The effectiveness of global climate agendas, such as the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), depends on how they are translated into action on the ground. Yet little is known about how these frameworks reach informal settlements in the global South, where climate risks are most acute, and state presence is uneven. Drawing on multi-sited fieldwork in informal settlements in Ghana, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic, this article shows that climate action in these contexts unfolds largely outside the influence of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs. Across all three sites, residents and community leaders had limited knowledge of these global agendas, and local responses to climate impacts emerge instead from everyday negotiations with risk, scarcity and institutional neglect. Although community organisations demonstrate significant adaptive capacity, their efforts remain constrained by insecure tenure, funding exclusion and territorial stigma. The article argues that the limited reach of global frameworks reflects a deeper structural misalignment between climate governance architectures and the sociopolitical realities of informality. Meaningful localisation therefore requires institutional recognition, accessible financing and the co-production of climate strategies with the non-state actors already shaping adaptation on the ground. By identifying the mechanisms that inhibit localisation and highlighting grassroots agency, this study advances debates on climate justice, urban informality and multilevel climate governance.
Communities living in informal settlements face significant challenges, including poor housing, limited access to basic services and increased exposure to climate risks such as floods and heatwaves. Collaboration and public participation are increasingly recognised as critical for effective climate governance. However, the extent to which people living or working in informal settlements are meaningfully included in these efforts remains unclear. This study presents a systematic review of 25 peer-reviewed articles that met our inclusion criteria from 281 studies (published 2010–2025) using the PRISMA framework to examine how informal actors are integrated into climate adaptation planning in African cities. The findings highlight approaches such as citizen science, digital storytelling, asset-based community development, inclusive infrastructure upgrading and inclusive governance processes, which can empower informal settlement residents. However, challenges persist in implementing these approaches and in influencing decision-making beyond implementation phases, which include power imbalances, lack of secure tenure for actors living in informal settlements, and limited access to formal governance spaces. Based on these findings, the study proposes approaches that can improve the participation of local-level actors in climate governance towards inclusive and climate-resilient African cities.
This study maps and analyses peer-reviewed evidence from 2015 to 2024 on climate change impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation in South African informal settlements. The review is based on a sample of 23 studies from 1,282 studies that met the review inclusion criteria. The findings reveal that informal settlements are exposed to various climate hazards, with flooding, droughts and heat being the most documented. These hazards interact with infrastructure deficits and socio-economic and institutional factors to increase the vulnerability and limit the adaptive capacity of residents of informal settlements. Reported adaptation actions were mostly structural, involving physical changes to structures and systems to mitigate climate effects, and behavioural, with only one study reporting the use of nature-based solutions. Actors involved in climate adaptation operate at the household, community and city levels. Adaptation actions have been reported to be effective in improving safety and comfort, reducing biodiversity loss and improving energy efficiency in informal settlements. However, lack of funding and political will, and participation in decision-making and resource allocation are among the barriers to adaptation. These findings collectively highlight the urgent need for systemic, inclusive, scalable and sustainable adaptation solutions for informal settlements in South Africa.
