New project: Effective climate action through integrated governance in Africa and Southeast Asia

The success of a global response to the climate challenge depends on coordinated efforts at multiple levels. adelphi is leading an international consortium to support the vertical integration of government efforts and horizontal exchange in Kenya, South Africa, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The national governments of the Philippines, Vietnam, Kenya and South Africa have adopted crucial laws, strategies and targets for low-emission development. At the subnational level, there is great potential to achieve national goals as activities that foster low-emission development are multiplying and are particularly relevant to local realities. But how can local and national efforts build on each other and join forces to harness this potential?

A new four-year project aims to support the linkages between national and subnational low-emission action and the learning and sharing of low-emission experiences in the four countries. For this purpose, adelphi is leading an international consortium consisting of key organisations driving climate action in the global agenda: UN Habitat, One World, Sustainable Energy Africa and the Institute for Law and Environmental Governance. The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as part of its International Climate Initiative (IKI).

Strengthening low-emission development through dialogue and knowledge transfer

So as to support the horizontal and vertical integration of efforts across levels of government, the project will pursue the following tasks:

In order to obtain cohesive climate action, it is as essential for national priorities to guide the countries' development pathway as for local experiences to be fed into the highest decision-making bodies. The consortium will support the vertical integration of efforts through multi-level dialogues, and exchange the knowledge regionally.

The experience of local governments will be harnessed in platforms in which they learn from each other's innovative potential. Capacity strengthening will take place through trainings, and exchange to explore how integrating climate actions into local planning processes can produce multiple benefits.

Furthermore, the project will provide an opportunity to delve into promising applied research: the involvement in these local–national experiences will provide rich elements to be channelled into international fora to help move the global discourse forwards.