In Brussels, on 15 May 2019, the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) of the UNCDF gathered its member countries and strategic development partners at the UN House in Brussels for the 6th LoCAL Board Meeting.

The objective of the meeting was to reflect on an action plan to steer LoCAL towards becoming a standard and internationally recognized country-based mechanism for the financing and implementation of subnational adaptation action. To make these actions possible, the team discussed the strategy for mobilizing climate finance.

The LoCAL Board Meeting also addressed the experiences with the piloting of a new climate risk assessment methodology in Ghana jointly with the Korean Environment Institute. This methodology will inform local planning and investments in LoCAL countries and Monitoring & Evaluation system (i.e. the Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Framework – ACCAF), designed with the World Resources Institute, which will strengthen LoCAL’s existing assessment system enabling UNCDF to better understand and share the adaptation gains made by LoCAL, and contribute to the global evidence-base on adaptation programming and successes.

The 6th LoCAL Programme Board welcomes the piloting of the “Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Framework” developed with the World Resources Institute and commits to deploy the ACCAF as part of the LoCAL mechanism in LoCAL countries.

In addition to the member countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Tuvalu and The Gambia. Lao, Tanzania and Lesotho were not able to attend the Board -, representatives strategic partners from LoCAL’s such as the Korea Environment Institute (KEI), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the ACP Secretariat, World Resources Institute (WRI), Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, the Covenant of Mayors for Sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), Cities Alliance, West Africa Development Bank (BOAD), the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the EU - DEVCO C6 also attended this important Board Meeting.

The LoCAL Board also had the honor to have. H.E. Mr. Perks Master Ligoya, global coordinator of the Bureau for the Least Developed Country Group, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malawi to the United Nations, as co-chair of the Board. The Ambassador Ligoya expressed his appreciation for the thorough support to the LoCAL Facility and its efforts in promoting low carbon, climate resilient pathways at subnational level.

The Board recognizes that the adoption of the LoCAL guidelines “Financing local adaptation to climate change: Experiences with performance-based climate resilience grants” as Supplementary Material to the National Adaptation Plan Technical Guidelines represents a key milestone for the international recognition of LoCAL.