 Good afternoon everyone. Thank you very much for attending this event Some of you are also participating in ECA, so it's it's not just around the corner So thanks for joining us here for the discussions today. My name is Elshan Fernand I'm the development director at IID Europe And together with IID we're organizing this event So you may know that this is a site event to the sixth European climate change adaptation conference Which is taking place here in Dublin And what we really want to do Is to look and learn Getting insights from climate adaptation practitioners around the world and how that they can inspire and inform ambitious climate action in Europe so a few words about IID Europe and IID most of you May know IID is in an independent policy and action research Organization based in the Netherlands And our main focus is on global environmental and social change including the impacts of European actors The we partner closely with IID which is one of one of the world's leading independent policy and action research institutions And they have a 50-year track record of working on sustainable development and on linking Global or local actions to global challenges So this is a joint effort and a joint site event from organized by both institutions And what we would like to do now briefly Tom will then tell you a bit more about how we plan to run the session today But just to quickly let you know that we will have an interactive poll Where we want to hear from you in terms of challenges and barriers Then we will have Speaker coming and presenting some of the key messages from an international conference on community based adaptation And finally we will open a discussion with the panel and with the audience on Some reflections On on these messages So our first speaker is dr. Sheena Walsh She will be saying some Opening words at the The climate director at Ireland's department of foreign affairs since 2020 Before she served as the you ambassador to South Sudan Prior to that she has been the ambassador of Ireland to Sierra Leone and Liberia And she held several roles at the department of foreign affairs Sheenette also has more than 10 years of experience in the NGO sector working in various countries around the world. So Sheenette I will invite you to say a few words. Thank you. Alex. Yeah delighted to to be here This is a really gorgeous room I think this is probably for those of you who are not based in Dublin Probably the nicest meeting room we have So you're very welcome. I know you're down in Dublin castle, which is also Quite nice. I mean it varies, you know, it's it's different different time zones going on in Dublin castle But uh, I I love this room and I think it's always it's always a privilege when we get to have meetings here um, I I'm going to situate You a little bit more uh by just taking a couple of moments to to talk a bit about Ireland's relationship with um adaptation In in developing countries before before we start hearing from from from the experts and the practitioners and I understand From from Tom that this is the first time that Ekka has kind of Ventured into this territory of of learning from developing countries, which is which is really great because I'll be honest It's also the first time that we are engaging with Ekka as as a You know a team in the department of foreign affairs that very much focuses on adaptation in developing countries Um, so it's it's great to to have the opportunity I suppose in in in brief Adaptation is the main focus of what Ireland does on on climate action in in developing countries Both in terms of our finance and in terms of our diplomacy. So In terms of our finance, we have a very strong focus on The least developed countries and small island developing states And about 96 of our funding is either going only to adaptation Or going to programs where adaptation is is one of the components And so it's a very strong focus and and you you may or may not know that we're in the process of doubling our climate finance In the course of a three and a half year period after 2025. So it's a pretty it's pretty pretty ambitious Which effectively means doubling our adaptation finance as well So so I think that's very that's very positive And then in diplomacy terms we we do quite a bit as well on on adaptations So and and actually work a lot with with ied in this We're co-founders of something called the champions group on adaptation finance Looking at issues of quality of of that finance looking at issues of of access of developing countries Particularly the more vulnerable developing countries to to climate to to adaptation finance And so as I say, it is really It is really most of of what we're what we're involved in and I suppose just a couple of of of kind of observations You know before we kick off the session. I think we are I suppose really struck You know in the work that we do which is which is through Our sort of irish aid offices in the various embassies, which is mostly in Africa And through civil society organizations through multilateral partners And we're really struck For this, you know the real urgency around, you know, this this this phrase of of transformational adaptation I think we were very struck earlier in the year and in and quite happy that the IPCC Report talked about maladaptation because I think what we're seeing is It is really quite worrying in terms of maybe doing more harm than good in some cases And so we really need We really need transfer transformational adaptation and and I suppose part of what we What we mean by that is is adaptation work and in developing countries that is You know that is is cross sectoral that is not sort of siloed that is is very much connected in with You know your agriculture and food systems work with your with your You know your social protection You know with with with, you know local economies and so on and and that of course means You know Looking very carefully at how we involve communities and we do quite a bit of work with with ied and others On you know locally led adaptation and and trying to You know sort of flip the current situation where You know most adaptation finance is going to develop in countries is not going directly to To the local level, but is often getting kind of Stuck along the way, you know some of which is valid, of course You need some adaptation actions at at national level and so on but we think there's a lot more Where where the finance needs to go straight to to the community level for for activities there And so we're doing quite a lot of work supporting community level adaptation And and also as I said trying to in our own work as well in our own health programs and agriculture programs and And education programs trying to see how we kind of you know climate proof those So that we are not also encouraging this this siloed approach to to adaptation So I'll maybe leave it at that keen keen to listen to to the panelists and Yeah, and just yeah nice to be Interacting with those of you who are focusing much more on a european context because I do think we often Don't don't interact actually between what's going on at the level of a for like aka and what we do ourselves So, um, so happy to be here and I'll I'll pass the mic back to alex. Maybe Yeah, thank you very much, uh, shinette for those opening words I will now give the Floor to tom michel who will set the scene for the session today. So maybe just a Brief introduction introduction to tom, uh, tom michel is the executive director at iid Steering the overall direction and leadership of the institute prior to joining iid Tom was the chief strategy officer at climate kick And also the director of the climate kick international foundation Tom is also the former coordinating lead author for the ipcc and the un special representative senior advisor So tom over to you. Thank you, alex and uh, and delighted to be here in such a beautiful venue I was taking pictures as I came in sending them to my family saying it doesn't Doesn't get much better than this does it really really incredible Um, but welcome to everybody as well. So I think part of the motivation um for This session also comes from partly a personal experience that I've had of working on european adaptation issues And working on adaptation issues in in africa and in asia and quite frankly being really frustrated That there isn't a dialogue between the two. There isn't a shared reflection about Uh, how we can get together learn those lessons Expand and scale what works and do so in a way that is actually somewhat Geographically agnostic. Why does it matter that there is a sense that there's continental boundaries when actually we're sharing challenges And so that is part of the motivation here I think what I've also come to understand from working on Adaptation issues in countries that have been really challenged with the impacts of climate change in some cases over many decades now Is that europe is beginning to answer ask Some of the questions that have been dealt with in those locations or at least have been grappled with in those locations for those many years So for example sitting in the ecca conference What I've heard is how do we reach the most vulnerable people in european society to help them with adaptation How do we get money and resources to the local level when at the moment it's getting stuck? How do we acknowledge that there are parts of europe that are now seeing the impacts of climate change that haven't been experienced before and don't have A set of inbuilt knowledge and kind of cultural history of working and dealing with those challenges How do we create more cooperation between different places in tackling shared challenges? And in some ways, it's very frustrating. I feel that there has been Not yet a kind of a very pragmatic look and say well, how do you build bridges? How do you build bridges between communities? How do you build bridges between governments and so on? And I think and I know shanae didn't say this But I'm going to make it a challenge for ireland as I do for other countries Is to say how many occasions do you have the ministry of foreign affairs working on adaptation in other countries? Work together with the ministries of science and technology Looking and grappling with research challenges on these topics and the domestic agenda Which is grappling with adaptation challenges now in the country Really very limited cooperation across europe around that And I think also to be quite honest we see at the european commission level that the adaptation strategy of the european commission Talks about the fact. I think it's in pillar number four of the agenda four right Is that we europe should be learning from Places around the world it says that in black and white yet quite honestly Very very little has been done so far and I think there's good reasons for that There's issues of politics and resourcing, but why not? It's a really pragmatic opportunity To bring together those types of organizations and so As we segue into the session and to hear from From the panelists and contributors Just to set the scene here is that ii ed has for Some time been running and supporting a conference Called community-based adaptation conference which brings together practitioners from around the world Often not from europe but from around the world to share lessons On the practical opportunities for tackling loss and damage with communities And in a way that is locally led and so our opportunity today is to hear from some of those To listen to the outcomes of the conference that we just held and i'm Going to pass on very shortly to to obeyed later in the session And to then reflect back on what europe can be taking away as key lessons from that Now i think what the beauty of this session also is is we've got community organizations from europe who are also going to be Talking about their experiences and the idea I really hope we can leave this session with a sense that this can't be the first and only time that ecca Grapples with a topic like this and it can't be the only way In which europe and other parts of the world build bridges around shared challenges And so i really look forward to the dialogue. I think this is a great opportunity to kick something off And i think it's really welcome that the ecca organizers of have been able to Create the space in the agenda to be able to have what i hope is a really innovative conversation. Thank you very much Thank you very much. So what i would like to do now is to segue into an interact interactive part of the of the session where we will launch a poll so a mentor poll Trying to capture what in your view are the challenges and barriers That your region or community is currently facing but also the opportunities that you see working on Community or locally based adaptations. So You can go so this is the interactive part of the session you can go to menti.com If you enter the code three nine nine one six six four two and we should Have some results coming in soon So i'll give you maybe one or two more minutes to then We have three questions Okay So we've had The interactive Question that we had in terms of location. I see that there were several Participants from europe ireland uk But also mexico bolivia us. So it's interesting to see This representation at the global level now in terms of main challenges What are the main challenges that regions and communities face in terms of Adapting one issue is as tom was already alluding to these lack of long-term and predictable finance The In terms of how do you fit in terms of priorities resilience With all the other challenges and particularly the cost of living crisis Which is quite current now the issue of equity justice also the knowledge gaps The access to finance again is it seems to be a key Gap I see that it's quite It had several hits here. So I think that's it's clearly one of the key issues Communities and regions access directly to finance to help them With their adaptation plans And the last one of course also how do we go beyond this project-based cycle funding And have it on a more sustainable and long-term basis So Yeah, I see Several so thank you very much for your Contribution I see lots of inputs Refinance has been repeated several times also this lack of coordination between Actors at the national level and at the local level. So I hope that Some of these I think we will use this to segue into the Discussions both in the panel, but first what we would like to do is Some of these challenges will Strike a balance and will be shared in a similar way both from european regions But also regions in the global south and as tom mentioned earlier We would like to hear some of the discussions and key messages That that from the international conference on community-based adaptation that iid recently Organized and how some of these are also reflected on the key messages and insights. So to transition The messages from cba then into the panel discussion. So to do that, I would like to bring in Obed Coringo I think he should be with us. Obed. Are you with us? Yeah Um, yes Perfect, let me just briefly introduce you. Obed. Um, yes, so Obed Coringo works with care international as a climate policy advisor Where he provides technical assistance to programs in african asia on evidence-based climate policy Obed has more than 12 years of experience in climate policy and analysis and also on climate advocacy And he has also a long experience working across a range of actors including NGOs Governments and grassroots organizations. So Obed will now share with us some of the key messages and insights that came from this Community-based adaptation And then the panel discussion the panelists will reflect on some of these insights and key messages and How we can find similarities between some of these challenges And challenges that europe is facing and how we can learn from each other. So, Obed over to you Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for that Lovely introduction As you have heard, my name is Obed Coringo and I work with care international I am now leaning from Nairobi, Kenya And I was one of the participants in the 17th conference of community-based adaptation Which was organized by iid and other partners as you can see some of them who are reflected in this slide and just to Today I'm going to share a few insights and lessons from the cba 17 conference. This was the first physical conference after three years, of course, due to covid The three previous cba cba 14 15 and 16 were held virtually And they were really really happy to meet Physically to be able to interact with a number of practitioners and get to learn from each other so basically cba was An annual gathering that had around 250 climate adaptation practitioners from all over the world And this basically is a is a space for practitioners and to be able to share their knowledge and learning about the practice of local adaptation And this year's conference was themed local solutions Inspiring global action and was really a very good space for adaptation practitioners grassroots communities And representatives and local national government planners and policy makers To be able to come together to to discuss exchange ideas and best practices On adaptation and so we had a number of themes in this conference climate finance nature-based solutions innovation youth leadership And decolonizing climate action and of course the focus was on locally led adaptation which centers on local actors Subdividity and also transformative change In terms of the nature-based solutions, some of the key messages that came from out from this theme The conference participants really felt that many nature-based solutions are too simplistic And and the they also I mean majorly talk about ponds in urban spaces And and many poorly considered solutions particularly in urban areas Focus on overly simplified initiatives that are not integrated into planning and development So The message was the need to integrate nature-based solutions into planning processes Then another message on on nature-based solutions around multiple Perspective perspectives or actors that are required And of course, they really need to establish coordinating institutions to be able to bring together committing engineers Scientific scientists governments to be able to work together in partnership With with planning Then last but not least Local knowledge really matters and of course we've seen a lot of proliferation and jargon and inadequate resources and for local governments Which excludes vital local resources? It's worth noting that indigenous people or indigenous knowledge Uh, indigenous women local communities are already championing nature-based solutions and hold valuable traditional knowledge Building the decades of experiences of implementing them and they really need to See how we can include this vital resource in discussions and programming around nature-based solution On climate finance, of course this this theme Explored how funders donors and their intermediaries the channel funds and local actors That often implement them at how they function together and the challenges that need to facilitate locally led action And the main one of the main messages is around was around sharing the burden of risk across the chain of actors Donors and and intermediaries and local actors really need to be open with each other About the risks involved in delivering adaptation They really need to recognize and be open about how local organizations face existential reputation and personal risk in case of failure. So being really open Finding a middle ground that openly recognizes and distributes risks Fairly is really a very fast step Of course In this in sharing the burden of risk then we really need to Work with existing government systems however flawed These systems are they they Can reveal opportunities to improve them and and also will be necessary for large scale adaptation finance Worked sustainably in the long run. So uh, and they will be able to continue after funding programs and programs have gone Uh, then of course in terms of flexibility. This is also something that has also come up in in in in the in the poll There's really need for flexibility for local organization to be able to apply their knowledge of and and of context And finance must allow adaptive management including regular and better coordination Communication and establishing collaborative processes that enhance the community's capacity according to their needs Then the third theme was around innovation for adaptation and you know, one of the key messages around innovation was that Innovation really doesn't necessarily mean complex things. It also means also involves simple solutions that work and too much innovation currently seems to be about Innovation for its own sake There's a lot of proliferation around pilots and accelerators Uh, and and and it is really need to i mean identify new development without enough attention Uh to sustainably or scaling up. So the message was these pilots and accelerators really need to recognize the road to scale and sustainable long-term benefits There's also another aspect around enabling environment to uh, which includes finance regulation policy community engagement to work together be able to foster successful locally relevant adaptation And uh, also the other element was around the internet the role of international international intermediaries for instance, which play a key role in acting as knowledge brokers And and that can bring bring in experience and learning from elsewhere and amplify What can be shared positively? Development to attract investment. So the role of intermediaries really is very really really key in ensuring that of course We support innovation and locally led solutions and considering that communities already know what What they need to do. They have locally led sort of information that They already have how can we elevate them? How can we work with them to develop? solutions that really work Who address the unique challenge that they're facing without necessarily Putting solutions or technologies that uh do not address their needs in terms of youth Youth leadership, of course the youth play a key role in in adaptation and they really need to be meaningfully engaged in this process and we really need to Find a way of establishing intergenerational dialogue to be able to bridge the divide in in the priorities So ensure that we are able to mentor and foster Networks and support youth networks to be able to engage meaningfully in in this process Youth are also more than just activists. They must be funded to be able to I mean to be capable advocates for their own community needs Uh, then of course, we really need to have direct routes to communicating through social media and easier for use of digital tools Which is a key resource to be able to draw on and pay youth for Last but not least we had this new thematic area on the colonizing climate action and and and this theme explored How to resolve the tensions caused by the colonial legacies that continue to shape adaptation in the global south and of course one of the messages around this theme was recognizing, uh, I mean Power dynamics really need to be analyzed between donors intermediaries and communities to be able to reduce top-down ways of working by donors Because they need to engage directly with local communities. So recognizing The value of indigenous or local knowledge of context environment and politics Is really really key and of course, it really need to build direct relationships between funders And local organizations to be able to foster dialogue and understanding between them then a lot but not least funding programs need to allow for adaptive management room to fail and to learn they really Are currently too restrictive and of course focused on success But of course the main message here was really need to be flexible to allow for failure So that you can learn from from the from failure and also draw the lessons from from failing Sometimes of course not really focusing much on on on success, but failing forward. Thank you so much I would like to stop here So thank you very much Obed for those key messages and insights What I would like to do now is The next step will be we will have a set of panelists reflecting on some of these key messages and insights but While the panel is being set up, maybe I'll just quickly open the floor if there are some brief Reflections or comments before we move on to the panel discussion. There's a microphone. Thank you Thanks, my name is Maserad Boudin from Wageningen University and I'm originally Mexican But I have experience also working in Africa My question is also like how do you address Yeah gender equality or inequality depending how you see the glass healthy or helpful, but I know that there's also a lot of issues on incorporating a gender in the climate agenda and adaptation In many local communities mainly because of course women have less rights for instance lack of access to to land or other several Issues at the local level. So how do you address gender? Thank you. Thank you very much I would suggest that we take your question then to the panel discussion just to to inform that Um, so if that's okay, I'll pass the floor to tom Is okay So we're going to move on then as alex said to the panel discussion of which you see the cast of characters that we're going to have up on the screen um I'd like to invite martha and thomas to come and join us here up on the stage and then obed and Shana's will be online And for those who are just joining what i'm going to do is i'm not going to do what alex did and kind of read out some some esteemed comments about the Uh, you know incredible experience of each panelist, but I would love them to express that in their own words Because they'll do a certainly a much better job than I will But just to say on this panel, we're going to be looking at how the insights from community based adaptation that obed has just been sharing Can be relevant for europe and for european regions and communities Um particularly as if Is is the challenges of building resilience to climate change become ever more urgent? So that's the topic of our panel But what you'll see here is a mix of people coming from uh european context from ireland and then also Uh obed and shana's are going to join us and add the perspective from from africa and in other parts of the world But maybe let's just take the opportunity for each panelist to say hello and talk about where they're coming into this panel from Um, and then we'll move on to a kind of set of questions and reflections But martha, maybe I could start with you and pass the Let me just work out how to do this so that we don't get ourselves in a tangle. Very brilliant. Thank you Does that work? Yeah, great. Thanks very much Thanks for inviting me My name is martha farrell and I am a director and co-founder of a community led 100 volunteer run charity in the southwest of ireland called the long name mahariz conservation association and we are Seven years in the running We set up to protect our very fragile tombolo that Is located on the southwest of ireland and very low lying very fragile and vulnerable to climate change impacts and we I suppose set up as a result of a crisis Seven years ago when the only road in and out of the axis The only axis road in and out of the residential area in mahariz became blocked with three to four foot sand drifts primarily because of atlantic storms But also because of a degraded dune system And we set about taking community action nature using nature based solutions to protect our sand dune system because for us Um, while sand dunes provide a range of ecosystems goods and services for us They are a shield from storm damage Storm surges and they're also a really um biodiverse habitat. So um, we um Have been very successful in our activity so far and I'm going to speak today on our experience so I'll Pass it over to you, Tom Thank you. Um, and first of all, thank you very much for the invitation to sit on the panel in this indeed very very lovely room um, very honored and also honored to learn a lot And um already by the presentation from obit and and others. So my name is thomas cuts. I am Now working climate kick Tom and I did a little bit of a hand over over a few months I joined climate kick To now work as the senior advisor on climate neutral and resilient regions In particular now focused on coordinating bringing together the various projects We are involved in in the context of the eu mission on adaptation And and that's what I did before joining climate kick. I was actually part of the european commission um Exploring and then in drafting the eu mission adaptation Um as it now is being implemented Um before that I was seven year in the united nations working and It's the head of work program in ip base the intergovernmental platform on Biodiversity and ecosystem services. So I have a bit of a un and global background as well But very different to my colleague next to me here My experience is more coming from public administration and from the uh, sort of more multileveral multinational aspects And I have very little local experience Which now shall change as we now actually in the context of the work we are doing in climate kick work with um a lot of European regions and for example the project i'm also here to represent um pathway to resilience Um, we are to support 100 european regions and communities in developing um transformational adaptation strategies and the implementation um plants um and so Um, this is really something where I am very much looking forward to And I'm absolutely convinced that we will learn from um the experiences around the global south As these regions have been grappling as tom said with these issues way ahead of time With these issues and so i'm very much looking forward to that exchange. Thank you Thank you thomas Um, and we've already heard from abed but abed if you wanted to add anything into this in terms of um your Kind of reflections into this panel. Um, you're very welcome I don't have to take much of the time. I already introduced myself as uh, if if there's anyone that I've just joined My name is obed coringo and I work with their care international um a climate policy advisor and my role basically Is supporting country officers on climate uh adaptation policies and also Engaging south and uh, see a source on influencing Uh, policy on adaptation So my the link between local and global is also really really key in in my work And I look forward to interacting with you. Thank you so much And last by very no means least another wonderful ex-colleague chanaz uh, chanaz over to you Yeah, thank you. Thank you tom and i'm quite jealous as you all come Uh, explain to us about this beautiful room you're sitting in I'm chanaz. I'm a director at south south north the space Okay, let me just I come from a hardcore engineering background And I realized that the way we were designing things etc was part of the problem And then that's how I got into the climate space um We work very much in the knowledge brokering space and so for me it's really interesting that this narrative around capacity strengthening and adaptation is shifting Because in the beginning it was always about what capacity do we need in the south so that we had adaptation and yet adaptation was happening because communities were still there So i'm very excited to hear The north saying we need to adapt and we can learn from the south and I think as knowledge brokers We play quite an important role in that flow of knowledge. Actually now it's feeling like it's more from the south to the north So yeah, so that's a bit of my background back to you tom Brilliant. Thank you very much. And uh, I think you'll agree that there's a Excellent panel to reflect on these challenges. Um, Martha, maybe I could start with you um, I Was very struck by obed's comments around the challenges associated with financing locally led Uh local projects around climate adaptation And the fact that in many countries around the world as I understand it they've been grappling with Different ways of getting resources to the local level and trying to as as shanaid highlighted earlier And make that as efficient as possible and and reduce the barriers to entry But of course, it's still not easy and there are risks But it would be really cool if you could just think through and reflect to us what your experience is here and what you think From what you've already heard might be able to be applied in in the context in ireland And then I'll pass on to thomas to also reflect across other regions in europe And so funding in our experience is um Something we we've had to grapple with for sure accessing funding. Um, and I suppose You know when I was considering, you know, what are the challenges funding? Um Is related to funding community led action, but also funding for nature You know actually funding the protection and the and the preservation of nature is another issue that we find Anyway, um, so we still don't have a systematic approach to accessing relatively small pots of funding for our nature based solutions for example One of our nature. So marm grass planting for us is free of charge. We do it on a volunteer basis. We don't mind that We found that this type of fencing called chestnut fencing is an excellent way of protecting a sand dune from human impacts But it's incredibly expensive for us to buy To put it in perspective. We've just spent around 7 000 euros buying 500 meters of chestnut fencing To protect just a stretch of sand dune that we think is critical to protect infrastructure behind it And so how do we access funding for projects like this? We have our go fund maze We run local funding initiatives And then we're trying to see if there is a state Pot that we could that this project will sort of fit the theme of And then you're looking maybe to your local government But it's a lot of work for us I suppose to do to scramble around to find this funding to do something that's very basic You know a coastal defense if you like um, so definitely funding that's more Accessible for us As opposed to the huge life projects or the eips where there's huge pools of funding being spent on You know one area and then all of the other areas are left sort of You know without that Easily accessible funding and also we feel that We need to see funding being assigned to protect and restore nature We have the nature 2000 sites. We have european legislation But I know I think in some areas such as ours we could definitely do with more funding To to fund wildlife rangers wardens And you know in areas of high nature value in particular But I will also say that the funding issue is very much related to governance. So For us to access funding we have to show good governance structures You know good reporting. We're a charity. We're a limited company And and there's a huge knowledge gap for communities In my experience that we work with a lot of communities now We're trying to emulate what we're doing and they're quite reluctant to become so formalized You know like us and that is is a huge barrier to them then to access funding So it's a knowledge gap, but it's funding Really valuable points Thomas. I wonder whether you can come in and reflect on this as well. So you're somebody who's been Working as you highlighted at kind of multiple levels of government and reflecting on issues of kind of finance and access and so on and now I suppose charged with sorting this out for 100 european regions But I just wonder what your reflections are based on what you've heard and what math has been highlighting Is there kind of root here that we can really enable a kind of community layer To be able to act that we know needs to act on adaptation Yes, I mean it's a very interesting and challenging challenge in that sense One of the things to be said, I mean we personally Or in this project with a hundred regions we are in the beginning We are not yet even have selected the hundreds we work with so what we and what i'm reflecting now is what we've heard Like more through sort of sort of exchanges we have with with certain Players from these areas One of the things We account a lot at least in the european context is that In theory there is probably not enough, but there is substantive significant money addressed to climate adaptation from the european investment bank From through the structural funds or through Other things, you know the the european commission or the european unions Multi-annual framework has dedicated up to 30 percent of its funding to to to climate action Including mitigation and adaptation now does that reach the ground and is that accessible from the local level? And that's where where this gets more complicated And and so a huge problem what we hear from in the european context is Is that You know as nice as these european programs may be laid out and addressing these things It's incredibly difficult to bring this back together on the local level in a as it's needed systemic integrated cross-covering You know cross-sectoral approach Um, and it has to do with lots of different things that i mean for example, they're reporting requirements the you know the Bankability of projects, etc. What that takes and sometimes it's it's even you know smaller communities need smaller numbers of things But and i think obin said it as well But what you actually need you know what the eip doesn't give anything out beyond you know 20 million or something so they just these kind of barriers at the moment which I understand our Regents are faced a lot and then you have only one person on the ground actually doing all this right so and and it's just impossible so there's the the the irony is there is money around apparently But it's impossible to be spent In this context at the moment so we need to find other ways of mobilizing and Powering the local act is to to get there by whatever means One of the means for example, we will provide in the context of this project pathway to resilience is That in the context of these We have a cascading call so where we distribute Up to 300 000 euros per region so all together up to 21 million euros for the hundred together For the regions to dedicate to this process So they could eventually hire someone for a year or two to go with us through this project of Actually then developing that um And in this process we will and that's one of the main contributions of of of the project We will also bring together and empower them in thinking through financing and finance implementation plans and helping them in really learning how to put together bankable projects and and then That's exactly what I was just last week as a conference where the person from the IEB the european investment bank said we have They really want to scale up their expenditures on climate adaptation, but they don't find bankable projects And so I think that's a huge gap where we can help and I think I hear it's internationally very similar We can we need to provide more support at the local level In order to get these things together Thank you. Thank you. Thomas. I I want to put the question then I suppose to Shanaz In particular and to Obed Which is what we're hearing is that rapid direct access to reasonably modest amounts of money by community organizations who understands what needs to happen Is really tough in a european context There are lots of barriers to entry. There's lots of bureaucracy and Equally there is a sense that there are high degrees of accountability required because in some ways the european system Doesn't trust those local actors without going through fairly extensive processes of due diligence or assessment of some financial system I wonder this has been an issue that has been present in many countries In africa and in asia and other parts of the world. I wonder whether you could reflect on Where you've seen innovation or new ways of tackling this challenge that has seen resources flow to community organizations Shanaz, is this something that you'd want to come in on? Yes, thank you tom So it is quite a difficult issue I think the question is not difficult. It's one that that that we grapple with quite a bird and It is it's the thing about the due diligence that's needed, etc And what we see happening more and more is that the philanthropies are stepping in They seem to have less tight to due diligence Components and they passing money on via but still via intermediaries to the communities So if you look at what happened during covert communities were responding with little or no funding Philanthropies stepped in in in some instances in the western cape, which is here where I live particularly where women and youth were involved because they were the ones acting And they gave their money and I think there's a lot of trust there And so so so that seems to be working what we also have particularly in South Africa and amongst women they call it a stock fell There is no English translation for that but women put Every month they put their money together and then they do things with it and and in different members of the stock fell get their money out and these sorts of of existing long-term trusted mechanisms are being used By the philanthropies to get the monies to the community. So it's using existing structures that have been going forever and I think the challenge to the the traditional donors is that How do you make your due diligence fit for purpose? So that you get what you want, but the money also gets to where it's needed the most for the climate action I think yeah, I think for yeah, that's for now. That's it for me, Tom Really valuable reflections. Obed, do you want to come in on this one? Yeah to add from what Shana said, of course, uh, there's a push right now to directly fund local communities or local organizations, but still as Shana said intermediaries still do not want to Sort of relinquish that it's just a talk and talk and talk and about localization or local ensuring that money gets the local level But how do we actually do that? And and if it's actually difficult in in in Europe, for instance, how about the south? It's much more difficult and what one thing that The southern or the south or even african governments have done or try to do is ensure that the the right policy Mechanism station or framework to be able to tap this funding, but the funding is not forthcoming What I can share an example of Kenya for instance, uh, Kenya has a Um to tire governance system national and and sub national which is county governance system And what we have done is we have established these, uh, devolve funding mechanisms, which are called county climate change funding mechanisms where Counties Are able to develop mechanisms and police laws that are able to Enhance or ensure that they set aside a certain percentage of the budget To fund local adaptation or local climate actions and I think this is a very very clear Or unique, uh, sort of example that I can be replicated To be able to earn that trust from even the donors and and and the the the philanthropist to be able to fund local climate Actions but but still a challenge. Of course the national government Sends money to the county governments and the county government uses part of that budget through the county climate change funding mechanism to be able to support or address local climate challenges, but of course there is no money. That's the I mean the bottom line is there's really really little money in terms of climate finance And for that's where we are pushing for more finance to be able to go to even developing countries to be able to go Directly the communities that need that finance. Thank you so much. I'd like to stop there Thank you I suppose then one of the conclusions we could take from that and I'm I suppose i'm particularly thinking about the pathways to resilience program Is that if there is a hundred regions each with the opportunity to access A reasonably modest amount of money for each region. I think let's be clear on that But is there a way in which you can design at least a component of that that has minimum Barriers to entry and can be accessed by community organizations reasonably quickly and easily in order to be able to support Multiple different activities at the same time of which I think we've got a model that Obed is highlighting in Kenya That may be one in which some of the design principles could be drawn on So I'm just really trying to make sure that this panel looks at the kind of practical components as well Of what we can take forward from that type of cooperation But I also want to move on to colleagues question from mexico where you were talking about The kind of gender dimensions of adaptation actions and particularly the challenges of of gender inequalities And how do I suppose there's a lot of discussion now about how to Think of gender transformative adaptation programming And I wonder whether we could Maybe reflect from members of the panel from outside europe or focused outside europe On how to tackle this question where i've heard from the ecca conference Now that there are many parts of europe where there is a feeling that there is a significantly You know Unequal impact of climate change and that adaptation actions need to be able to address that But maybe shanade I could turn to you to start with and just say well This is something that irish aids programming has at least considered for several years now What kind of lessons? Yeah, I know thanks a million. I mean, it's it's a great question. Um I I suppose I I come from a bit of a different perspective on this because i'm not a sort of a climate person by background i'm a development humanitarian person by background and In those sectors we have spent 80 100 years, you know working learning lessons making mistakes, you know and and one of my kind of Bug bears I suppose is that there's a great deal of money now going into climate finance and developing countries But sometimes it's almost like there's a new sector being set up um of of climate finance as though It's somehow to be treated differently to to to um, you know the other things that that we've been working on for so long So in other words, you know to me an adaptation program is a good development program, right? And if if you have a development program That's not considering, you know, very seriously whether it needs to You know integrate climate change Considerations because it almost inevitably will then that's not a good development program. So so Then to come back to come on to your actual question. I suppose I feel the same way about that like we've had decades of Trying to integrate gender considerations into development programs and into humanitarian programs And so to me, it's the same stuff and we shouldn't sort of, you know, create this differentiation, um, you know, just because something is called a climate program. So in terms of what we do We we would support I suppose You know, we I suppose we would try to to um In the adaptation programs that we fund, you know through our partners and civil society Organizations and and through our embassies and so on. Um, like we would try to hold our climate programs to those same standards, right? Because we would be Generally, I think we're generally in sort of considered in the top three or the top five Donors in the world in terms of of how we integrate gender It's it's certainly one of our one of our strengths So we we, you know, we're trying to to to sort of hold our climate programs to to those same Standards in terms of, you know, how how we look at gender and including how we how we bring women and girls into into programs We also do some specific stuff when it comes to things like climate negotiations We we support, you know, women's groups, for example to send You know to to to sort of be trained and then to go to climate negotiations and a lot of a lot of these discussions Maybe at national level might actually even be more meaningful than the cops and so on But we do also support Women's groups to come to the cops and and then through some of those partners We we support women's groups who are involved in sort of, you know, community-based activities kind of martha Like you're talking about yourself in in various developing countries So so we do that as well But I suppose the the point that I'd like to stress is is that I do and tom knows this very well I do worry about this siloization of of climate programming and and how You know, we shouldn't throw out all that we've learned even though we've made a lot of mistakes In terms of of good practice generally in in other programs that we do in in developing countries and health and education And so on and and rather we should be trying to build on on all that experience of Of inclusion in in in in terms of gender. Thanks Thank you. Um, shanaz, maybe I could turn to you I think the perspective here is that across europe There are regions grappling with the impacts of climate change of which they are incredibly diverse actually so from From from those in ireland that we're we're we're placed in ireland at the moment through to those in in eastern europe in in in romania and in bulgaria and Those into southern europe that are really suffering from the impacts of drought And then in in northern europe with radically changing weather patterns and forest fires And so on the range of diversity of this in europe is really challenging and with significant migrant populations as well and And and the fact of very unequal societies and so I just wonder from From your experience. What would your advice be to those who are trying to grapple with you know inclusive adaptation programs in a way that Um, they haven't had that experience necessarily so much before But what could we learn from the kind of body of of the years of experience? I suppose there have been in in the programs that that shenade has been highlighting um another difficult question tom, but um, I think It's important to And cdk in has also shifted all the work we're doing is I shifted a lot now to a bottom up approach Before we'd go in and take a very top The like an overview whereas now we look we're engaging with the communities particularly the women and youth And speaking to them yelling their stories and asking what is it that they need And oftentimes it's they're asking for capacity strengthening to understand what's happening and access to usable knowledge so I think Particularly for our work. It's shifting the entry point to the local communities and it means building longer term Relationships and when you're working with them working with champions But focusing on the women and the youth in particular and also understanding the The culture but particularly now with the with the big migrant population in europe understanding the kind of the the Cultural nuances and working with that rather than trying to change it I think it's working with first of all understanding what is and then working With that system and understanding the entry points as well Shanaaz, thank you very much abed anything that you'd like to add to this based on cares experience for example When it comes to of course the issue of gender Care is really very very specific even in our programming And we actually have an impact area on gender with clear Indicators or gender markers even our program that we report Whenever we implement our programs Of course I want to say that of course men and women are affected in different ways By by climate change and of course responses need to be recognized How climate impacts affect women men all and young and those who are educated are not educated And interventions also really must be able to to recognize that these differences are and and yet Be accessible to all groups To ensure that they are supporting people of different types of vulnerabilities And of course it goes without saying that women and and youth are agents of change And as we have had and and key players in in the climate intersectionalities and should recognize the added vulnerabilities Climate change, but also their agency and the solutions that they bring To the table. I just wanted to one of the key messages that came out of the cba for instance Is that these communities? Of course women youth have they have the relevant local knowledge and solutions Which should be the first building Block for any adaptation action and and of course on the ground before introducing any new Solution that we think works works for them. It's about using local Knowledge and resources to be able to creatively fight the impacts of climate change and this is as care what we stand for. Thank you so much Maybe then I can pass back to a kind of european contingent and ask similar questions Master, I wonder how how you're tackling this for me. It's it's essentially a governance issue again Um, and I and you know, we were talking about it in relation to funding and how you know bureaucracy I don't um I don't want to discount the bureaucracy because I do think there needs to be transparency and and and proper accounting for use of funds I don't um discounted for a second, but I think there's a knowledge gap among community groups Uh in ireland from what I can see in setting up properly and so to the issue of inclusion and gender um I think when you set up properly and have your proper structure governance practices and systems Then it it automatically deals with that issue. So from our perspective Good governance means if we're acting for a community that we are really making sure that that community has got a chance to participate in some participatory planning process Um, obviously there are workshops. There are you know Online surveys you can do but for us actually it's a question of How do we get to the people who will never turn up at a community workshop? So how do we design a piece of research where perhaps we are starting out with a lot of qualitative research Something like design thinking where we're asking people to describe their vision of this place as we go forward And it won't just deal with climate change. It will deal with a whole plethora of issues And and gender inequality could be one of them. And so setting out with that proper understanding of a community's needs And then communicating and then you know outreaching and stakeholder mapping and all of that I think it's all part of forming a strong institution And thomas I think I'm I'm going to be kind of kind in a sense that this very early days Um, but I know that one of the the goals of the mission was to try and reach Many different communities across europe and engage them in the type of discussion that marth is highlighting around Their future in the context of a changing climate Have you got a sense of how you would manage that from kind of island to Bulgaria and from Finland to Malta Recognizing the really quite different approaches to inclusion and kind of cultural sensitivities Thank you for being kind and yet no, but um the So the different levels are responses to that. I mean on the one hand the miss the mission as such has You know has now launched. I mean or will launch. I don't know how many 50 60 70 different research and innovation projects Then each one addressed You know a range of regions and communities in different ways So that's in addition to the one we do and where we reach out to a hundred So there's a lot of overlaying Different projects and all of them and that's the standard Text which is always included in the calls for these research all of them make very explicit the need to Make sure that the most vulnerable are being reached out to and that is the inclusion of minorities and or vulnerable Sort of stakeholders or people actors and there's also explicit reference for gender Etc etc etc. So that's all taken care in in in a formalistic way through the mission as such That was my previous heart as I promised To replace that view here as well because Philip toolkins from the commission couldn't make it Say but a part of that I Say what we want to do in the context of our pathway to resilience project the hundred regions and their Our project doesn't get directly involved with the local level It is the cascading grants that are given Which will itself contain Certain obligations of inclusion and making sure that certain that the local partner that will receive that money or funding Will take care of this so there will be obligations to do that And it's then in the hands of that local actor to to include that and and we would ask the from the from the Supporting our capacity building side of the partnership or the The consortium we would support these local actors that are carrying out and owning that that project so to speak We would support them with any sort of best practice or or Facilitation and and training modules etc etc We've got a few minutes left for the panel. I wonder whether there's anybody in the audience that would like to pose Question to any of the panelists Yes, sir two at the back Maybe we can take just a small batch of questions and then give panelists the opportunity to respond to each other ones They feel most comfortable with but is there a microphone? Ah, you have okay. Just if you could put your hands up Yes, sir My name is Wolfgang Pfeffekon from Cpr International. I'm a regional planner In the alpine area And i'm wondering a bit because we are not Reinventing the wheel here Also as regards european programs that touch the ground We have for example inter egg. We have the leader program The leader program has been working bottom up at local level for more than 20 years There are thousands of regions in europe that receive money for implementing local projects Also in the field of climate mitigation and climate adaptation So I would think at the european level at least There is no lack in money that comes down to the ground to the municipalities There is more a lack of awareness or a lack of knowledge how to make use of this and I think uh, I really appreciate a lot. Um, the Mission on adaptation. I think it fits very well. It's exactly what is needed to make research Going out, but I think what is missing is the linkage between different european funds and their actors Thank you. Um, let me maybe take the other questions that I know you're very keen to respond But let's just take a batch of those That's it brilliant. Thank you The director of the Bass Center for Climate Change I'm coming from the research community, but they have a background on international cooperation working of the un system and and so on so It is quite interesting this discussion and I think is a very Is is a very challenging discussion because we are dealing with very different environments We have a very strongly regulated systems with strong governance and strong enforcement and in the south we have Very weak governance very weak enforcement. Sometimes regulation, which is not enforced So the the the challenges are different And and my question is um, where the commonalities are because The challenge we have now dealing with communities in europe on my view is more about How to liaise the soft governance structures that are emerging Community-based with the govern formal governance structures, right and how the the domestic budgets Are aligned with other forms of Finance and Also innovating with finance from parable sector and not the financial sector alone For example emerging ideas about changing business models in the insurance sector, right? So, I mean, I think there's a lot of things to learn from each other But I still struggle of it on the commonalities of the two systems and how we can take advantage of each other Thank you very much Any other kind of questions that you want to raise? Yes, sir at the bank My name is peter I have worked with obed for a long time And that's why I came here. I saw it from linkedin and I said I must come and see how He was involved in training the community where I was working. I was managing trocura projects And most of them were dealing with the climate change now Uh, the another question is a follow-up on awareness. How do we create messages? Because from my purview Ireland is a very complicated Europe at large is a complicated public So to speak because we have the elderly They will listen to mainstream Messaging Watching television at nine at eight at seven o'clock and then reading the irish times irish independent What of the young the youth? How do you message create messages to them? What of the children? Actually the missing gap is the children now Because the future is theirs ourselves gathered here in this conference We may not be there, but how do we message for them so that now when they grow up they Take up the responsibility. Then there is the middle class the the ones that love going to the pub for a booze They don't care, but they are there and there are many. How do we message? I saw from linkedin Uh an advert from dangavan. They have created a beer and they have called it Uh dangavan green And it is a very good messaging. I hope Guinness and jemson will take you from that. So how do we message? Climate change to the people And my challenge always is now cop 28 is around the corner You will see all the media now trying to focus dedicate columns on under some space time on television to give focus on cop after that Dead or when a disaster Appears Then all the cameras and everything It goes there then after that No feedback at all. So and that is the missing point The community the local person the household person at the local level. I have interacted with many They are concerned, but the messaging Very good. Thank you and one last point here patrick If you could just take the microphone and then we'll come back to the panel for a wrap up So, thank you patrick monfrey from cnrs paris I'm Thinking about uh, how we can uh, efficiently reduce climate risk. It's both true for europe and and uh, Africa for example, uh The risk is uh, the mixing of climate hazards the change in hazards The exposure and the vulnerability. So we should progress in these three angle Together So that means that if we think about the future of the climate We know that's the most biggest problem is the increase of the viability the viability In terms of temperature in terms of draft or flooding Or the viability from one week to another week from one month to another month one year to another year That's true everywhere, but we are entering This new type of viability how far we will expose how far we will The different community could be uh, reduce their vulnerability to this new type of viability It's a key thing so that mean we should progress Together and have a better exchange on the progress that we are making in terms of vulnerability exposure and hazards together and in this In this aspect There is a new initiative between europe and africa african union and european union That we are opening Actually, and uh, I will slide on that if you are interested Okay, we'll come back to you because I know you've got a kind of an advert essentially to highlight to To colleagues at the end of the session, but thank you very much Let me just ask to the panelists, which I think is an incredibly rich and challenging set of questions coming from audience members Thank you very much Maybe one minute each to pick one of the questions and have one reflection To give us enough time to close martha. Do you want to start? I'll start and I'll do better than that I'll address question one and four So for me, I mean, I have a whole list of knowledge gaps here One of the biggest ones I think and again speaking from my own perspective from before I started to eight years in Almost eight years communities. We know we're going to play a huge role in this climate adaptation Journey and really like I think we need to activate and harness that energy and that You know action and it's not going to happen when we have a lack of awareness Of what climate change will actually mean in your area We have like a lot of abstract notions about climate change But actually when I saw the office of public works maps showing Parts of mahariz inundated covered with water by the end of the century that made me very Motivated to protect this place that I love So how do we inspire communities? I think one is to proper community level communication on What are the impacts here? And then that would surely motivate a lot of them to see what could they do? I find in Ireland This information is held and cherished and protected by academics state agencies government departments who are writing all of these esoteric Policies that communities are never going to read or access so we need clear Honest accessible timely information for communities to actually understand how adaptation is going to work for them And it may mean they will have to relocate But ultimately isn't it better that we're preparing them now for a you know an adverse impact I also want to say that taking communities seriously is so important in all of this I have been to a lot of these types of workshops and I find I'm usually the only community organization there we're talking to Practitioners who are working with communities government departments who are working with communities But actually it's an honor to see a community group being invited to a forum like this So I think more of that's essential because unless you understand how this actually works on the ground I think you're missing something important and and in the last question or the first question In relation to accessing leader funding We need a more coordinated approach and response between the state agencies are quite siloed So in order to access leader funding we have to have permission from the national parks and wildlife service in our country Because our site's in a tour 2000 site So we have to have all kinds of appropriate assessments done to access a bit of funding and we're just volunteers So I think I went over my minute Very good. Thank you. Thomas. Do you want to come in on? Yeah, um, yeah a bit on to actually the first also on the funding issue. I mean Theoretically at least and I think hopefully I'm a strong believer in that the missions are meant to really work on Combining these funds and bringing that together It yes, the the the core funding comes from Horizon Europe the research and innovation fund That's roughly if things go well around one billion per these five missions So one billion for the adaptation mission over over the course of seven years Um, but that's roughly meant to be only a hundred Of what it needs to be leveraged to actually get somewhere um, so that's built in the underlining concept of the missions now What I'm still not seeing properly at the moment how the mission is being rolled out now is that that has not been Properly addressed yet. It's it's it's very much theory both at the commission level and them mobilizing their own troops bringing the cohesion funds and the whatever the resilient recovery funds stuff together With the mission but also at the project level that needs to work on that and also at the regional level um, so you For me and this is why I want to bring home the message that you know We need to and across the mission related projects and actors. We should get together and really Build on best practices and knowledge on how to mobilize these finances and provide Capacity and empower the people at the local level to actually make use of that Through different means be it best practices being actually giving them resources to hire people to do it or you know Services they then can acquire so for me. That's a very very important point, but it's really also meant And there I hope the mission can also provide learnings that we can then feed back to the commission and and by the way I'm we focusing a lot between European and local level Most amount of budget actually For adaptation issues still comes from the national government And so that should be very much be involved as well in all this kind of thing. So that's one um, I like the question from We need to be quick on yes, you're right. Okay last maybe one last point on um on the um From the Basque country. I was wondering as well like what what is the key things we can learn from each other Norse South, I would have Thought and think and hope that one of the things we can from the north really learn from the south is the south has gone through transformational experience in this context Europe is starting to grapple with the fact that it will probably and will likely have to do that But it hasn't done it yet So I was really hoping that we can learn from experiences of communities that actually went through transformational change In this context and what are the best practices? What are things to learn to turn that into a positive and not a dystopian kind of process? Yeah, thank you. We um, we had an idea of being mapping out some of these areas in particular for example How do you support the relocation when it's? You know a planned relocation. How do you design social protection social welfare systems to support people in those contexts? And adapt them in line with early warnings and so on There's a lot lot of different areas that I think in other parts of the world They've been tried and tested that could be learned from but that's going to take a systemic approach But maybe I can just turn to to to chanaz and to um Oh, sorry my mind. We've gone blank for a moment. Um, oh bed, which I think the characterization that europe is kind of heavy on governance and regulation and kind of softer on the softer systems and that Africa may be the alternative. Is that is that something that you recognize or how would you characterize? The comparability between the experiences that you have in kenya or in south africa, for example, and and what was described in europe Um, oh bid I'll go quickly So I think it's a bit like that tom, but I think people particularly communities not a government organization step in often because government is failing and um And so there's lots of Good stories to be told there, but I think at the same time we do need The stronger governance as well So I think it's happening because people are adapting and I'd like to say it's really exciting And I think we should be looking at peer-to-peer exchanges between africa Bringing some of those from europe want to learn more about what adaptation looks like on the ground Because often we're doing peer-to-peer exchanges this way with the south south I'd be very excited to do north south peer exchanges. So just to put that on the table Thanks, tom Thank you a bit. Do you want to come in with me? I think From The perspective of the south and of course the intermediary that I work with care one of the Issues that I think Can be also of a commonality is How can we be sure for instance of the adaptation projects on the ground are on the right track? many many NGOs for instance in the south are closely Doing Lead adaptation, but we need to think more carefully about how do we measure the success Of this project for instance Uh when we measure it whose perspective are we measuring it from on the donor's perspective Or based on logical framework or from the community's perspective? Uh, of course, we know that effective mail is about building a common understanding Of partners on what constitutes success of failure and how to measure it recognizing that donors for instance And communities may have different priorities So I think this is one area that is really really key and and and of course that's mentioned that Measurement should be in service to meaningful learning that needs to be properly integrated into government And also NGO planning and delivery process and I think this is an area that I think we can we could both learn from each other and of course also noting that uh at globally we are talking about The global goal for adaptations for instance, which we which we still don't have In place which does have metrics and indicators for measuring adaptation And and I think this is something that we are grappling with Which which is an area of commonalities that I think in in both global south and and north and and and maybe just to pause or just to mention Having working with the common with uh with uh an intermediary Of course, we really need to think our role as intermediaries of course by supporting local actors in whatever they need without us overstepping They are they are support Rollers intermediaries and I think which is really really important of course adding to what she has already said In terms of that question. Thank you so much and it's really been a pleasure sharing with you She made any final words from you Only just to say I think the messaging point peter is hugely important We do now have a cross governmental climate communications group precisely for that for that issue And and also I think that the peer-to-peer points it may relate to to the other announcement But I know Africa Europe foundation for example are looking at doing You cross learning on on adaptation may actually just got got invited to something there So, um, yeah, just just I think great great points and and I think just Reinforces tom what you said earlier that these communities need to be talking to each other. Thanks Thank you, and I think if I could just beg your your attention for one more moment Maybe patrick I could invite you to give the the sense of an advertisement or the opportunity which I think also does include an element of peer-to-peer Learning as well as we've been describing So patrick is from the french ministry for research The exact title. I'm afraid I've forgotten But this is a particular advert for a program that is open and live at the moment That is about cooperation between europe and west africa and between multiple european countries in west africa patrick over to you And if you could just help us with time as well, I know we're we're running out. Yeah Thank you very much to give the opportunity to present So, uh, it's a new initiative, uh, that is just starting. It was built Uh between african union and european union in the in the STI partnership the science technology and innovation partnership That are linking european union and african union and by the way the african countries with the european countries They have started Since two decades initiative on the earth then Agriculture's then sustainable energy and now we are discussing to launch climate change Resilience and adaptation in this context so, uh, what is proposed is to focus not In a first step in all In all region in africa, but focus on climate risk reduction in west africa By launching first a suite of forum of four thematics webinars I have not real time to detail here, but that will be organized in west african countries by The africans, but in also in cooperation with european partners In fact, there is a lot of bilateral cooperation with one european countries and one african countries related to climate Risk of course and the idea is is how we can share Knowledge and practices and better aligned bilateral to multilateral activities if possible Well possible in very pragmatic way, so it's really addressing research innovation, but also capacity building Both in coastal urban and rural areas Because urbanization is also a key component in african development It's identified priorities for joint vision and multilateral action to promote south-south cooperation North-south and I would add also in this Sessions of south-north because we have to also learn from the south definitely It's to feed these four webinars They will identify Priorities with that related research innovation and capacity building, but also propose short term Actionable steps that could be support by different Instrument including multilateral alcohol So a stock taking conference is Is expected early next year and in the The broad agenda is to contribute also to the afric the new african union european union innovation agenda That we will be launched I think in in in few months where climate services for risk reduction have put in different blocks including To organize Meeting to listen from the african actors and practices And also engage in a broader sense The citizen and and the field actors and link also the progress in research with the development Trajectories how far we can include Adaptation and resilience strategy into african development trajectories. Thank you if you are interested there is Two email That on the screen. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much very exciting And I think I'd also just reinforce that the africa-eu partnership on innovation particularly around climate change is a real opportunity To build these bridges of north south south north cooperation as well So I think fascinating to bring this in thank you very much And maybe just in terms of the the timing of our panel We've got a final closing word from alex and then we'll let you go and apologies for running a bit late patrick Thank you. If you want any more information on that, please do Look at the connections there on the screen alex over to you in closing words So just bear with me a second. Yeah Yeah, so um Thank you very much. I think it has been quite a useful and inspiring Session Just want to wrap up the session by saying a few words Of things so first of all, I would like to thank the speakers and the panelists. I think it It was a very engaging Discussion and some really interesting thoughts Came out of the of the discussion. So thank you very much I would also like to thank my colleagues helen o'connor who's here today with us sam green And erin ruda from iid who were Instrumental also in organizing this this session. So thank you very much for your help The technical team that has been Quite helpful also. So thank you and the the team from the the royal irish academy mainly you So a word of thanks to them as well and finally Last but not least for sure to the participants and to the to the questions and reflections you shared With the panel and with the rest of the participants and the inputs to the poll I think it has been some interesting food for thought and hopefully this will be The first step of future engages and interactions on this topic. So Um, if you're interested, please stay tuned that iid european iid will Do some more work on that and we'll be happy to share that with you if you're interested. Um, just a final word to highlight some of the Events that so as you may know London climate action week starts next week and it lasts until early july Um, I'm not going to go for the sake of time through all the events that iid is organizing at London climate action week But I would like to call your attention specifically to one that will take place on the 29th of june Next week on delivering locally led adaptation Lessons from the front line of climate action. So this Brings also some of the key messages from cba and the gone show the conference on locally led adaptation And how these learnings and insights can be shared within the uk but also in europe So it's a bit A direct link with the with the session that we hosted today You can find more information about that and all the other events on the iid website So if you're interested, I would encourage you to check that Um, yeah, and I think that's it for me I mean personally it was quite a pleasure to see this discussion and hopefully as I was mentioning This will is just the first step of a Hopefully ongoing conversation. So thank you very much again for for your attention and for being here And I wish you a good day