Since the last Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa in 2015, development finance has faced increasing complexity and systemic risks, including reductions in aid, trade fragmentation, and rising debt vulnerabilities. This report presents a framework to identify the most critical sources of finance for low-income countries and evaluates how geopolitical shifts and systemic risks affect their stability. By analyzing the scale and exposure of financial flows, it highlights priority policy actions for countries to safeguard development progress amid a volatile global environment at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development. 

In a context characterized by a “lowest common denominator” approach to international cooperation, focused coordination is both necessary and pragmatic. Efforts to strengthen domestic resource mobilization must be supported by enhanced international cooperation on debt relief, fair trade, and development assistance transparency. This targeted strategy aims to future-proof development finance by addressing geopolitical risks and guiding policy priorities toward a more resilient global financing agenda.

Join our Side-Event at FfD4

Are you in Seville for the conference? Join our side-event Navigating Uncertainty: Implementing the 4th Financing for Development Agenda in a Fragmented World

Event details

Date: July 2, 2025
Time: 8:30 AM CEST
Venue: FIBES Sevilla Exhibition and Conference Centre, side event room 22

Financing is an important enabling factor for effective, inclusive NAP processes. Developing countries need access to sufficient finance throughout the NAP process from a diversity of sources and through mechanisms that do not exacerbate existing debt burdens. 

This review of 59 multi-sector NAP documents sheds light on how developing countries are addressing adaptation finance issues. The report also highlights good practices and identifies areas for improvement to better support countries in identifying, prioritizing, and mobilizing adaptation finance.

Vietnam’s northern coastal region, including the DEEP C Industrial Zone in Hai Phong, faces growing threats from sea level rise, storm surges, and coastal erosion. These impacts endanger critical economic infrastructure and the livelihoods of over 12,000 workers and residents. While traditional grey infrastructure, such as sea dikes, is already in place, additional nature-based solutions are needed to strengthen long-term climate resilience. 

To address these risks, DEEP C and its partners are planting a 70-hectare mangrove belt along the Nam Dinh Vu Sea dike. This intervention is designed primarily to reduce erosion and storm surge impacts, while also delivering benefits for biodiversity, fisheries, and nearby communities. It contributes to the transformation of DEEP C into a more sustainable, eco-industrial zone aligned with international standards. 

This SAVi assessment evaluates two implementation pathways: the Soil Accumulation scenario, which relies on natural sediment buildup before planting, and the Soil Transfer scenario, which involves placing soil at the site to enable earlier planting. Both are modelled under varying assumptions for economic growth and mangrove efficiency. 

The valuation examined the extent to which mangroves can reduce flood damage, boost local fisheries and tourism, increase property values, and lower maintenance costs for the sea dike. 

The results show that mangrove planting delivers strong benefits, particularly in high-growth, high-risk scenarios. For every VND 1 invested, the Soil Accumulation scenario yields up to VND 3.42 in return, resulting in net benefits of over VND 284 billion (USD 11.2 million). 

Benefits include avoided flood damage, increased property values, improved public revenues, and environmental gains such as carbon storage, reduced dike maintenance, and improved erosion control along the coastline. 

Ultimately, the study confirms that integrating mangrove planting into coastal infrastructure planning is a cost-effective strategy for reducing climate risks, controlling erosion, protecting economic assets, and delivering long-term social and environmental value.

Gaining access to markets and control over resources is essential for women’s economic empowerment, enabling them to make informed choices about how to use and benefit from those resources. 

This case study examines how women coffee farmers in Rwanda are driving change through women's associations and cooperatives. As a group, the women have achieved peer-to-peer training, income diversification, direct links to buyers, women-made marketing, and community reinvestment, adopting sustainable agricultural practices, adding value to coffee production, and securing access to high-value markets. As a result, they have strengthened both their livelihoods and their communities. 

We highlight the role of three women’s associations and cooperatives (Rambagirakawa–Dukunde Kawa Musasa, Hingakawa–Abakundakawa, and Twongere Umusaruro wa Kawa) in empowering their members economically. The study offers recommendations to Rwanda’s National Agricultural Export Development Board and other stakeholders on how to support these associations in advancing women’s economic empowerment. 

Our insights are drawn from open-ended interviews with cooperative members and Angelique Karakezi, managing director of Rwashoscco, a farmer-owned company that produces and exports Rwandan coffee, including the women-produced brand Angelique's Finest. 

In our conversations, we explored the groups' primary goals, the key factors contributing to their success, and the disparities in access to training in sustainable agriculture and market opportunities.

The report highlights the urgent need to bridge the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. These two landmark agreements are deeply interconnected, and success in one depends on progress in the other. Countries' efforts to renew their respective commitments under the relevant conventions represent an important and timely opportunity to foster synergies to effectively address the challenges linked to climate change and biodiversity loss and connect ongoing processes. 

Drawing from 10 national case studies—including Brazil, Colombia, Madagascar, and Indonesia—the publication offers concrete examples of how countries are creating linkages between their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans and nationally determined contributions. It outlines key strategies, common barriers, and innovative practices to build more coherent national approaches that maximize co-benefits for climate and biodiversity. 

This resource is intended for government planners, national focal points, civil society, and local communities seeking to strengthen coordination between the two agendas. It offers lessons, tools, and insights to guide future policy processes and implementation efforts.

This report looks at the use of mining tax incentives in the African continent and offers guidance for countries to reform their incentive frameworks and adopt a strategic approach. Countries should rethink the use of harmful incentives. Incentives should be time-bound, targeted, monitored, and backed by cost-benefit analysis. This approach not only protects revenues, but it also enables governments to support value addition, foster local industries, and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The publication was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and is designed to support policy-makers, tax officials, development partners, and civil society actors working to strengthen domestic resource mobilization and improve the governance of Africa's mineral wealth.

The report shows the following:

• Up to 85% of oil in Petrobras' new projects is not economically viable to extract in a scenario compatible with holding global warming to 1.5°C, the international goal. Petrobras' riskiest ventures would only be profitable in a world where global warming exceeds 2.4°C.
• Petrobras plans to sink USD 97 billion into exploration, production, transportation, and refining of oil and gas from 2025 to 2029. Only 15% of its budget is to decarbonize operations and diversify into clean energy.
• Petrobras lags behind leading oil and gas companies on climate performance measures. There is significant room for improvement in the carbon intensity of its products, emissions targets, and diversification strategy.

This publication provides an in-depth analysis of how human mobility—including climate-induced migration, disaster displacement, and planned relocation—is integrated into national adaptation plans (NAPs) and sub-national adaptation governance. Drawing on global trends and case studies from Costa Rica, Senegal, and Sri Lanka, the report examines how countries leverage the adaptation potential of human mobility while addressing challenges of climate-induced mobility. Through quantitative analysis of NAP documents and qualitative insights from stakeholder interviews and three in-country workshops, the publication identifies good practices, typologies of policy integration, and actionable recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners working at the intersection of climate change adaptation and human mobility.

In 2024, the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) worked with policy-makers and other actors to support effective mining laws, policies, and regulations for the mining sector. Driven by the needs of IGF member countries, the International Institute for Sustainable Development–hosted Secretariat delivered publications, capacity-building workshops, technical assistance, and events, and undertook a variety of national, regional, and global engagements. 

2024 Highlights

• Welcoming three new members, bringing IGF membership to 85 countries
• Hosting the 20th IGF Annual General Meeting on the theme of Redefining Mining: Balancing the Need for Minerals with Protecting People and the Planet
• Delivering 24 capacity-building programs for more than 1,200 participants
• Publishing a suite of resources to explore key policy concerns around critical minerals
• Co-hosting a Global Conference on the Future of Resource Taxation in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Contributing to the United Nations Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals
• Signing agreements with Germany's Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Environment Programme

Chile's Biobío region is home to ecologically important coastal wetlands that play a critical role in reducing flood risk, supporting biodiversity, and providing climate resilience to nearby communities. However, the Rocuant–Andalién wetland system has suffered significant degradation due to urban expansion, pollution, and unsustainable development. These changes have increased the region’s vulnerability to flooding, saline intrusion, and biodiversity loss, threatening both human and ecological well-being. 

The American Flyways Initiative and partners are supporting the restoration of 579 hectares of wetlands in Chile's Biobío region. The project integrates green and hybrid infrastructure solutions, such as re-naturalized riverbanks, wetland rehabilitation, rain gardens, and birdwatching infrastructure, to enhance ecosystem services and benefit over 31,000 local residents. 

This report applies the International Institute for Sustainable Development's SAVi methodology to assess the impacts of these interventions using an integrated cost-benefit analysis. Six scenarios were modelled to reflect different levels of wetland degradation, carbon storage potential, and land valuation assumptions. 

All NBI scenarios assessed were found to be economically viable, with benefit-cost ratios exceeding 1.0. The most favourable scenario showed a return of USD 1.30 for every dollar invested, and net benefits of USD 42.45 million. Key outcomes include

• up to USD 58.74 million in avoided flood damage and rental income loss,
• increased land and property values due to reduced flood risk,
• USD 78.64 million in social value from improved access to nature and recreation,
• carbon storage benefits ranging from USD 1.37 to 4.57 million depending on degradation levels, and
• additional benefits from local job creation and increased avitourism. 

The results confirm that coastal wetland restoration is a cost-effective, high-impact strategy for advancing Chile’s climate resilience and development goals, especially under high-risk climate scenarios.