at the individual or household scale, without coordination at larger institutional scales . Discussions of adaptation finance often occur in the context of dwindling resources and trade-offs: triage decisions about other investments that societies can tolerate suspending . In many poor, vulnerable countries, complex governance challenges, such as budget austerity or corruption, hamper the provision of such support. In the absence of adaptation funding for the poor, coordinated at higher scales, the costs of adaptation are borne by the poor at community, kin-group and household scales. Bearing the cost of adaptation, thus, can become, in the short term, an erosive process of coping that ultimately increases the likelihood that communities and households will remain trapped in poverty . In the long term, measures financing adaptation may be maladaptive, meaning they ultimately leave the poor at greater risk of experiencing climate change impacts . Such circumstances highlight the governance gap that drives the poorest to rely on extreme measures to finance adaptation.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report