Chief Executive Officer of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), Tariye Gbadegesin, delivered a powerful reflection on climate resilience while attending an event in Belém, drawing parallels between the Amazon and her childhood in Nigeria’s Niger Delta wetlands.
Gbadegesin recalled the increasingly severe climate impacts facing Ijaw communities—her father’s ethnic group—in the Niger Delta, particularly the escalating flooding that has devastated the region. She recounted the unprecedented 2022 floods, during which water surged not only from overflowing riverbanks but also unexpectedly from surrounding forests.
The flooding submerged roads, forcing residents to navigate their communities by canoe. One image, she said, remained etched in her memory: a local church congregation attending service in canoes, using them as makeshift pews. For her, this moment symbolised the extraordinary resilience and unity of frontline communities confronting climate extremes.
Gbadegesin emphasized that such resilience should motivate global efforts to scale up financing for climate adaptation, ensuring Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are leading these initiatives. She highlighted CIF’s ongoing commitment, noting that the organisation has already provided $110 million in direct grants to Indigenous and local groups for forestry and nature-based efforts. CIF is now expanding this work through a next-generation resilience program centred on locally led adaptation.
She extended gratitude to the African Development Bank Group for hosting the day’s event and acknowledged the global leaders whose participation reinforced the urgency and collective commitment to climate resilience.
