Skopje, 8 July 2026 — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with financing from the Adaptation Fund, has launched a new regional initiative to accelerate locally led climate adaptation innovation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

The four-year project, Balkan Climate Adaptation Futures: A Regional Innovation Initiative for Resilience, will invest US$5 million to help communities, innovators, civil society organizations, social enterprises and small businesses develop and scale solutions that strengthen resilience to climate change in the Western Balkans. 

In recent years, the region has faced a succession of floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires that have exposed the region’s growing climate vulnerability. Floods alone have affected more than two million people over the past decade, underscoring the need for stronger climate resilience and adaptation.. 

The initiative will help address this challenge by identifying and supporting innovative adaptation solutions developed by local actors. Through grants, technical assistance, business development support and regional knowledge exchange, it will help promising ideas move from pilot stage to larger-scale impact. The project will place a strong emphasis on gender equality and social inclusion, ensuring that adaptation benefits reach those most vulnerable to climate change. 

 Across the Western Balkans, communities are already developing innovative ways to respond to climate risks,” said Ivana Živković, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS. “This initiative will help unlock their potential by connecting local innovators with knowledge, partnerships and finance needed to turn promising ideas into solutions that can strengthen resilience across the region.”

“The Adaptation Fund is committed to ensuring that adaptation finance reaches the communities on the frontlines of climate change,” said Mikko Ollikainen, Head of the Adaptation Fund. “By supporting locally led innovation, this project will help people most affected by climate impacts develop and scale solutions that respond directly to their needs and realities.”

“Locally led adaptation is one of the most effective ways to build lasting resilience because it starts with the knowledge, priorities and leadership of communities themselves,” said Radhika Dave, Senior Technical Advisor for Adaptation at UNDP. “This initiative is designed not only to support individual innovations, but to create a stronger ecosystem for adaptation innovation and learning across the Western Balkans.”

The project builds on the long-standing partnership between UNDP and the Adaptation Fund to advance locally led adaptation around the world. Drawing on lessons from UNDP's adaptation innovation initiatives, including the global work of Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator, and Regional BOOST innovation acceleration programme it will create new pathways for community-driven solutions to access support, grow their impact and contribute to national and regional adaptation priorities.

By strengthening regional collaboration and creating new opportunities for learning, replication and scale, the initiative will help grow locally led adaptation solutions across the Western Balkans. 

About the Adaptation Fund

Since 2010, the Adaptation Fund has committed over US$ 1.6 billion for climate change adaptation and resilience projects and programmes, including 226 tangible, localized projects on the ground in the most vulnerable communities of developing countries around the world supporting over 90 million total beneficiaries. It also pioneered Direct Access empowering country ownership in adaptation, and operationalized other novel programmes such as Locally Led Adaptation and the Fund’s Innovation Facility. 

About UNDP

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. Learn more at undp.org or follow at @UNDP

Media contacts

David Nieto, Regional Communications Lead, Europe and Central Asia, david.nieto@undp.org