Background
The latest IPCC report and the increased focus on locally led adaptation highlights the importance of providing support to the most vulnerable communities and locations at subnational levels. This is in stark contrast to the realities of current international climate finance flows. Less than 10 percent of international adaptation finance, between 2003 and 2016, was approved for locally focused climate change projects (Soanes et al., 2019). The current climate finance mechanisms must be revisited to ensure that finance is received by those who need it the most and that interventions are supported by organisations with in-depth understanding of the local context for implementation, namely Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
Barriers and bottlenecks for CSOs in accessing and delivering adaptation finance
The following barriers and bottlenecks have been identified:
• Marginalised CSOs position in UNFCCC’s financial mechanisms and related funding decision making processes. While engagement policies of climate change funds exist, these policies and modalities do not lead to significant decision-making power.
• Lack of awareness and capacity of local governments to access climate finance. Many local and provincial governments in Southeast Asia are either unaware about or lack the capacity to access and implement climate adaptation finance due to the complexity of requirements and limited simplified direct access modalities.
• Limited efficiency of UNFCCC’s financial mechanism to reach communities. Participatory processes, if done at all, during project development processes often fail to meaningfully represent local voices in the final project design, particularly when they oppose political interests of other stakeholders.
• Lack transparency of financial flows and standardised monitoring of adaptation finance. Despite their ability to strengthen accountability of public actors, CSOs are not being provided with a formal role within the Enhanced Transparency Framework to provide independent monitoring of financial flows.
Promote access and accountability for Adaptation Finance in Southeast Asia
CCWG and CANSEA propose the following for Southeast Asia:
• Meet increasing adaptation finance gaps: We urge the international community to increase international climate finance to increase the resilience of those most affected by climate change impacts. The existing financial resources fall short of the needed support.
• Scale-up public spending on adaptation by its governments to support locally led adaptation: We urge the region’s governments to scale up adaptation finance and to identify CSOs as strategic partners in working with local communities and representing local stakeholders in decision-making processes.
• Monitor international and national adaptation efforts and finance flows: We highlight the significant role of CSOs as independent observers, which can hold financial intermediaries and implementing organisations accountable. Any refined MRV framework under the UNFCCC should be standardised and transparent.
• Introduce adaptation-related levy on transactions under new carbon market mechanisms: We strongly encourage continued sourcing of the Adaptation Fund from an adaptation levy under any new carbon market mechanism of the Paris Agreement. The levy should account for at least 5 percent of all finance channelled via the new market mechanism.
• Aim for ambitious new Common Global Climate Finance Goal after 2025: Any new Common Finance Goal should clarify how countries will be compensated for unavoidable Loss and Damage. In addition, the new climate finance goal should emphasise providing climate finance to local levels and strengthen the position of CSOs as delivery partners.
• Make adaptation finance work for Women, Youth, Indigenous Peoples, and other Vulnerable Groups: CSOs are uniquely positioned to represent the rights of the most vulnerable groups of society, including women, youth, and indigenous peoples, in climate finance decision-making processes.
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