climate resilience, in addition to its wider development effects. This collaboration also provides a complement to WRI’s work supporting countries to build readiness to access climate finance.”
 
Fakri Karim, the LoCAL project manager said “LoCAL was designed to enable local governments in developing countries secure direct access to the investment funds required to adapt and build effective resilience. This agreement will accelerate our mission and we are extremely satisfied to have WRI, a world leader in adaptation, on board”
 
David Jackson, UNCDF’s Director of Local Development Finance and co-chair of the LoCAL Project Board said “Our member states are passionate about strengthening their local resilience but need ways to demonstrate to the wider world how effective this can be, the partnership with WRI will provide entities like the Green Climate Fund the confidence to invest in direct access.”