Executive Summary

As the world shifts its focus to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, it is time to urgently turn global climate promises into tangible, local action. Despite growing commitments under the Paris Agreement, climate adaptation efforts remain underfunded, fragmented, and inequitable. COP30 presents a crucial opportunity to fast-track climate commitments and make climate finance more accessible, equitable, and effective for those on the frontlines of climate change.

The increasing frequency and intensity of climate-change-induced extreme weather events make climate adaptation and resilience increasingly crucial for developing countries. Nature plays a central role in climate adaptation and resilience efforts, and hosting COP30 in the Amazon highlights the importance of protecting nature and its associated solutions, such as conserving forests, restoring biodiversity, and deploying nature-based solutions (NbS). Moreover, integrating Indigenous knowledge and community-led governance into adaptation strategies—which have long been neglected—can transform NbS into an engine of resilience and co-benefits.

This white paper presents some key facts to highlight why deliberations on various aspects of adaptation are critical to making COP30 truly an implementation COP this year. The paper also contends that bridging global ambition and local implementation requires a systems approach that aligns our understanding of adaptation and NbS needs, localises financial requirements, and ensures better access to funding mechanisms. It also calls for a greater focus on resilience-oriented climate finance, embedding adaptation within fiscal systems, and community-led planning. Thus, the paper endorses an evidence-based BRIDGE framework, which offers replicable pathways to mobilise domestic and international capital and bolster climate resilience.