Qatar's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change unveiled its National Adaptation Plan, a strategic framework addressing six climate-vulnerable sectors—water, agriculture and livestock, biodiversity, public health, energy, and coastal infrastructure—with an executive program spanning 27 measures, 125 actions, and approximately 280 projects aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030. The plan, developed through scientific assessments and extensive consultations with government agencies, the private sector, academia, and international organisations, including the Global Green Growth Institute, prioritises water management, sustainable agriculture, ecosystem protection, climate-resilient infrastructure, and health-sector preparedness. Environment Minister Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie positioned adaptation as integral to improving the quality of life, protecting ecosystems, and promoting innovation in green growth.

Digital bank Klarna launched its global AI for Climate Resilience Program, supporting six community-led initiatives addressing food security, water access, health, and disaster preparedness through practical artificial intelligence solutions. Selected projects include SEEDS (India) using AI and satellite data to verify disaster losses for faster relief payments, Acres of Ice converting winter water into man-made glaciers for mountain farmers, Geotek Water Solutions identifying hidden water sources in drought-prone Nigeria, SEWA and IFPRI delivering life-saving weather advisories to informal women workers' phones, Sakawarga Foundation deploying AI ‘resilience coaches’ for village disaster preparedness via local-language chats, and GainForest supporting Indigenous forest guardians mapping biodiversity. The initiative emerged from over 1,200 global proposals, and Klarna will provide 18 months of mentoring, technical support, and strategic funding to scale solutions responsibly.

China is transitioning from reactive to proactive climate adaptation, submitting its first Nationally Determined Contribution including adaptation language targeting a "climate-adapted society" by 2035, yet faces a critical funding chasm. The Huzhou Green Finance Institute estimates industries require CNY 2 trillion ($280 billion) annually between 2026–2030 for adaptation—over 1.2% of GDP, with 57% dedicated to infrastructure. China's centralised adaptation strategy emphasises large-scale hard infrastructure—flood control, early-warning systems, and disaster prevention. China's green-finance systems remain mitigation-focused; the 2025 Green Finance Taxonomy revision labelled emissions-reduction projects but failed to indicate adaptation contributions, revealing structural barriers to mobilising the unprecedented scale of climate and green finance adaptation demands.

Ghana officially launched its National Adaptation Plan—a process beginning in 2017 and formalised in June 2020—targeting $20 billion mobilisation between 2025–2030 from domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and philanthropic sources to address climate risks systematically. The NAP, developed with support from the Environmental Protection Authority, the Green Climate Fund, and UNEP, provides sector- and district-specific adaptation action plans that address agriculture, water infrastructure, health, ecosystems, disaster risk management, and urban resilience. Implementation is already underway in several areas. The plan emerged from detailed climate hazard, risk, and vulnerability analyses, youth engagement frameworks, and a vulnerability portal supporting monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems. EPA Coordinator Dr Nana Antwi Boasiako Amoah emphasised the need to raise climate adaptation awareness among all Ghanaians, including traditional leaders, to achieve a climate-resilient future, leaving no Ghanaian behind.

Yale Assistant Professor Brianna Castro introduced ‘tethered resilience’ in Nature Climate Change, reframing climate migration beyond rigid move or stay dichotomies to recognise how individuals navigate complex decisions through intergenerational ties, social networks, cultural roots, and identity. Examples include Fijian families planning a generational retreat in which children migrate inland while elders remain coastal, and rural Bangladeshi women engaging in community farming and home enterprises tied to traditional gender roles. The researchers identified four factors shaping migration decisions: opportunities to blend ancestral practices with climate-adaptation innovation, cultural values sustaining heritage, institutional support through infrastructure and credit access, and structural inequalities affecting marginalised groups. Tethered resilience reorients adaptation from rigid relocation narratives toward dynamic, proactive processes reflecting human complexity, urging policymakers to invest in social infrastructure supporting the right to stay and adapt in place.

Know someone interested in adapting to a warmer world? Share Liveable with someone who should be in the know.

Or copy and paste this link to share with others: https://research.liveable.world/subscribe