How – and how far – can we still adapt? Knowledge and societies responding to the challenges of adaptation

Welcome and introduction.

Opening discussion to frame the conference and its main challenges.

Speakers:

• François Gemenne, Professor at HEC Paris & FNRS Researcher at the University of Liège (Belgium)
• Debra Roberts, Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the AXA Research Fund, and Chair of the Board of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
• Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation
• Benoit Faraco, Ambassador for Climate Negotiations, Decarbonized Energy and Climate Risk Prevention, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs

Moderator: 

• Thomas Melonio, Chief Economist, AFD

With more than two thirds of the world's population set to live in cities by 2050, and ahead of the IPCC Special Report on Cities (SR Cities, 2027), this session examines urban adaptation in the face of intensifying and increasingly interconnected risks. It pays particular attention to informal settlements, which could be home to as many as three billion people, and explores the persistent gap between planning and implementation, as well as the risks of maladaptation and green gentrification.

Speakers:

• Anna Taylor, Senior Research Officer, African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town (South Africa)
• Chandni Singh, Associate Professor, School of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (India) 
• Vivian Dépoues, Research Lead – Adaptation to Climate Change, I4CE (France)
• Helen Davies, Director of Risk and Resilience, City of Cape Town
• Pauline Lavaud, Director of Climate and Ecological Transition, City of Paris
• Marcus Mayr, Climate Investment Principal, Urban Development, GCF

Moderator: 

• Alix Françoise, Task Team Leader, Fonds français pour l’environnement mondial (FFEM) 

Lunch break for in-person participants; live stream resumes at 1:00 PM.

A special surprise awaits attendees on the day.

The concept of Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) is receiving growing attention as a key approach to addressing climate change. Built around eight guiding principles, LLA seeks to foster more inclusive and sustainable solutions. Climate finance actors have complementary roles to play in supporting and scaling up this agenda, with greater synergies still needed. This session examines LLA’s practical contribution and identifies the conditions required for its implementation to be truly transformative.

Speakers:

• Carina Bachofen, Director of research and strategic impact, IIED, (UK)
• Edmond Totin, Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Socio-Anthropology, National University of Agriculture (Benin)
• Janne Parviainen, Researcher, Stockholm Environment Institute (Sweden)
• Guillaume Quelin, Head of the Climate and Development Commission, Coordination Sud (France)
• Audrey Rojkoff, Head of Climate and Nature Division, AFD (France)

Moderator : 

• David Dodman, General Director, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)

Coffee break for in-person participants. Live stream resumes at 3:45 PM.

This session addresses the methodological and political challenges of assessing adaptation, brought into sharp focus by the adoption of the 59 Belém indicators at COP30. While these metrics are intended to help track the Global Goal on Adaptation under the Paris Agreement, their operationalization raises questions, notably the risk of favoring what is measurable at the expense of deeper transformations. The session therefore also explores qualitative methods capable of capturing essential dimensions of adaptation that aggregate indicators struggle to take into account.

Speakers:

• Virginie Duvat, Professor of coastal geography at La Rochelle University & Senior Member at the French University Institute (France) & Invited researcher at Cawthron Institute (New Zealand)
• Timo Leiter, Distinguished Policy Fellow, LSE (UK)
• Emilie Beauchamp, Lead for Adaptation Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, IISD (Canada)
• Madeleine Diouf Sarr, Climate Director, Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition (Senegal)
• Lina Yassin, Climate Policy Researcher, IIED (UK)
• Gonéri Le Cozannet, Member of the French High Council for Climate & Researcher, BRGM (France)

Closing remarks and preview of the second day's program.

Speaker:

• Carl Bernadac, Director of the Economic Diagnostic and Public Policy Department (ECO), AFD
• Marie Bjornson-Langen, Deputy Executive Director - Global SDG, AFD

Opening address to set out the day's key challenges.

Speaker:

• Youssef Nassef, Director of the Adaptation program, UNFCCC

Isn’t the greatest challenge researchers and practitioners have faced over the past 30 years, in fact, the difficulty of imagining resilient, inclusive and desirable futures together with all stakeholders? Visions of adaptation are diverse, yet dominant narratives remain largely technocratic and top-down, often reinforcing existing power structures. Making these visions explicit allows them to be debated and reoriented; broadening the range of possible futures also broadens the range of solutions and helps reduce the risk of maladaptation.

Speakers:

• Marta Olazabal, Professor at BC3 & Principal investigator of the IMAGINE Adaptation project (Spain)
• Emilie Beauchamp, Lead for Adaptation Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, IISD (Canada)
• Charlotte Da Cunha, Director of CEARC (UVSQ)

Moderator: 

• Sophia Stowe, Student, Paris Climate School, Sciences Po

As climate risks intensify, the question of the limits of adaptation has emerged as a major scientific and political issue, with successive institutional milestones culminating in the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD). Insurance mechanisms are useful tools but have real limitations. In the most exposed territories, the question is no longer only how to adapt, but under what conditions and for how long a territory remains livable, as well as who decides this, on what basis, and with what alternatives.

Speakers:

• Lisa Schipper, Professor of Development Geography, University of Bonn (Germany)
• Alpha Kaloga, Negotiator for the Africa Group on Loss and Damage (Guinea)
• François Gemenne, Professor at HEC Paris & FNRS Researcher at the University of Liège (Belgium)
• Neil Adger, Professor of Human Geography, University of Exeter (UK)
• Tran Thanh Nga, Head, Adaptation Division, Department of Climate change, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (Vietnam)
• Karina WHALLEY, Head of Public Sector, AXA Climate 

Moderator: 

• Laurene Seca, Evaluation Officer, AFD

Lunch break for in-person participants. Live stream resumes at 1:30 PM. 

As highlighted in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, incremental adjustments are no longer enough. The challenge now is to combine them with transformational adaptation, involving systemic changes across territories and societies, while also developing a more nuanced understanding of transboundary risks. There is also a need for new methodologies that better connect past, present and long-term future timescales in order to define more robust adaptation pathways.

Speakers:

• Alexandre Magnan, Geographer, Cawthron Institute (New Zealand)
• Katy Harris, Senior Policy Researcher, SEI (Sweden)
• Adèle Tanguy, Researcher, Climate Programme, IDDRI (France)
• Saskia Werners, Senior Researcher Adaptive Water Management, Wageningen University & Research (Netherlands)
• Abu Sadat Moniruzzaman, Program Head, BRAC (Bangladesh) 

Moderator:

• Christophe Buffet, Research Officer, AFD

Political issues related to adaptation.

Speaker:

• Stella Rusine Nteziryayo, Chief Executive Officer, Development Bank of Rwanda
• Shartsi Musherure Kuteesa, Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Uganda)

Moderator: 

• Thomas Melonio, Chief Economist, AFD

• Does Climate Change Vulnerability Matter for the Allocation of Adaptation Finance? An Empirical Analysis of Donors and Instruments over the Period 2019–2023, Research Papers N°402, Editions AFD (2026)
• Human Rights and Climate Policies – The Human Rights Impacts of Climate Change and Mitigating Measures, Research Papers, Editions AFD (2026)
• Linking Weather Forecasts and Risk Financing, A Question of Development N°48, study funded by AdaptAction, Editions AFD

• Aligning Climate, Nature and Development: A Crosscutting Ambition for the Planet 2025-2030 – Summary, Strategic documents, AFD Group
• Climate - Nature: Activity report 2025, Financial Statements and Activity Reports, AFD Group(2026)
• AFD & KfW Activities in the Context of Loss and Damage - Position Paper, joint AFD-KfW position paper (2023)

• Adapt'Action capitalization fact sheets 
• Mobilizing Knowledge on Gender, Equity, and Justice in Climate Change Adaptation 

• "Status of global coastal adaptation," Magnan, A.K., Bell, R., Duvat, V.K.E. and al., Nature Climate Change, 13 (2023)
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• "Integrating Nature-based Solutions for urban water security in global South,"Abera et al., PLOS Water, 4(10) (2025)
•  "Effects of heat stress and green cover on urban birds in the megacity of Bengaluru,"Jambhekar et al., Ecological Applications, 3(35) (2025)
• "Strengthen climate adaptation research globally," Science (2022)
• "Fostering complementarity: how development and climate financiers can scale up locally led adaptation," Browne, K., El-Horr, J., Parviainen, J., Tenzing, J., SEI (Stockholm, June 2025)
• Gap Track – Global Adaptation Progress Tracker, Iddri