The Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA) is a global coalition committed to a new paradigm of adaptation research for impact. It supports action-oriented research that informs adaptation solutions and reduces risks from climate change at the scale which is urgently demanded by science.

To date, the Adaptation Research Alliance has been highly successful in building diverse, southern-led, extensive partnerships. In early 2023, the Alliance counted over 190 Members, 71% from the Global South, and facilitated 4 Co-creation Spaces on Least Development Countries and National Adaptation Plans, Urban Resilience, Small Holder Agriculture and Nature-Based Solutions.

The ARA has also provided a voice to its Members at key international fora, for example by feeding into the Global Stock Take and the development of the Global Goal on Adaptation. The Alliance has also been successful in informing and mobilising action-oriented research, including a NERC call on Nature Based Solutions and investments from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations, and successfully convening a funders roundtable in 2023, co-hosted by FCDO and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

In 2023, the ARA has also supported 30 Grassroots Action Research Micro-grants, covering small projects in 23 countries with a focus on gender equitable and socially inclusive climate adaptation as part of their co-creation processes. These include a project in Ethiopia increasing women’s resilience to climate change through climate smart agriculture tools and enhancing food security through fruit production. And, in Kenya, an inventory of solutions to address the twin challenge of climate change and urban environmental problems in Sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to increase the involvement of young people in sub-Saharan Africa’s response to climate change and its aspirations for sustainable development.