This study focused how funds for climate change adaptation flow from the national to sub-national levels. It examined five ongoing development projects in which funds supported adaptive activities at the watershed/ecosystem, community, and household levels: Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), Nepal Climate Change Support Program (NCCSP), Hariyo Ban, Multistakeholder Forestry Program (MSFP), and Community-based Flood and Glacier Lake Outburst Program (CFGORRP). The study systematically reviewed project documents, carried out field observations, and interacted with stakeholders at all levels—central, sub-national and local—to understand the dynamics of fund flow and examine the share of funds actually being used in adaptation.
The five projects focused on reducing the vulnerability and increasing the adaptive capacity of the poor, marginalized groups, women, and the disadvantaged. The projects also engaged multiple institutions in decision-making regarding fund flow and implementation. However, each project used a different approach to assessing climate change vulnerability at the local level and to ensuring that its activities would reach the most vulnerable sections of the population