Climate change adaptation is becoming increasingly urgent due to the escalating impacts of climate change. Drawing on scholarly research and practitioner experience, principles for effective adaptation are emerging that emphasise recognitional, procedural, and distributive justice, as well as the importance of adaptation that is locally led, owned, and evaluated. While climate finance from developed to developing countries is increasing, it has often been criticised as counter-productive, in part due to top-down and rushed approaches to implementation.
Environmental democracy—built on participation, transparency, and justice—is essential for climate adaptation success. Democratic practice is not merely a political preference but a necessity for reducing risks to economies, livelihoods, and ecosystems. Climate-resilient development has no single pathway; transitions create winners and losers with inevitable trade-offs and unintended consequences. Inclusive processes allow societies to determine their own pathways, legitimising decisions and enabling reflection as transitions unfold.
Effective adaptation requires integrating vulnerable people into planning, delivery, and evaluation; co-producing climate information services; applying justice principles; and ensuring accountability. Without these democratic elements, adaptation programmes risk maladaptation and failure to protect those most at risk.
In collaboration, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) and Demo Finland produced a suite of country assessments. These have been produced based on WFD’s framework assessing environmental democracy integration in climate programmes, applying it across six African countries including The Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia.
Download the Executive Summary.
Download the Synthesis Report.
See the country reports on WFD’s website.