Successful CBA or LLA Practices in Your Community
In my coastal community, a successful Locally-led Adaptation initiative is the revival of traditional “bund” farming, which uses raised, saline-tolerant mounds to grow vegetables in flood-prone areas. This practice addresses salinization and seasonal flooding that threaten food security.
Local women’s self-help groups led the planning, choosing crops and designing layouts based on ancestral knowledge, with an NGO providing supplemental seeds and training. This has boosted household nutrition and reduced market dependency.
Traditional practices like rainwater harvesting in earthen pots (matkas) and cyclone-resilient housing designs using local bamboo are still used but declining due to concrete construction and youth migration. These methods are deeply tied to cultural identity and practical wisdom.
To integrate them into LLA, policy could fund community-led demonstration plots and include elders in adaptation planning. Barriers include lack of policy recognition, dwindling knowledge transmission, and preference for modern, often less suitable, solutions.