B eira’s municipal government and the Netherlands have worked together since 2012 in an equal, long-term partnership to support urban resilience. The partnership is distinctive in its focus on process, rather than setting specific upfront objectives, to enable adaptability as circumstances change. For example, the process of developing an urban master plan built knowledge and relationships among stakeholders that later enabled the rapid leveraging of over US$ 200 million in international funds for flood protection infrastructure in response to Cyclone Idai. The partners are now exploring various ways to create a market for affordable, flood-resilient housing.

Over the centuries, deltas have given rise to some of the world’s greatest cities—and those cities have always been open to the world. They have thrived not only in the trade of goods, but also in the exchange of ideas. Today, as the world faces up to the need to adapt to climate change, it has never been more important for delta countries to learn from one another.

That is the thinking behind the Global Center on Adaptation ‘lighthouse’ report: “Living with water: climate adaptation in the world’s deltas“. The report brings together inspiring case studies from around the globe to galvanize governments and citizens to help the half a billion people living in delta communities who are imperiled by climate change.