Asia

Region: Asia

Asia:

Projects
87
Resources
177
Stories
381
Active
Project
Active
Locally-led adaptation priority area

The risks faced by people and ecosystems in a changing climate vary from one locality to another. It’s partly a question of physical geography and partly a question of the human factors – social, economic, cultural – that make people resilient or vulnerable to climate hazards. That is why adaptation should be locally-led. Adaptation is most effective when it is centred on people’s human rights and driven by the knowledge and needs that local people, especially the most marginalised groups, bring to the table.

Resource
15th January 2026
Struggling to mainstream climate issues? Lessons learnt from CDKN’s knowledge brokering experience A learning resource that synthesises insights from CDKN’s knowledge brokering work across Asia and Africa since 2018. It identifies seven common challenges to mainstreaming climate change into policy and decision-making and illustrates practical, context-specific pathways for overcoming them. The resource draws on partner reflections, interviews, and learning exchanges to support practitioners working at the climate–development interface.
Feature
8th December 2025
COP30 nature agenda: Modest wins, missed opportunities, and the urgent case for coherent action COP30 was promising in its symbolism, with the over 900 Indigenous Peoples in the Blue Zone, and an agenda that elevated Indigenous voices, rights and nature finance. But by the close of the final plenary, there was only evidence of small incremental changes – not the bold and ambitious outcomes needed to support transformative change, say CDKN EbA Thematic Lead, Nadia Sitas, and CDKN Senior Technical Advisor, Mairi Dupar.
Feature
2nd December 2025
New UNFCCC Gender Action Plan finds nuance in women’s needs and opportunities By Mairi Dupar and Patricia Bamanyaki. Gender equality is currently under threat. Governments are sidelining it in policy making; international agreements and negotiated texts are backsliding on once accepted gender language; and donors are retreating from prioritising gender financing. Without bold and transformative action, the hard-won gains of women and marginalised groups risk being erased.
News
6th November 2025
CDKN at COP30 As the world’s climate leadership gathers in Belém, Brazil, for COP30, CDKN and its partners are shaping conversations on adaptation and resilience, placing the knowledge and leadership of the Global South at the centre of resilient approaches to climate adaptation challenges.
Feature
4th November 2025
Rethinking climate and biodiversity finance through a rights-based lens When we talk about financing the response to climate change and biodiversity loss, the discussion often turns to numbers; how much is being pledged, how much is being spent, how big the gap remains. But as became clear during a recent Paris Committee on Capacity-building Network (PCCB) webinar, finance is never just about figures. It reflects the choices we make about what, who and, how we value.
Active
Project
Active
Finance for resilience: Priority action area

CDKN’s Finance for Resilience priority area promotes flexible, inclusive and locally led financing systems that enable communities, institutions, and ecosystems to prepare for, adapt to, and transform in the face of climate risks.  

Feature
21st October 2025
Beyond the mitigation-adaptation binary: How funders can embrace the Resilience Continuum For far too long, philanthropy has been approaching intervention on the climate crisis from a series of binaries – adaptation vs mitigation, immediate vs long-term, etc. As we hurtle toward static solutions in the midst of climate devastation and polycrisis, we should be considering what it means to work along Resilience Continuum. This is an abridged version of an article originally published in Alliance Magazine.
Event
16th October 2025
CDKN in Panama for CBD SBSTTA-27 and SB8j-1 meetings CDKN’s Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Thematic Lead, Nadia Sitas, will represent CDKN at multiple events during CBD SBSTTA‑27 and SB‑8j1 in Panama.
Resource
13th October 2025
Empowering women through forest-based enterprises in Nepal This case study explores how grassroots women-led forest enterprises in Nepal are turning traditional knowledge into eco-products that boost incomes and support sustainable forest management. Written by Mairi Dupar, senior technical advisor at CDKN, and Kanchan Lama, a senior gender expert and Indigenous People's champion from Nepal, it was published as a background paper for the Asian Development Bank's Asia Pacific Climate Report 2025.
Feature
12th September 2025
Devolving climate finance: Lessons from a Kenya-Nepal peer exchange on locally-led adaptation The following blog by Rahul Singh, Esperanza Karaho and Megh Dhoj Adhikari, explores Kenya’s devolved climate finance model, which empowers local communities to lead climate adaptation planning and implementation. A peer‑exchange led by CDKN enabled Nepalese municipal and provincial representatives to observe Kenya’s approach firsthand, which, if implemented in Nepal could help bridge its local funding gaps.
Active
Project
Active
Gender Equity and Social Inclusion: Priority action area

The GESI priority area focuses on empowering those most affected by climate change, including women, girls, youth, Indigenous communities, people living with disabilities (PLWD), and other disadvantaged groups.