 Excellencies, distinguished participants, and friends, thank you for joining us online to mark the beginning of the 14th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change. Bhutan, in our capacity as Chair of the LDC Group, is proud to host this year's event and we welcome you and your participation from wherever you are connecting. As in normal times, we would have a physical meeting this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CBA 14 has had to innovate to bring its wider community of practice together in a new way. This way of doing things will be an experiment for all of us, but we hope that we will be able to learn from the experience together and perhaps shape new ways for us to collaborate going forward. Despite the pandemic, the impacts of climate change continue to be clear and increasing while fires are burning in California, intense flooding has damaged homes and destroyed livelihoods in Sudan, India, Yemen, Bangladesh, and many more other locations. Climate change adaptation is as important as it has ever been. The urgency and ambition needed to fully prepare for the future must continue to increase if we are to protect ourselves and our communities. To do this, it is crucially important that opportunities for grassroots community-based organizations, non-government organizations of all kinds, local and national governments, researchers and development partners to come together, learn, share innovation and expertise remain available. These moments are central in building the community of practice, networks and know-how that are necessary to develop complex responses to a complex challenge. They ensure that development partners and international organizations can remain grounded, able to learn from those who are most vulnerable by providing opportunities for them to listen to local solutions and wisdom. Adaptation to climate change cannot be successful unless it builds on the knowledge and understanding of the people who are most affected by climate risks. CBA 14 is also an essential resource and learning opportunity for the LDCs. Last year at CBA 13, the Talunaya we held on the Lease Developed Countries Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience, LifeAR, directed to inform the LifeAR Compact that has been signed by over 10 countries. The Compact sets out a vision for a climate-resilient future for all LDCs by 2050 and commits to increasing the flow of climate finance to the local level to 70% of the total. CBA's five themes are of central importance to the future of adaptation and resilience and to informing the next stages of LifeAR and other initiatives. The climate finance theme will explore how we scale up the flow of finance to the local level. The responsive policy theme will explore the role of social movements in driving change and the adaptation technology theme will discuss how new technologies can go beyond innovative projects and become part of national policies. We recognize that addressing poverty, biodiversity loss and climate change are issues that cannot be taken separately but must be addressed together. So I am pleased to see the addition of a theme on nature-based solutions. Finally, the youth inclusion theme led entirely by young people will explore the barriers to the participation of young people in shaping climate policies. We must use these moments to understand the challenges that we can scale up climate finance to the level necessary, scale up technology or nature-based solutions through policy that is inclusive and builds residents, prosperous societies. We must continue to build ambition on top of previous commitments under the Paris Agreement so that COP26 in 2021 we will be able to secure an agreement that safeguards a resilient future for LDCs.