The
Resilience Hub launched at COP26 in Glasgow is a virtual and physical space bringing together global representatives from civil society, the private sector, academia and government to scale up action towards a shared goal of making communities and ecosystems around the world safer, healthier and more just.
Session facilitator Ameil Harikishun, Policy Officer at Global Resilience Partnership explained why the hub is such a crucial space: “Adaptation and resilience have become priority discussions at COPs. But these discussions are everywhere − yet nowhere. The Resilience Hub is a place to centralise these discussions and take steps for truly inclusive dialogue on adaptation and resilience with a particular focus on non-state actors.”
Drilling down to regional level
Complimenting the main hub are the
Regional Resilience Hubs spanning Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and The Pacific.
These have been set up to ensure the Resilience Hub programme reflects perspectives and priorities from local communities around the world, particularly traditionally under-represented communities.
They play a central role in illuminating and communicating regional priorities, actions, solutions and challenges on the global stage at COP27.
In the lead-up to Sharm El-Sheikh, there have been over 25 Regional Resilience Hubs events; this CBA16 session was a platform for the first cross-regional hub dialogue and a place for regional representatives to share key messages emerging from these events.
Emerging messages
- Relationships and trust
Local communities are getting growing recognition at global international forums such as COP. But to ensure messages fed into global decision-making processes are truly representative of local realities, relationships with local communities must be stronger. The Regional Resilience Hubs have real potential in helping to build local trust. - Strength in numbers
Community groups – citizen groups, teacher groups, youth groups – must come together to co-create and build solutions together. By collaborating, local organisations are stronger. - Missing a trick on SMEs?
Emerging from the Africa hub was a strong realisation of the vibrancy and potential of start-up businesses. Yet in conversations around climate finance, SMEs are often overlooked. When talking about finance in Africa, the conversation turns to which donors to approach; the solution lies within SMEs and is there for harvesting.
Annette McGill