The 19th International Conference on Community Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA19) and the 13th GIFE Congress highlight local solutions and the role of community philanthropy in combating the climate emergency.
While the world debates global targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a consensus emerged at two climate and philanthropy events held in Brazil in May: Indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and marginalized populations must be the protagonists in the strategies and implementation of climate adaptation actions. They are the first to be affected – and they possess ancestral knowledge to confront the crisis and need access to the necessary resources.
Data from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2022) underscore the urgency: in the last decade, residents of vulnerable areas died 15 times more often in extreme weather events (droughts, floods, storms) than populations in regions with adequate infrastructure.
In this context, the 19th International Conference on Community Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA19) – held from May 12 to 16 in Recife (PE) – and the 13th GIFE Congress – from May 7 to 9 in Fortaleza (CE) – focused on local solutions and the strategic role of community-based philanthropy.
The Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), a member of the Alliance of Socio-environmental Funds of the Global South and the Comuá Network, participated in both meetings to exchange experiences, strengthen networking, and highlight the importance of community philanthropy as a way to strengthen local organizations led by indigenous peoples, traditional communities, women, and youth, expanding access to adequate funding for the promotion of socio-environmental and climate justice.
“At a time when we are seeing global setbacks on the environmental agenda, participating in a space that brings together community representatives and the philanthropy network from more than seventy countries is motivating for the development of new solutions to the climate crisis,” explains ISPN Project Manager, Terena Castro.
According to ISPN's managing director, Cristiane Azevedo, "it is important to look at the flow of funding from the North to the South, to bring resources to places where populations with their traditional ways of life are conserving biodiversity."
The CBA, organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in partnership with the Government of Pernambuco and the Climate and Society Institute (ICS), was held for the first time in Brazil and Latin America, featuring discussions on "Locally Led Adaptation Action," from both an "urban" and a "nature" perspective.
“The event was a rich space for exchanges between leaders and organizations from various countries and reinforced the importance of the voices of the territories, the experience of traditional peoples, of the peripheries, who are dealing with the direct impacts of the climate emergency,” adds Azevedo. The search for these solutions to achieve fair and equitable adaptation is an essential and important agenda to be addressed at COP-30, which will also be held in Brazil, in Belém.
GIFE Congress
Between May 7th and 9th, the 13th GIFE Congress [Group of Institutes, Foundations and Companies] brought together actors from private social investment (PSI) and philanthropy to discuss innovative and collaborative paths to sustainable development in Brazil. The event was held in Fortaleza, Ceará, under the theme "Decentralizing power, knowledge and wealth".
Among the key debates at the Congress, the highlight is the need for direct support for people and communities defending their territories, building local solutions adapted to their realities – whether in the countryside or in the cities.
One of the main takeaways from the meeting was the importance of a close relationship between funders and communities, in which actively listening to the territories is essential to consolidate bonds of trust and, above all, commitment.
“The path to private social investment lies in the need to invest in the institutional development of organizations so that resources can reach where they are needed,” explained Juliana Napolitano, technical advisor at ISPN.
Napolitano, a member of the Ecos Fund team, an ISPN financing mechanism for promoting productive eco-social landscapes, adds: “Participating in the congress brought many lessons that contribute to improving our work, as well as reinforcing the strategic role that the Ecos Fund plays with indigenous peoples, family farmers, and traditional peoples and communities.”
Text by Camila Araujo / Press Officedog from ISPN